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.

[afantiques]

Here is a screen dump from USPS.COM for the $7.78 shipping charge part that I ordered and rec'vd . It's Dec 30th, Dec 14 GSP parts are STILL not here.
DATE & TIME
STATUS OF ITEM
LOCATION
December 24, 2013 , 10:08 am
Delivered
CANADA
December 21, 2013 , 4:43 am
Customs Clearance
CANADA
December 21, 2013 , 4:43 am
Processed Through Sort Facility
CANADA
December 19, 2013
Electronic Shipping Info Received
December 18, 2013 , 4:10 pm
Processed Through Sort Facility
ISC LOS ANGELES CA (USPS)
December 18, 2013 , 3:02 pm
Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility
LOS ANGELES, CA 90009
December 18, 2013 , 3:02 pm
Arrived at Sort Facility
ISC LOS ANGELES CA (USPS)
December 18, 2013
Depart USPS Sort Facility
LOS ANGELES, CA 90009
December 17, 2013
Depart USPS Sort Facility
GOLETA, CA 93199
December 17, 2013 , 8:23 pm
Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility
GOLETA, CA 93199
December 17, 2013 , 5:09 pm
Dispatched to Sort Facility
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA 93401
December 17, 2013 , 3:07 pm
Acceptance
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA 93401

This item was not sent using the GSP, even if it was listed as a GSP item.

There is no  mention of transit through Erlanger, KY. The seller has sent it Via USPS to the Canadian address.

[afantiques]

She didn't say that the PB people are customs agents... she just asked me how I know that the packages are not being opened by authorized government agents... I guess that could mean a lot of things, but I expect that when an item is in transit from one country to another, it is normally in a "bonded" state and can USUALLY only be opened by authorized people, which SHOULD be customs agents or others authorized to do so.  Otherwise, the seller and the buyer have no way of knowing who is putting or taking what to or from the package.  Postal systems are supposed to be secure and USUALLY only opened at the origin, the destination or in between ONLY BY AUTHORIZED parties. So, I hope that the PB people are duly authorized.  Otherwise, I would think it is illegal tampering.

By the time it reaches the Erlanger depot the GSP is the responsible party for the shipping of the item, and under the user agreement are entitled to do pretty well anything they want with the package including 'Take ownership' of it. (all posters on this subject should read the full terms and conditions of the program and understand them)

Among their responsibilities is ensuring that the cargo manifest that will be used for inward clearance is a true representation of the items in the consignment. This entitles them to do anything they need to to ensure the accuracy of the manifest.

Such a large proportion of the objections to this program are rooted in a profound ignorance of how non postal import/export trade is processed, and taxed.

Valid objections should be objections to the marketing and use of the program resulting in inappropriate use by sellers, who in most cases could ship cheaply and safely by other means.

[rick31797]

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@afantiques wrote:

She didn't say that the PB people are customs agents... she just asked me how I know that the packages are not being opened by authorized government agents... I guess that could mean a lot of things, but I expect that when an item is in transit from one country to another, it is normally in a "bonded" state and can USUALLY only be opened by authorized people, which SHOULD be customs agents or others authorized to do so.  Otherwise, the seller and the buyer have no way of knowing who is putting or taking what to or from the package.  Postal systems are supposed to be secure and USUALLY only opened at the origin, the destination or in between ONLY BY AUTHORIZED parties. So, I hope that the PB people are duly authorized.  Otherwise, I would think it is illegal tampering.

By the time it reaches the Erlanger depot the GSP is the responsible party for the shipping of the item, and under the user agreement are entitled to do pretty well anything they want with the package including 'Take ownership' of it. (all posters on this subject should read the full terms and conditions of the program and understand them)

Among their responsibilities is ensuring that the cargo manifest that will be used for inward clearance is a true representation of the items in the consignment. This entitles them to do anything they need to to ensure the accuracy of the manifest.

Such a large proportion of the objections to this program are rooted in a profound ignorance of how non postal import/export trade is processed, and taxed.

Valid objections should be objections to the marketing and use of the program resulting in inappropriate use by sellers, who in most cases could ship cheaply and safely by other means.

---

Gsp has not right to take ownership of a product, that's not illegal , you need to says it as it is..

