Global Shipping Program - The Black Hole

[cleaninghouseinc]

Why is it that the Global Shipping Program and Pitney Bowes ship is such a disaster.  As soon as the parcel hits the Global Shipping Centres there is zero tracking information provided.  I have a package that shows zero updates for the last 7 calendar days.  Ebay customer support is zero help, Pitney Bowes is zero help, the seller is zero help and I see nothing but complaints online about this program yet Ebay just continues to use this horrible program.  I see no value in using this **bleep**py shipping program with a company that makes photo copiers.  LOL what a complete joke.

[baxterdmutt]

So to update how absolutely stupid this program is here is how my lastest packaged travelled:
-From the seller in CA via USPS going to the west coast of canada.
- made it’s way across to the eastern USA and after waiting for the weekend to pass, was delivered to some 3rd party shipper.
-sat in their building for 3 days
-was put right back into USPS to be mailed to Canada.
This is absolutely stupid. If the package had just stayed in the USPS system it would have stayed in the west of the USA and made it across the border in Washington and be delivered by now. Come on EBay…Fix this nonsense or loose customers.

[mrdutch1001]

any USA seller who says eBay doesn't allow them to ship directly to a buyer is full of BS and simply chooses not to ship directly to a buyer because they either cannot be bothered to do so>it's much easier to pass the buck as they do not want to accept ANY responsibility for the shipment of their items...

[pjcdn2005]

@baxterdmutt 

That's odd as the new EIS system has a warehouse in California and one in Illinois.  I'm surprised that it wasn't processed there.  The seller definitely used eBay international shipping?

I'm curious...does the tracking actually say that usps was used for the next leg?  I didn't think EIS used usps after it arrived at the shipping Center.  It would be nice if they did though.

[baxterdmutt]

Absolutely used EBay’s program. And yes, the package is right back into USPS
“Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS. The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified on August 10, 2023 to expect this package for mailing. This message does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Please be advised tracking is not available for this product.”

[reallynicestamps]

Neither the USPS nor Canada Post is "closed" on weekends.

Canada Post offices and USPS offices are not open to accept mailings.

(Postal Outlets are open to accept mailings or hand over packages if the store they are in is open.)
USPS delivers and is open to accept mail on Saturdays (with some exceptions).

And both services are still processing shipments all weekend,ready to move out on Monday.

FWIW- I 've been selling mail order since the 70s (we used to sell cast iron stoves and advertised in Harrowsmith) and it's been my experience that it takes up to 21 days for delivery anywhere in North America, whether you start in Texas and ship to Ontario or start in ON and ship to TX.

it hasn’t made it to the boarder so don’t try blaming border services.

The GSP does clear shipments going to Canada while the package is still in Kentucky. It is not unusual for a cross-border shipper to do this.  They are supervised by CBSA but the assessment is not done by CBSA officers.

The GSP is being phased out, so in future you will be paying any import fees at the doorstep and not before the seller ships. This means if you are not home when the carrier arrives, you will have to go to the carrier terminal to pay and pick up your parcel.

[reallynicestamps]

If you have a problem with porch pirates, and I hope you immediately reported the theft to your local police, you may want to set up Flex-Delivery at your local PO.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/personal/receiving/alternative-delivery/flexdelivery.p...

It's free.

[marnotom!]

@baxterdmutt@pjcdn2005

This program is called “eBay International Shipping” and not “eBay Canada Shipping.” I suspect each destination country has only one “port of entry” for everything sent through the program. Mississauga makes the most sense as it’s located in Canada’s most populous province and a lot of carriers have hubs in the region, including Canada Post’s Gateway facility. As more hubs have been developed (I suspect the one in California is presently designed for shipments headed across the Pacific), there may be plans to fine-tune the direction of shipments to Canada in the future.

As it is, the listings have a delivery time estimate. My one item handled by eIS made it to me within that timeframe, so I don’t really care what sort of journey it took.

By the way, @baxterdmutt, I don’t know where you are in western Canada, but I’m on Vancouver Island. If I mail a letter to my neighbour across the street, it goes across the Strait to Richmond to be sorted before coming back to my town’s post office (a ten minute drive from my neighbourhood) before going out for delivery.

