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.

[dasia143]

The one time I used it the item was broken by the packing and re-packing by Pitney Bowes!!!!  Canadian purchasers are already at a disadvantage with the shipping and this program just makes it worse.

Thank you. It's posts like yours that help other buyers know what they might be getting into if they buy with the GSP. I just passed on bidding on a porcelain doll because I was concerned PB would repack it poorly. There was just one bid; somebody got a bargain, but the seller would have done better if I'd been bidding.

[bonafide_bidder]

Regardless of how good the item's selling price is, I will never, ever, buy from any seller using the GSP. I received a survey from eBay which asked what I am dissatisfied with and what eBay could do to improve its service to buyers. I wrote:

"Charging "import" fees when none are levied by the Canadian government when the goods are exempt or under a specific value is illegal, it is fraud. I have read many posts by other eBay customers in Canada complaining about this and want it stopped. If eBay doesn't stop it, then Canadian eBay customers will not buy from those sellers and, possibly, stop using eBay."

[bonafide_bidder]

Pitney Bowes has a 5th Columnist running Canada Post, Deepak Chopra, former President and CEO of Pitney Bowes Canada, Latin America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, who is dismembering Canada Post for privatization and sale to?; Pitney Bowes!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra_(Canada_Post)

[arlene_v]

Dasia, I read your post over on the seller central thread "Where have all the buyers gone?" on the .com site, and thought it was great.

Many posts against  the GSP are not that calm and factual, and it  pays to be as rational as possible!  I must admit I have lost my cool on the odd occasion on the .com boards, mainly because of the complacent "who wants to deal with  those foreign buyers, anyway, bunch of scammers."  attitude that some sellers seem to have. The GSP has fed into this,, and preys on these fears and reservations. 

[marnotom!]

---

@dasia143 wrote:

With respect for the useful information you provide about the GSP (for example, that if the US seller ships free to Kentucky, the total price of shipping might come a little closer to being reasonable), I have to say that in my opinion you are wrong about this.

One seller who previously shipped an item to me in Canada has written to me that he opted in to the GSP because it makes things easier for him. It was a conscious decision.

Also, in several categories I can now find few or no sellers not in the GSP. Two or three years ago, there were several who shipped to Canada. A few might have stopped selling entirely, but there does seem to be a pattern. Perhaps one's perception of this depends on the type of items one typically buys.

---

I'm not sure how one can conclude that the majority of sellers have made a "conscious decision" to opt into the GSP based on a dialogue with a single seller.  It's the same sort of trap of illogic that some US sellers have fallen into by assuming that all international buyers are "trouble" based on a single bad transaction with a non-US buyer.

Perhaps my methodology is off, though.  I've been operating under the assumption that sellers truly interested in international shipping would offer direct shipping to buyers in countries where the GSP currently isn't offered.  I think in all my poking around eBay, I've found only one listing like that.

Having said that, this seller you're referring to may have decided just to focus on GSP countries and forego those where the program isn't available.

Something else to keep in mind is that eBay's search function is not the one that was in place a few years ago.  It may be that--deliberately or accidentally--non-GSP listings are somehow being suppressed in search results and that ones with the GSP are considered "best matches" for Canadian buyers.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Part-time-eBay-Sellers/Cassini-and-the-New-ebay/td-p/2951066

[dasia143]

Thank  you, Arlene. All any of us can do is try to foster understanding of how GSP is affecting us on each side of the border.

[dasia143]

 I've been operating under the assumption that sellers truly interested in international shipping would offer direct shipping to buyers in countries where the GSP currently isn't offered.

I don't know about that, but the seller in question won't ship to Canada now that GSP is offered, because with GSP being offered to Canada he doesn't have to worry about shipping taking too long and Canadian buyers complaining to him. (Never mind that GSP may take even longer, it's not his problem.)

Just because I only have the one example of personal experience doesn't mean my observation is invalid. As a matter of fact, I recently discovered a second one, but I have not bothered to write to her to ask why she is now in the GSP. The agenda book I previously bought from her is available from Amazon Canada so that's where I'll get it from now on. As I said, I notice that there are way fewer non-GSP offerings than there were items available to Canada two or three years ago in the three or four categories I regularly monitor. The pattern is clear and I stand by it. Maybe in whatever category you buy, things are different.

