Comments about the Global Shipping Program

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

Message 1 of 6,171
latest reply
6,170 REPLIES 6,170

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Apparently you are trying to contact your seller. This is a member to member Board for Canadians. An American seller is very unlikely to see it.

There should be a Contact Seller button on the original listing.

 

About the GPS.

EBay introduced the program to encourage US sellers, a notoriously provincial bunch, to sell internationally by giving them a program that would handle international shipping and claims of non-delivery for them.

It was not intended for items under $50, very bulky items (there is a maximum size that Pitney-Bowes will handle) or for business to business transactions.

You are right. UPS could have delivered the amplifier directly from your seller to you. You should be aware however, that they would be charging you the full duty and tax applicable along with a $25+ 'customs brokerage fee' on your doorstep before handking over your purchase.  There are archived threads thousands of posts long and lasting for more than a decade about this practice.

 

File an Item Not Recieved dispute (Customer Support> Resolution Centre). Your seller will not be required to refund you since the error was PB, who will refund you in full. 

 

How long has it been since you paid? Normally shipments from the USA take from 15 to 20 days to arrive, and most experienced buyers don't start Disputes for at least 30 days.

And the tracking numbers you may get from PB are not useful. They are internal numbers and can't be used outside the company. This is not relevant in any case. If PB can't show that your item was delivered to you or somewhere, they must refund. So tracking acts against the best interest of the buyer.

Message 2681 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!


@afantiques wrote:
 

I hope you have not already paid. If the seller sends direct after you have paid the GSP charges everyone will be out of pocket except the GSP .


I paid already. My issue isn't with the seller, and i also knew and could see the extra costs on the auction.

So bidding on that item i agreed to the rules of that auction, and am not backing out of it.

 

The seller actually replied to me this morning (great seller i must say, very open communication) and explained

his reasons why he is now in the GSP... He does sell rather high ticket items and he says he is protected as he has

proof his items are sent. I can understand his point only for the fact of what he is selling.

 

My original comments to him were did he know about GSP, because if he was shipping directly to buyer as many do,

then PB is actually taking 100% cut and doing 0%.

 

But still, will be staying away of GSP as much as possible as it gets very costly.

 

cheers all.

Message 2682 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Dude,

 

I don't know who you are and what your beef is, and I have to admit that I'm kind of hijacking this thread, but the title above so NAILS what I DO want to talk about that it doesn't really matter. At this point, even IF eBay's "representatives" ARE deigning to actually bother to read any of what we say is no longer relevant, because any answers or possible "solutions" are no longer relevant, and unless we can somehow acquire a time machine and go back oh, ten years? can we even begin to address the appalling Putin-esque attitude of eBay and PayPal.

 

Being in Canada as I am, but being a US citizen as I am (I know, so what?) and having been on eBay as both seller and buyer (probably 20 - 80%) since around 1999, and been active -- not moribund for months or years -- I've seen it all come and go, Well probably much like most of you types.

 

Number one, I know that *nothing* I or you or ANYONE ELSE who are eBay's willing slaves/partners in crime -- whatever you wish to call us -- will ever even prompt an eyebrow-raise at any board meeting of eBay's VERY comfortable owner/managers' conferences.

 

As far as I can see, as sellers, of which maybe I AM only a 20%er, or a buyer -- as a CANADIAN buyer, no less -- we are $%^&ed and pretty much, it's eBay's way or the highway. need I say it -- it's unnecessary -- but this is MUCH to eBay's liking.

 

They have us all over a barrel. Every single one of us -- veterans, sellers, buyers, US citizens or Moldavian citizens -- THEY call the shots and we just go along, sheeplike, because THEY KNOW THEY HOLD ALL THE CARDS.

 

Look, I was hanging around these forums in 2005, when the perennial question "Is there no alternative to eBay?" was still a hot topic. Yep. 2005.

 

Well, nine years later, the same topic is obviously the biggest in terms of interest, and we all know the answer: How many languages do you want it in? Nein, non, nyet, iie, zenzen, êtes-vous fous? etc. etc.