And about a year ago, I ordered an item from China (from the manufacturer/distributor, not through eBay) that went to Mississauga first before heading back to where I am on the west coast.

[baxterdmutt]

Yea, you are absolutely correct. Canada post and USPS are definitely open on weekends. I never said THEY were closed. The people Ebay contracts as the middleman are not open and so the package lost 3 days. I don’t know why USPS couldn’t deliver on the Monday.
Nonsense. It does not take 21 days. I buy lots of stuff from the USA. 10 days at most. Sure, something like a cast iron stove will take longer. It’s not going to go by usps. I buy a monthly coffee and it takes from 6-8 days regular mail. I buy stuff on Amazon.com (not .ca) and they collect the taxes and import fees. The last one I bought came from Texas and it took a long time - 11 days.
I don’t care how long you’ve been selling. I’ve been buying and buyers can experience the different speeds of shipping. EBay is horrible. Stop making excuses. I’m happy to pay the fees when the item gets here. EBay always charges, but if it’s shipped direct, and less than $150cdn CBSA lets it go without taxes. (There is never duty coming into Canada from the USA) so with eBay I have the privilege of paying an import fee on top of taxes for exceptionally awful service, where had it shipped direct, there’s a good bet I wouldn’t pay any extra. Please don’t try to tell me I’m wrong about this part.

[baxterdmutt]

Well I suspected that to about 1 port of entry. But I’ve received ebay packages that have done what this one is doing and came right back on the USA side at Vancouver. (Surrey actually) You know it astounds me how customers (there’s all sorts of comments about this **bleep**py service, not just me) trying to inform about how it disuades from eBay buying. Instead you defend it. You’d think the buyers would want better service. You maybe want to try buying something from Amazon.com (not .ca) and see the difference in speed. It’s remarkable. Oh and the distance from one of the islands to Richmond does not even come close to comparing sending it 3/4 the way across the country.

[marnotom!]

I’ve been making online purchases of items from the US and elsewhere for almost a quarter century now, and my experiences with delivery times are similar to those of @reallynicestamps: I usually allow two to three weeks for items sent by regular mail.

It’s not necessarily that eBay’s forwarding schemes are slow; they’re generally pretty average. It’s more that Amazon’s network of warehouses and in-house transportation system gives them a lot more control over shipments than what eBay can accomplish without a warehouse system and with a reliance on the seller to get the item out to a forwarding hub in a timely fashion with accurate information on the item being shipped.

You’re expecting eBay—a Greyhound bus—to get your item to you in the same sort of timeframe as Amazon—a 737—when the two e-tailers have completely different inventory systems (i.e. eBay has none) and shipping models. Your expectations are, quite frankly, more than a little unrealistic.

My point about mail on Vancouver Island going to the mainland to be processed had nothing to do with transportation times or distances, only that items being shipped don't necessarily take the "easiest" path and this sort of shipping is not exclusive to eIS.

[baxterdmutt]

So you’re making assumptions about a lot of what I’m expecting. It’s true Amazon’s warehouses are in better locations. So let compare apples to apples. A package coming from an Amazon warehouse in California via USPS (just like the eBay packages I’ve been complaining about) stops at a USPS hub in Everett Wash. next time I see it it’s at the CBSA / Canada Post mail facility in Richmond BC Canada. Not the other side of the country. How does that have anything to do with Amazon’s warehouse system. It doesn’t.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:

I’ve been making online purchases of items from the US and elsewhere for almost a quarter century now, and my experiences with delivery times are similar to those of @reallynicestamps: I usually allow two to three weeks for items sent by regular mail.

It’s not necessarily that eBay’s forwarding schemes are slow; they’re generally pretty average. It’s more that Amazon’s network of warehouses and in-house transportation system gives them a lot more control over shipments than what eBay can accomplish without a warehouse system and with a reliance on the seller to get the item out to a forwarding hub in a timely fashion with accurate information on the item being shipped.

