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.

[pierrelebel]

"My point is, it SHOULD be signature required"

???

Did you pay extra for signature?

Did you actually checked with your local post office?

You have been a regular buyer on eBay for years.  Frankly, how many times did Canada Post actually asked you to sign for an envelope or a parcel when a trip to the post office was not required?

The vast majority of items purchased on eBay are sent by regular mail (with or without delivery confirmation) not requiring signature (except for parcels with a value exceeding US$750).

[ca_cunn]

Get used to it my friend, Ebay doesn't want our business. we are profitable but not profitable enough for their greed so they are soing their level best to squeeze us allo out of the little store.

[00nevermind00]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

"My point is, it SHOULD be signature required"

???

Did you pay extra for signature?

Did you actually checked with your local post office?

You have been a regular buyer on eBay for years.  Frankly, how many times did Canada Post actually asked you to sign for an envelope or a parcel when a trip to the post office was not required?

The vast majority of items purchased on eBay are sent by regular mail (with or without delivery confirmation) not requiring signature (except for parcels with a value exceeding US$750).

---

It was a GSP purchase.

We all know that "International Priority Shipping" is GSP-speak for "the cheapest carrier we could find for the last leg of the trip".  So Blondeau will have paid a lot of "extra", but none of it was for signature.  Or for anything useful to him/her in this case.

[downundergoodies]

Its about exponential Growth, Pitney Bowes is a joke

I want shipping options not this new dictator choice

[blondeau1967]

[pierrelebel]

That is NOT what I wrote.

I was simply following up on your comment that you expected a signature to be required.

[blondeau1967]

you wrote this....

"You have been a regular buyer on eBay for years.  Frankly, how many times did Canada Post actually asked you to sign for an envelope or a parcel when a trip to the post office was not required?"

i ALWAYS pick up parcels if i am NOT home to answer the door, canada post NEVER leaves them on the doorstep...NEVER and thats with NO SIG REQUIRED...

no shipper should EVER be allowed to do a drop and run, this is what happens when they do, and the seller and ebay are pardoned from theft in my neighborhood because the shipped says its shipped, well excuse me if i dont believe a parcel is NOT shipped because they to fn lazy to drive by a second time or call or leave a notice for you to pick it up

i bet that when my C.C. company gets back to me, i think they will see it in my favor, if not , i got ripped off 180 Cdn

[mater721]

"so, your saying its fine that any purchase is fine for ANY carrier to leave on your doorstep???"

Actually, most do. Or in mailbox if it will fit.

The only packages they don't leave are those that need a signature or those that are of high $ value. Not sure exactly what value.

Or those packages they are trying to collect duty on.

"i ALWAYS pick up parcels if i am NOT home to answer the door, canada post NEVER leaves them on the doorstep...NEVER and thats with NO SIG REQUIRED..."

Not true in my neighbourhood.

Of the packages delivered to my house, many were left on porch/mailbox because no one was home to answer the door.

Maybe the packages you NEVER left on your porch required import fees.

[blondeau1967]

We have had community mailboxes since i owned the house, what dont fit in community mailbox a notice is left in mailbox OR at house, sorry if youe mail carrier slacks, but i have nothing but excellent service from canada post and usps, import fees or not

[mater721]

"sorry if youe mail carrier slacks"

And yet, I'm not the one missing a package.

[this_is_the_only_name_available]

I have now avoided all purchases with GSP

The program adds the incorrect value for the duty and taxes especially for used items under 100$.

I had a used remote control sent to me from the US to Canada and duty and taxes from Canada post were 1.95$ paid at the Shoppers Drug Mart post office ... same item on ebay from US is 7.41$ so somebody is making tax money off me that should not be.

Looking back at my items I have about a 15-20% chance of actually having to pay duty or taxes on items from the US as long as I do not use UPS or FedEx ... and any time that GSP is used its always Canada post delivering my item.

If something does not change I probably will not be buying anymore from Ebay or atleast not from US sellers with GSP... and as mentioned before most of these sellers do not even know they are using it.

[pierrelebel]

You are correct: GSP is not a good program for most Canadians in most instances, more so for small transactions.

"duty and taxes from Canada post were 1.95$ paid at the Shoppers Drug Mart post office ..."

Did you actually pay $1.95 or $11.90 ($1.95 tax plus $9.95 fee)?

[pierrelebel]

"no shipper should EVER be allowed to do a drop and run"

The reality is that they do, unless a signature was required by the shipper at time of sending the parcel.  Most Canadians do not yet have community mail boxes and get parcels dropped at their house.

It would have been easier if your original post (Wednesday) showed that the parcel was handled by Canpar, not Canada Post.

