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

lucy*davies · ‎08-15-2014

because of the way eBay and our partners intermediate the shipping. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They are too busy 'verbing' adjectives to do any useful work. Do these people take a pride in illiteracy?

00nevermind00 · ‎08-15-2014

This board is so totally broken that I lost everything I'd written when I tried to preview. So now I can't preview, I can't quote, I can't edit, I can't even use bold or italics or whatever. I don't suppose that anyone else can either. I'm not going to try and do italics by inserting the code myself because I don't suppose that it would work either. Oh, and the overview thingy seems to be gone when you hover over a thread title with your mouse. Looks to me like they handed board management over to the GSP designers/managers... Micaylah said: "Wouldn't it have been best to "iron out the details" and fix the GSP before rolling out something new?" I made that same comment during the Weekly Board Hour. I didn't expect a reply and I wasn't disappointed. It would seem logical, wouldn't it! But it's the GSP we're talking about here. Lucy*Davies said: "By the way, ebay people can edit their posts long after they are made, I mocked another ebay staffer for using the nauseating 'reach out to' instead of contact, and a few hours later it said 'contact', a minute victory for plain English" There are probably many functions that are available to mods and eBay staff but not to regular members. I am co-admin on a non-eBay site and there are quite a few things I can do that regular members can't.

00nevermind00 · ‎08-15-2014

Gosh, paragraphs aren't working either! I apologize for the solid block of text, it wasn't written that way. Let's try it differently.[p] This board is so totally broken that I lost everything I'd written when I tried to preview. So now I can't preview, I can't quote, I can't edit, I can't even use bold or italics or whatever. I don't suppose that anyone can either. I'm not going to try and do italics by inserting the code myself because I don't suppose that it would work either. Oh, and the overview thingy seems to be gone when you hover over a thread title with your mouse. On top of that, I got a "flooding" warning when I hit post twice because it didn't work the first time. What's going on here?!?![p] Looks to me like they handed board management over to the GSP designers/managers...[p] Micaylah said: "Wouldn't it have been best to "iron out the details" and fix the GSP before rolling out something new?"[p] I made that same comment during the Weekly Board Hour. I didn't expect a reply and I wasn't disappointed.[p] It would seem logical, wouldn't it! But it's the GSP we're talking about here.[p] Lucy*Davies said: "By the way, ebay people can edit their posts long after they are made, I mocked another ebay staffer for using the nauseating 'reach out to' instead of contact, and a few hours later it said 'contact', a minute victory for plain English"[p] There are probably many functions that are available to mods and eBay staff but not to regular members. I am co-admin on a non-eBay site and there are quite a few things I can do that regular members can't.

00nevermind00 · ‎08-15-2014

Ferget it! LOL!

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-15-2014

PJ, thanks for posting that. I find Rodney's reply to your question re the GSP quite interesting ... "The situation for US sellers who use Global Shipping (GSP) is a little bit different, because of the way eBay and our partners intermediate the shipping. eBay needs to continue to pay for the return shipping and import fees on SNAD GSP transactions - at least for the time being. 🙂 " ??????? I don't think that they have a choice with import fees because of the way it is set up. They can't expect a seller to pay them back to the buyer as that isn't done in a regular transaction. If the whole process was done properly and the buyer had receipts, they could claim back the import taxes/duty on their own but as we know, it isn't done that way. They certainly can't tell sellers that they have to pay international return shipping for gsp snad items as those sellers are using gsp because they are already risk adversive. They aren't going to sell internationally at all if they have to take a risk with those 'foreign' buyers. (using that sarcasm smiley again)

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-15-2014

omg LOL I couldn't even see my last post until I went out of the forum and clicked on my name and then my last post. And now I see that it is one big long paragraph....the quote from arlene at the beginning and my comments after that. Just a tad confusing.

afantiques · ‎08-15-2014

A substitute for spacelg and italics for quots is-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SAnough dots to split it up, quickly evolved while the current situation continues.

afantiques · ‎08-15-2014

And no edit!!!!!!!!!!

arlene_v · ‎08-15-2014

Okay, I don't want to jinx this ... but I think things are back to normal again.

Paragraphs, editing, preview, quote feature. Even those ghastly emoticons ..how I appreciate these things now.

Pop open a bottle of champagne! It's Friday and the boards aren't "wonky" anymore. Ahhhh, life is good.

Now if only they would eliminate the GSP, or failing that, give us a filter ....!

mrdgreen · ‎08-18-2014

As a Canadian and eBay member since 1999 with a perfect seller/buyer record, I'll just say this about GSP.

Last week I made three BIN purchases from USA sellers who are using the GSP.

I didn't pay much attention to it at the time.

For the most recent two of the auctions, their total price of just the auction items was ~$260, and the total I was charged by PB for "shipping & handling & import charges" was ~$60. That is approximately 23% of the auction price.

The items are pro video matte box filters, basically a 4in x 4in wafer thin piece of glass in a padded 5x5x0.5 case, and you can easily ship half-a-dozen of them in a 6in x 6in x 6in box.

I guarantee that had they come in via CPC that there would have been no more than ~$20 customs/tax and quite possibly $0 (I'm not a newb at this, I buy lots of stuff and for small packages via CPC pay very little in fees).

It so happens that last week I also made a cross-border purchase from B&H Photo Video in NYC using their prepaid taxes/duty Purolator shipping service, the items total (lens and other accessories) was just under $1000.

