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]

"but your posts seem to trust what they say"

Maybe you should read my posts again in the context they are written.  I do not think you will find much positive about GSP or how eBay introduced and managed the program.

On the other hand, I generally take objection to claims not based on facts.  There is way too much of that going on.

While the video may show an item was repackaged - and eBay has acknowledged some parcels are in fact open for a variety of stated reasons - it does not prove the assumption you made in an earlier post that the purpose is for PB to save on shipping cost.  That is my point.  It does not "defend" the program, far from it.

[mamie_et_papi]

---

@pierrelebel wrote:

Please allow me to restate the answer I gave you yesterday:

"It is obvious from your many posts that you do not like the program.  OK.  Do not use it.  That is your choice.

I do not like the program either and will not use it.  That is my choice.

However, let's keep our comments factual, not tinted by the like or dislike of a program."

---

Totaly agree with Pierre,

You don't like it, avoid sellers who do.

For myself i refuse to buy from sellers using GSP

And i do think that people should not mistake what Pierre sayd about facts (what is written by Ebay and such) and the fact that he likes or not the programm.  He just states the facts so the discussion does not fall out of control or give missunderstandings.

[rick31797]

It looks like the reason Ebay start this partnership with GSP, was to make it easier for US sellers to sell international, that normally did not. They where trying to make more items available to international buyers.It all sounded so good on paper, until the international buyers started figuring up the fees that needed to be paid, and the fact sellers are using GSP for inexpensive items that would normally be free of import taxes and duty.

Now GSP has to be paid for the work they are doing,would it be fare to say, for every international transaction, Ebay sends then a percentage , that basically will be paid buy the sellers , in a round about way..

[anguscoinshop]

one of the issues on this board is there are three regulars that are (or talk as if they are) paid by ebay always post in favor of the gsp, they also like to use reaction post (i see it as a waist of dits and dots everywhere) against members like you and i that see very clearly whats going on.

ultimately the sellers will decide the fate of this bad system. they (ebay) have a lot of people on payroll, ebay is no different than any other business, they need the business to keep these people employed. I'm sure the majority of the us sellers will figure out the gsp doesn't bring in anymore business in there pockets, while actually loosing sales and/or customers and op out.

no money, no payroll, the program gets tossed

when a company becomes aggressive towards the buyers, that is a very strong sign of this GSP not being what they intended.

 rick31797 you watch those three hired will come back with some kind reactionary babbling against this post.

[rick31797]

Angus, i notice by there comments, they seem to be protective of any negative response about the GSP...

[anguscoinshop]

Yes i noticed that also, its amazing how blatantly clear on how over 95 % want nothing to do with the GSP. 

That is a very clear indication of what is going to happen to it. it is deceased and it will die.

As per previous post, i expect a reactionary post.

[kxeron]

---

@pierrelebel wrote:

Please allow me to restate the answer I gave you yesterday:

"It is obvious from your many posts that you do not like the program.  OK.  Do not use it.  That is your choice.

I do not like the program either and will not use it.  That is my choice.

However, let's keep our comments factual, not tinted by the like or dislike of a program."

---

There is a fault with this assertion: It implies that buyers can choose whether they want an item sent through regular shipping services or via the GSP. In many cases where one can only purchase the item from a participating country where PBI is permitted to operate the programme, there is often no choice or often times it can take days to find an item not covered by the programme because sellers have been encouraged to join the programme under false pretenses through messages with all kinds of graphics, all kinds of positive phrases, where the actual policies are hidden away in the site structure.

The GSP has effectively been marketed to the sellers and effectively indeed.

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, I just happen to have experience with law and policy):

One factor that worries me is that PBI is essentially able to operate with impunity in all of this because neither buyers nor sellers are customers of PBI and therefore eBay can effectively cover for them via the "Limitation of Liability" section in the eBay User Agreement (as PBI could be deemed an "Affiliate" or "Agent"). Further — eBay themselves are indemnified by how the programme operates via the same section. Legally (barring a governmental consumer protection investigation), neither eBay nor PBI are obligated to respond to any complaints nor adjust the programme leaving users SOL (even Sellers who want to demand why their buyers are being charged in this manner).

