Comments about the Global Shipping Program

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

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

Ummm-  those taxes including duty and sales taxes are what builds roads, run schools, inspect food, and pay for medical care.

 

The cost of the GSP is duty (not often applicable and usually less than 5% of declared value), sales taxes (applied to any item assessed and ranging from 5% to 15% of assessed value), and the service fee (a flat ~$5).

 

, I am guaranteed more Canadians will due less business with cross border eBay services, and do more within our country,

That is the point.

In spite of Canada's interest in Free Trade Agreements, the duty free allowance remains at only $20Cdn as it has for over thirty years.

It's an example of protectionism.

 

There is a movement to raise that. Your most effective move would be to write your MP to support raising it at least to match the cross-border duty free allowance.

YOUR MP

House of Commons

OTTAWA ON K1A 0A6

It is not necessary to stamp the envelope. Put OHMS in the corner instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

If a seller uses the global shipping program. I DON'T BUY FROM THEM.

Its to Hard to Track

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

You are not alone, but:

 And there is this method (originally posted by unison)
I found this thread today while awaiting a shipment. Once I learned that Pitney Bowes was the relevant company, I was able to find my package's tracking info in about 10 seconds.
 
Step 1: Go to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Tracker page at https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/
 
Step 2: Enter your eBay-supplied Global Tracking number (mine began with UPAA...)
 
Step 3: You will be shown limited tracking info. In my case, only up to the point the package left the USA and entered Canada.
 
Step 4: Click on the "Track on carrier's website" link at the top right.
 
Step 5: You will be provided with tracking on the page of the actual shipping company, in my case Canada Post, with a tracking number in THEIR system.
 
Problem solved! If only eBay would put a link to https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/ in their shipping emails, this could all be avoided...

 

BTW-- Tracking is a Seller Protection.

If you are not home when the parcel arrives, the carrier will leave you a Notice telling you where and when you can pick it up. Bring ID.

If the parcel does not arrive by the last estimated date eBay gave you, you can file a Dispute and get refunded.

If the parcel arrives after the Dispute, GSP/Pitney Bowes does not want it back.
 

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

Arggh,

 

 I didn't read the fine print that the seller uses GSP. Although it didn't cost me, It's taken a week just to get the part to Kentucky. Now I have to wait 2-3 weeks for it to get to Canada. Had I saw that, I never would have used this seller. I should have used Amazon. I would have paid $20 more but I would have had my car parts in 3 days. Even Rock Auto would have been quicker. The GSP program is too slow. I probably could have gotten it out of China faster. I'm slowly moving away from eBay and more to Amazon. eBay needs to wake up. GSP is a failure.

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

marnotom!
Community Member
dmwcapri, our part took a week to get to Kentucky because of the seller's choice of US domestic shipping method. If they shipped directly to Canada there's every chance that their choice of international shipping method would have been just as leisurely.

Also consider what time of year this is.

Even if you "missed the fine print" that stated that the item was being forwarded through the GSP, there should have been a delivery time or date estimate on the listing page. If time truly was of the essence, that would be the first thing I'd be looking for on the listing page.

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

Are you a sales person for eBay? You seem to stick up for GSP every chance you get. The fact of the matter is GSP is slow. Period. I have ordered many things this time of year in the US and it's made the border in days. I ordered a tv part to my US warehouse and it took two days which it is there now, so don't bull**bleep** a bull**bleep**ter. Amazon is two day mail free. Again I say GSP is a failure and will never buy another item from a GSP seller. I will let any seller know that I would buy their product if they didn't use it and I will find a seller that doesn't use it.

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program


@dmwcapri wrote:


Are you a sales person for eBay? You seem to stick up for GSP every chance you get. The fact of the matter is GSP is slow. Period. I have ordered many things this time of year in the US and it's made the border in days. I ordered a tv part to my US warehouse and it took two days which it is there now, so don't bull**bleep** a bull**bleep**ter. Amazon is two day mail free. Again I say GSP is a failure and will never buy another item from a GSP seller. I will let any seller know that I would buy their product if they didn't use it and I will find a seller that doesn't use it.


Funny, I don't recall accusing you of being a shill for Amazon.

