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.

[rick31797]

I sent a seller a Thank you for not using the Global shipping program and this was his response..

Hi, we do our best to help our buyers and Global shipping only helps the 
seller. So we did away with it after only having it for a month once we saw 
the problems with it

[i*m-still-here]

Shipping Internationally is a Piece of Cake and anyone who is able to address a letter and buy postage can ship anywhere in the world.

With a very few exceptions, the GSP does not make the actual act of shipping easier for sellers.

What gets in the way of selling Internationally for some sellers on eBay is fear that they'll get ripped off AND eBays' rating system.

The GSP may take care of those issues, but the problems it creates for buyers is exponentially greater, and in turn that swings back to sellers.

Why is the GSP still around in spite of all the issues for buyers?  

[arlene_v]

I've written to my MP and sent an email to the CBC Go Public Blog.

Not sure if anything will come of the emails, but it feels good to at least try to get the word out there about how we feel  about this, if nothing else, since raising our concerns  on this thread seems to have served absolutely no purpose despite the hundreds of negative comments about this program, and its numerous shortcomings. 

[arlene_v]

BTW, my major issues are a)No breakdown of what charges are applied to "import charges b)loss of right to appeal based on (a) and c)the federal and provincial governments presumably entering into contract with a US company that denies Canadians that info, and denies any refund of over payment of tax and duty.

I want to know if this is legal and constitutional. 

[marnotom!]

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@i*m-still-here wrote:

Shipping Internationally is a Piece of Cake and anyone who is able to address a letter and buy postage can ship anywhere in the world.

With a very few exceptions, the GSP does not make the actual act of shipping easier for sellers.

---

If one is to believe the US discussion boards, visiting the post office is something that's supposed to be avoided whenever possible.  It's time-consuming and hit and miss in the service department.  Technically speaking, First Class International packages do not qualify for USPS's carrier pickup service, even if the postage is generated online, although many carriers will agree to do it on the QT provided the package is electronically "round-stamped".

However, if sellers can't make arrangements for their First Class International items to be picked up or a quick drop-off at the post office isn't an option, they'd probably sooner not bother shipping directly to their international buyers.

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@i*m-still-here wrote:

Why is the GSP still around in spite of all the issues for buyers?  

---

Keep in mind that the name of the program is Global Shipping Program, not Canadian Shipping Program.  A quick scan of some of the other eBay discussion boards suggests that the number of posted concerns about the GSP are far fewer on other eBay sites.

While there's now a wider variety of complaints about the GSP than there were initially, it may be that the view from up high is that most Canadians who have been spoiled by not having to pay taxes and duty legally due on most of their personal imports are now having to pay the equivalent of those charges, with the reaction from up high being "Tough beans."

Also consider that the GSP is run by Pitney Bowes, not eBay, and there's probably contractual issues at play.

[i*m-still-here]

One of the regular posters to this board, Pierre Lebel a dealer in postage stamps sent a letter to his MP long ago asking about the way our government collects taxes on shipments over $20.

To the best of my knowledge there was no reply, and so perhaps you won't receive a reply either.

[maggiebvintage2010]

Perhaps this is off-topic, but you say the seller requested your email after the sale.  When I look at any sales record, the purchaser's email is right there, and that record remains for 45 days, according to eBay.  Doesn't a purchaser also know the seller's email?   Why would there be any need to try to circumvent eBay policy by requesting this information through eBay Messages?  Can someone explain? Thanks

[nogmeerwinst]

GSP is added to increase PayPal's profitability.

Once buyers are familiar with GSP's properties they tend to avoid sellers using it.

Sellers often have no knowledge of the negative impact of GSP on their listings and possible buyers.

[pierrelebel]

"I've written to my MP"

Good luck with that.

I wrote to my MP, a member of the government, several months ago and still waiting for an answer despite having sent a yet unanswered follow-up in early December.

Do you think you will do better dealing with a member of a third party in Parliament?

[pierrelebel]

"Doesn't a purchaser also know the seller's email? "

Of course.  It is supplied by eBay and is clearly evident on the PayPal payment.

[zigartenzewel]

I have also written my seller, my box was shipped Dec 14th and I don't have it yet. The "Global Tracking Number" show's it's been in KY since the 19th. I know it's somewhere because Canada Post sent me an obscure "we have data" from a shipper. I told the seller of the situation (nicely) that GSP is causing and that if Canada is of value to him he may want to know, if we're "chump change" well, then, thanks anyway. No answer yet.

[arlene_v]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

"I've written to my MP"

Good luck with that.

I wrote to my MP, a member of the government, several months ago and still waiting for an answer despite having sent a yet unanswered follow-up in early December.

Do you think you will do better dealing with a member of a third party in Parliament?

---

I've contacted David McGuinty once before and received a personal, thoughtful  reply from him pretty quickly - so here's hoping! 

And the more of us who raise this issue the better! 

Hope springs eternal!! 

[pierrelebel]

"no one can tell me that someone from eBay isn't reading this.  Why the lack of action or response from them?"

This is from a post yesterday (post #7) on the "weekly hour" thread by eBay.ca country manager (the big boss):

"The purpose of this thread is to collect information and insights around the Global Shipping program, and is being monitored by the Global Shipping team directly. My Toronto-based team and I have regular meetings with this team as well, and we refer often to the discussion threads.