[i*m-still-here]

I just want to comment on the GSP.

I'm noticing every day that the program is expanding.

Every morning I do a search, and this morning almost every item I checked out from the US it listed via the GSP.

There were a few exceptions, but very few.

When I emailed sellers about shipping without the GSP not one even knew what it was.

I wonder if the GSP posts to this board are going to explode as well.

Just a thought.

Happy New Year!

[bobenis]

---

@afantiques wrote:

Also we PAY for USPS Priority via these GSP auctions however the seller is supposed to get the item to GSP within 4 days of it selling to be fully protected so of course sellers ship it USPS Priority however GSP sends it to us in Canada via the cheaper, slower, USPS Expedited...where is the justice in that?

GSP does not use any USPS postal services.

---

You sure?

It shows a USPS postal label on both packages thus far with my address.

[pierrelebel]

"How can my tablet, made in Korea and valued at $525 cost me $36 in custom fees and that guitar at half the price already be near twice the customs charges?"

I wish I could give you a definitive answer on that question.  Reality is that:

1) different items imported into Canada from the same country (Korea) have totally different rates of duty assessed to them.

2) at time of assessing duty, eBay's system (Pitney Bowes) relies in part on information supplied by the seller.  It is quite possible the wrong information or no information was provided.

For more information, if you have plenty of time on your hand: http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/menu-eng.html

[afantiques]

Gsp has not right to take ownership of a product, that's not illegal , you need to says it as it is..

I can quote the Terns and  conditions of the GSP

http://pages.ebay.com/shipping/globalshipping/seller-tnc.html

Lost, Damaged, or Undeliverable Items. GSP Items purchased by your Buyer may be covered by an eBay Buyer Protection or PayPal Purchase Protection program, as described below.

eBay and Pitney Bowes shall have no liability and shall have, in their discretion and in any manner that they prefer, the right to dispose of or liquidate Parcels (and their contents) that eBay or Pitney Bowes conclude are undeliverable, for whatever reason. If eBay or Pitney Bowes conclude that a Parcel is undeliverable and elect to dispose of or liquidate a Parcel, title to the Parcel (and its contents) shall transfer automatically from you to eBay, Pitney Bowes and/or any third party designated by either eBay or Pitney Bowes (as eBay and Pitney Bowes may elect), at no cost to either eBay or Pitney Bowes (or to any third party designated by eBay or Pitney Bowes), and eBay and Pitney Bowes (and any third party designated by eBay or Pitney Bowes) shall retain all proceeds (if any) received from the disposal or liquidation of the Parcel and/or its contents)

[afantiques]

You sure?

It shows a USPS postal label on both packages thus far with my address.

If the seller bypasses the shipping to Kentucky and sends direct it would be USPS, otherwise any USPS label present should be for shipping to KY. The international shipping is not done by any postal service. For a start this would render the payment of the precollected import charges impossible.

Without that Kentucky stage the item might have been sold by a seller using the GSP but it was not sent by GSP.

Do you have any tracking results for these packages?

It seem quite common for sellers to get it all wrong, which is hardly surprising.

[rick31797]

---

@afantiques wrote:

Gsp has not right to take ownership of a product, that's not illegal , you need to says it as it is..

I can quote the Terns and  conditions of the GSP

http://pages.ebay.com/shipping/globalshipping/seller-tnc.html

Lost, Damaged, or Undeliverable Items. GSP Items purchased by your Buyer may be covered by an eBay Buyer Protection or PayPal Purchase Protection program, as described below.

eBay and Pitney Bowes shall have no liability and shall have, in their discretion and in any manner that they prefer, the right to dispose of or liquidate Parcels (and their contents) that eBay or Pitney Bowes conclude are undeliverable, for whatever reason. If eBay or Pitney Bowes conclude that a Parcel is undeliverable and elect to dispose of or liquidate a Parcel, title to the Parcel (and its contents) shall transfer automatically from you to eBay, Pitney Bowes and/or any third party designated by either eBay or Pitney Bowes (as eBay and Pitney Bowes may elect), at no cost to either eBay or Pitney Bowes (or to any third party designated by eBay or Pitney Bowes), and eBay and Pitney Bowes (and any third party designated by eBay or Pitney Bowes) shall retain all proceeds (if any) received from the disposal or liquidation of the Parcel and/or its contents)

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they cannot legally do this unless the package is a restricted item, then they have the power.