[pjcdn2005]

 I still maintain that most sellers using the GSP inappropriately are "US only sellers" that likely have no idea that they're even using it in the first place.

I don't think that any of us have enough facts to back up or disagree with that statement. But I do know of some experienced sellers who post on the U.S. powersellers board who are quite aware that their light under $25 items aren't really suitable for the gsp. They prefer to use the gsp because they are protected from bad feedback about shipping time, shipping cost and from complaints about 'unexpected' custom fees at the time of delivery. They seem to think that complaints about custom fees on delivery are a huge problem which is odd as I think that I have only had one complaint from an overseas buyer about paying customs. For those sellers, gsp is looked at as being quite wonderful and is much less hassle. Some of them did ship internationally before the gsp...some didn't.

If I sound like I am making excuses for their attitude..I'm not as their comments about the subject often make me angry.I doubt that any of them have ever had to pay any type of duty when they've made purchases. In fact, most of them have probably never made an international purchase as most items that they purchase are available in the U.S.

[arlene_v]

I have read the exact same thing on the board I visit most often on the .com site.

 The extra costs buyers see have been pointed out many times on many threads (I mention it so often it is like a mantra), and yet quite a few regulars continue to  use the GSP. Some have opted in having sold internationally in the past. 

They are selling  light weight, inexpensive costume jewelry.  

The point one seller makes is that it is not worth her while to have the "potential hassle" of an overseas sale for a $10 item, so  she prefers to use the GSP. She has hundreds (maybe even a thousand)  GSP listings, many of which are considered a "bad fit" under GSP best practices, and yet she continues to list them as such. 

Her view is "this is my business, feel free to hit the back button".  

And these cheap, lightweight  completely inappropriate listings pollute this program,  making it appear to be a colossal money grab re shipping costs, and in turn making buyers like me very, very leery.

When some sellers have this attitude (i.e they don't care at all whether they sell internationally or not) there is no motivation use the GSP appropriately, and to input data correctly to generate accurate costs for international buyers. 

IMO, a GSP  model only  works well when sellers are highly motivated to sell internationally, and know that the bottom line is all about staying competitive. 

Unlike the situation on eBay where  it would appear that many US sellers don't care one way or another, because international sales are a drop in the ocean and the GSP is  solely for their convenience, with little or no concern for the buyer.  All the seller "education" in the world is not going to change this attitude. 

Such a mess. 

[pjcdn2005]

Well said!

[marnotom!]

---

@dasia143 wrote:

I don't know about that, but the seller in question won't ship to Canada now that GSP is offered, because with GSP being offered to Canada he doesn't have to worry about shipping taking too long and Canadian buyers complaining to him. (Never mind that GSP may take even longer, it's not his problem.)

Just because I only have the one example of personal experience doesn't mean my observation is invalid. As a matter of fact, I recently discovered a second one, but I have not bothered to write to her to ask why she is now in the GSP. The agenda book I previously bought from her is available from Amazon Canada so that's where I'll get it from now on. As I said, I notice that there are way fewer non-GSP offerings than there were items available to Canada two or three years ago in the three or four categories I regularly monitor. The pattern is clear and I stand by it. Maybe in whatever category you buy, things are different.

---

I never said your observation was invalid.  I was just suggesting that a conclusion based on one experience may be a bit premature.  🙂

You also observe that there are fewer non-GSP offerings coming up in your searches than there were items available to Canada in the categories you regularly monitor.  Do you have any sense of if the number of items available to Canada has increased as a result of the GSP?  I'm betting that the "success" of the GSP is being measured by PBI and eBay in terms of listings offering international shipping, amongst other criteria that have little to nothing to do with what buyers are experiencing.

As for the seller of the agenda book, I urge you to let her know that you've been driven to the competition.  There are some sellers who are unaware that they're now using the GSP.  If there's no mention of the program in her own listing descriptions, I wouldn't be surprised if she's one of them.