As such, I currently see the discussions/complaints on this forum about the GSP as cyclical and repetitive, I only made the lengthly suggestions I previously did as to display "Yes, there is a practical method to solve most everybody's problems". I wasn't directly expecting eBay to implement any of them because I am just one voice in all of this and I indeed agree that the emotional responses are drowning out potential productive methods to correct these issues.

eBay is a monopoly in the online marketplace and as such they have a responsibility to respect consumer rights to a fair marketplace. If they were a minor site that people could walk away from, the GSP in its current form would be fine by me as there'd be competition to go over to, but in its current form there is no real such options to connect private buyers with sellers internationally and have payment handled within the site itself. As such, I feel the only real response due to eBay's lack of regard to Canadians (I will get to this in a second..) is to call out to consumer advocates and the Office of Consumer Affairs (COA) and see what can be done.

eBay's only official response to the GSP to Canadians is to place employees on these forums to defend it absolutely despite management not equipping them to do their jobs to answer all possible questions regarding policy, often having to defer to a "GSP Team" (How many teams does eBay need?!) which is likely in themselves bureaucratically disconnected from the actual effects of the programme. I wager the upper management responsible for the GSP decisions are so abstracted away from the actual issues with the programme and are only receiving reports with numbers saying that the programme is working. PBI on the other hand are themselves abstracted away as they could essentially operate in complete ignorance to the issues with the program and as long as packages are landing at their warehouses and they're getting money via Paypal, they're in the green.

I would like to take a moment and personally thank all of the eBay employees on this forum who have put up with so much complaint-wise with the GSP, you have done your best as your employer allows you to given the toxic bureaucratic situation.

Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)

[rick31797]

My thoughts are, the GSP is a Trial period that will go on for an undetermined time, and then there will be no option, for ebay sellers , if they want to ship international they will have to use this feature through Ebay..Its all about the money, if they are seeing more ebayers in the US selling more items and the international option of shipping is helping , then it , the GSP is here to stay.

[marnotom!]

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@rick31797 wrote:

My thoughts are, the GSP is a Trial period that will go on for an undetermined time, and then there will be no option, for ebay sellers , if they want to ship international they will have to use this feature through Ebay..Its all about the money, if they are seeing more ebayers in the US selling more items and the international option of shipping is helping , then it , the GSP is here to stay.

---

Given that there is a considerable contingency of eBay sellers who aren't U.S. based who use the .com site (either out of choice or because they live in a country that doesn't have its own eBay site), I doubt that the GSP could truly become compulsory on all listings.

Besides, the whole point of the GSP is to try and encourage more U.S. sellers to make international sales.  Whether the seller is using the GSP or shipping directly doesn't make much difference to eBay's bottom line.  The referral fees that eBay likely receives from PitneyBowes for a GSP sale are likely a drop in the bucket.

[alfieepstein]

The recently innovated Ebay Global Shipping Program has inflated, the already high, US to Canada shipping costs to the point of me doing serious reconsideration before making a purchase. A few years ago the USPS decided to try to make up lowering revenues by pumping up parcel post rates to Canada. Now the Ebay Global Shipping Program has made the situation even worse. Items coming into Canada by mail with less than $20 valuation bypass customs. There is no processing, no fees and no paperwork.

Searching for items on Ebay using the " price + shipping : lowest first" sorting shows shipping costs. Then, when you see the item listing, the shipping cost has jumped by several dollars even for a $4 spark plug. There is the blurt - No additional import charges at delivery!

THERE WOULD NOT BE ANY without the Global Shipping Program which I view as just another way for Ebay to increase their already astronomical profits on the backs of the small sellers.

[dp56addict]

Yes, Everything I buy in a store in Canada already has all charges added to the price. But when I go into the store, I pay the price on the item and yes, taxes. But, when I buy on eBay out of Canada in four + years I have not paid customs, duty or anything except the cost of the item and shipping. One main reason I shop eBay, USA. 🙂

I do not have any postal worker arrive on my doorstep. I do not have mail delivery. My little post does not collect duty it seems. 🙂

The pens were sold by a person selling used goods, not a store. The seller did not know how to ship and had sold to international buyers only twice before. After numerous messages of me asking why I am paying import charges I gave up and paid it. Of course I will not shop there again nor anywhere there is GSP on eBay. I may have to just shop in my own country and even some provinces I don't get charges PST or GST.

Thanks for your reply. 

[dp56addict]

Nope. I have not paid duty, tax or any other charges other than shipping for over four years where I live. Before that, living in the city I very rarely was charged customs on very large items. Seems it depends on who is doing the work at customs. 🙂 Thanks for your reply.

[rick31797]

Apparently there are sellers that have the GSP, but don't really know were it came from, Ebay says seller can opt into the program, if that's the case, then how does it appear in an auction were the seller say they have not, did anything different.

