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.

[Anonymous]

Hi I am  from Australia and i have seen the the global shipping option on US sellers ebay sites.This is a fantastic way of discouraging sale's,  to the huge amount of online buyers in Australia.Buy a $50.00 US item and get slogged $53.00US postage were real postage cost is $19.00 US on one recent item i purchased.Australian's have embraced the touch phone/pad  technology and are shopping on line. Please dont discourage us with high shipping, happy for a fare go. 

Please US seller's review your international shipping costs and reap the benefits of increased rather than decreased sales.

For all mankind.

Regards

5072   

[quietoday]

Yet another hand in our pockets, first time I've ever had to pay $30.00 to have a book delivered. What happened to the Americans beloved media rate on printed material?

[afantiques]

Media rate is not available for international shipping.

Heavy items to Australia can be cheaper to ship with GSP. It makes no sense for anything that is under 4 pounds weight packed.

No US sellers will see your comments here, post on the US Seller Central board to reach them.

[bdby800]

Was surprised to see extra charges for US sellers on import fees. Was confused with these charges since not all Us sellers are charging import fees.
Have the understanding its the International sellers who are charging such fees.
Some fellow Canadians were complaining of unspecified extra fees they were being hit with
But since it states these charges below shipping fees...was not following ?they didn't read since but do blame ebay since there has not been any notifications on these changes from ebay.
I simply will boycot such sellers sorry Im not bidding on items and paying more for shipping and import fees than what the product is worth.
I simply refuse to buy from such sellers who are charging the same import fee as shipping its like paying double for shipping not worth the purchase especially if its more that your bid or winning price
Shipping fees to Canada from The States
Simply rediculous

Regards
**bleep** Canadian on extra import fees from US sellers

[afantiques]

Congratulations, you have discovered the Global Shipping Program!

[i*m-still-here]

The GSP was introduced almost 2 years ago.

marmo/afantiques puts in an incredible amount of time challenging and responding to buyers' concerns.

Surely, it's a full time job.

In spite of the fact that concerns are almost always repeats, and each one pretty much receives the same response, posts from buyers are getting angrier and more plentiful by the week.

While all that is going on the GSP is appearing in an ever increasing number of listings.

What's wrong with this picture?

[bennett4612]

Hi afantiques. 

Well, I had to do some digging on this one. In part because I had never heard of that particular tracking site. 

This particular site is not performing the way we want it to, and it is an issue we are working on (see bottom portion of quote, below).  

Not exactly a super helpful answer there, I know. If there are specific transactions where tracking info seems to be missing customers can always try GSP-specific Customer Service* or send me a Private Message. 

Here is the reply I received, regarding trackyourparcel.eu:

++++++++++

This is a known issue.  The link just refers the member to www.trackyourparcel.eu.  The user should be able to view the tracking data for their order through that site by entering the reference number they see in the tracking overlay and the postal code of the buyer's international shipping address the buyer provided in Checkout.

If the user cannot access their tracking data after entering the correct information, we need to get more info from the member to troubleshoot (Item ID of the listing they purchased, their eBay User ID, and the postal code they are entering).

Lastly, we are trying to get this corrected such that the link in the tracking overlay can take the user directly to the tracking data for their order on the www.trackyourparcel.eu site, but there are some difficulties building the URL to do that.  We are working on it though.

++++++++++

*Here is the GSP-specific contact info for eBay and PB:

For Pitney Bowes customer service regarding GSP issues, you can email PBISGSPCS@pb.com to reach the GSP Customer Service group. Or you can call 1-866-235-9627, and press 1 to reach the same GSP Customer Service group. 

To reach GSP customer service on the eBay side, call eBay Customer Service ( 1-866-540-3229  [ or ] 1-866-643-1587 ) and request to speak with a GSP Specialist. If the CS person on the line cannot help they can transfer you to someone who can. Hours of operation: Monday - Sunday, 6:00am - 11:00pm Mountain Time. 

[bennett4612]

Hi cosmicwaiter. 

Just wanted to chime in here, regarding GSP usage. 

We do not typically recommend the GSP for items priced below $50. GSP is not a "one size fits all" program, and the $50 guideline is pretty general. More detail can be found at the following links:

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/shipping/globalshippingprogram/update_faqs.html

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/shipping-globally.html

Not trying to talk you into anything. Just thought I would provide a little more info around how the program works. 

