eBay

kalvin@ebay.com · ‎09-26-2013

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.

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

dasia143 · ‎02-03-2014

@marnotom! wrote:

Perhaps you can explain to me, then, how the GSP complicates purchases, because I'm not getting it. I search for listings in "list view", see the results with the subtitle "customs services and international tracking provided," and avoid them. Seems straightforward to me. What am I doing wrong?

Of course you are doing it right but there used to be a faster way to go through listings that wouldn't ship to your country. I could just look at eBay.ca and it wouldn't show me those listings. Maybe I was missing something I'd have liked and had I contacted the seller and asked nicely, they might have been willing to ship to me. However, I long ago decided that would take too much time and be frustrating if they said no.

Now, searching for items has become more time-consuming because I have to scroll through pages of items with the GSP subtitle, seeing things I can't order because I won't buy through GSP. Not only because the shipping costs are high, but also because I suspect their estimates for import duties are higher than necessary (especially for items made in the States which should have no duty). Also, it appears that if anything goes wrong, you have to deal with a faceless company rather than the seller, which puts me off. For me the fun of eBay has been finding unique items at good prices and having friendly exchanges with sellers who appreciate those things too. The few times problems have arisen, the sellers have always been easy to contact and receptive to solving the problem.

There may be a few people for whom the GSP is a good thing, but a short survey of discussion forums devoted to collecting anything from antique radios to designer purses has shown me that there are many more in Canada and farther afield who are very disappointed in eBay for introducing it.

i*m-still-here · ‎02-03-2014

@bennett4612 wrote:

---Bennett.

Hi Bennett: It looks like you are GSP go-to person.

For about a month there was a link which allowed buyers to email sellers for shipping cost without the GSP when items which had been listed via the GSP.

It meant that sellers could bill for shipping without the GSP without having to bill via paypal or end the listing and realist without the GSP.

That was a wonderful convenience. Could you please put it back? 🙂

Why was it removed?

bennett4612 · ‎02-03-2014

Hi i*m-still-here.

Hmmmm, I wasn't aware of that link. Which of course means I wasn't aware of its removal either.

I will check on it though, and post back to this thread w/ what I find out.

Thanks.

Bennett.

marnotom! · ‎02-03-2014

@dasia143 wrote:
Of course you are doing it right but there used to be a faster way to go through listings that wouldn't ship to your country. I could just look at eBay.ca and it wouldn't show me those listings. Maybe I was missing something I'd have liked and had I contacted the seller and asked nicely, they might have been willing to ship to me. However, I long ago decided that would take too much time and be frustrating if they said no.

Yes, but don't forget, GSP items do ship to "our country". Well, that is, if the seller's knowingly enrolled in the program. 😉

I do agree with your point about contacting "Ships to: United States" sellers prior to bidding or purchasing, though. My wife and I used to do it a lot and the law of diminishing returns led us to pretty much abandon that practice as some sellers weren't even willing to consider shipping the item to a relative in California. That is, if we even got a reply in the first place.

@dasia143 wrote:
Now, searching for items has become more time-consuming because I have to scroll through pages of items with the GSP subtitle, seeing things I can't order because I won't buy through GSP. Not only because the shipping costs are high, but also because I suspect their estimates for import duties are higher than necessary (especially for items made in the States which should have no duty).

Since some sellers are unaware that they're enrolled in the GSP and some haven't done their homework on it, it's going to follow that some sellers with GSP listings aren't going to be conforming with the program's terms and conditions. One of those terms is that sellers have to specify the item's country of origin (if known) in the "item specifics" portion of the listing. If they're not doing that, it's likely going to lead to duty or incorrect duty charges being levied on the item.

As for scrolling through pages of listings, I'm likely going to be flayed by some for suggesting this, but I think some of us eBayers have been spoiled. Once upon a time, there was no eBay.ca and Canadians had to search on the one eBay site: eBay.com. Sure you could try searching for items "available to Canada" but I found the filter to be pretty buggy so I gave up using it. The only way that I could find out whether an item offered shipping to Canada or not was to click on the link to the listing from the search results page and view the listing. You have to admit that this process has the potential to be even more time-consuming than scanning through search results for a message about customs charges.

marnotom! · ‎02-03-2014

@i*m-still-here wrote:
For about a month there was a link which allowed buyers to email sellers for shipping cost without the GSP when items which had been listed via the GSP.