 

We know it and they know it. What. Quibids? IBid? WeBid? WhoBids? THERE IS NO EQUAL. I can just take a measure of comfort knowing that they failed most HEINOUSLY in China and Japan because they JUSY DIDN'T GET IT.

 

But it's no consolation for us punters.

 

This new "Global Shipping Program" is an affront to us veterans and ALL newbies alike. It's a big fat loogie in the face. Last time I checked, Pitney Bowes was a manufacturer of PRINTERS.

 

Okay, so maybe you guys down south don't want to ship up to us Northerners, here in our igloos and beaver hats, drinking Labatts and, like, watching hockey, eh, and Rob Ford, eh?

 

Well hello, shipping to Canada is no more different to shipping to Nevada from California -- really, REALLY, it isn't.

 

I used to sell Apple TVs. remember them? They were a hot item about two years ago because they could be jailbroken and you could watch first run movies on them and such like.

 

Well, I was dong nothing illegal, but my point is this: my gamily lives in California, I live in Montreal. It cost me precisely $USD6.47 to put an Apple TV in a bubble-wrap envelope, go to the post office in Oakland, CA, and ship one to myself after filling in a tiny export form. That is $6.47. I must have shipped fifty of them that way. All to myself. I put on the waybill, "Used computer parts, value $25." It was the TRUTH.

 

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM ARRIVED IN PERFECT ORDER. NONE OF THEM WAS OPENED "FOR INSPECTION." Not ONE of them was molested in ANY WAY. They just simply arrived in my mailbox here in Montreal, having cost a grand total of $6.47.

 

Wait! you shriek. What if they'd GOT LOST IN THE MAIL????? Excellent question, friend, excellent point! And I'll take the opportunity to state that in over 12 years of cross border shipping of things big and small, cheap and expensive -- we are talking about easily over a thousand separate items -- NOT A SINGLE ONE EVER WENT ASTRAY. Not even one teensy-weensy one was mishandled by USPS or Canada Post. Just shipped regularly, no tracking number, just "Via Air Mail/Par Avion" in an appropriately packed package. NOT EVEN ONE.

 

I don't need FedEx. I'm not in a hurry. I don't need DHL, Purolator or that master of ripoffs, UPS. I'm NOT IN A HURRY and I DON'T NEED A TRACKING number, because you know why? By the time the tracking software tells me the package is nearing my town, it's already in my hands.

 

So WHY should I pay brokerage fees, taxes, duties and other means of lining people's pockets if I don't have to? Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to rip the Canadian government off its due. But a used Apple TV *might* be worth $240 to you an me, but in actual fact, a used Apple TV is worth about, oh, $12 in electrical parts, so WHY SHOULD I DECLARE IT TO BE WORTH $240 just because someone chose to pay me that much for it?

 

Let's get back to the "Global Shipping Program." last week, I got this astonishing communiqué from the seller of an Apple laptop, for which I paid around $400 (Canadian, US, take your pick): "I'm moving house this weekend, so you're going to have to deal with eBay's shipping program if the address isn't the one I'm mailing it to (unspecified)" -- basically WASHING HIS HANDS of whatever was going to happen to the laptop after he "handed it off to eBay's shipping program."

 

Whaaaa? After getting a lecture on why "it's a lot of hassle shipping to Canada " (umm, excuse me? "A lot of hassle?" Did I read you correctly? IT'S NO MORE HASSLE THAN SHIPPING TO THE NEXT STATE unless YOU make it so -- unless YOU insist that it has a tracking number, insist on putting the inflated value of the item right there on the waybill so they CAN'T IGNORE IT even though they should -- yeah, sure, it's a lot of hassle. ESPECIALLY if your hippocampus is underdeveloped.. But I digress.)

