09-26-2013 10:34 AM - edited 09-26-2013 10:39 AM
Feel free to share your thoughts about the Global Shipping Program here.
A few questions to get the ball rolling:
Please try & keep the comments constructive 🙂
If you have any questions about the program, please post them here.
03-13-2016 01:45 PM
03-13-2016 02:14 PM
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.
03-13-2016 02:42 PM
@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.
03-13-2016 02:52 PM
@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.
03-13-2016 05:06 PM
03-14-2016 06:37 AM - edited 03-14-2016 06:37 AM
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)
03-14-2016 01:05 PM
03-14-2016 01:06 PM
@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.
03-14-2016 01:11 PM
03-14-2016 11:33 PM
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?
Last scanned date | N/A |
Package location |
Shipping status | Shipping info received |
Shipping carrier | other |
Tracking number RE556423220SE |
03-15-2016 01:09 AM
@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 receivedIn transitDelivered
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.
03-15-2016 01:09 PM - edited 03-15-2016 01:12 PM
"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
03-15-2016 01:46 PM
@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 receivedIn transitDelivered
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?
03-15-2016 09:37 PM
@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 receivedIn transitDelivered
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?
@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 receivedIn transitDelivered
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.
03-15-2016 11:55 PM
@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.
03-16-2016 12:54 PM
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.
03-17-2016 07:44 PM
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
03-18-2016 12:30 AM - edited 03-18-2016 12:32 AM
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.
03-18-2016 05:47 PM
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.
03-18-2016 07:00 PM - edited 03-18-2016 07:01 PM
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.