GSP will be the end of eBay.

[cadbuyer2015]

Once again, I am thwarted by eBay's Global Shipping Program. I bought what looks to be a great dinner jacket from a nice seller in the UK who was keen to get the jacket to me for the Christmas Holiday Season but made the mistake of using the GSP. Now, instead of receiving this great jacket in 3-4 days (what I signed up for) 20 more days have been added to the delivery time. I was told delivery by December 20th (see screenshot), now that GSP is doing the delivery, it has been changed to Jan. 3, 2020. 

Consequently, I will never again buy from any seller using GSP. 

[pjcdn2005]

Where do you see the January arrival date? 

Something is off as the seller cannot change to gsp after a purchase, the only way that they could have used it is if the listing was set up with that as the shipping option.  Did you have to pay any import charges when you made the purchase?

The arrival date showing on your screenshot is really odd too as only a very expensive service would be able deliver a parcel from the UK in that short of a time span.  Are you certain that is what you saw on the listing itself at the time? When I look at that listing now, it has a 5 or 6 business days delivery time to a UK buyer so 3 or 4 days from the UK to Canada is unlikely.

tyler@ebay  How can the gsp delivery time from the UK to Canada show as being just 3 or 4 days including handling time?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Posted transit times has always been a little wonky inside of eBay. Be it GSP or regular services. Screenshot attached. According to the Canadapost for the selected screen shot, transit should be 7 business days by tracked to AZ, 5 to 6 by Expedited and 4 to 5 by Xpresspost(Normal circumstances - Not during Holiday Peak). Please note: Items always have a chance of being delayed as soon as customs gets involved, so an exact time can be difficult to predict.

According to eBay shipping by Expedited is now slower than by Tracked????? That has never been my experience. That's why it is slightly more in price.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

My personal rule of thumb is to proceed with caution when purchasing anything time-sensitive online, from any website, using any shipping method.

I agree with the previous posts.  It is unlikely that the jacket would have reached you by your self-imposed deadline unless shipped by an extremely expensive shipping method.  I'm not sure how that delivery estimate showed up for you, but I'm hazarding a guess that a glitch caused the UK delivery time to show up rather than the Canadian one.

[tyler@ebay]

Thanks for the tag @pjcdn2005 - I'm not sure why or how the shipping estimate for a GSP item would display this way, unless (for whatever reason) that section of the Purchase History is looking at the domestic leg arrival date? But that's me talking out of my hat. I'll get this reported for further review. 

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[cadbuyer2015]

Look at the attachment in my post. The delivery date was not set by me, I didn't set the delivery time, but it was changed today, only two days before the scheduled day of delivery.

[femmefan1946]

Normally we don't get a scheduled delivery date.

We get a window.

If the purchase is not delivered by the last estimated date in that window, the buyer can open an Not Received dispute and get a refund, unless the seller can prove delivery, which she usually has 20 days to do.

If the delivery is through the GSP, the GSP takes responsibility for the delivery time.

GSP is a Seller Protection program. It offers almost nothing to buyers.

If the shipment is delayed, the GSP will refund the buyer. If the item shows up after the refund, the GSP does not want it back, the buyer can dispose of it as he sees fit.

[femmefan1946]

Unison worked this out for buyers who have not yet received their GSP shipment.
TRACKING SYSTEM FOR GSP
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... 
 

[cadbuyer2015]

Tracking isn't my issue. It's how much time GSP adds to shipping. It's doubling or tripling the transit times. All this when Amazon is trying to get to same day shipping.

[femmefan1946]

I've been selling by mail order since the late 70s.

It's my experience that shipping from the UK and Europe usually takes about 15-20 days. And has for all that time.

GSP means that customs is cleared before your purchase leaves the UK rather than being assessed in Canada and collected on your doorstep.  For buyers that is the most important point. (For sellers it is the Seller Protection aspect, as mentioned.)

[cadbuyer2015]

Thanks for sharing your experience, however, since the early 90s, overnight delivery has been possible worldwide. My issue isn't that shipping takes too long, is that the GSP adds a lot to that shipping time. As you can see from the attachment I provided, I was supposed to receive the shipment by December 20th, two weeks was added to that today.

[femmefan1946]

Interesting.

The purchase was on December 16th.

I looked at the tracking.

Apparently it left Ireland on the 17th and was noted at the UK /GSP plant on the 17th.

Keeping in mind that tracking shows where something has been, not where it is, as of the 18th it had not cleared customs in the UK.

Last estimated date for delivery on eBay still shows Dec 20th as the closing of the delivery window.

Unless you live near Malton/Pearson or Dorval/Trudeau airports, that is cutting it fine.
Not so much getting to Canada, as being delivered by Canada Post.

However, CPO does include some urban weekend deliveries at Christmas.

I don't see any date for delivery on the GSP page.

[femmefan1946]

DH is glued to MSNBC so I'm playing around here.

I looked at ParcelForce the Royal Mail service for bulky/heavy international parcels.

Using 4kg (probably high) and 30x20x6cm from Belfast to Canada, I got shipping costs between £70 and £85 for next day delivery   and £61.15 for five day delivery.

It's not clear if that to your doorstep or just to Canada Post.

But the question in our minds, since we're trying to avoid doing something useful like listing or shipping, is How much was your seller's "non-GSP" shipping? Which is the amount you paid.

[marnotom!]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

But the question in our minds, since we're trying to avoid doing something useful like listing or shipping, is How much was your seller's "non-GSP" shipping? Which is the amount you paid.

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The seller posted a charge of four quid (about CDN$6.50) for "economy shipping" within the UK, with an estimated delivery time of five to six working days.

I don't know where items forwarded through the UK GSP get processed, but it takes about half a day to drive from Ballymena to Land's End.  The item would probably spend a comparable amount of time in the UK Global Shipping Centre as it would with Canada Border Services if sent by mail this time of year. 

The issue here is an eBay glitch, not the GSP "adding" over two weeks to the item's transit time.