 

"But sometimes buyers cause problems, don't pay blah blah blah." Yep. Sure enough. Buyers cause problems. It's a known fact in this busy world of ours: buyers cause problems. But the way I sometimes read it is: "CANADIAN buyers cause problems." Oh, really? And exactly how might that be, Mr. Seller? I'm an American citizen living in Canada (also a Canadian citizen). As an eBay seller, I have shipped both from the US to Canada, the US to other foreign countries, from Canada to the US, and from Canada to other foreign countries, and in over ONE-THOUSAND-ONE HUNDRED TRANSACTIONS IN A SPAN OF OVER TWELVE YEARS I  CAN COUNT ON MY TWO HANDS THE AMOUNT OF EVEN REMOTELY SERIOUS PROBLEMS I HAVE ENCOUNTERED.

 

Maybe I should change my eBay tag to "LUCKYtonbo0422!" Whaddya think?

 

But eBay's blatant cash grab for the INCREDIBLY inefficient Pitney Bowes -- I mean, I'm in the arts business, yeah, I'd heard of them -- but have YOU? -- "Global Shipping Program" is a total, famously eBay-like spit in the face of all its faithful sellers, and of course, by extension, its often completely naive buyers -- and it is going to continue this way because eBay can DO WHATEVER THE £µ¢≤ it likes because it remains completely unchallenged and unchallengeable in the cutthroat (seemingly) online selling business.

 

I wish to every god you like that things could change tomorrow, that a "NEW CONTENDER" could somehow appear to curtail eBay's spectacular thumb-to-the-nose attitude to us, buyers AND sellers and EVERYONE ELSE IN BETWEEN but unfortunately this little missive will disappear just like the bark on a moonlit hilltop that it really is.

 

Happy transactions and a merry live long and buysell to you all.

 

Nick

 

AKA tonbo0422

Message 2683 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Yes I had a seller who sent me an invoice through paypal for the item and they then just marked the item paid on ebay. Came up on my ebay as paid.
No payment to them through ebay, no payment to Pitney Bowes 🙂 A bit more hassle for the seller but they were good enough to do it for me - not all will. A big thank you to those that are willing!
Message 2684 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

I buy a ton of stuff from US sellers. with GSP, without, ship to Canada don't and more. 

 

Sellers can and will change from GSP for loyal buyers or if you ask them. 

 

The cost of GSP in practice is really inexpensive, regardless of the value of the item. 

 

Shipping is usually an extra $5-10, Brokerage is about $5 or so, and taxes make up the rest. 

 

Sometimes when I buy, it's cheaper to send via GSP than to my freight forwarder who charges.... $2 per item received $2 for repacking and then the extra shipping cost to get it sent here. 

 

Maybe most are more mad that the loophole for buying an item and not paying taxes on it is closing. What are you going to do? Buy from Canadians...who charge tax?

 

Just remember when you buy to add in all the costs. If it's cheaper for you, then good for you. If not, then don't buy it. But no need to get angry about it. It's just stuff. 

Message 2685 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Good Day,

 

Recently, I started re-using my EBay account for purchases. Well, purchase, singular. EBay had made some changes a few years ago to the shipping fees and the fees charged to the seller. It made it so EBay would take a cut of the shipping fees the seller charged. Which to me, as a vendor at that time, made it impossible to compete with larger stores. This also drove up the overall closing fee of an item. Now, I found an item from a U.S Vendor which I was interested in. I couldn't find a similar product from a Canadian vendor online, or even in person. There are much higher priced Canadian products available. The accepted best off on the product was $137us. Now, being re-introduced to EBay, I had no idea about the GSP. By the time the extra charges were tacked on, I paid $228 Canadian. In writing this, I decided to check my PayPal account history to receive a proper amount for what I actually paid, and I found out GSP couldn't "ship" my item which they received a week ago and has refunded my money. So add to the extra almost $100 in charges for "shipping" and what not, they decided not to ship the item and return it back to the U.S Vendor. Shame really. I won't be making a repeat transaction.

Tracking Number UPAAB000000053513170

 

http://shiptrack.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShipmentTracking&TrkNo=UPAAB000000053513170&token=iM6yalr...

