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

marnotom! · ‎03-13-2016

There is that, and it has been mentioned. My take on it is:

1. That link is to a page maintained through eBay, not Pitney Bowes, and it's not been updated the way the PB pages on the GSP gave,

2. The link on that help page to further information doesn't elaborate further on the GSP, which suggests further slipshod presentation of this information.

In short, Pitney Bowes has covered the area below its tailbone, but eBay has undermined that somewhat.

99dogshunting · ‎03-13-2016

Ebay makes money on this no matter what you buy do not buy from GSP sellers. Many items that are sold are duty and customs charges free. Yet we are charged these fees by the GSP! I only pay these charges to MY Government agencies. Couriers charge inflated fees something that Canada Customs would charge you $10 in fees for can cost you $50 or more with GSP and regular couriers. I only buy from sellers who use USPS for shipping and/or gives ME a choice of how it is shipped. I think it's time to stop buying from sellers who only use the GSP, I have.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-13-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
If I could go back and consolidate my posts into a single, more succinct one after new ideas come to me, I would, but the discussion boards don't work that way.

You have the time and energy to go through the user agreements in detail and help pages nitpicking over subtle points and speculate on the motives for the differences endlessly in your posts but you cannot spend an similar amount of time and effort to make a short summary of the issues with the GSP to post when a new member posts their problems with the GSP.

Instead you spend countless hours debating the GSP here in these forums needlessly and unwanted by most.

This is a community forum where members are supposed to help others. Try helping members for a change.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-13-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
Besides, if you read the last post or two, you'll find that they're in a somewhat different vein from ones I appear to be notorious for writing.

Any criticisms against me personally (as opposed to my ideas) are better accomplished in PMs.

No, you need to be publicly chastised for your posts again like other have been doing recently. It is not about your ideas, it is the your attitude and endless debating over subtle points which are truly meaningless to most if not all members here in the community.

Hopefully this post will not be deleted by the mods. This needs to be said and read by others in the community. There is already enough background PMs from members to others members about commenting about how disruptive and non-helpful you are in these topics.

marnotom! · ‎03-13-2016

I'm reading "disruptive and unhelpful" to mean that my observations don't conform to the sometimes inaccurate bits and bobs being tossed out in these discussions.

If you have issue with my views, that's fine, but you seem more prepared to attack me than my views. That's not kosher.

No indication from you that you read those posts of mine critical of PB, I notice.

afantiques · ‎03-14-2016

It is not about your ideas, it is the your attitude and endless debating over subtle points which are truly meaningless to most if not all members here in the community.

Just skip those posts.

If there were no people who appreciated a good sublety for the sake of it there would be no Theology, a legion of scholars debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. (it's 27 by the way)

marnotom! · ‎03-14-2016

Well, let's hope that AF's comments make it clear that he and I aren't the same person. 😃

I don't disagree that my obsession with detail may seem tiresome, but it's done out of concern for the bigger picture, If one aims a crossbow at a target a few metre away and they're half a degree off from a bull's-eye, they'll at least still get pretty close.

On the other hand, if that target is fifty metres away, the shot will miss the target completely,

Little inaccuracies don't matter a lot in small-scale discussions about small matters. However, they have a ripple effect in larger discussions about larger matters and entities,

Our best defence against the GSP is accurate information. A scam is something illegal. While eBay's and Pitney Bowes' handling of the GSP has been reprehensible in several aspects, I have yet to find anything illegal about the program or the main parties' conduct.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-14-2016

@afantiques wrote:
It is not about your ideas, it is the your attitude and endless debating over subtle points which are truly meaningless to most if not all members here in the community.

Just skip those posts.

If there were no people who appreciated a good sublety for the sake of it there would be no Theology, a legion of scholars debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. (it's 27 by the way)

I have skipped for the 5,430+ posts in this topic since 2013-09-13 when this topic started.

This is not about Theology or subtle points, it is about the ebay GSP and helping members who have issues with it, explaining misconceptions, giving some practical workarounds to use it or not use it. Not debating every post by other members who try to help other members about why a single paragraph is missing or how or why something is worded to the finest details. Most posts from members with issues with the GSP can be answered in a simple canned response of 2-3-4 short paragraphs and that is all that is needed to explain and help a member.

