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

arlene_v · ‎06-04-2014

Glad to be able to help, Dasia. The first time I tried this I was quite nervous thinking that I would have no way to "back out" if I didn't like what I saw under the "import charges" when I input my bid amount. All of this is simply not explained and it is no wonder that buyers are leery ... I agree with you that there should be an easy and straight forward tutorial on this.

I remember when I was studying librarianship we had a seminar on "Displays".

Apparently the vast majority of people will spend a lot of time looking at pictures but virtually no time reading any accompanying text, so we were advised to keep text to the bare minimum. Kind of funny really in the context of a library!

I strongly suspect that most first time buyers using the GSP stop reading anything after "No additional import charges" .... and go on to look at the pictures in the auction, the idea implanted that there is no need to worry about extra charges.

So this set up is really not very good.

rookies_stars_legends · ‎06-04-2014

I would say that 90% + of my purchases on eBay are for "luxury" items, in other words, things that I like to have but don't really need. This GSP has taken the fun out of buying on eBay for me. If there is something I really need, I will look for a seller not affiliated with GSP or Google and find elsewhere. I WILL NOT PAY these ridiculous GSP charges for nothing. This GSP will hurt all sales and maybe that is good as I should have cut back on "luxury" purchases a long time ago.

mwc1942 · ‎06-04-2014

Going to save that little tidbit of info ...... just in case.

Thanks

aschardong · ‎06-06-2014

sorry, but this is worst thing ebay did so far. Im in Canada and will stop buying from Ebay. My local store has better prices after this messed up Global Shipping Program

afantiques · ‎06-06-2014

will stop buying from Ebay

Why penalise sellers who are competent enough not to use this program?

dasia143 · ‎06-06-2014

Quoting Afantiques,

"Why penalise sellers who are competent enough not to use this program?"

Exactly. Unfortunately since the GSP came in my browsing and therefore buying has gone way down--seeing all those GSP listings ticks me off, making eBay less of a fun place to hunt for bargains and unique stuff. My buying was always about 20% in Canada and the rest split between the US and the UK, so in my case at least the GSP is having an impact on more than just US sales. But I do still buy, and when the seller's in the US I make a point of thanking them in my FB for not using the GSP.

izzyizzy0 · ‎06-06-2014

I am not sure if this subject has been discussed and I am not going to look at 3300 comments to find out. I am a buyer of .999 silver which has no fees when imported into Canada. I have purchased literally thousands of dollars of coins and bullion before the GSP. A 20 to 25 percent importation levy on a non-fee item is theft. I contacted a seller in Arkansas and asked him to remove the GSP clause so that I could deal with him on 5 oz. America the Beautiful coins. He was shocked as he never posted his listings through the GSP and found out that EBay had done this without his knowledge. He immediately changed all of his listings to the old style and we did business together. My basic question is: how can there be importation charges when no charge exists? And as I read from another member my EBay purchases are down 90% as well. I just can't see this program as being an intelligent business model. Either that or Canadians are just an annoyance to EBay and this is a quick way to sever the relationship.

pocketins · ‎06-06-2014

WOW!!! It looks to me like the Global Shipping program was rolled to US buyers with the premise that it will "make things easier" for their international customers. What it really is is a way for eBay to make more money. They probably have a whole department or division which makes money off of this, adding zero value for the Canadian customer. I have asked US sellers to remove the GSP and they have. Most are not even aware that it is causing many lost sales to wary Canadian customers.

rookies_stars_legends · ‎06-06-2014

TO ALL CANADIAN BUYERS DEALING WITH U.S. SELLERS AFFILIATED WITH GSP. BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT. EBAY HAS NO BUSINESS RAMMING THESE CHARGES DOWN OUR THROATS WHEN CANADIANS WOULD NEVER BE CHARGED THESE RIDICULOUS FEES AT THE BORDERS BY CUSTOMS.

rookies_stars_legends · ‎06-06-2014

CANADIANS ARE THE # 1 INTERNET SHOPPERS IN THE WORLD!! EBAY KNOWS THIS!! I WOULD NOT BE A BIT SURPRISED IF EBAY HAS BOUGHT THIS PITNEY BOWES, IN THE PROCESS OF BUYING PITNEY BOWESE , HAS DEEP ROOTED INTERESTS IN PITNEY BOWESIRED WITH PAYPAL. ENCOURAGE ALL THE CANADIAN # 1 INTERNET SHOPPERS IN THE WORLD TO BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT , AND BOYCOTT ALL U.S. SELLERS AFFILIATED WITH THIS GSP SCAM. IF YOU ARE A CANADIAN SELLER, INCLUDE IN YOUR LISTINGS THAT YOU ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH GSP AND WILL NOT BUY FROM U.S. SELLERS AFFILIATED WITH GSP TO EDUCATE ALL.

rookies_stars_legends · ‎06-06-2014

YOU ARE WRONG WITH THIS REPLY. DO YOU WORK FOR EBAY?

mwc1942 · ‎06-07-2014

"Why penalise sellers who are competent enough not to use this program?"

Maybe that would get eBays attention. Having US sellers complain to eBay about the drop of bidders from Canada would likely be more effective than all our negative postings thus far about the GSP. Can you or anyone point out what has changed with the GSP since this post started?

afantiques · ‎06-07-2014

Can you or anyone point out what has changed with the GSP since this post started?