 

151121002840 Item

Message 2686 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

I am so delighted that a seller with integrity noticed the scam that is the GSP.  After seeing that the item I won would be diverted so far from its destination before getting there, he refunded me half of the GSP shipping cost. Now that's good business and integrity.  This, of course, is opposite to a system that gouges customers, and whose defenders assert that if you make a deal that is a rip off, then it is not only binding, but no longer a rip off because you agreed to it.  Or, it's a rip off, you agreed to it, so just suck it up.  No bargaining allowed, no changing the shipping terms by the seller.  You're locked in because you agreed, and that's all that matters.  Free wheeling capitalism at its finest (I'm not against capitalism, just the greedy sort that is destroying the free market).  Before any insider gets on his or her high horse, the item in question was won for $9.  No duty to be paid in advance.  This shows the GSP is nonsense!!!!!!  Hats off to the seller who realized that his integrity was compromised because the item he sold was going on a continental tour!!

 

 

Message 2687 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Right on Cynthia.  An American seller actually refunded his own money because of this ridiculous system.

Message 2688 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

I can't imagine how anyone has the time you have to respond in eBay's defense to so many people.  You're almost "everywhere" this issue arises, but have little substance to offer.  There is clearly a problem you do not want to acknowledge and I don't think we're all in denial.  Perhaps you are, with your logic that suggests that if you accept a bad deal, then it isn't a bad deal anymore.

Message 2689 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

It's a bad deal, just face it.

 

Message 2690 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Really?  I think you've run out of excuses for eBay's bad business.

Message 2691 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!


@mcollins3369 wrote:

 

I can't imagine how anyone has the time you have to respond in eBay's defense to so many people.  You're almost "everywhere" this issue arises, but have little substance to offer.  There is clearly a problem you do not want to acknowledge and I don't think we're all in denial.  Perhaps you are, with your logic that suggests that if you accept a bad deal, then it isn't a bad deal anymore.

 


I've acknowledged that the GSP is far from the greatest thing since sliced bread in many posts.  Just because I have several posts that try to explain why the GSP works the way it does and that it may work in certain circumstances doesn't mean that those posts represent my entire thoughts on the subject.  

 

It just irks me that buyers all-out condemn the GSP because of one bad experience with it--largely because these buyers haven't done their homework beforehand--and then wonder why some U.S. sellers don't ship internationally under their own steam because these sellers haven't done their homework or they've had one bad experience that led them to give up on direct international shipments altogether.

 

Global Shipping Program listings have the fees on the listing page.  Links to further information on the program are on the listing page.  Just before buyers commit to purchasing the item there's a note that buyers agree to the terms and conditions of the Global Shipping Program and yet another link.   Perhaps you can explain why buyers aren't finding this information or these links?

Message 2692 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

he says he is protected as he has proof his items are sent.

 

The seller is a bit clueless then. He needs evidence stuff was safely delivered, just being sent is useless.

Message 2693 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

After seeing that the item I won would be diverted so far from its destination before getting there, he refunded me half of the GSP shipping cost. Now that's good business and integrity.

 

It's very poor business and a misled seller. Better to cancel the sale and re-offer without GSP. Cheaper for both  seller and buyer. The seller simply did not understand what he was doing, and sellers should understand what they are doing.

 

We are seeing a collision between ignorant sellers and ignorant buyers on a scale not seen since tectonic plates collided to make the Himalaya mountains. The rage and frustration is certainly piling up miles high.

Message 2694 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!


@marnotom! wrote:

 

Global Shipping Program listings have the fees on the listing page.  Links to further information on the program are on the listing page.  Just before buyers commit to purchasing the item there's a note that buyers agree to the terms and conditions of the Global Shipping Program and yet another link.   Perhaps you can explain why buyers aren't finding this information or these links?


 

If buyers, in droves, are telling eBay that they are not seeing the charges, or they are not obvious enough, this needs to be dealt with. No-one can explain this, but this thread provides clear evidence that this is in fact  happening, and the way these charges and T&C are being  presented is not "user friendly" enough. 