It doesn't matter if the GSP is slow.  There's a delivery time estimate stated in every eBay listing, and if turnaround time was that important to you, you shouldn't have purchased the item.  If you failed to take note of that delivery time estimate, that's not the fault of the Global Shipping Program.

Many people who purchase auto parts on eBay have stated that they think the GSP is less expensive than alternative shipping methods out there.  They're willing to sacrifice a bit on shipping time in order to pay less.  Items that are shipped for "free" tend to have the shipping charges built into the price of the item instead.

International sales have increased considerably on the .com site since the introduction of the GSP.  eBay considers this their measure of success for the program.  The workings and the terms and conditions for the GSP are out there for anybody who needs to see them.  Just because people don't read up on these or read listing pages doesn't make the program a failure.

I'm no shill for the GSP.  I've only purchased two items that were forwarded through the program.  I'm just someone who believes that people should take responsibility for their actions or lack thereof instead of blaming a service for irrelevant reasons.

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

Say what you will but GSP is much slower than before it was used. If I want to handle my brokerage that should be my choice, not eBays or Pitney Bowes or the sellers. All auto parts I have ordered out of Rock Auto have never been charged GST, PST, duties or brokerage fees. eBay found a way to rip people off. Like I said before I will never use the GSP program again and will tell potential sellers the same thing. All my friends and family have been notified and they'll do the same. eBay is losing a big time eBayer in me. I will look to Amazon, Kijiji, Craigslist, and Wayfair before going to eBay in the future. Unless I find something I can't get anywhere else. But will not use GSP. So the seller loses out. If more heavy users like me opt out and the word gets out, maybe eBay will figure it out.

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

If I want to handle my brokerage that should be my choice,

It still is, the GSP is a Seller Protection program.

The seller's responsibility for delivery ends at the GSP plant in Kentucky.

If you want to handle you own brokerage, ask the seller to drop the GSP from his listings and forfeit his Seller Protection.

You might also want to think about this:

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

 

 

The GSP is a freight forwarding service, like UPS sorta, and charges import fees upfront, unlike UPS which charges them on your doorstep.

If the items you order are over $20Cdn, applicable duty must be charged by GSP/UPS/ FedEx/etc.

The applicable duty may be zero, especially with car parts, but provincial sales taxes and GST still apply.

And the forwarder is allowed to charge a service fee for the paperwork.

For Pitney Bowes/GSP that's about $5.

 

CBSA has decided that it makes no sense to charge importers on such low value items if it costs them more to process than to collect.

Which shows that Canadian public servants are more sensible than Canadian politicians. When items come in by mail, CBSA ignores over 95% of the low value imports. (Unless they are from China, but that's another rabbit hole.)

If CBSA does process an import, the duty and sales tax is collected by Canada Post on your doorstep and a $9.95 service fee collected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

Issue is, Canada Post has recently made some sort of deal with Customs or something is up because every Christmas gift parcel I have had delivered over the past month has had both the money grab Canada Post brokerage handling $10 fee on it along with taxes owing. 

Now while this was not a foreign thing on $200 + items I would receive I cannot recall the last time in the past 5+ years I was charged tax on a US item worth $25 etc. 
So when I went to the post office recently and asked, the clerk told me they too have noticed it on almost every item coming from the US over the past 2-3 months and it has been very overwhelming for them from a organizational standpoint and the clerks said they too believe something is up with Canada Post assuring customs is processing every item to make sure it is taxed as they get that $10 fee on every one. 

So as it stands, the GSP is actually working out to be less overall vs direct shipping if CP is going to be doing this full time. 
I am sure ebay is loving that...

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

I've finally learned my lesson and given up on GSP:

 

What finally got me was one of my last orders from the States. It was for x16 GI Joe pieces. The issue was GSP charges were added to each piece since each they were listed seperately.  The total paid of all items was $72.85 CAD.

 

To give this prespective, the box they were packed in was 6"x6"x4" and weighted well under 1/2 lb.

 

For that, I was charged $91.80 CAD via the GSP.  I bought a similiar amount of items ( x14 ) from another seller awhile back, packed in a similiar fashion and paid $14.85 CAD for shipping with tracking ( and didn't get dinged for import charges, but there's no way that import charges would have made up the difference of over $75 ).

 

That finally broke my back. No more buying from sellers using the GSP - simply can't afford that kind of shipping costs.