Global shipping is great in theory because it opens up more inventory to Canada that previously only shipped to the USA. But there are lots of very valid buyer concerns and confusion around the implementation that we have today. We're listening, the Global shipping team is listening, and we're already working on buyer experience improvements that we hope will address some of those concerns."

Readers are invited to review that thread if they wish.

[i*m-still-here]

""""Global shipping is great in theory because it opens up more inventory to Canada that previously only shipped to the USA............................. """"

I'd like to know what exactly that inventory is and how that's working out for these buyers.

If there are such items they're not in my Universe and of course I can guess just like we all can, but what exactly is this inventory?

Moreover, are the majority of the buyer's of this particular inventory satisfied with the outcome and cost of buying via the GSP?

Who are they?

[pierrelebel]

Why ask me?

Ask the senior manager of eBay.ca who wrote those words.

[kxeron]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

"no one can tell me that someone from eBay isn't reading this.  Why the lack of action or response from them?"

This is from a post yesterday (post #7) on the "weekly hour" thread by eBay.ca country manager (the big boss):

"The purpose of this thread is to collect information and insights around the Global Shipping program, and is being monitored by the Global Shipping team directly. My Toronto-based team and I have regular meetings with this team as well, and we refer often to the discussion threads.

Global shipping is great in theory because it opens up more inventory to Canada that previously only shipped to the USA. But there are lots of very valid buyer concerns and confusion around the implementation that we have today. We're listening, the Global shipping team is listening, and we're already working on buyer experience improvements that we hope will address some of those concerns."

Readers are invited to review that thread if they wish.

---

Though,

There's a difference between having meetings discussing things and coming up with actionable plans with sign-off to make sufficient changes. I've had first hand experience in organizations where there's endless meetings and discussion, but due to the nature of a policy or other structure it becomes impossible to actually get anything implemented. While I do trust there's people within eBay who would like to see change happen, I have concern whether change is realistically possible given the blanket nature of the GSP given that it is the Global Shipping Programme.

Often times blanket policies like the ones contained within the GSP have difficulty being adapted to specific problem cases as often the policies (both external and internal) are written as a "one size fits all" measure, where exceptions aren't really taken kindly to.

I think until we see actionable, documentable plans in writing instead of "We're having meetings" that we can't hold our breath.

A lot of the troubles with a programme like the GSP is that it is a multi-organization programme, meaning that changes often require lawyer involvement to review the contracts, C-level involvement and such which can lead to even longer wait times for any actionable plans, and often even then, there's push-back if a party feels "inconvenienced" by the change which frustrates matters further.

The issue at this point in time is that there needs to be more transparency in the change process (e.g. what stage they're at at the minimum), not just opaque "we're working on it" or "we're having meetings", as the current opaque measures are just creating animosity with Canadian buyers who feel out in the cold on the matter.

[i*m-still-here]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

Why ask me?

Ask the senior manager of eBay.ca who wrote those words.

---

I wasn't asking you.  You're right:  How would you know?

When a post is the last one in the thread and someone posts next,  it does not necessarily mean that one is addressing the person above ......................... even though it does say reply to Pierrelebel (in this case).

[i*m-still-here]

kxeron wrote:

---

There's a difference between having meetings discussing things and coming up with actionable plans with sign-off to make sufficient changes. 

.......................................................

A lot of the troubles with a programme like the GSP is that it is a multi-organization programme, meaning that changes often require lawyer involvement to review the contracts,  etc. etc. etc.

_________________________________________________________________________

I think you're complicating this way too much.  Really, it looks every bit like they just blundered in without any real thought.

How many of us here would not have been able to give them the head's up that the GSP would be a real problem for us as buyers?

There is every indication that Canadian and other International buyers don't even register on their radar.

Had someone............. anyone........... spent an hour here and asked buyers how they'd feel about it and then given those opinions any weight the program would never have seen the light of day.

[mfh7200]

Like many others, I too have passed on seller items that use the GSP. This program is a terrible idea and I wonder how many sellers realize how many customers they are losing. The system worked very well before this came along, get rid of it.

[kxeron]

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@i*m-still-here wrote:
<snip>

I think you're complicating this way too much.  Really, it looks every bit like they just blundered in without any real thought.

How many of us here would not have been able to give them the head's up that the GSP would be a real problem for us as buyers?

There is every indication that Canadian and other International buyers don't even register on their radar.

Had someone............. anyone........... spent an hour here and asked buyers how they'd feel about it and then given those opinions any weight the program would never have seen the light of day.

---

While they may have "blundered in" wantonly in the belief a blanket policy would work, the difficulty is that once the gears are set into motion for a programme like the GSP, it's often very difficult to divert it or improve it by much beyond its original structures due to the sheer size of an organization like eBay and/or PBI. I often see things put into place on a "trial period" and it becomes such an everyday thing that the trial never ends and re-evaluations become symbolic at most.

Programmes like this are rarely *INTENTIONALLY* wrongly designed, they just end up that way as a result of "We need X that does Y and this is needed ASAP."