It meant that sellers could bill for shipping without the GSP without having to bill via paypal or end the listing and realist without the GSP.

That was a wonderful convenience. Could you please put it back? 🙂

Why was it removed?

I'm puzzled by this question, as well. What made this link different from the "Ask Seller a Question" link?

llaen · ‎02-03-2014

@bennett4612 wrote:
[...]

I also know that this is likely not much comfort. If your item has still not arrived in the next day or two please feel free to send me a Private Message and include the item #, transaction #, eBay user id, and email address used in the transaction. That way I can look into it from this end.

Hope this helps.

---Bennett.

Hi Bennett,

Thanks for the quick reply and clarification that something's being done about the tracking details (or lack thereof). I'm glad it's a known issue!

The delivery is not a time-sensitive thing (in this case) and I have no problem being patient. I was just frustrated at the lack of information. Might as well not provide tracking at all.

Thanks for the offer anyway.

i*m-still-here · ‎02-03-2014

Thank you Bennett.

There wouldn't be too many of us who are aware of it, but since I buy a lot I noticed it the day it appeared and missed it immediately as well when it was removed.

When you went to purchase history it was the first option in the scroll down menu.

If you put it back a lot of the GSP problems would be solved instantly once buyers and sellers are made aware of the link.

micaylah · ‎02-03-2014

As it says on my Front Page...I will not purchase from GPS Sellers. Plain and simple. I move on.

______________

One does not simply buy. One eBays!

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-03-2014

@marnotom! wrote:
@i*m-still-here wrote:
For about a month there was a link which allowed buyers to email sellers for shipping cost without the GSP when items which had been listed via the GSP.

It meant that sellers could bill for shipping without the GSP without having to bill via paypal or end the listing and realist without the GSP.

That was a wonderful convenience. Could you please put it back? 🙂

Why was it removed?

I'm puzzled by this question, as well. What made this link different from the "Ask Seller a Question" link?

The question to Bennett is a little oddly worded. Let's say a potential buyer asked the seller ahead of time if they would ship out of the gsp and the seller agreed. I believe that the link I'm referred to meant that after the buyer purchased the item, there was a link for them to request an invoice.which in turn allowed the seller to send an invoice with their own outside of the gsp shipping costs.Apparently, right now, there is no way for the seller to send an invoice outside of the gsp unless they send it through Paypal.

sno_dream · ‎02-03-2014

Wow 86 pages of comments from Canadians mostly upset and concerned about this rip off 'import' charge. Ya think there is a problem here Ebay???

Now I am getting charged on my low dollar purchases on ebay which used to sail through customs with no duty, tax or delay.

Why does a 3rd party have to get involved and overcomplicate this. Seriously? Can't Canada Customs do it? You are billing me on things that Canada Customs would not bill on!!!!!!!

First it was the increased fees on shipping to sellers. Paypal taking a fee on shipping charges. Postal rates hiked drastically the last 2 years (i know, not your problem)

I think I am about done with ebay. Canadians have gotten screwed long enough.

marnotom! · ‎02-03-2014

@sno_dream wrote:

Wow 86 pages of comments from Canadians mostly upset and concerned about this rip off 'import' charge. Ya think there is a problem here Ebay???

Now I am getting charged on my low dollar purchases on ebay which used to sail through customs with no duty, tax or delay.

Why does a 3rd party have to get involved and overcomplicate this. Seriously? Can't Canada Customs do it? You are billing me on things that Canada Customs would not bill on!!!!!!!

The GSP was designed to make shipping outside of the United States as easy as shipping within it for sellers who simply couldn't or wouldn't do it under their own steam.

The issue with shipping costs, taxes, and other fees to the buyer appears to be something akin to collateral damage.

rick31797 · ‎02-03-2014

@marnotom! wrote:
@sno_dream wrote:

Wow 86 pages of comments from Canadians mostly upset and concerned about this rip off 'import' charge. Ya think there is a problem here Ebay???

Now I am getting charged on my low dollar purchases on ebay which used to sail through customs with no duty, tax or delay.

