eBay

kalvin@ebay.com · ‎09-26-2013

Feel free to share your thoughts about the Global Shipping Program here.

A few questions to get the ball rolling:

What has worked well for you with the Global Shipping Program?
Any ideas to help improve the experience for Canadian buyers?
What has deterred you from buying items offered using the Global Shipping Program?
How have you managed to search for items outside the program?

Please try & keep the comments constructive 🙂

If you have any questions about the program, please post them here.

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

rick31797 · ‎11-25-2013

Ebay just made it harder for me to buy from a US seller.This is what i look for.

1. Item needs to be a fair price

2. Sellers feedback needs to be with-in reason

3. Sellers shipping cost needs to be reasonable and not inflated

4. Sellers need to ship USPS, i will not except UPS or Fedex

5. And now Seller must not support GSP.

This is why its hard for me to buy on Ebay, all 4 of my buying rules needed to be in place, no exceptions, now i have one more rule added to my list.

marnotom! · ‎11-25-2013

@icecutters_hockeycards wrote:
I am another Canadian who will completely avoid any sellers with G.S.P. (global shipping program). In the long run I think this hurts Ebay. Again, my question is why would any seller do that? Do they not have a choice? Buying used goods on ebay should not be subject to import duties tariffs. Wake up American sellers, you are losing a lot of Canadian buyers.

You're not going to find too many American sellers reading your message on a Canadian eBay discussion board.

As to the "whys" of why sellers are getting involved in this, you're likely looking at sellers who have shipped very little out of the United States in their lives and have no idea that it's less complicated than they think. The GSP is being marketed as making international shipping as easy as domestic shipping and many sellers are adopting the program without doing their homework first. They have no idea how inappropriate the GSP is for modestly-priced, lightweight items. They won't have any idea how much the GSP is charging unless they tweak with their settings when they view their own listings.

However, your point about used goods seems incorrect. Any "casual" import with a declared value of C$20 or more is subject to charges of taxes (GST/HST/PST) and duty, if it's applicable. Used or new. It's just that items sent through the mail don't go through as rigorous a procedure for the assessment and charging of those taxes as freight shipments. (It's believed that GSP shipments travel as freight between the U.S. and their Canadian point of entry.)

This page gives a bit more information:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html

marnotom! · ‎11-25-2013

@angus_coin_shop wrote:
Item # 301024632715

Obviously ebay has a lack of knowledge on what is taxable and what is tax exempt by Canadian law. In my field there are three (3) types of precious metals that are TAX EXEMPT;

fine silver(99.9% or finer)
fine gold(99.9% or finer)
and platinum

Kalvin

What is ebay doing charging tax on a precious metal that tax exempt by Canadian Law?

Actually, the seller of that item has a lack of knowledge about what categories are restricted with the GSP, and the Coins and Paper Money category is one of those.

If a non-U.S, buyer in a GSP-supported country ends up purchasing that item, the sale likely won't go through. If it does, there's going to be problems down the road.

marnotom! · ‎11-25-2013

@rick31797 wrote:

Ebay just made it harder for me to buy from a US seller.This is what i look for.

1. Item needs to be a fair price
2. Sellers feedback needs to be with-in reason
3. Sellers shipping cost needs to be reasonable and not inflated
4. Sellers need to ship USPS, i will not except UPS or Fedex
5. And now Seller must not support GSP.

This is why its hard for me to buy on Ebay, all 4 of my buying rules needed to be in place, no exceptions, now i have one more rule added to my list.

However, that fifth rule is probably one of the easiest to implement as you only need to avoid listings in "list view" search results that have the message "Customs services and international tracking provided."

anguscoinshop · ‎11-25-2013

Awaiting Kalvin's response, no one else are qualified to answer.

marnotom! · ‎11-25-2013

@icecutters_hockeycards wrote:
I agree, wake up American sellers because you are losing Canadian buyers in droves.

I doubt most sellers using the GSP had many--if any--Canadian buyers prior to adopting the GSP for their sales.

In other words, I don't think most U.S. sellers using the GSP ditched the postal service in favour of the GSP. Those that did have likely switched back by now.

I'd argue that the majority of U.S. sellers using the GSP were once ones that shipped only within the United States.

rick31797 · ‎11-25-2013

I don't think Kalvin is here anymore

marnotom! · ‎11-25-2013

@angus_coin_shop wrote:
Awaiting Kalvin's response, no one else are qualified to answer.

One doesn't need any special qualifications to read an eBay information page to find out that Coins and Paper Money isn't a category supported by the GSP.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/shipping-globally.html#restricted

anguscoinshop · ‎11-25-2013

Awaiting Kalvin's response, response from an ebay employee only.

anguscoinshop · ‎11-25-2013

I believe you are correct, but i still would like to have an official response.

police_charger · ‎11-25-2013

Don't buy from any US seller using the global shipping program. Its slow, expensive and it fails.

UPAAA000000036164086

Carrier:

Multiple Carriers

Status:

ACCEPTEDIN TRANSITEXCEPTION

Exception: Undeliverable-SYSTEM_RESTRICTION

Nov-25-13, 14:59 PM, Erlanger

afantiques · ‎11-26-2013

Maybe the seller changed it but that is not a GSP item.

afantiques · ‎11-26-2013

I'd say it is also very unlikely they will see Canadian board posts, go to US seller central and post there.

marnotom! · ‎11-26-2013

@afantiques wrote:

Maybe the seller changed it but that is not a GSP item.

Yes, it's been changed. No GSP now, and no shipping options for outside the United States, by the looks of things.

(I don't think the seller has their buyer requirements set for The Block, though.)

marnotom! · ‎11-26-2013

I'm not sure if the question in your thread title is rhetorical, but the short answer is: That's the way free enterprise works.

rosscd57 · ‎11-26-2013

I put this on the wrong forum - here it is again.

I checked up on sellers in the US that I have bought vintage radios from in the past. Three are/were using the Global Shipping Program - so I sent them this message.

Hi - I have bought a few radios from you in the past. FYI - you need to get rid of that Global Shipping. It is only a designed to put money on he pockets of Pitney Bowes and eBay. There are no customs fees or duties between Canada and the US due to NAFTA for products manufactured in North America. I have never paid any fees for a radio bought from the USA. If I bought this radio it will cost me and extra 25% in bogus fees.

Check it out yourself on the discussion boards.

So far two of the three have got back to me and both have removed Global Shipping from their listings.

Interesting.

.

__________________________________________________________

Old enough to know better. Young enough to do it again. Crazy enough to try

tobyshitzu · ‎11-26-2013

You are sending them inaccurate innfortmation. No duty on NAFTA manufactured items does not mean no customs fees.

mr.elmwood · ‎11-26-2013

Many do not know they are in the GSP.

That said, you email is factually wrong. The money does not go to PB or eBay, it goes to various Cdn governments. PST, GST, HST are applied which normally would not be applied. What is not applied to gov't taxes is consumed with the double shipping costs.

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