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.

[marnotom!]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

" Which comes out on top when you compare UPS and the GSP?"

Does it really matter?

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It seemed to matter enough to Rick to do a comparison of a number of combinations of the postal system, GSP and UPS, but for some reason he didn't compare those two head-to-head.

[rick31797]

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@marnotom! wrote:

What about my first question, Rick?  Which comes out on top when you compare UPS and the GSP?

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the two eg. you selected, i didnt see no UPS shipping, i seen USPS, and GSP, and i told ,the two you decided to pick, doesn't mean there are not other choices, anybody can do that all day long... and why didnt you pick the coffee maker, that was 19.99 with a 10.00 ship.. would that be a better buy..

Are you tell me you would choose GSP, over buying from Canada at a cheaper cost.

It all comes back to what few people has said, you say you dont support GSP but your words say a different story..

And like i said before, lowest price does not determine that i buy it.. and i really dont like the track record GSP has, i feel safer having my item shipped USPS.

You should really purchase something using GSP  put your money were your mouth is and report back, then maybe your posts would have more substance to it..

[marnotom!]

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@rick31797 wrote:

the two eg. you selected, i didnt see no UPS shipping, i seen USPS, and GSP, and i told ,the two you decided to pick, doesn't mean there are not other choices, anybody can do that all day long... and why didnt you pick the coffee maker, that was 19.99 with a 10.00 ship.. would that be a better buy..

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@The first question made no reference at all to the comparison to the coffee makers, Rick.  You wrote:

I don't see any sense to use the GSP, when  i weight the difference between GSP  vs USPS, USPS  comes out on top.When i weight UPS vs USPS  , USPS  comes out on top.

Nowhere did you weigh UPS versus the GSP, and I would have thought that as you were making thorough comparisons, you would have done that.

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@rick31797 wrote:

Are you tell me you would choose GSP, over buying from Canada at a cheaper cost.

It all comes back to what few people has said, you say you dont support GSP but your words say a different story..

And like i said before, lowest price does not determine that i buy it.. and i really dont like the track record GSP has, i feel safer having my item shipped USPS.

You should really purchase something using GSP  put your money were your mouth is and report back, then maybe your posts would have more substance to it..

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You're conveniently omitting the part of my hypothetical question which had the conditions that the level of service and speed of the GSP was equal to that of the postal system.  Of course I haven't purchased anything through the GSP yet.  I've done my homework and I've yet to find a "must have" item that justifies its use.  Besides, most "must have" items on eBay are simply "wants" and not "needs".  I've got the self-discipline to defer my "wants".  I don't understand why some users have issues with the supposedly "unnecessary" fees of the GSP and yet they purchase the item anyway.  The issues with the handling of the item and other customer service issues are more understandable as there's no clue about those on the listing page.

[carsncash]

I can't buy anything on ebay because too many people are using the GPS and it makes a 10 dollar item cost 40 for most. There should not be any customs charge on items this cheap someone is totally pocketing a lot of money with this gimmick scam.!

[rick31797]

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@carsncash wrote:

I can't buy anything on ebay because too many people are using the GPS and it makes a 10 dollar item cost 40 for most. There should not be any customs charge on items this cheap someone is totally pocketing a lot of money with this gimmick scam.!

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I am noticing alot more adds using GSP, i was looking for a laptop, the other day and it was pretty well use-less trying to search for sellers without using GSP, so then you choose just Canada and a certain brand of laptop, and the selection goes too just a few.. 

and why should Ebay really care, they are thinking only in terms of helping sellers sell more so they can make more money..

[mater721]

Yes, with sellers not using GSP properly, it seems ebay is becoming less and less useful for international buyers looking for items <$50.

[amya4295]

I was an avid buyer on ebay for many years and I experienced my first transaction awhile back with a seller in the U.S using GSP. It was a fiasco. First of all she had absolutely no understanding of the process which really got complicated when she had to cancel the transaction because of a problem with the item itself after I had paid. Of course she could only refund me the cost of the item and could not refund me the shipping and import fees etc. It took several calls and a lot of time on the phone with the help line to get a resolution and to get my money back. From that point on I have not purchased any items form the U.S with sellers that use GSP.
Can you please answer this question. Seller has item for sale in auction format. Bid is at approx $35.00 with a day left. Shipping and import fees total over $60.00. The have a BIN on the item of about $100.00. Is that why the import fees are so inflated even though the bid is at $30.00? Is the import duties based on the BIN amount and is it adjusted if it sells for less in auction format? It is a huge deterrent to see a $50.00 import charge on a $30.00 item, who in their right mind would bid on that. So many items now have import and shipping charges more than double what the item is selling for and I just cannot understand that. When you ask the sellers they are so uninformed about this and say they are not aware but don't know how to fix it. I have cut my purchases almost completely with U.S sellers on Ebay and am managing to find deals on other sites without the super inflated import/tax/shipping fees. There is no way to improve this service for Canadians unless you cancel the GSP or allow us to search items from sellers that don't use GSP.