Why does a 3rd party have to get involved and overcomplicate this. Seriously? Can't Canada Customs do it? You are billing me on things that Canada Customs would not bill on!!!!!!!

The GSP was designed to make shipping outside of the United States as easy as shipping within it for sellers who simply couldn't or wouldn't do it under their own steam.

The issue with shipping costs, taxes, and other fees to the buyer appears to be something akin to collateral damage.

I really dont get how shipping GSP is suppose to be easier... nothing much changes for the seller, with GSP they still have to pack the item they are selling, and they still have to transport it too mail it... what's makes this any easier then doing basically the same thing to ship USPS..

walker0017 · ‎02-03-2014

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

marnotom! wrote:

The GSP was designed to make shipping outside of the United States as easy as shipping within it for sellers who simply couldn't or wouldn't do it under their own steam.

The issue with shipping costs, taxes, and other fees to the buyer appears to be something akin to collateral damage.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Collateral damage my eye, eBay and PB knew full well that the GSP would make them a fortune with all their fees and such and it almost gives them a licence to print their own cash considering how much money they are probably raking in. You would think after 86 pages of mostly negative comments from it's Canadian buyers that this would have been fixed by now like maybe exempting Canada as a GSP target country instead of them just hoping we go away. Not the brightest way to do business by alienating their customers.

fallonjet · ‎02-03-2014

Wow, what can I say as a buyer in Canada I hate it. It is a crock and charges so called Customs and Clearing fees we're not even charged in Canada. I will only deal with sellers who can offer an alternative shipping option and the one time I have used GSP it seems my parcel destined for Canada from Miami has been sent to a post office in Erlanger KY??? **bleep** even if you can't read, you must be able to tell Canada is not Kentucky??? The GSP has seriously made me, a long time eBay buyer rethink the whole eBay thing and perhaps it is time to buy elsewhere in the future. I cannot thing of a word to adequately describe how much GSP SUCKS!!! This has to me the most obvious money grab eBay has ever attempted and the worst idea ever!!!

marnotom! · ‎02-03-2014

@rick31797 wrote:

I really dont get how shipping GSP is suppose to be easier... nothing much changes for the seller, with GSP they still have to pack the item they are selling, and they still have to transport it too mail it... what's makes this any easier then doing basically the same thing to ship USPS..

Some U.S. sellers don't use USPS for their domestic sales, preferring to have their items picked up and delivered by carriers such as FedEx and UPS. These carriers aren't always so viable as shipping options to non-U.S destinations.

marnotom! · ‎02-03-2014

@walker0017 wrote:

Collateral damage my eye, eBay and PB knew full well that the GSP would make them a fortune with all their fees and such and it almost gives them a licence to print their own cash considering how much money they are probably raking in. You would think after 86 pages of mostly negative comments from it's Canadian buyers that this would have been fixed by now like maybe exempting Canada as a GSP target country instead of them just hoping we go away. Not the brightest way to do business by alienating their customers.

You must have missed the announcement that sellers can now exempt up to four GSP-eligible countries from the list of Global Shipping Program destinations and ship directly to those destinations instead. I haven't seen any examples of that in my searches yet, mind you.

As for your other point, most items I've searched for that have the GSP applied to them have about three and a half to five dollars in fees after the taxes (and maybe duty) are taken off the "import charges". (This is a bargain compared to Canada Post's $9.95 "handling" charge for items assessed taxes/duty by Canada Border Services.) Given that three or four parties minimum are likely responsible for handling a Global Shipping Program item, this isn't a terribly big pie to split up.

As for the shipping fees, items that can be sent as oversized letters (USPS First Class International, Canada Post Small Packet, etc.) don't tend to be cheap to send by most other means. Try sending a 50 gram letter across Canada by Standard Parcel sometime and you'll see quite a difference. Same goes with the GSP.

walker0017 · ‎02-03-2014

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marnotom! wrote:

You must have missed the announcement that sellers can now exempt up to four GSP-eligible countries from the list of Global Shipping Program destinations and ship directly to those destinations instead. I haven't seen any examples of that in my searches yet, mind you.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I actually did miss that announcement, but the point I am trying to make is that if eBay was serious about the buyer push back on this and 86 pages is quite a push back, Canada would have been removed from the GSP eligible list and not as a 1 of 4 option list for sellers. Some of the US sellers I have contacted via e-mail who are enrolled in the GSP if they have an outside e-bay web store site are willing to ship via USPS but cannot change to it thru eBay. I don't know if they don't know how to opt out of it or if there are other reasons why. But that method has worked and I made some purchases that were in line with what a US buyer would pay. Alas for now it all does not matter with the Canadian dollar down the way it is as it is now cheaper to buy items from Europe and China including shipping costs instead of trying to find none GSP sellers in the US.

reallynicestamps · ‎02-04-2014

The whole thing is there to line pockets, I do not want to mention names.