Something is not adding up,it may be you need to opt out of the program.  I did a test, and went to Ebay.com to make up an auction ad, and i see nothing as i went down the listing about GSP.

It must be in the users settings.

I am still seeing inflated shipping prices, nothing to do with GSP, a seller yesterday wanted 4.99 BIN  for a knob for a amplifier, and 27.00 shipping USPS to Canada,he is a seller with a store so i assume he must know how to fill out the auction ad properly.

Getting back to the GSP, if the numbers get good enough, and there is good money to be made, Ebay will not have this as an option, why would they, they are here too........ number 1, Make Money, number 2, MAKE MONEY........

[marnotom!]

---

@alfieepstein wrote:

The recently innovated Ebay Global Shipping Program has inflated, the already high, US to Canada shipping costs to the point of me doing serious reconsideration before making a purchase. A few years ago the USPS decided to try to make up lowering revenues by pumping up parcel post rates to Canada. Now the Ebay Global Shipping Program has made the situation even worse. Items coming into Canada by mail with less than $20 valuation bypass customs. There is no processing, no fees and no paperwork.

Searching for items on Ebay using the " price + shipping : lowest first" sorting shows shipping costs. Then, when you see the item listing, the shipping cost has jumped by several dollars even for a $4 spark plug. There is the blurt - No additional import charges at delivery!

THERE WOULD NOT BE ANY without the Global Shipping Program which I view as just another way for Ebay to increase their already astronomical profits on the backs of the small sellers.

---

So, really, all the GSP has done for you has given you more pause to consider the value of shipping low value/lightweight items from the United States.  Even before the GSP and latest USPS rate increases kicked in, I came to the conclusion that much of the merchandise I tend to buy was simply not cost-effective to purchase on eBay and that I'd have to do a better job of sourcing it locally.  My eBay purchases now tend to be only items that I simply can't find in my neck of woods.

I don't follow your point about the GSP increasing eBay's profits, though.  The GSP is administered by an outside source (PitneyBowes) and eBay only gets a small cut of the import charges, not the shipping fees, which are based on cargo freight rates. The reason why GSP shipping rates are so out of whack for small items is because we're accustomed to having our small items (like spark plugs) from the United States being shipped as oversized letters.  Cargo freight, while great for larger items, isn't such a good option for small items.

[marnotom!]

---

@rick31797 wrote:

Apparently there are sellers that have the GSP, but don't really know were it came from, Ebay says seller can opt into the program, if that's the case, then how does it appear in an auction were the seller say they have not, did anything different.

Something is not adding up,it may be you need to opt out of the program.  I did a test, and went to Ebay.com to make up an auction ad, and i see nothing as i went down the listing about GSP.

It must be in the users settings.

---

Sellers are likely accidentally opting into the Global Shipping Program by clicking on the "I Accept" button at the bottom of the updated eBay.com user agreement.  That button doesn't mean that the seller agrees to the User Agreement update.  That button means that they agree to opt into the Global Shipping Program.  The function of that button is mentioned in the User Agreement.  Sellers who actually read the UA will find out that they don't have to do anything if they accept the User Agreement. Sneaky, no?

See if this link works for you: image

You probably didn't get an option to use the GSP because the listing form you used "figured out" that you were in Canada.  I just tried it with the "More Choices" version of the .com listing form and didn't see it, either.  However, I went into "My eBay" and found a toggle for the GSP in the Site Preferences section.

---

@rick31797 wrote:

I am still seeing inflated shipping prices, nothing to do with GSP, a seller yesterday wanted 4.99 BIN  for a knob for a amplifier, and 27.00 shipping USPS to Canada,he is a seller with a store so i assume he must know how to fill out the auction ad properly

---

He probably does know how to fill out a listing form properly but for whatever reason he has selected Priority International as a shipping method.  What he may not realize is that First Class International is a viable option for shipping small items out of the country.  As the weight limit for domestic First Class is different, he may not realize that items up to 4 lbs. can be shipped that way internationally.

[anguscoinshop]

There's one way to help fix this situation, avoid buying from sellers using the gsp. Starvation will eventually set in and it will be scrapped.

[marnotom!]

---

@angus_coin_shop wrote:

There's one way to help fix this situation, avoid buying from sellers using the gsp. Starvation will eventually set in and it will be scrapped.

---

As Rick suggested earlier, some sellers who use the GSP aren't even aware that they're doing so, so not buying from them may not make much difference if those sellers never shipping internationally prior to the GSP.

