Comments about the Global Shipping Program

[kalvin@ebay.com]

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.

[danscardsandcomics]

Every single time I purchase multiple items from a buyer I am unable to request a total!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is driving me bonkers!!  Ebay now requires me to make a call to their customer service department every single time I want to make a purchase.  It is getting really annoying and to the point where I will no longer be willing to shop here unless they do something about it. 

[reallynicestamps]

Your concerns would be best addressed to :

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, PC , MP

House of Commons

OTTAWA ON K1A 0A6

You don't have to stamp the envelope.

By the way, it's 'border' not 'boarder'. The former is the division between two countries, the latter someone who lives in a home but is not a member of the family.

[finchbird1234]

I agree this Global shipping program is a farce. I won't buy from any seller using this program as it cost me a lot more to purchase from sellars using it. Of all the items I have purchased from e-bay they have been purchased internationally and and I have paid taxes and duty on 2 items in total and no I don't think I should feel quilty. If our Canadian goverment wants to collect it themselves than  I will pay without complaint as then I would know for sure that all the money is coming back to Canada and not some company called Pitney and Bowes. I wonder were all money that is being collected is going as many items crossing our border does not have duty nor taxes that should be levied against it. Also if I am overcharged, to buy from the seller for something that I really want I have to agree that if I am overcharged on this item for duty,taxes or delivery that I can not request a refund, what the heck is that and were does that extra money go, I'm sure not to my Canadian goverment, but rather right into E-bay or Pitney Bowes pockets.

I am hoping that more sellers will stop using this program, some of the sellers I have chatted with that have really looked into it have opted not to use it and I am sure that if we all really took the time to check it out more would opt out.

As for peoples comments that I am paying just as much by buying from those not using the program, that the taxes and duty is just hidden I think not, when I purchased a pandora bracelet thru my daughters site so other daughter would not be able to see what her Christmas present  would be the savings not using the Global shipping program was well worth it and no duty nor taxes at the door.

[anguscoinshop]

You can post whatever you like, we live in a free country.

i myself respect your post, it is evidence of the continuing very slow sales on this site

i also got stung but only once

[marnotom!]

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@finchbird1234 wrote:

As for peoples comments that I am paying just as much by buying from those not using the program, that the taxes and duty is just hidden I think not, when I purchased a pandora bracelet thru my daughters site so other daughter would not be able to see what her Christmas present  would be the savings not using the Global shipping program was well worth it and no duty nor taxes at the door.

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"No duty nor taxes at the door" is not the same as "duty and taxes already included [hidden] in the sale price."

If your daughter is in Canada, she wouldn't be charging duty, the same as any other retailer, as duty would already be in the price that she paid for the item before she resold it, assuming that duty applied to it in the first place.  As for the collection of sales taxes, that would depend on whether she's registered to collect them.  Online retailers with sales above a certain dollar amount are expected to collect and remit GST to the federal government, at the very least.

[marnotom!]

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@angus_coin_shop wrote:

You can post whatever you like, we live in a free country.

i myself respect your post, it is evidence of the continuing very slow sales on this site

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I'd respect your post if you elaborated on the "continuing very slow sales on this site."  Claims like that need to be backed up with evidence.

[anguscoinshop]

again

"You can post whatever you like, we live in a free country.

i myself respect your post, it is evidence of the continuing very slow sales on this site

i also got stung but only once"

my purchase on this site are very few far in between, just like the majority of buyers, my preferred purchasing area is my local economy

[anguscoinshop]

"You can post whatever you like, we live in a free country.

i myself respect your post, it is evidence of the continuing very slow sales on this site

i also got stung but only once"

my purchase on this site are very few far in between, just like the majority of buyers, my preferred purchasing area is my local economy

[splattii]

I wanted an item yesterday but the seller was using GSP.  I contacted them and said I would bid $100 USD (Serious bid, I wanted this item very much) if they could ship without GSP.  They said no, GSP had to remain part of the auction.  The item sold for $9.99.  While I'm upset I still don't own the item, I'm happy the seller lost

[afantiques]

Bidding $60 to allow for charges would seem less like depriving yourself to make a point no-one will notice.

[splattii]

I don't think people should complain about GSP and then support it, so as a person who's complained about GSP, bidding on a GSP auction regardless of price or value would make me a hypocrite.  There is nothing on Ebay that anyone "needs", they are all "wants".  I emailed the seller and he is well aware that he lost out on money due to the GSP, that's the message I wanted to send.  Granted the item only sold for $9.99, but if I would have bid $100 for all we know my bid wouldn't have been high enough or the item may have ended at $80.  The point is even if the item would have ended at $20, the seller lost potential profit.  That's the message that needs to be sent across the US or things will never change.  There are many people (I am one of them) complaining on Ebay.CA, but the reality is less than 1% of US sellers would ever look at .CA forums, so the complaints do nothing.  Taking actual money out of someone's pockets usually sends a message pretty quickly.  