They are assuming legal rights they do not have, when there is a sale between two people, the shipper has no ownership to the item, as long as the item is not on the restricted list..They are overstepping there bounds, and there legal counsel, is not giving them sound advise. 

[pierrelebel]

"they cannot legally do this"

Please take a few minutes to read and comprehend the user agreement as far as GSP is concerned.

[rick31797]

What they put on paper and what is legally there Rights to do,are two different things..
they cannot claim ownership of somebody package, unless the package is illegal to begin with, they do have the right to protect the borders...but if you think what you read is the right of law, you will be mistaken, these rules that private companies make up to suit themselves, are challenged everyday in a court in the USA,

They the GSP can say what they want on paper they, are not the law, and i really think there whole organizing is a bit of a joke..if there was just a few complaints , ok, but there are too many people that have had issues.. they think they can liquidate any package at will, with whatever reason they want to come up with, is totally illegal, and could be challenged in court...if they open a package that is illegal then they have every right to protect the country, we all have that right...

[afantiques]

The answer to any challenge is that their terms and conditions were there, openly published for the seller to read and the sellers agreed to them by signing up for GSP.

To be blunt, I'd not give much credence to the legal opinions of someone who misuses 'there' for 'their' all the time. I wince every time I see it.

[rick31797]

You can agree to terms but , if the terms are not reasonable under the law, then the terms can be challenged in court of law...

[pierrelebel]

" then the terms can be challenged in court of law.."

That is correct.  However, there is a long way from challenging terms to actually having a court of law agreeing to changing the terms.

Would you spend your time and money to challenge those terms?  Why?

I understand why many Canadian buyers do not like GSP.  I do not like GSP as currently structured.  However, I certainly would not waste my time and money complaining about every aspect of it, day in, day out.  It is much easier to simply ignore listings offering GSP and move on.

I honestly fail to understand posters so obsessed against GSP.  If I see a problem, I mention it, offer a workable solution and move on.

Life is too short to obsess about things I cannot influence.

God, grant me the serenity to accept

the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

[rick31797]

No i would not challenge it, it would take alot time and you would need people on the inside to see exactly what they are doing.. its Mostly speculation here., in other words there is not enough proof..

This is a forum to voice your opinion  on the GSP, people can say what they wish. and i think i did read one poster that came on here and said they had no issues with it, i wonder why there isn't more satisfied customers voicing there thoughts using GSP..

 Only time will tell if GSP ever works out, i dont run an Ebay business that needs a supply of goods from the USA, i dont have to use it, over the holiday season, i bought on line  from stores in Canada with free shipping..

[3uthyphro]

I bought 3 tubes of  Rembrandt Toothpaste from a US seller because they were discontinued in Canada, nonetheless the toothpaste is the only one I can use due to chemicals in toothpaste. Regardless, for 3 x tubes of toothpaste that came to a total of $22.99, ebay is automatically charging $8.33 in import charges. That is almost half the price of the toothpaste!

This is clear gouging by both ebay, Pitney Bowes Inc, and the Canadian/US customs. It seems like ebay bends over to Canadian/US customs and their ridiculous charges instead of sticking up for fair rates. As a result of this, the past year and a half I've avoided ebay at all costs. Once again I'm reminded why I do not use ebay.

[treasurechest306]

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@afantiques wrote:

Also we PAY for USPS Priority via these GSP auctions however the seller is supposed to get the item to GSP within 4 days of it selling to be fully protected so of course sellers ship it USPS Priority however GSP sends it to us in Canada via the cheaper, slower, USPS Expedited...where is the justice in that?

GSP does not use any USPS postal services.