Oh go ahead and name the names.

The first name would be Revenue Canada , which forces commercial companies to collect applicable taxes on any import valued over $20.

The second name would be, well 13 names actually, the provincial sales tax collectors plus the GST collectors who sub-contract collecting applicable PST/GST/HST to Revenue Canada which forces.... etc.

The third name would be Pitney Bowes which operates the Global Shipping Program and charges a fee, usually in the vicinity of $5, to process all those shipments for applicable duty and tax, and then ships from Kentucky to your doorstep. (The shipping fee your seller charges only covers the journey from his door to the PB plant in Kentucky.)

Now Canada Post and the Canadian Border Services Agency have a possibly unwritten policy of ignoring imports that are low-value and small, concentrating on high value and bulky parcels. Actually this is sensible, since it would cost more to pay a CBSA officer to assess a $50 item (duty free to New Brunswick would be $7.50) than would be collected. Oh and then Canada Post would charge another $10 as their service fee.

As a result, Canadians who rarely import are shocked to find out they actually owe the government money when they do.

There are a couple of possible reactions.

The first would be to Buy Canadian.

Another would be to write your MP and ask that the mail order import limit be raised to the $200 allowed to cross-border shoppers.

dasia143 · ‎02-04-2014

@marnotom! wrote:
@dasia143 wrote:
Of course you are doing it right but there used to be a faster way to go through listings that wouldn't ship to your country.

Yes, but don't forget, GSP items do ship to "our country". Well, that is, if the seller's knowingly enrolled in the program. 😉

I know they do ship to Canada (unfortunately!); I guess I wasn't clear I meant to equate GSP listings with those that don't ship to Canada since I won't consider any item listed in the GSP program and therefore don't even want to see them.

@dasia143 wrote:
Now, searching for items has become more time-consuming because I have to scroll through pages of items with the GSP subtitle, seeing things I can't order because I won't buy through GSP. Not only because the shipping costs are high, but also because I suspect their estimates for import duties are higher than necessary (especially for items made in the States which should have no duty).
As for scrolling through pages of listings, I'm likely going to be flayed by some for suggesting this, but I think some of us eBayers have been spoiled. Once upon a time, there was no eBay.ca and Canadians had to search on the one eBay site: eBay.com. Sure you could try searching for items "available to Canada" but I found the filter to be pretty buggy so I gave up using it. The only way that I could find out whether an item offered shipping to Canada or not was to click on the link to the listing from the search results page and view the listing. You have to admit that this process has the potential to be even more time-consuming than scanning through search results for a message about customs charges.

I only joined after there was an eBay.ca so never experienced that system and certainly don't think it would be an improvement to turn the clock back to that. I'd just like the option to see eBay.ca listings without items in the GSP. Better yet, show them all and allow the buyer to choose the shipping method. USPS, fast courier, or GSP. You pay your money, you should get your choice!

marnotom! · ‎02-04-2014

@dasia143 wrote:

I'd just like the option to see eBay.ca listings without items in the GSP. Better yet, show them all and allow the buyer to choose the shipping method. USPS, fast courier, or GSP. You pay your money, you should get your choice!

That's a good way of framing that, actually. A long time ago before eBay tightened up its payment methods considerably, buyers could search specifically for sellers who accepted PayPal (possibly even Billpoint) payments as there were some sellers who didn't. Perhaps the advanced search could be tweaked so that specific shipping methods (economy, standard, express, GSP) could be selected,

Only downside that occurs to me off the top of my head is that the GSP filter likely wouldn't be used for searches on the .com site despite the fact that not all countries have their own eBay site. It seems to be quietly assumed that most buyers using the site will be American, so they wouldn't have need for the GSP.