No question that the GSP seems to be largely used--intentionally or not--by sellers selling items where it just doesn't make sense to use it.  However, I suspect that eBay has its sights set on partnerships with high volume retailers of larger, more expensive goods who aren't prepared to ship directly to international buyers.

[pocomocomputing]

---

@kxeron wrote:

---

@pierrelebel wrote:

Please allow me to restate the answer I gave you yesterday:

"It is obvious from your many posts that you do not like the program.  OK.  Do not use it.  That is your choice.

I do not like the program either and will not use it.  That is my choice.

However, let's keep our comments factual, not tinted by the like or dislike of a program."

---

There is a fault with this assertion: It implies that buyers can choose whether they want an item sent through regular shipping services or via the GSP. In many cases where one can only purchase the item from a participating country where PBI is permitted to operate the programme, there is often no choice or often times it can take days to find an item not covered by the programme because sellers have been encouraged to join the programme under false pretenses through messages with all kinds of graphics, all kinds of positive phrases, where the actual policies are hidden away in the site structure.

The GSP has effectively been marketed to the sellers and effectively indeed.

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, I just happen to have experience with law and policy):

One factor that worries me is that PBI is essentially able to operate with impunity in all of this because neither buyers nor sellers are customers of PBI and therefore eBay can effectively cover for them via the "Limitation of Liability" section in the eBay User Agreement (as PBI could be deemed an "Affiliate" or "Agent"). Further — eBay themselves are indemnified by how the programme operates via the same section. Legally (barring a governmental consumer protection investigation), neither eBay nor PBI are obligated to respond to any complaints nor adjust the programme leaving users SOL (even Sellers who want to demand why their buyers are being charged in this manner).

As such, I currently see the discussions/complaints on this forum about the GSP as cyclical and repetitive, I only made the lengthly suggestions I previously did as to display "Yes, there is a practical method to solve most everybody's problems". I wasn't directly expecting eBay to implement any of them because I am just one voice in all of this and I indeed agree that the emotional responses are drowning out potential productive methods to correct these issues.

eBay is a monopoly in the online marketplace and as such they have a responsibility to respect consumer rights to a fair marketplace. If they were a minor site that people could walk away from, the GSP in its current form would be fine by me as there'd be competition to go over to, but in its current form there is no real such options to connect private buyers with sellers internationally and have payment handled within the site itself. As such, I feel the only real response due to eBay's lack of regard to Canadians (I will get to this in a second..) is to call out to consumer advocates and the Office of Consumer Affairs (COA) and see what can be done.

eBay's only official response to the GSP to Canadians is to place employees on these forums to defend it absolutely despite management not equipping them to do their jobs to answer all possible questions regarding policy, often having to defer to a "GSP Team" (How many teams does eBay need?!) which is likely in themselves bureaucratically disconnected from the actual effects of the programme. I wager the upper management responsible for the GSP decisions are so abstracted away from the actual issues with the programme and are only receiving reports with numbers saying that the programme is working. PBI on the other hand are themselves abstracted away as they could essentially operate in complete ignorance to the issues with the program and as long as packages are landing at their warehouses and they're getting money via Paypal, they're in the green.

I would like to take a moment and personally thank all of the eBay employees on this forum who have put up with so much complaint-wise with the GSP, you have done your best as your employer allows you to given the toxic bureaucratic situation.

Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)

---

Monopoly? with the Zillions of online shopping sites, how can eBay be a monopoly?

[heritagemarket1]

I will not buy from a seller who subscribes willfully or otherwise to eBay's Global Shipping Program. Into Canada, it charges an import duty on everything when in reality, on average, only 1 in 8 packages is assessed for duties/taxes. The GSP inflates the cost of everything and makes the eBay purchase uncompetitive and therefore not interesting. I will buy only from those sellers who do NOT adhere to the GSP .

And eBay now charging the Final Value based on the selling price PLUS the shipping costs.....absolutely immoral, unfair and  'cruel'.......shame on you.!!!!I would like to understand if others agree with my beliefs?

[bennett4612]

Hi kxeron. 

First off thank you for the thank you. On the eBay side we participate in these boards to try and help -- plain and simple. We don't try and "talk anyone into anything", as there is plenty of marketing material out there to try and do that ....

One other thing I might offer is that "upper management" are actually made very aware of the dialog that goes on on these boards. They are not just given numbers, there is real weight given to issues and sentiments expressed by the Community. 

Having an open dialog is what these boards are for. So I thank YOU (and all Community members) for taking the time to share your opinions and experiences. 

---Ben