 

If anyone needs to explain this, it would be eBay and Pitney Bowes .. did they do testing before launching the GSP on this site to see how regular buyers using different devices and various apps and browsers, etc would see, notice and interpret, charges?

 

IMO, getting rid of that "No additional import charges at delivery!" at the very top of  listings,   and replacing it with  "Import charges to be  prepaid by buyer" might go some way to improving the current situation.

 

 

Message 2695 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!


@arlene_v wrote:

If buyers, in droves, are telling eBay that they are not seeing the charges, or they are not obvious enough, this needs to be dealt with. No-one can explain this, but this thread provides clear evidence that this is in fact  happening, and the way these charges and T&C are being  presented is not "user friendly" enough. 

 

If anyone needs to explain this, it would be eBay and Pitney Bowes .. did they do testing before launching the GSP on this site to see how regular buyers using different devices and various apps and browsers, etc would see, notice and interpret, charges?

 

IMO, getting rid of that "No additional import charges at delivery!" at the very top of  listings,   and replacing it with  "Import charges to be  prepaid by buyer" might go some way to improving the current situation.

 


It could be that a lot of people are using mobile devices to browse eBay and bid on or buy items when it has been said that the GSP blurb doesn't show on some mobile devices. I agree with Arlene: the issue of the GSP charges not showing has come up too often to always simply be a case of someone bidding/buying first and reading the listing later, if at all.

 

Was GSP tested on .ca before launching? Ha! That's a good one! Remember in the beginning, the GSP blurb wasn't showing at all on .ca. You had to view the listing on .com to find out if you were going to get fleeced or not.

 

The "No additional import charges at delivery!" (complete with exclamation point at the end, no doubt meant to make it sound exciting) is the only "selling feature" they could think of for the buyer, along with a tracking number that doesn't actually track anything. "Import charges to be prepaid by buyer" sounds just about as exciting as an afternoon at the dentist getting your teeth drilled (and just as expensive).

 

There's no way around the fact that the GSP is a badly flawed program. Why eBay fell for PB's amateurish concept is beyond me. If they feel that the GSP is filling a real need, then they really should look at partnering with a competent service provider and ditching PB as soon as the contract is up.

Message 2696 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Quoting froogal_electronic

 

"The cost of GSP in practice is really inexpensive, regardless of the value of the item."

 

--"Inexpensive" is subjective. I liked to combine shipping, so GSP at least triples my shipping costs.

 

"Maybe most are more mad that the loophole for buying an item and not paying taxes on it is closing."

 

--I don't like it that PB get paid their service charge even when the item costs less than $20 CAN.

 

Editing to say sorry for the double post. Will not try to use that automatic quoting again!

Message 2697 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

Thank you AKA tonbo0422. It was refreshing to read a post from an longtime eBayer that gets to the point about why so many Canadians are upset about the GSP. Credit also to roy-dona for triggering your post. I agree he or she is right that there is something not quite right about the GSP.

 

So many of the anti-GSP posts are from buyers who've found their way here for the first time ever to express their dismay, only to be met by replies that try to justify it or play up the few advantages it might offer to 1% of buyers. Speaking for myself, those replies only add to the frustration.

 

 

 

Message 2698 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

I for one love the GSP Progam as it gets Canadians supporting there own economy which will only possibly create more jobs for Canadians .....

 

I do have a love hate relationship with it .. Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is horrible

 

 

FYI TO posters that get frustrated by people explaining how it exactly works and what is is good for  and not good for .. IF facts frustrate you Disneyland is located in Florida ...

 

 

The forums are bad place for anyone who just once people to agree with them and say yes yes yes your all right ...

 

In my time on hear I have had some people chop me up in little pieces but it always ended up being constructive even if a little on the mean side ...  

Message 2699 of 6,171
latest reply

Re: Can all you sellers STOP using Global shipping??!!!!

I had some people chop me up in little pieces.

 

Nah, not me, but after you were broiled & sautéed, our dog found you delicious.

Message 2700 of 6,171
latest reply