[pierrelebel]

"Is the import duties based on the BIN amount and is it adjusted if it sells for less in auction format?"

Yes, taxes (GST/HST/PST) and duty (if applicable) are "estimated" on the Buy-it-Now price until the bidding exceeds that value or the listing ends at which time it is recalculated based on the selling price.

When you think about it, anything else would not make sense as a Buy-it-Now buyer would be rather disappointed to see a low "import charge" value in the listing - based on a low bid - and be eventually charged the correct amount for taxes and duty (if applicable) based on the actual purchase price.

[i*m-still-here]

Every day I have a new bizarre encounter with the GSP.

I've stopped posting about them here because it's never ending, but today I had a question I've never encountered before.

The seller doesn't understand why I haven't paid him yet even though he has agreed not to ship via the GSP.

He has no idea what I am seeing at my end.

He thinks that some third outside party has somehow contacted me without his knowledge and is trying to tap into our transaction without his permission and is trying to take over his shipping duties.

(Actually, he's not that far off the mark at all.)

Trying to deal with this kind of thing day in and day out is draining.

[marnotom!]

How can he expect to be paid if he hasn't sent you an invoice?

[rick31797]

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@i*m-still-here wrote:

Every day I have a new bizarre encounter with the GSP.

I've stopped posting about them here because it's never ending, but today I had a question I've never encountered before.

The seller doesn't understand why I haven't paid him yet even though he has agreed not to ship via the GSP.

He has no idea what I am seeing at my end.

He thinks that some third outside party has somehow contacted me without his knowledge and is trying to tap into our transaction without his permission and is trying to take over his shipping duties.

(Actually, he's not that far off the mark at all.)

Trying to deal with this kind of thing day in and day out is draining.

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Tell him when he wants to bypass GSP , he needs to send you an invoice with purchase price and shipping cost..

[i*m-still-here]

You'd be surprised at the number of US sellers who think the way this seller does.

Today alone I had 2 like that.

When you buy a lot here you encounter this type of thing frequently.

In any case, after countless emails I think we're finally on track with this transaction.

It's a more expensive item and the last thing I need is the GSP with their fingers in my package.

The GSP is much worse when dealing with high priced items.  

[marnotom!]

Perhaps with the high priced items that you purchase.

For many of the high-priced items that I've checked, the alternatives to the GSP from other sellers appear to be unknown shipping services that may or may not charge taxes/duty upon receipt of the item.

[marnotom!]

Something else to keep in mind is that the Global Shipping Program does not transform lousy sellers into brilliant ones.  Your experiences seem to back up my hypothesis that most sellers using the GSP haven't had much--if any--experience in selling to buyers from outside of the United States.  And it doesn't seem to matter whether or not they're knowingly opted into the program; they still haven't a clue how the program works or looks to their potential buyers.

Seeing as the GSP is often a warning flag for the type of seller you're likely going to get, I do wonder what impels you to purchase from sellers who--for whatever reason--don't know what they're doing.

[i*m-still-here]

All of the issues encountered with the GSP when buying lower priced items are magnified when buyer higher priced items.

[quanttrom]

The old system worked perfectly well and wasn't a huge cash grab.

Cancel GSP!

[marnotom!]

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@i*m-still-here wrote:

All of the issues encountered with the GSP when buying lower priced items are magnified when buyer higher priced items.

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You don't generally go into a lot of details about your purchases, but I would surmise that a lot of those "issues" that you're encountering in your purchases are with the sellers, rather than with the GSP itself.

Sellers of items shipping through the GSP will have a hard time working with buyers when they're unaware of the program or how it works.

[marnotom!]

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@quanttrom wrote:

The old system worked perfectly well and wasn't a huge cash grab.

Cancel GSP!

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The "old system" is still very much alive and kicking.  The GSP is mostly being adopted by sellers who wouldn't normally offer shipping to Canada prior to the program becoming available.

[i*m-still-here]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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You don't generally go into a lot of details about your purchases, but I would surmise that a lot of those "issues" that you're encountering in your purchases are with the sellers, rather than with the GSP itself.

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marnotom:  You surmise incorrectly.

In the past I have gone into lengthy detail about my very unpleasant GSP purchases and was viciously attacked every time I did so.

Now I come here to glance at the thread now and then because the GSP is a major force in my every day eBay buying experience but I no longer go into detail for obvious reasons.

[aria1156]

Nothing has worked well with the GSP for me in Montreal. It is slow, packages were opened and slightly damaged and VERY costly. Not worth it for items that are not expensive. It even charges duty when none would normally be charged (for value under $22.00) USPS first class international provides tracking and is not slower than so-called priority in my experience. For high value items, maybe GSP which has insurance would be worth it. 

Many sellers don't even know that they are in the program so don't know to opt out.  I would have to be very desperate to obtain an item to ever use it again.