----Bennett

[rogie43]

My Issue with the GSP is when an item is being produced by the same country you are importing to. A prime example for canadians is shipping hockey equipment, most of it is made in Canada, thus it should not be charged import charges, one seller said i had to pay for it regardless. I said claerly on the picture in your ad states that it was manufactured in Canada, thus no custom charges would apply. GSP is **bleep**e.

[rick31797]

---

@bennett4612 wrote:

Hi cosmicwaiter. 

Just wanted to chime in here, regarding GSP usage. 

We do not typically recommend the GSP for items priced below $50. GSP is not a "one size fits all" program, and the $50 guideline is pretty general. More detail can be found at the following links:

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/shipping/globalshippingprogram/update_faqs.html

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/shipping-globally.html

Not trying to talk you into anything. Just thought I would provide a little more info around how the program works. 

----Bennett

---

Bennett ,its easy to say just buy items under 50.00 without using GSP, but living in Canada, and searching for a specific items or rare item, it getting close to impossible to buy an item with-out a seller using the GSP, even items under 50.00..

I was looking to buy an Apple Ipad, a few weeks ago, with no luck, so Walmart put them on sale so i bought there, now i need a genuine apple smart cover for it.. it needs to be blue in color, a folding type, made  Polyurethane, so far no luck..

[i*m-still-here]

I would also like to point out that as item price increases, so do all the negatives associated with the GSP.

I think that those posting that the GSP is best for items over $50 are buying items under $50 and have the mistaken belief that it must work for someone out there or it wouldn't be around after all this time.

It does not for items over $50 either.

[jeterbessant]

I completely agree! It makes sites such as Etsy and Kijiji look like a much attractive alternative.

[pocomocomputing]

---

@i*m-still-here wrote:

The GSP was introduced almost 2 years ago.

marmo/afantiques puts in an incredible amount of time challenging and responding to buyers' concerns.

Surely, it's a full time job.

In spite of the fact that concerns are almost always repeats, and each one pretty much receives the same response, posts from buyers are getting angrier and more plentiful by the week.

While all that is going on the GSP is appearing in an ever increasing number of listings.

What's wrong with this picture?

---

eCommerceBytes had an article on GSP in August 2012 that the GSP was going to be announced.

Officially announced by eBay November, 2012.

January 2012 it started to gather momentum as eBay pushed it onto sellers in user agreements without sellers knowledge when they had to accept the new user agreements.

So 16 months. Trivial point but just wanted to clarify it.

[i*m-still-here]

Thank You.   I've been trying to pinpoint it but wasn't quite able to do so and so I appreciate the dates.

It feels like it's been a part of eBay for much longer and no end in sight yet.

[marnotom!]

---

@rogie43 wrote:

My Issue with the GSP is when an item is being produced by the same country you are importing to. A prime example for canadians is shipping hockey equipment, most of it is made in Canada, thus it should not be charged import charges, one seller said i had to pay for it regardless. I said claerly on the picture in your ad states that it was manufactured in Canada, thus no custom charges would apply. 

---

Just about anything purchased from outside of Canada can have applicable taxes (i.e. GST, HST, PST, QST, RST etc.) applied to it.

"Import charges" aren't necessarily "duty".  And in the case of the GSP, there are other processing fees thrown in there too.

[marnotom!]

---

@i*m-still-here wrote:

marno and afantiques puts in an incredible amount of time challenging and responding to buyers' concerns.

Surely, it's a full time job.

---

You're more than welcome to help people learn more about how the GSP works.  After all, this is a help board.

[roadrunners123]

Well I have read so many comments, mostly negative and yet GPS lives on, and will live on so long as there is profit to be made..

[bb_cool_stuff]

Haven't checked this thread in ages & it seems nothing has changed.

Maybe I'll check again next month, then again, maybe not.

[marnotom!]

---

@roadrunners123 wrote:

Well I have read so many comments, mostly negative and yet GSP lives on, and will live on so long as there is profit to be made..

---

People don't generally post to discussion boards when they're happy with how things have gone with an eBay sale because people generally expect eBay sales to go well.  We really don't know what sort of proportion these complaints are of GSP sales as a whole.

I know my one GSP purchase went well.  I don't know if I'm an exception or if I was successful because I did my homework prior to making my purchase.  Are there things I'd like to see done differently with GSP purchases?  There certainly are.  But I was able to put up with the program's shortcomings and get myself what I think is a pretty good deal all the same.

[susanhelperbee]

If you use the Global Shipping program to send items to Canada, say, used shoes, it can cost the buyer more than the cost of the item you have sold.  The program may be great for new items, although I doubt that, but for used items, you will lose a lot of buyers and there doesn't seem to be any way out of it once you have listed.