[marnotom!]

---

 I still maintain that most sellers using the GSP inappropriately are "US only sellers" that likely have no idea that they're even using it in the first place.

pjcdn2005 wrote:

I don't think that any of us have enough facts to back up or disagree with that statement. But I do know of some experienced sellers who post on the U.S. powersellers board who are quite aware that their light under $25 items aren't really suitable for the gsp. They prefer to use the gsp because they are protected from bad feedback about shipping time, shipping cost and from complaints about 'unexpected' custom fees at the time of delivery. They seem to think that complaints about custom fees on delivery are a huge problem which is odd as I think that I have only had one complaint from an overseas buyer about paying customs. For those sellers, gsp is looked at as being quite wonderful and is much less hassle. Some of them did ship internationally before the gsp...some didn't.

If I sound like I am making excuses for their attitude..I'm not as their comments about the subject often make me angry.I doubt that any of them have ever had to pay any type of duty when they've made purchases. In fact, most of them have probably never made an international purchase as most items that they purchase are available in the U.S.

---

I've occasionally pointed out on the .com discussion boards that 40-odd US-states charge "use tax" on out of state purchases.  The application of "use tax" varies somewhat from state to state, but in essence it's the equivalent of state sales tax and it's mostly paid on the honour system, often with one's income tax.  This invariably raises the hackles of one or two posters who don't get it and think that "use tax" is nothing like the so-called "import taxes" international buyers pay, but I think the connection is a pretty fair one.

The number-crunching that's been done in the US suggests that the vast majority of American citizens don't pay use tax, although a study has concluded that compliance would likely increase if more of them knew about it in the first place.

Again, as you can imagine, there's usually one or two posters who take offence to the notion or simply can't believe that their fellow countrymen aren't paying taxes owing on their out of state purchase.

http://globalnews.ca/news/536403/shopping-on-the-internet-without-paying-sales-taxes-makes-you-a-tax...

[dasia143]

Quoting Arlene,

"When some sellers have this attitude (i.e they don't care at all whether they sell internationally or not) there is no motivation use the GSP appropriately, and to input data correctly to generate accurate costs for international buyers."

--Sadly, this has the ring of truth.

[dasia143]

Quoting Marnotom!:

Do you have any sense of if the number of items available to Canada has increased as a result of the GSP?

Obviously I don't have access to those 2010-11 listings, but my sense of it is that the number of items is roughly the same, but the majority--in at least one category, all--are now in the GSP. None I've yet seen offers anything like a reasonable cost for shipping, handling and (if applicable) duty, unlike the one experience you had that makes you conclude the GSP is not such a bad thing. 🙂

[marnotom!]

---

@dasia143 wrote:

Obviously I don't have access to those 2010-11 listings, but my sense of it is that the number of items is roughly the same, but the majority--in at least one category, all--are now in the GSP. None I've yet seen offers anything like a reasonable cost for shipping, handling and (if applicable) duty, unlike the one experience you had that makes you conclude the GSP is not such a bad thing. 🙂

---

Never said that.  I think the closest I've come is saying that buyers who do their homework and who can put up with the general weirdness of the program can sometimes do okay by the GSP.

I'm not sure how many buyers would want to comb GSP listings looking for situations where it sort of makes sense to use it, however.  🙂

[afantiques]

although a study has concluded that compliance would likely increase if more of them knew about it in the first place.

Authored by the Department of the Bleeding Obvious at Banal State U.  🙂

[rdmidd]

I'm Canadian & Use E bay  for used Items. This Global Shipping program for Canadians is the Pits . It has stopped me purchasing  any more items unless buyer agrees to ship USPS. only. They often do but when you go to buy item  & proceed to purchase, Up come a column which says Buyer must agree to Global shipping their brokerage & any duty charges added after purchase. Before you can proceed to buy which now stops the purchase. . I have a 100% rating over 140+ items & only once have I had a problem with USPS . a camera did not arrive . it was traced back to customs. Get Rid of it if you want other Countries especially Canada to participate in your purchasing. Roy Middleton

