Global Shipping Program Overcharge

[lext4]

I bought an item from the US, shipping to Canada. The GSP has a charge for about $50 CAD. This is the price on my order details. I used a credit card to pay for my item but now i see a charge in my credit card transactions for PAYPAL *GLOBALSHIP for $75. What gives?? Anyone else had this issue?

I probably should have used Paypal to pay so I could go through them for resolution....

[marnotom!]

Would it be possible for you to give us the listing number? There's a lot in your post that's not making sense to me.

[lext4]

Listing number 202079955818

Sorry if it did not make sense. I will Rephrase.

I bought an item from US, and I live in Canada. Here is the order total (in canadian $):

Subtotal: $782.22
Shipping: $22.38

Import charges: $49.52

I used a credit card to pay. The subtotal + shipping to the seller was on one transaction (correct amount).

The import charges (global shipping program charges), was under another transaction. This transaction showed $75.18 instead of $49.52 (I got charged about $25 extra).

At no point in the checkout process did I see import charges would be $75.

[ypdc_dennis]

Try contacting Pitney Bowes (the GSP people) directly about the charge at global.shipping.support@pb.com

[lext4]

Thanks. I contacted PayPal and they told me to contact them too at pbecommerce@pbcrossborder.com. I'll see what their response is....

[marnotom!]

Thanks for that information.

First of all, yes, you used a credit card to pay for your item, but the credit card funded your PayPal payment, rather than PayPal funds or funds from a bank/credit union account.  That's why it shows up on your PayPal payment details page.  All transactions that have the item forwarded through the Global Shipping Program have to paid through PayPal, by the way.  You have the same recourse through PayPal for a credit card-funded payment as you would for payments funded through other means.

As you have likely figured out, there are two charges for an item forwarded through the Global Shipping Program.  The second charge for a GSP item is not just for the "import charges" but also for Pitney Bowes' charge for shipping the item to you.  The first charge for your item is for the item plus the shipper's charge for shipping the item to the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky.  

Since the seller offered "free" shipping within the US, there is no first shipping charge.  You just got charged for your item.  The second charge would therefore be (based on what the listing page currently reads) US$18.68 + US$39.57 for a total of US$58.25, which converts to approximately the C$75.18 you quoted in your post.

Hope that makes sense.

[lext4]

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@marnotom! wrote:

Thanks for that information.

First of all, yes, you used a credit card to pay for your item, but the credit card funded your PayPal payment, rather than PayPal funds or funds from a bank/credit union account.  That's why it shows up on your PayPal payment details page.  All transactions that have the item forwarded through the Global Shipping Program have to paid through PayPal, by the way.  You have the same recourse through PayPal for a credit card-funded payment as you would for payments funded through other means.

As you have likely figured out, there are two charges for an item forwarded through the Global Shipping Program.  The second charge for a GSP item is not just for the "import charges" but also for Pitney Bowes' charge for shipping the item to you.  The first charge for your item is for the item plus the shipper's charge for shipping the item to the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky.  

Since the seller offered "free" shipping within the US, there is no first shipping charge.  You just got charged for your item.  The second charge would therefore be (based on what the listing page currently reads) US$18.68 + US$39.57 for a total of US$58.25, which converts to approximately the C$75.18 you quoted in your post.

Hope that makes sense.

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Thanks. That does make sense. What confused me was, on my credit card statement, I paid 806 CAD to the seller. So, I thought this was subtotal+shipping (782.22+22.38 = 804.60), with some conversion difference between eBay and my credit card.

I expected the total for just the item to be 782.22 based on the conversion rate at that time, and the fact that my credit card does not charge extra conversion fees. I guess I can assume this extra conversion fee was due to unintentionally using PayPals conversion rate + PayPal conversion fee.

[marnotom!]

Don't forget that eBay just posts an approximate conversion of the item price in Canadian dollars. It's based on the mid-market rate on currency exchange markets, i.e. halfway between its official "buy" and "sell" rates, rates that are unavailable to Joe and Jill Q. Public.

I've found PayPal's exchange rates to be pretty close to what my credit union offers and much better than my credit card. I'm guessing that while your credit card may not ding you for "conversion fees," they're probably making up for it elsewhere.

[lady.stark]

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@marnotom! wrote:
I've found PayPal's exchange rates to be pretty close to what my credit union offers and much better than my credit card.

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You are very lucky then, or unlucky depending on how you look at it. Everytime I used my credit card conversion instead of PayPal's, it was *always* less than the quoted equivalent given to me by PayPal.

[tommysug]

....and they would have told you that it's Ebay's GSP that is responsible... run around in the circle, just like the hamster on his tread mill!!

[ypdc_dennis]

ZOMBIE thread

[brettjet38]

[15westcoast]

Hi,  I am a Canadian buyer/seller.  I try to not buy anything from

sellers on the Global Shipping Program.  The extra fee that is

charged is nothing but a rip off for out of the country buyers.

Some of the US sellers are totally unaware that we are charged

the extra fee.  Other point is :  My last order from a seller on the

GSP was an item from California.  I have purchased many items

from sellers in California and they usually arrive (Victoria, B.C.)

with in ten days.  Direct to Vancouver & Customs and then here.

The GSP sends the item from California across the country to

Kentucky and then it is handed over to USPS and sent back here, adding

another ten days to two weeks onto the delivery.

[marnotom!]

@15westcoast:

The Global Shipping Program is a forwarding service. The way forwarding services work is that items get sent to another location before being redirected to their final destination. If the seller chooses a slow shipping method to get the item to this location (in this case, a warehouse in Kentucky), that's going to have an impact on the item's overall shipping time.

The Global Shipping Program serves about 100 countries. For most of these countries, the extra US transit time is made up by quicker processing in the destination country. It doesn't balance out so well for us Canadians for reasons related to geography and the trade relationship we have with our neighbours to the south.

Most eBay listings have delivery time estimates to help buyers make an informed decision on whether to purchase an item from a particular seller.

[femmefan1946]

Like USPS and Canada Post, and famously FedEx*, GSP/Pitney Bowes uses a hub and spoke delivery system.

All packages, no matter where in the world they are destined, and GSP services over 150countries, go to Erlanger KY.

The seller's tracking will tell you how long that took.

Usually a parcel only stays in Erlanger for 24 hours and is put on the truck/plane going to Canada, usually Mississauga - the huge Canada Post terminal outside Toronto, and a Canada Post hub- others being Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Montreal.

From there it is shuttled to the next hub, Vancouver and then on to the ferry for the Island and Victoria.

As a sidenote, I sent a birthday card to my BIL in Comox and it went from Oak Bay to Vancouver (Richmond)back to the Island and finally to Comox.  Because Canada Post believes it is more efficient that way. It took three days.

Flying to Ottawa was Sydney to Calgary to Toronto to Ottawa -and that's the last time I pick the cheap flight instead of the direct flight, which still only skips Toronto. WestJet and Air Canada use hub and spoke delivery too.

*Remember the first scenes in Castaway?

[bernladeroute]

yes i had problem too .. i did buy 2 items on ebay and instead shipping in my town is been ship to other city 165miles away from my home town and why post office don,t ship in my town anymore.. now i think ebay should step up to change to shipping express .. because i don,t have driver license and no car so i had enough with economic shipping bs now ..

[kh-leslie]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies.  Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!