You’re expecting eBay—a Greyhound bus—to get your item to you in the same sort of timeframe as Amazon—a 737—when the two e-tailers have completely different inventory systems (i.e. eBay has none) and shipping models. Your expectations are, quite frankly, more than a little unrealistic.

My point about mail on Vancouver Island going to the mainland to be processed had nothing to do with transportation times or distances, only that items being shipped don't necessarily take the "easiest" path and this sort of shipping is not exclusive to eIS.

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@marnotom! 

@baxterdmutt 

For anyone that has come to the board because of a recent bad experience and are looking for answers, it may seem to them that eBay replaced GSP - a rock....with EIS - another rock. Awesome they (Ebay) sells as a new and improved tool. Most of which are in the sellers favour. In their advertising they explain it as cheaper but with nothing used as a comparison option it's hard to know especially when distance is thrown in. Shouldn't it clearly express the service a buyer will be getting? As a buyer I would like choice. Something you don't get with EIS. Once a seller has been opted in it is very difficult to be opted out. It's very poorly explained has how to opt out even as a 1 of. Until eBay recognizes (look how long it took with GSP) to realize it is not as great as sliced bread as promised it will just cause buyers (the Canadian species of) to go elsewhere when shopping with US eBay sellers.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

@lotzofuniquegoodies, I’m pretty sure the cost comparisons I’ve seen are to USPS counter rates.

A rate table for eIS’s rates for the international leg of a shipment can be found here:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-international-shipping/details

Don’t forget that these rate’s don’t include the seller’s charge for getting the item to the eIS forwarding hub.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies, I’m pretty sure the cost comparisons I’ve seen are to USPS counter rates.

A rate table for eIS’s rates for the international leg of a shipment can be found here:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-international-shipping/details

Don’t forget that these rate’s don’t include the seller’s charge for getting the item to the eIS forwarding hub.

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I'm wondering if most of the rates Canadian buyers are seeing are guesstimates. Who knows if sellers are putting in accurate measurements. Again if its over estimated how likely it is that buyers are getting a refund on their shipping.

As for counter vs discounted I have heard whispers that it is possible for US sellers to show discounted rates. You have to know eBay offers discounted rates to US sellers...at least the ones using eBay labels. We just don't hear about it being advertised by US sellers. As for when we will have that option, it's anyone's guess. But it would be most helpful for all parties involved. Have you ever compared US sellers and their shipping options? Free to USA...The moon to Canada. Maybe its because of the paperwork they don't have to do shipping to Canada it costs so much.

-Lotz

-Lotz

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies, I’m pretty sure the cost comparisons I’ve seen are to USPS counter rates.

A rate table for eIS’s rates for the international leg of a shipment can be found here:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-international-shipping/details

Don’t forget that these rate’s don’t include the seller’s charge for getting the item to the eIS forwarding hub.

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I'm wondering if most of the rates Canadian buyers are seeing are guesstimates. Who knows if sellers are putting in accurate measurements. Again if its over estimated how likely it is that buyers are getting a refund on their shipping.

As for counter vs discounted I have heard whispers that it is possible for US sellers to show discounted rates. You have to know eBay offers discounted rates to US sellers...at least the ones using eBay labels. We just don't hear about it being advertised by US sellers. As for when we will have that option, it's anyone's guess. But it would be most helpful for all parties involved. Have you ever compared US sellers and their shipping options? Free to USA...The moon to Canada. Maybe its because of the paperwork they don't have to do shipping to Canada it costs so much.

-Lotz

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@marnotom! 

One other tidbit that is not even being considered, because EIS ends up being the shipper on record, they would have access to massive discounts for all the postage they use. The buyers are not seeing any of that savings. The buyer might get charged 25 USD for shipping. Probably only costing 15.

In a way you could compare it the the discounts the River has because of the massive volume of shipments they have and the whatever after the fact they squeeze out of monthly prime accounts. Not every subscriber is getting their money's worth out of prime. You could say that's their cookie jar insurance.

-Lotz

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this 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.

Thank you for understanding.