---

Check out this unhappy ebay buyer from Japan... see the 10:20 mark of the video.... Sure looks like  USPS box to me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZwZgcoc_zw

[treasurechest306]

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@rick31797 wrote:

What they put on paper and what is legally there Rights to do,are two different things..
they cannot claim ownership of somebody package, unless the package is illegal to begin with, they do have the right to protect the borders...but if you think what you read is the right of law, you will be mistaken, these rules that private companies make up to suit themselves, are challenged everyday in a court in the USA,

They the GSP can say what they want on paper they, are not the law, and i really think there whole organizing is a bit of a joke..if there was just a few complaints , ok, but there are too many people that have had issues.. they think they can liquidate any package at will, with whatever reason they want to come up with, is totally illegal, and could be challenged in court...if they open a package that is illegal then they have every right to protect the country, we all have that right...

I agree with some of this... once an item has been packaged and is in the hands of a postal service, it should not be tampered with.  Or, if someone is going to open and repack the items, they had better be authorized individuals with proper security clearances.  This is not a joke.  Mail is supposed to be secure.  I don't care what the "terms and conditions" say.  What if someone at the KY repacking plant put an illegal or banned item into the package and then sent it on?   Who is responsible and would go to jail for this?  The seller?   The buyer?  Ebay?  PB?  If tampering with mail once it is in secure facilities is allowed, or if ebay is doing this, then maybe its time to give Tony Merchant a call.

[marnotom!]

---

@3uthyphro wrote:

I bought 3 tubes of  Rembrandt Toothpaste from a US seller because they were discontinued in Canada, nonetheless the toothpaste is the only one I can use due to chemicals in toothpaste. Regardless, for 3 x tubes of toothpaste that came to a total of $22.99, ebay is automatically charging $8.33 in import charges. That is almost half the price of the toothpaste!

This is clear gouging by both ebay, Pitney Bowes Inc, and the Canadian/US customs. It seems like ebay bends over to Canadian/US customs and their ridiculous charges instead of sticking up for fair rates. As a result of this, the past year and a half I've avoided ebay at all costs. Once again I'm reminded why I do not use ebay.

---

You're in Ontario.  A US$22.99 purchase sent to you by mail or commercial carrier would attract US$2.99 in HST.  This would leave $5.34 for Pitney Bowes and all the companies subcontracted by it to process the order and do import/export clearance.  May not be a great deal on an inexpensive item if expressed in percentages, but it's better than what Canada Post would charge (currently C$9.95) if the item were assessed taxes by Canada Border Services.  

Nobody's putting a gun to your head and forcing you to purchase from sellers who ship through eBay's Global Shipping Program.  There are still lots of sellers from Canada, the United States, and wherever else who ship directly to their buyers instead of using the GSP so your decision to avoid eBay just means that you won't be doing business with those sellers, either.  Your choice.

Sure, there are other "etail" sites out there, but I think that if you do a bit of investigating and number-crunching you're going to find that many of them collect taxes in a similar manner as the Global Shipping Program, and you don't have a choice between using their service or finding another means of purchasing the item from the same site that doesn't pre-collect taxes due.

[treasurechest306]

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@treasurechest306 wrote:

---

@rick31797 wrote:

What they put on paper and what is legally there Rights to do,are two different things..
they cannot claim ownership of somebody package, unless the package is illegal to begin with, they do have the right to protect the borders...but if you think what you read is the right of law, you will be mistaken, these rules that private companies make up to suit themselves, are challenged everyday in a court in the USA,

They the GSP can say what they want on paper they, are not the law, and i really think there whole organizing is a bit of a joke..if there was just a few complaints , ok, but there are too many people that have had issues.. they think they can liquidate any package at will, with whatever reason they want to come up with, is totally illegal, and could be challenged in court...if they open a package that is illegal then they have every right to protect the country, we all have that right...

I agree with some of this... once an item has been packaged and is in the hands of a postal service, it should not be tampered with.  Or, if someone is going to open and repack the items, they had better be authorized individuals with proper security clearances.  This is not a joke.  Mail is supposed to be secure.  I don't care what the "terms and conditions" say.  What if someone at the KY repacking plant put an illegal or banned item into the package and then sent it on?   Who is responsible and would go to jail for this?  The seller?   The buyer?  Ebay?  PB?  If tampering with mail once it is in secure facilities is allowed, or if ebay is doing this, then maybe its time to give Tony Merchant a call.

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I am sure I will get the question so I will just put this link in now... around here, he is the king of class actions....

https://www.merchantlaw.com/classactions/