Since there is tracking showing the parcel was delivered, according to the message from eBay, have you contacted Canpar, the carrier claiming delivery?  That would be the most logical place to start.

[mater721]

It was the irony of your statement I quoted. My carrier "slacks"... but I have yet to have a package go missing.

You claimed that carriers "NEVER" leave packages without signatures. That simply is not true.

[mater721]

"We all know that "International Priority Shipping" is GSP-speak for "the cheapest carrier we could find for the last leg of the trip".  So Blondeau will have paid a lot of "extra", but none of it was for signature.  Or for anything useful to him/her in this case."

And it's not just the extra cost overall...

From all indications so far, PB has a terrible track record of either losing or damaging items in transit.

Even if the overall cost for a GSP item was reasonable, I would still hesitate to buy/bid based solely on that track-record...

[walker0017]

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@mater721 wrote:

"We all know that "International Priority Shipping" is GSP-speak for "the cheapest carrier we could find for the last leg of the trip".  So Blondeau will have paid a lot of "extra", but none of it was for signature.  Or for anything useful to him/her in this case."

And it's not just the extra cost overall...

From all indications so far, PB has a terrible track record of either losing or damaging items in transit.

Even if the overall cost for a GSP item was reasonable, I would still hesitate to buy/bid based solely on that track-record...

---

Sadly that is the difference between eBay/PBI and other ecommerce sites such as Amazon. When all an organization is interested in is charging the most shipping for the cheapest cost, almost zero customer service, useless tracking numbers, no accountability or cost breakdown for what a buyer pays and worst of all repackages items so poorly it almost borders on criminal with the level of incompetence this is what you get. And for the usual doubters and GSP supporters as has been stated by quite a few buyers already yes they do poorly repackage items at their shipping center resulting in them getting damaged in transit. There is no one else out there with such a lousy record of service for the amount of money buyers are having to shell out to acquire very hard to find items.

While it has been argued that no one is twisting any buyers arms to make purchases using this program the number of sellers being enrolled in this program is increasing and for collectors chances are that hard to find rare items are only available from a GSP seller so what options do you have?

What does it say for the effectiveness and usefulness of the GSP when it takes less time and cost for a package to be shipped from Europe or Asia with a useable tracking number including going through customs than getting a similar package from the US that takes on average twice as long, twice to three times the cost and a tracking number that is about as useful as a road map on Mars.

[mater721]

"While it has been argued that no one is twisting any buyers arms to make purchases using this program the number of sellers being enrolled in this program is increasing and for collectors chances are that hard to find rare items are only available from a GSP seller so what options do you have?"

There do seem to be more GSP sellers than before.

I often contact these sellers if I see something I'm interested in. I ask them for alternative International shipping options. Sometimes they agree and provide a USPS option.  But many times they answer "No", or don't answer at all.

It is very disappointing to see a reasonably-priced collectible that I can't bid on because the GSP often doubles the overall cost.

I have yet to buy from a GSP seller. Maybe I never will.

[afantiques]

From all indications so far, PB has a terrible track record of either losing or damaging items in transit.

To be fair, they  do seem to have a good track record of refunds without quibbles in such cases.

[reallynicestamps]

and the seller and ebay are pardoned from theft in my neighborhood because the shipped says its shipped,

Well, shipped and delivered, to be precise.

So the problem appears to be theft-- since I assume you have, as suggested, spoken with the postmaster at the local Post OFFICE (not postal outlet) and also checked with your neighbours and family.

Have others been reporting lost /stolen parcels from your community mailboxes?

If theft is the question, while the postmaster should be notified, you should also be notifying the police about the problem. Usually on relatively small burglaries like this, after so much time has passed, the most they will do is take the report and give you a number. If you can inform them that there have been multiple thefts from the boxes, they would be more interested.

The police report number is not useless. Your household insurance probably covers your mailbox. Talk to your insurance agent.

[alta_boy]

I became aware of this program recently after purchasing an item. The seller emailed me saying he hadn't received his shipping costs and will not release the item to ship until he gets his shipping costs. After investigation via my paypal account I discovered he had not been paid and my shipping costs and import fees were all paid to pitney bows. Thinking this was some sort of error of paypals I phoned them and was informed of this new program. The seller obviously has no idea of this program either.
Long story short, additional shipping charges for me to get the seller to ship my item domestically to Kentucy who will in return ship it to me. Not impressed and as such will have no more dealings buying on ebay. There is no reason he could not ship it to me directly but ebay and paypal elected to skim my shipping charges so the seller got nothing and it costs me additional money which was not disclosed at auction.