If you and marnotom! and others cannot see how disruptive some his posts are to this topic, I do not know what to say. I avoid posting anything to this topic because I know whatever I post will be analyzed to the finest detail and critiqued and corrected to the point of being harassed by his responses. While he may have the right to freely post his thoughts within forum rules, I also have the right post without fear of harassment to what I post. And it is not just me who feels this way as seen by other posts in this topic commenting on the style and attitude of his posts.

All the time and energy can be directed into more helpful posts for members with issues with the GSP. Why waste all the knowledge on pointless theological like discussions? How many forum members care about this? How many members does this actually help?

I apologize to other members for these posts being so off topic. But some things need to be said.

marnotom! · ‎03-14-2016

I believe AF's reference to theology was intended as a pointed Brit-wit-infused analogy.

barrywilson · ‎03-14-2016

How is this information even useful to me as a buyer. I ordered stuff Feb 25. If I am to be getting it between today and month end, how can I track this? I put the tracking number in china post and it is going to europe?

Estimated delivery Monday, Mar 14, 2016 - Wednesday, Mar 30, 2016

- Hide shipping details

✓ Shipping info received

In transit

Delivered

Last scanned date	N/A
Package location

Shipping status	Shipping info received
Shipping carrier	other

Tracking number RE556423220SE

hlmacdon · ‎03-15-2016

@barrywilson wrote:
How is this information even useful to me as a buyer. I ordered stuff Feb 25. If I am to be getting it between today and month end, how can I track this? I put the tracking number in china post and it is going to europe?

Estimated delivery Monday, Mar 14, 2016 - Wednesday, Mar 30, 2016
- Hide shipping details
✓ Shipping info received
In transit
Delivered
Last scanned date N/A
Package location
Shipping status Shipping info received
Shipping carrier other
Tracking number RE556423220SE

There are quite a few Scandanavian national post services that are involved in air cargo forwarding. Typically you get limited tracking scans, so really the entry scan into Canada is going to be the practical way to gauge that. The tracking is more there for the merchant than it is the consumer.

chimera148 · ‎03-15-2016

"They may be legal, but they're still scams."

http://www.scambusters.org/12.html

"Five Legal Scams"

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/008.html

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-15-2016

@barrywilson wrote:
How is this information even useful to me as a buyer. I ordered stuff Feb 25. If I am to be getting it between today and month end, how can I track this? I put the tracking number in china post and it is going to europe?

Estimated delivery Monday, Mar 14, 2016 - Wednesday, Mar 30, 2016
- Hide shipping details
✓ Shipping info received
In transit
Delivered
Last scanned date N/A
Package location
Shipping status Shipping info received
Shipping carrier other
Tracking number RE556423220SE

Even when a package has timely tracking (which isn't always true with the gsp), you are unlikely to get an exact delivery date until a day or two before delivery. In this case, according to the tracking the package is originating from Sweden and going to Canada so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the gsp. This is the tracking number that a U.S. seller gave you?

hlmacdon · ‎03-15-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@barrywilson wrote:
How is this information even useful to me as a buyer. I ordered stuff Feb 25. If I am to be getting it between today and month end, how can I track this? I put the tracking number in china post and it is going to europe?

Estimated delivery Monday, Mar 14, 2016 - Wednesday, Mar 30, 2016
- Hide shipping details
✓ Shipping info received
In transit
Delivered
Last scanned date N/A
Package location
Shipping status Shipping info received
Shipping carrier other
Tracking number RE556423220SE
Even when a package has timely tracking (which isn't always true with the gsp), you are unlikely to get an exact delivery date until a day or two before delivery. In this case, according to the tracking the package is originating from Sweden and going to Canada so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the gsp. This is the tracking number that a U.S. seller gave you?

Postnord is active in air cargo forwarding for ecommerce, hence why you see packages routed that way. There are quite a few US retailers using them to route packages internationally. One of the retailers I used to buy from in the US uses them for all their shipments, which is unfortunate as it takes 3-4 weeks before they get to Canada.

marnotom! · ‎03-15-2016

@chimera148 wrote:

"They may be legal, but they're still scams."
http://www.scambusters.org/12.html

"Five Legal Scams"
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/008.html

Now who's being nit-picky? 😉

By the way, Forbes won't let me read that article unless I turn off my ad-blocker.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-16-2016

US shippers to charge triple the actual cost of USPS,

I think this is because the USPS webpage is set up to show the Priority service first, while First Class International is quite hard to find. For one thing, it uses text based descriptions instead of pretty pictures which are easier to see on a cellphone.

