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

logicaloverload · ‎05-23-2015

I have also noticed this. It's eBay's way of squeezing as much money as they can . They mico bill everything! Tell me if GSP is not friendly for Canadians why are you Ebay shoving this down our throats? Why cant we opt out of it? You have no problem to mico invoice but when it comes time to make the enduser save some money... no can do!

pierrelebel · ‎05-23-2015

" Why cant we opt out of it?"

The program was created to help sellers, not buyers.

Sellers can opt out if they wish.

So can buyers by hitting the back button. Buyers do not need to buy from a seller using the program. Sellers and only sellers decide how and to when they want to ship.

00nevermind00 · ‎05-24-2015

Further to what Pierre said, you can always email a GSP seller to let them know exactly why you won't be bidding on/buying their item. You can also, if you want to, include a screenshot of their listing showing the GSP charges because the eBay page that the seller sees is not the same as what you see. The GSP charges are not visible to the seller.

Many sellers don't even know they are using the GSP because eBay keeps opting them in without the courtesy of letting them know.

reallynicestamps · ‎05-24-2015

So my post has been edited to meat (sic) the high eBay standards. Tell me why I should respect eBay standards when eBay them self's (sic) take us for ignorant idiots!

If I'd wanted schoolin', I'da gone to school. --- Jayne Cobb

smilley0688 · ‎05-25-2015

The import charges are ridiculous, exorbitant, and were hidden from me at time of purchase. They showed up as a separate charge on my PayPal account without me specifically authorizing them. The whole point of me buying things off of ebay is to save money, not spend more. Had I known about these charges before purchasing, I would not have made the purchase. I could have gone to the mall and paid less. Also, I would have had it immediately. The item was located roughly 705 kilometres (438.067 miles) away. That's a 7 hour and 8 minute drive. It should not have taken 3 business weeks to arrive. I've had things arrive faster from China (with free shipping).

pierrelebel · ‎05-25-2015

The Global Shipping Program (GSP) as we all know is not "buyer friendly" for Canadians and should be avoided in most instances.

That said, you claim you were not aware of the "import charges" and would not have made that purchase if you had known about the charge.

Take a look at the listing for the item you purchased: it is clearly stated in black and white. Nothing was "hidden" as you claim.

Shipping:

US $8.93 (approx. C $10.97) International Priority Shipping to Canada

Import charges:

US $7.22

Bad program for Canadians? Yes. But let's not blame anyone else when a decision is made to use it and the information is available.

chimera148 · ‎05-25-2015

But what if the mobile phone users are not always shown the full charges, as users have reported ?

marnotom! · ‎05-25-2015

@chimera148 wrote:

But what if the mobile phone users are not always shown the full charges, as users have reported ?

I think the problem is that the import charges aren't shown if people use the .com version of the mobile site, which is optimized for US users.

I don't think I've run into any listings where the import charges and link to information on the GSP don't show up on the .ca version of the mobile site.

I haven't given the eBay app a spin, but I suspect it's based on the .com site and not the .ca site.

00nevermind00 · ‎05-26-2015

@marnotom! wrote:
@chimera148 wrote:

But what if the mobile phone users are not always shown the full charges, as users have reported ?

I think the problem is that the import charges aren't shown if people use the .com version of the mobile site, which is optimized for US users.

I don't think I've run into any listings where the import charges and link to information on the GSP don't show up on the .ca version of the mobile site.

I haven't given the eBay app a spin, but I suspect it's based on the .com site and not the .ca site.

That may be so, but many people prefer to shop on .com. Remember in the beginning, when the GSP charges were visible on .com but not on .ca? This is the same kind of problem. Buyers are still blindsided by charges they didn't expect. Ebay forbids its sellers from tacking on extra charges after the fact, yet its very own program does this depending on which site you view on which device? Not cool!

Buyers cannot be expected to know all this stuff. They expect all charges to be clearly shown before they bid or commit to buy, as per eBay's own rules.

pierrelebel · ‎05-26-2015

" Buyers are still blindsided by charges they didn't expect."

Is that an assumption or fact?

afantiques · ‎05-26-2015

Could someone who has one of these smartphones do some experiments?

chimera148 · ‎05-26-2015

There is some recent discussion here :

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Tools-Apps/Why-is-shipping-showing-up-as-FREE-when-it-s-not-Its-on-a-Sm...

mookmeister · ‎05-26-2015

As others have requested, enable searches to exclude results that use GSP. Even better, get rid of it. I'm certainly not holding my breath for that to happen. The number of purchases have dwindled to maybe one every couple of months as a result, and has led me to find other places for online shopping. I'm ok with that, but not so sure if it's ok for ebay.

afantiques · ‎05-26-2015

THat thread seems to relate only to a confusion about free shipping and shipping charges. I see no mention of GSP charges, and if anyone has one of these smartphone gadgets, could they try a test purchase and give the results. No need to actually buy something, you can back out from a BIN item on the page where it says 'Commit to Buy' but on that page you should see the full costs if not before.

Come on marno, didn't you buy one of these things a while back? I expect larry would set up a sale for you to play with if you feel nervous about some random seller's item.

chimera148 · ‎05-26-2015

@afantiques wrote:
THat thread seems to relate only to a confusion about free shipping and shipping charges. I see no mention of GSP charges .......

Yes, the confusion is caused by ebays mobile phone applications and shows ebay has major problems showing the sellers' listings accurately to some buyers.

The US sellers have also been complaining that their item's description is not always available on some mobile screens. Actually, it seems ebay was "testing" that procedure.

The US sellers and buyers may not be aware that the items may be GSP listed.

Since many GSP listings have been messed up since the program started nothing would be very surprising.

reallynicestamps · ‎05-26-2015

I have a blackberry but I got sick of paying for a lot of stuff I never used, so it is no longer attached to the internet. Just a phone.

Looks like the posters here are too old and set in our ways to do the modern (expensive) thing.

Doesn't anyone know a teenager?

marnotom! · ‎05-27-2015

@afantiques wrote:

Come on marno, didn't you buy one of these things a while back? I expect larry would set up a sale for you to play with if you feel nervous about some random seller's item.

I did (and it was a GSP purchase), but my wife uses it most of the time now!