Canada has been given option status on GSP listings so sellers can ship postal to Canada and GSP to other countries, on the same listing.

Like everything else GSP very few sellers will know that.

From a non Canadian perspective some refinement has been made with regard to EU VAT exempt items and New Zealand personal import concessions.

Maybe that would get eBays attention

I'd not weigh the remote chance of ebay's attention against a lost sale for a seller who is trying to do the right thing.

cerebus · ‎06-07-2014

While I am not actually boycotting eBay (yet!), my purchases have gone way, WAY down over the past year or so, and I blame eBay's ridiculous Global Shipping Program (GSP) completely. Why would I use the 'Buy It Now' option on a $19 item when the GSP would then add a $16 USA-to-Canada shipping fee PLUS a completely arbitrary $6 or $7 import charge -- which would have likely been waived by Canada Customs upon that item's arrival here ANYway! As that item has now been priced (for me) beyond its actual value, that eBay store has lost a sale. On I go to the next USA-based seller and hope that THEY have not opted into eBay's GSP.

Unfortunately, more and more Americans sellers ARE opting in (involuntarily, from what I've read here!). Even if that program did not calculate unreasonable international postage fees AND even if it did NOT add on an unnecessary import charge, I still wouldn't like it because it ALSO involves a 3rd-party shipper, thus increasing the odds not only of the item getting lost but also of it getting damaged (as somebody else is now handling it). Therefore, GSP = all bad, no good. I hope it gets cancelled or at least revised soon.

mwc1942 · ‎06-08-2014

"Canada has been given option status on GSP listings so sellers can ship postal to Canada and GSP to other countries, on the same listing."

.............................

Not without the need for Canadian bidders too constantly seek permission from seller[s], even then majority of sellers appear reluctant to do so. And should the item already have a bid ....... forget it.

............................

"Like everything else GSP very few sellers will know that."

............................

And who's fault is that? Proves the point, "what has changed"

............................

"I'd not weigh the remote chance of ebay's attention against a lost sale for a seller who is trying to do the right thing."

............................

Bidding with competent sellers only adds to eBay's bottom line and does nothing to address the GSP issue. Would like to believe going from 40 transaction in 31/2 months down to just "one" in the past 2 1/2 months does effect the bottom line.

afantiques · ‎06-08-2014

Not without the need for Canadian bidders too constantly seek permission from seller[s], even then majority of sellers appear reluctant to do so. And should the item already have a bid ....... forget it.

This is a seller listing option, applied when first listing an item. As I said, not many sellers will know about it. As a buyer you have not encountered it. Review the current terms and conditions.

I'm not saying the changes are all that much use, but the question was 'have there been any.'

femmefan1946 · ‎06-08-2014

It looks to me like the Global Shipping program was rolled to US buyers with the premise that it will "make things easier" for their international customers

No.

It was rolled out to US SELLERS with the premise that it will "make things easier" for the sellers.

US sellers now only have to get the purchase to Kentucky using cheap domestic shipping and cheap (under 25 cents) domestic confirmation of delivery.

Once it reaches the Pitney Bowes plant in KY, the seller's responsibility ends.

Which is a great benefit to US sellers.

No worries about long delivery periods.

No worries about trashed feedback over customs charges which have always been the buyer's responsibility.

No worries about disputes for non-delivery or not as described, which are now handled by Pitney Bowes.

And remember, for once eBay was actually helping out their customers. Not buyers, but sellers are eBay's customers.

Part of the point of all this was to encourage US sellers, a xenophobic lot, to sell internationally. Stupidly, eBay set the program up so that all new sellers, the least experienced and least sophisticated, were automatically enrolled. That has been changed.

00nevermind00 · ‎06-08-2014

@femmefan1946 wrote:

Part of the point of all this was to encourage US sellers, a xenophobic lot, to sell internationally. Stupidly, eBay set the program up so that all new sellers, the least experienced and least sophisticated, were automatically enrolled. That has been changed.

Equally stupidly, eBay and PB forgot or chose to forget about how the buyers would feel. Even though that is an essential part of the equation. Remember how it was in the beginning? The GSP charges could only be seen on the dot com site. On the Canadian site (and presumably on other "national" sites also), there was no way to know whether a listing was using GSP or not. And since the program was new, buyers were completely blindsided. Not a promising start. The negative reaction to the "no combined shipping" problem was also entirely predictable. As was the equally negative reaction to the "customs charges" levied on $5.00 items. Those fees have now been folded into the shipping charges, which may not be all that great an idea, but they were clearly an irritant.

I'm not so sure that automatic enrollment is no longer happening. The eBay.com message boards are still full of sellers wondering how they got an international sale when they have non-US buyers blocked, or why they are shipping to Kentucky when their buyer is in Canada, the UK, Australia or whatever. And other, more experienced sellers who keep getting pushed back into the GSP even though they make sure to uncheck the GSP box when listing.

evis4057 · ‎06-08-2014

Just got stung for $28 additional import fees, then when the item arrives I will be stung again for additional import fees. This will be the first and last time, I will not buy with the GSP. And ultimately be using Ebay less, good job ebay, in an economy where everyone is trying to **bleep**/con your money, you just found a way to ruin one of the last places you could find a deal. I will buy abroad and you will not get any more of my money, are you serious, did you really think this would work. Shake your heads.