Also US sellers may be using the 'international' rate instead of the "Canada" rate.

scduke77 · ‎03-17-2016

Kalvin,

I'm sorry to say but I don't think too highly of the GSP, my first online transaction EVER has been apparently stolen through this program. I've spoken with my seller a few times and have in been in contact with him throughout the sale. He has a very good rating on Ebay and I don't think he would cheat someone..... might be a bit naive there, but call it a gut feeling.

So my only conclusion I can come to is when the box was "Resealed by the Global Shipping Program", it was resealed minus an engagement ring.

"Thank you" to whoever in the neverending list of people who handled my product, to the special one that opened it up to check for whatever plot FOX news had on last night.

I will never buy anything online again, to imagine I spent so much time looking into my seller, to make sure he was legit.

Then to be screwed by the shipper, or more correctly, one person along the chain. Well, I take peace in the fact that they will do it again, and again..... and again, until they're caught. I hope it's worth it.

Back to the thought,

Yeah, so I don't think too highly of this program, the money back guarantee helps, but I'm turned off of buying online.

All the best,

Shawn

marnotom! · ‎03-18-2016

Jewellery is actually a prohibited item category in Global Shipping Program, Shawn.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/shipping-globally.html#prohibited

Perhaps we now know the reason why.

ryuunosukefujinami · ‎03-18-2016

Well, I had spent about 20 minutes righting a very detailed and documented reply, but then this forum went and erased all of it in me when I hit 'post'.

So, the short-short version then.

Gold and jewelry is not under any sort of 'blanket ban' for import into Canada. The full rule you were referring to reads "Jewelry, gold or any other precious metals (whether manufactured or non-manufactured) that are subject to carrier and/or customs restrictions".

As far as I am aware and can find mention of online from Canada customs and Pitney Bowes, gold and jewelry is not subject to any sort of carrier or custom restriction save that they require a description of the item(s) and a value for duty and/or tax purposes.

I imagine it is much as like this: I do occasionally buy violin and cello bows online. They are generally exempt from any special assessment by customs and pass though. However if they contain ivory, then they now need special documentation declaring that they were manufactured prior to any ivory ban. If this documentation is missing they can then be held or seized.

I suspect it is the same for jewelry. Your average pieces pass through with no problems, it is only in quite rare occasions that they are considered 'restricted' and are then held.

And in the situation that they are held, it is also my understanding that the receiver/purchaser is informed of this, and why the item(s) are seized (I do recall reading posts on this very topic about some very irate vintage guitar buyers complaining that Pitney Bowes had informed that they they had seized their instruments under a rather bizarre interpretation of 'products made with banned woods'). I am quite certain they they just cannot open a package, take items out and then leave it up to you to figure out what happened to the item(s) and why.

marnotom! · ‎03-18-2016

ryuunosukefujinami wrote:

Gold and jewelry is not under any sort of 'blanket ban' for import into Canada. The full rule you were referring to reads "Jewelry, gold or any other precious metals (whether manufactured or non-manufactured) that are subject to carrier and/or customs restrictions".

As far as I am aware and can find mention of online from Canada customs and Pitney Bowes, gold and jewelry is not subject to any sort of carrier or custom restriction save that they require a description of the item(s) and a value for duty and/or tax purposes.

As Pitney Bowes isn't the carrier for GSP items as transport of GSP items is contracted out, it isn't in a position to speak to specific carrier restrictions. I'm not sure how you'd find out what a carrier contracted by Pitney Bowes would consider a restricted or prohibited item as PB seems to deal with several of them.

ryuunosukefujinami wrote:

And in the situation that they are held, it is also my understanding that the receiver/purchaser is informed of this, and why the item(s) are seized (I do recall reading posts on this very topic about some very irate vintage guitar buyers complaining that Pitney Bowes had informed that they they had seized their instruments under a rather bizarre interpretation of 'products made with banned woods'). I am quite certain they they just cannot open a package, take items out and then leave it up to you to figure out what happened to the item(s) and why.

My recollection from the granddaddy of the "guitar threads" and similar ones is that PB doesn't inform the intended recipient when the Global Shipping Center refuses to forward a GSP item to its intended recipient and that the recipient only finds this out when he or she makes inquiries. The GSC won't forward an empty package if the item is deemed unshippable by the carrier(s) to Canada.

I think this narrows the possible reasons for your receiving an empty package and why the GSP has a restriction on jewellery.