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

every Christmas gift parcel I have had delivered over the past month has had both the money grab Canada Post brokerage handling $10 fee on it along with taxes owing. 

 

The maximum duty free for purchases is $20Cdn and for item MARKED as gifts is $60 (around $96 Cdn).

If your friends are not marking their parcels as gifts, they are pretty close to the suspected $100 de facto minimum from CBSA.

 

The duty and tax are decided by CBSA. Perhaps it would be more popular with Canadian retailers if they targeted Chinese imports rather than American or European.

This money goes to the Treasury, not to Canada Post,which is a Crown Corporation, charged with being profitable. (It usually is.)

 

Canada Post has been saying lately that they are now handling more parcel mail than lettermail, including bills. Apparently this is the first time in nearly100 years that they have.

I wonder if they have decided to cover some of the cost of delivering parcels by collecting that service charge rather than charging Canadian shippers.

 

If so this is almost a return to 1839, before the introduction of prepaid postage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamp

And the Universal Postal Union Treaty of 1874 which made possible international prepaid shipping of parcels.

 

 

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No more buying from sellers using the GSP - simply can't afford that kind of shipping costs.

 

You won't find many arguments here.

The GSP is a Seller Protection program. It has no value for buyers.

 

The duty and SALES TAXES, mostly the latter are  charged, theoretically, on any import valued over $20Cdn (~$16US). Plus a small (~$5) service fee.

And I doubt those figures came under NAFTA. Canada has no free trade agreement with China.

Was the GSP portion of the shipping around $15?

There is a separate charge for shipping from the seller to the GSP plant in KY with tracking.

 

 

GSP charges were added to each piece since each they were listed seperately. 

If it helps,if you had put each of those pieces in your Shopping Cart before purchase, the GSP will bill them together.

I don't know how that works exactly, because I avoid the program as much as possible.

 

I got excited the other day and bought a comic book for <$2 without noticing the

Customs services and international tracking provided warning on the listing.

$20 in shipping.

Ugh.

And it was slow. I wasn't in any rush, but it arrived a week later than eBay's last date.

I told the seller, and it is possible he may rethink his shipping choices.

But again, this is  a Seller Protection program, so .....

This was my second GSP purchase. The first was repackaged (into a MUCH larger box) but was cheaper than any other offered including shipping charges.

So I'm 50/50 on the program.

 

By the way, be careful what you wish for.

Many US sellers will only ship using Priority,not realizing they can get the same Delivery Confirmation cheaper using First Class International Parcel.

I don't totally blame them. Try to find the FCIP price on the USPS website.

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

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No need to give me a history lesson on CP nor the "allowed" limit, I am fully aware of that. 

Fact is, if CBSA pulled aside EVERY parcel $20 and over they would be backlogged 6 months hence why they let most things lide through until recently...hence my point. 

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

I got excited the other day and bought a comic book for <$2 without noticing the

Customs services and international tracking provided warning on the listing.

$20 in shipping.

Ugh.

And it was slow. I wasn't in any rush, but it arrived a week later than eBay's last date.

I told the seller, and it is possible he may rethink his shipping choices.

But again, this is  a Seller Protection program, so .....

This was my second GSP purchase. The first was repackaged (into a MUCH larger box) but was cheaper than any other offered including shipping charges.

So I'm 50/50 on the program.

 


What was the seller's choice of domestic shipping method, femmefan, and how much were they asking for it?

This is sounding to me like another instance where a seller has offered flat-rate shipping domestically, making it impossible for the GSP bot to calculate shipping, so it has to use a category-based average instead.

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Free Shipping Domestically.

And the price was (I think ) $1.91 USD.

 

I was really mad at myself when I went to pay, but it was a Free Comic Book Day comic and Firefly-- so I had to buy, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUn-eN8mkDw

 

Another badly thought through part of this stupid system.

 

Below $20 de minimis, printed in USA so no duty in any case,and only about 30 cents in sales tax if it were even due.

 

 

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Free Shipping Domestically.

And the price was (I think ) $1.91 USD.

 

I was really mad at myself when I went to pay, but it was a Free Comic Book Day comic and Firefly-- so I had to buy, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUn-eN8mkDw

 

Another badly thought through part of this stupid system.