[reallynicestamps]

The point of the Global Shipping Program is to charge foreign taxes and duty, before the seller ships the purchase, so as to prevent negative feedback when the buyer is charged these monies on their doorstep. The fear of such negative feedback was preventing many sellers from offering their products to Canada and overseas

The other point is to give cheap Delivery Confirmation to US sellers, for the same reason. Once the item is shown to be delivered to Pitney Bowes, the seller (but not PB) is off the hook for claims of non-delivery, another strong fear preventing many US sellers from offering their products to Canada and overseas.

And yes, any company that collects tax for Canada does get a small rebate for collecting tax, preparing reports, and remitting the tax. This certainly includes PitneyBowes, but probably not eBay.

FWIW it also includes WalMart, The Bay, Shopper's Drug Mart, Loblaws, and your corner store. If you paid sales tax on it, a tiny portion went to the merchant.

[reallynicestamps]

Most people buy from sellers, which may be the problem .

Instead of calling Customer Support, before bidding, contact the seller and ask for a firm quote on shipping to Canada. If the items are below $50 (eBay's suggestion) or $100 (Canadian seller's opinion), ask if he would consider shipping by USPS Global First Class International instead of through the GSP. Let him know that USPS now has Delivery Confirmation on this service. This is fairly new and the seller may not be aware of this.

If the total of the items is over $100, you actually are likely to pay less using the GSP than shipping directly.

You can also ask your seller, if he really really wants to use GSP, if he will refund you part of his cost for shipping the purchases in one parcel to Kentucky (his first step, then it is trans-shipped to you).

You can also look for this note on items listed in SEARCH

Customs services and international tracking provided

and avoid them, since those are the sellers using GSP

[konamicode]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

You can also look for this note on items listed in SEARCH

Customs services and international tracking provided

and avoid them, since those are the sellers using GSP

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I already do this, but I'm finding myself omitting 99% of the search results, and the amount of time I spend on filtering these out manually, takes away from me even finding anything I want to buy. It's not worth my time and effort to even use this site because it's wasted. I've combed over the Advanced Search button, and I can't find any hard way to filter out the GSP.

I used to buy from the U.S because it offered me an alternative to the limited amount of items being sold in Canada. I enjoyed buying from the U.S, as it allowed me to get items I can't get here. Sadly, this is been all flipped over and now eBay is stopping me from buying anything. I don't mind buying from Canadian sellers, but sadly, the inventory is the remaining 1% of the search results.

Ebay, tell me why as a consumer I should continue using your service. I don't see a reason at all. You've gone to far by fee gouging. It seems that you wanted to dip your greedy fingers in more of our transactions.

Not on my watch.

Proud eBayer since 2000 and I'm not proud to being using this site any more. The GSP is where I say, "Oh hell no."

[marnotom!]

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@splattii wrote:

I don't think people should complain about GSP and then support it, so as a person who's complained about GSP, bidding on a GSP auction regardless of price or value would make me a hypocrite.  

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So what are your complaints with the GSP, Splatti?  I've read over some of your past posts and I have no idea what they are, apart from PayPal taking a bit more in fees through the import charges.  

You cite an example of an $1800 sale attracting $500 in taxes and other fees, but seeing as an item of that value would very likely be taxed if it weren't sent through the GSP--and the shipping and customs fees may well be even higher through a commercial carrier (good luck in persuading a seller to send an item of this value through the postal system)--this seems to be a non-issue to me.

[konamicode]

Also, I am aware that I could contact the buyers, and ask to ship through USPS, but really? That's not convenient to have to message each person I want to buy from. Some items sell too quickly for me to wait for a reply.

There is nothing easy about using this site any more. It's just more hassle than it's worth. I'll just take my money to Amazon if eBay doesn't want it.

[johnboc]

What do people think about this Global Shipping ? I think it stinks. Puts the shipping cost too for places like Canada where I live. especially on comics which I buy. There is no import charges on comics to Canada because of the Free Trade agreement and any tax us collected by Canada Post at my door. Thank you John Boc

[konamicode]

I think it's the final nail in the coffin for Canadian buyers on eBay. It's just not justifiable.

[konamicode]

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@karl*katz wrote:

And there are already numerous threads about the Global Shipping Program no need to start a new one.

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I disagree. The boards need to be flooded with this issue because isolating it is easier for eBay to ignore it. The GSP needs to go, or I like many other Canadian buyers will and have already stopped using this site.

[rick31797]

For the people that reply to US sellers about them supporting the GSP, what about sending them a link to this page so they can read what is being said, or will ebay find this in violation of the rules.

[fatman1258]

Ebay is a business, They are here to make money. None of us HAS to use Ebay. So choose it if you want, use it as desired and enjoy the worlds largest marketplace.