And, you guessed it, only ~$60 in shipping, customs and taxes. I have many other B&H purchases that are sitting at basically the same rates.

So I am paying to PB through GSP three-to-four times higher shipping, customs and taxes to what Purolator Courier charges.

And with my purchases from B&H via Purolator I have the package always within 4-5 business days.

I checked my eBay auctions shipped with PB, and the first one, 7 days later, still sitting in KY...

The UPAAA "tracking number" on the popup is also useless, probably some "internal number" for PB.

I won't be bidding on anything from any USA seller using GSP again, that is for sure. That really is too bad.

The rates are excessive to the point of exorbitant, and the shipping time especially for the significantly higher fee is way out of line.

PB must be laughing all of the way to the bank over this.

arlene_v · ‎08-19-2014

I agree with your post, mrdgreen.

eBay is changing, never to be the same again. I wonder how it will look in 5 years? .

Currently, there's much confusion on the US seller boards because sellers are being sideswiped by the new User Agreement.

Here's just one thread that reflects the chaos and general misinformation re international sales.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/2014-Fall-Seller-Update/Forcing-International-shipping-and-returns-and-...

Another interesting development is that buyers will have a window of one hour to cancel a winning bid on an auction or BIN, if the item has not yet been shippped.

This will have implications for GSP sales.

One of the chief complaints on this thread has been from buyers who claim not to have seen the import charges. Now they will have the opportunity to cancel, so I imagine many GSP sales will never be concluded, which might result in sellers opting out over time.

glennbay2011 · ‎08-19-2014

Why do Canadians have to be involved in the Global Shipping program to receive from the US? We fall under the USPS Priority and all other methods of USPS shipping for reasonable costs. Ebay is promoting its US sellers to tag us for Global, anywhere from $10 to usually up to $40 on top of the USPS Priority cost. That is ridiculous and unfair and it is not an effcient tracking service that goes with it. I have had a shipment lost and sent back to the seller from within the States, it never even left the country. Please remove this to us Canadians as we do fall under the USPS program for shipping.

femmefan1946 · ‎08-19-2014

I agree that it is a poor system. Badly explained to sellers and poorly promoted to the wrong sellers.

I think the problem started with timing and communication.

I suspect the program was devised about the same time Canada Post and USPS agreed that First Class International service could be a Confirmed Delivery service to Canada.

The PitneyBowes program is unnecessary because of this change in USPS service standards.

The advantage to US sellers with GPS remains that they only have to ship domestically, and PB handles everything else including customs labels and Item Not Received claims. These are the issues that terrified concerned US sellers and kept them selling only within their own country.

highland.2112 · ‎08-19-2014

Something I'm surprised that no one has commented on yet is the fact that when Canadians are bidding on an item, once the item hits $20 ... bang, our cost has just jumped 30 percent due to GSP and the next closest American is laughing.

I know that eBay was never set up or intended to be a level playing field when it comes to international bidding but it sure can be aggravating when the GSP tilts things so remarkably in US buyers' favour. (Yes, thats "favour" spelled with a "u" my southern friends).

teslprof1964 · ‎08-20-2014

The GSP is a ludicrous cash grab. I simply will not buy anything from anyone using this program. Its sad because it has cut down my purchasing and enjoyment of ebay considerably.

2slogans · ‎08-22-2014

I won't buy from the US sellers with the GSP because "Why would anyone bid on something to get a big surprise when they go to pay?" I want to know EXACTLY the dollar value of my purchases. The only one who is laughing is PITNEY BOWES.

micaylah · ‎08-24-2014

@femmefan1946 wrote:
I agree that it is a poor system. Badly explained to sellers and poorly promoted to the wrong sellers.

I think the problem started with timing and communication.

I suspect the program was devised about the same time Canada Post and USPS agreed that First Class International service could be a Confirmed Delivery service to Canada.
The PitneyBowes program is unnecessary because of this change in USPS service standards.

The advantage to US sellers with GPS remains that they only have to ship domestically, and PB handles everything else including customs labels and Item Not Received claims. These are the issues that terrified concerned US sellers and kept them selling only within their own country.

The problem you are stating here is just plain laziness as has been pointed out before. Bottom line, mailing a package is noy rocket science nor does it eat up much of your day especially if you sign up for Programs like we have here in Canada called the VentureOne program. They even allow ebayers and such to join and it's free. It gives you a better shipping deal sometimes and has other perks.

I also do business on another few sites and a Sustainability site that uses credits instead of money. They encourage free shipping and while that rarely happens with US to Canada Sellers; there are far more Canadians that offer it. I always do unless my items are big or heavy.

What is it that seems to scare US Sellers into not shipping outside of their own borders?

______________

One does not simply buy. One eBays!

holdmygold2 · ‎08-27-2014

It's possible that this has been covered because I don't follow GSP threads, but yesterday I encountered what I consider to be a BIG problem with GSP listings.

I won a GSP item and the seller billed through paypal because I don't use GSP.

I had to return the item and I opened a case.

In the past cases were opened on paypal for these items but it seems that now it's possible (or even mandatory, I don't know) to do so on eBay.

Turns out that they will not refund shipping costs when a case is opened for these items on eBay.

($25 in my case.)

If there is a choice always go to paypal to open these cases.

Just wanted to pass that on in case I can save someone else a headache.

Yet another GSP problem.