 

Below $20 de minimis, printed in USA so no duty in any case,and only about 30 cents in sales tax if it were even due.

 

 


Still has to clear customs, though.  Remember that sub-$20 items used to include "import charges" until there was so much hue and cry from people who didn't understand that "import charges" were more than taxes and duty that those charges got folded into the shipping charge instead of being a separate line item.

I suspect that when the GSP was first being hashed out at PBI and eBay HQ, there was no idea that it was going to be used so inappropriately and so often automatically by sellers who didn't keep up with changes to the user agreement.  Express Mail isn't a stupid mailing method in and of itself; it's stupid when it's used to send $5 postcards.

And as I've pointed out ad nauseum, it's a glorified forwarding service.  If in the old days of eBay, buyers would be seeking ways to have their "must have" items sold by a "ships to US only" seller shipped to a contact in the States or to be picked up on their next trip stateside.  And there's still nothing to stop buyers from doing this if they feel the GSP is a stupid choice of getting their item to them.

The GSP has its place, limited that place may be.  The biggest problem with it is that it's not been communicated very well (although I'm not sure how much better it could be) and as a result, 90% of the time it's not being used to its best advantage.

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The biggest problem with it is that it's not been communicated very well (although I'm not sure how much better it could be) and as a result, 90% of the time it's not being used to its best advantage.

 
 
My suggestion would be to use the same kind of warning/notice that stamp dealers and those using the word Native or Indian, or various other restricted (but not banned) items get.
Those had something to the effect that there are restrictions on the sale of that sort of item, and is the seller sure this fits into the unrestricted group.
 
Which seems to have disappeared with the new improved simplified Sell Your Item form.
Or I haven't listed anything questionable lately.
 
Be that as it may, a red box reminding sellers that :
  • they are shipping internationally
  • they are using the GSP
  • items under $50 in value are not a good choice for GSP shipping because import fees may be greater than the value of the item.
  • items sent via GSP do not need International postage rates because the seller is shipping to a US location.

But then as we all know a corollary to BUYERS DON'T READ  is that SELLERS DON'T READ EITHER.

 

 

Message 6078 of 6,171
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Comments about the Global Shipping Program


@reallynicestamps wrote:
 
. . . a red box reminding sellers that :

  • they are shipping internationally
  • they are using the GSP
  • items under $50 in value are not a good choice for GSP shipping because import fees may be greater than the value of the item.
  • items sent via GSP do not need International postage rates because the seller is shipping to a US location.

But then as we all know a corollary to BUYERS DON'T READ  is that SELLERS DON'T READ EITHER.

 

 


In which case, it wouldn't be a reminder but information out of the blue that could alarm and confuse sellers who haven't kept up with the user agreement and the links on the UA to more information on the program.

Speaking of the UA, sellers are agreeing that by selling on eBay, they're agreeing to the possibility of the GSP being applied to their items.  I think eBay's moving away from the notion of sellers being "enrolled" in the program and focusing more on the fact that the items or listings themselves can have the program applied in certain circumstances.

 

From the UA:  

One of the ways that we may make eBay.com listings available to international buyers on eBay.com and on eBay's International Sites is through the Global Shipping Program. For eligible items located in the United States and purchased by an international buyer through the Global Shipping Program, you (as seller) will simply ship the item to a parcel processing facility located in the United States.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html#13b

As such, I don't know if a "reminder" that sellers are "using" the GSP would clarify things.  The way the UA is worded, I wonder if the GSP is applied after the listing has been submitted and the GSP bot has made sure that the item is categorized correctly and the shipping and import charges are calculated.

 

In other words, a seller may be "enrolled" in the GSP in the sense that we know it, but it's not a slam-dunk that the GSP will actually be applied to the listing.

By the way, have you ever seen a listing for an item valued at less than US$50 where the import charges are more than the item's value?  To me, this seems mathematically impossible.

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Comments about the Global Shipping Program

daviboru-0
Community Member

Kalvin,

You are correct. Stay as far away from any company called Pitney Bowes and the Global Shipping Program. They are one and the same and they need to be totally exposed and take ebay down with them. I track my packages from warehouse to warehouse and then they mysteriously disappear and they claim they are lost. What a joke. 

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