[pinoy_eh]

Ebay.com or Ebay.ca has been working for me for the past x number of years since I became an ebay buyer/seller. I've been buying my expensive to buy in Canada goods from ebay sellers in USA or overseas. During the introduction of this "Customs services and international tracking provided", which I consider as an EBAY SCAM, it does not benefit me anymore. Thus, I try to look for seller overseas who offers me free shipping or fair shipping rates. Buying items in the USA where the price is less than US$ 60.00 should not be charged with this GSP and there should be NO TAXES. I don't want to pay taxes for a used US$ 50.00 running shoe where the SCAM GSP will cost more than half of the used shoe. This is not FAIR for customers outside the USA. Since the introduction of this GSP by ebay, most often buy my items in Hong Kong, China or anywhere else where GSP is not included. I still buy from US sellers not charging this GSP because they know there are customers who don't like to pay this GSP which is just a money grabbing scheme. An alternate website that I used to go buy goods where the prices are great is aliexpress.com

[pjcdn2005]

---

@marnotom! wrote:

---

 I still maintain that most sellers using the GSP inappropriately are "US only sellers" that likely have no idea that they're even using it in the first place.

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I don't think that any of us have enough facts to back up or disagree with that statement. But I do know of some experienced sellers who post on the U.S. powersellers board who are quite aware that their light under $25 items aren't really suitable for the gsp. They prefer to use the gsp because they are protected from bad feedback about shipping time, shipping cost and from complaints about 'unexpected' custom fees at the time of delivery. They seem to think that complaints about custom fees on delivery are a huge problem which is odd as I think that I have only had one complaint from an overseas buyer about paying customs. For those sellers, gsp is looked at as being quite wonderful and is much less hassle. Some of them did ship internationally before the gsp...some didn't.

If I sound like I am making excuses for their attitude..I'm not as their comments about the subject often make me angry.I doubt that any of them have ever had to pay any type of duty when they've made purchases. In fact, most of them have probably never made an international purchase as most items that they purchase are available in the U.S.

---

I've occasionally pointed out on the .com discussion boards that 40-odd US-states charge "use tax" on out of state purchases.  The application of "use tax" varies somewhat from state to state, but in essence it's the equivalent of state sales tax and it's mostly paid on the honour system, often with one's income tax.  This invariably raises the hackles of one or two posters who don't get it and think that "use tax" is nothing like the so-called "import taxes" international buyers pay, but I think the connection is a pretty fair one.

The number-crunching that's been done in the US suggests that the vast majority of American citizens don't pay use tax, although a study has concluded that compliance would likely increase if more of them knew about it in the first place.

Again, as you can imagine, there's usually one or two posters who take offence to the notion or simply can't believe that their fellow countrymen aren't paying taxes owing on their out of state purchase.

http://globalnews.ca/news/536403/shopping-on-the-internet-without-paying-sales-taxes-makes-you-a-tax...

---

I've seen similar conversations about the state tax. I suspect that the sellers who purchase out of state items for their business are well aware of the state tax as they should have to take that into account when doing their income tax. But I have no idea of how many sellers pay tax on all out of state purchases. I agree that it is the same sort of thing as the customs tax. Most people pay it if they absolutely have to but few are going to go out of their way to pay unless they are required to.

[rdmidd]

Question 1. is Nothing.It makes an used item price more than new .So not worth my business any more. So Amazon with it's fixed $

6.99 postage is getting a lot of my business now .Remember that Canadians

. 

Question 2.Yes .Let seller and buyer  have the option to use USPS . I'm purchasing an item right now where the seller has agreed  to ship USPS But when I go to purchase . You still have to agree to use GSP rules , inc  their Tax,Duty ,brokerage  fees, and added increases. it says, Even after paying for item Which I will not do..

Question 3 GSP Deterers me completely.

Thanks for your Post, Now as nothing positive has been written in support of GSP . For the sake of EBay customers ,Both buyer & sellers Get this  program cancelled immediately  or a rival outfit will be taking your business  in the near future. Kijjii is already getting a lot of mine. Roy Middleton