Start at the beginning.
The GSP was NOT set up to benefit foreign buyers.
US sellers were reaching all the US buyers that were likely, and eBay needed to keep those sales expanding , because they don't pay dividends and their shareholders need the stock to rise to make money.
So GSP is set up to encourage even the most xenophobic sellers to open their eyes to the possibility of international sales.
What does it do for the US seller?
Remember that the US economy is the largest in the world and for all their whining about recession, the US consumer is the richest in the world.
With the GSP, the US seller does not have to ship internationally herself. She sends the packed item to a plant in Kentucky for processing. This also means she can use cheap (25c or less) USPS Delivery Confirmation. The GSP people take care of trans-shipping to her customer.
She doesn't have to make out customs forms. For some reason this terrifies US sellers.
She doesn't have to worry about non-delivery claims. Responsibility for delivery moves to the GSP /PitneyBowes.
How does this aid Canadian (and other overseas) buyers?
Well, not much.
In theory, the Canadian buyer is charged the duty and tax that Canada puts on any shipped import over $20. And the PB/GPS service charge , which seems to be about $5 is half of that of Canada Post ($9.95 and up) and one fifth of most couriers ($25 and up based on value of the imported item for UPS-- don't even ask about the sneakiness of FedEx)
But CP and CBSA allow most small and low value (under $100) items through without charging the duty and sales tax that are applicable.
One poster pointed out that both CBSA and CP employees are well enough paid that it is actually a net saving to the Canadian government that they NOT assess low value packages. If the employee earns $20 an hour (about $40,000 a year) then taking 5 minutes to assess an item valued at $21.00 costs the Canadian government 60 cents. Sales tax at most would be $3.15, and there is a good chance that the item, like your antiques, are duty -but not tax- free.
So the CBSA has, possibly without consulting their political masters, just started ignoring those small and low value imports.
But.
Commercial entities like Pitney Bowes, which runs the Global Shipping Program, and FedEX and UPS , cannot. They MUST assess every single darn package they process. That's the law.
And they charge their customers.
Which is why you are so upset.
But.
There's always a 'but' isn't there?
The sellers who are using GPS tell their international customers that they will be charge duty +tax+ service fee twice.
In SEARCH this notice appears.
Customs services and international tracking provided
That means GSP applies to this lot.
And.
Before you pay, you are told, on the listing and on the invoice, how much the (prepaid) duty (if any) and sales tax (definitely) will be +that annoying service fee.
So who is getting paid?
The federal government-- if there is duty. And always 5% GST
The provincial government- with sales tax. From 0% to 15%.
Pitney Bowes probably has a small profit from their service fee, but they have a plant full of workers (Kentucky is a 'right-to-work' state so you can assume the workers are not unionized and supplement their minimum wage with food stamps) plus the costs of actually moving your parcel from KY to Canada, which also come out of that fee.
Think it through. Cui bono? Not you or I (well, maybe I, as a Canadian seller).
You may find ways to work around bad buys through GSP, but there are many instances where GSP actually is the cheapest shipping choice.
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