Global shipping program non-sense

[huggymtl]

i bought a ssd hard drive from a seller that is in Massachusetts the drive was suppose to be ship priority shipping but the seller chose to send by the global shipping program so it was sent priority to them ... 

Result is the package who would of took 3-4 days to come here in montreal/canada by usps direct to me was ship to the GSP warehouse that is in Erlanger/Kentucky (look like ebay is not big enough to have more of those warehouse lollll ) anyways heres the route that this small package had :

i bought may 11 and were may 28 today and still didnt received my package

it start from marblehead/massachusetts

to boston then

to springfield

then to cincinnati

then to  erlanger/kentucky (Gsp warehouse) when it sat for 2 days

then to be re-ship to elk grove illinois

then to chicago

then be sent to canada but in missisauga/ontario

and now no more tracking news so hopefully en route to me in montreal/quebec ???

That is just complete non-sense WOW why all this route for a small laptop ssd drive that could of be sent in a bubble enveloppe or mini box directly to me here ??

Isnt Ebay conscient about the environment i guess not ...

if i would of known before never i would of buy the drive from this seller. What was the point of all this route from this shipping i just can t understand all those carrier use and gas spent for nothing and mostly almost 3 week for a delivery its just insane.

what a lame choice from the seller and ebay too i cant understand why they dont have a warehouse for east coast one for center and one for west coast like ?

everything that goes through the Gsp program is shipping to erlanger/kentucky were they open you package then re-package and re-ship. it might work for u.s people but its a pain in the a... for canadian buyer on top that they overcharge price for such a small and weightless package.

be aware and ill ask more question next time i wanna buy an item from u.s seller

never again ill buy from someone who wanna ship by the global shipping program

a big scam and environment mess ...

[esclyons]

you are right the gsp  is a nightmare, but also right now in Canada postal times are really lagging as well.. I am waiting on 2 packages coming from Quebec, mailed to me 16 days ago, and still not processed in Ontario, normally it would take 2-3 days for me to receive them.. So just a heads up, you may still be waiting some time, still.. as Quebec is really behind in shipping times.. Hopefully your item is quicker coming in, than mine coming out..

[femmefan1946]

It's a Seller Protection program for xenophobic and paranoid sellers.

There is a warning that the seller uses it on every listing, just don't Search on a phone and use List rather than Gallery view.

Canadian customs agents made the sensible decision that it was too expensive to the taxpayer to enforce our duty-free allowance of $20 (~$14US) and have made it a policy to ignore small and low value imports. Private couriers like Pitney Bowes/GSP (and UPS and FedEx) cannot do this and must charge duty and  Sales Taxes. They are allowed a service charge for this. UPS starts at $25. Canada Post charges $9.95. Pitney Bowes/GSP charges ~$5.

It's called hub and spoke delivery.Airlines, USPS and Canada Post all use it. FedEx used it as a plot point in the movie Castaway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoke%E2%80%93hub_distribution_paradigm

The minimum wage in Kentucky is $7.85 an hour.

Do you really think every one of the thousands of parcels the Erlanger plant handles is opened and repackaged? How long would that take? How much would the GSP be paying in packaging materials? How much would that add to their costs?

[ichopshop]

The seller didn't "decide" to use the GSP, that was the option you chose when you purchased the item.  You would have paid extra shipping/duty fees at the time of purchase.  You may not have been fully aware of that and eBay can probably do a better job of explaining it before purchase, but the seller has no ability to ship GSP after the fact.

Ian

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Prior to committing to purchase a seller can opt out for a single listing.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/global-shipping-program?id...

Opting out of the Global Shipping Program

You can also remove a single active listing from the Global Shipping Program. Here's how:

1. Select Active under the Listing tab in Seller Hub.
2. Select the listing you'd like to change.
3. In the Edit dropdown menu, choose Edit selected.
4. In the Add shipping details section, select Edit selected policy.
5. In the International shipping section of the Edit shipping policy dialogue box, clear the tick box beside Send it to the US shipping center, and the rest will be taken care of for you.
6. Save and confirm your changes.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

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@ichopshop wrote:

The seller didn't "decide" to use the GSP, that was the option you chose when you purchased the item.  You would have paid extra shipping/duty fees at the time of purchase.  You may not have been fully aware of that and eBay can probably do a better job of explaining it before purchase, but the seller has no ability to ship GSP after the fact.

I suspect the OP saw the shipping method described as "International Priority Shipping" and missed the part that it was through the Global Shipping Program thinking that the item was being shipped by USPS's "Priority International," a completely different animal.

[marnotom!]

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@huggymtl wrote:

what a lame choice from the seller and ebay too i cant understand why they dont have a warehouse for east coast one for center and one for west coast like ?

everything that goes through the Gsp program is shipping to erlanger/kentucky were they open you package then re-package and re-ship. it might work for u.s people but its a pain in the a... for canadian buyer on top that they overcharge price for such a small and weightless package.

be aware and ill ask more question next time i wanna buy an item from u.s seller

never again ill buy from someone who wanna ship by the global shipping program

a big scam and environment mess ...

---

The Global Shipping Program is a glorified forwarding service.  Keep in mind that it serves over 100 countries in the world, not just Canada, and I suspect that until the volume of goods handled by the program to Canadian destinations is far greater than the volume of goods destined for the remaining 99 or so countries, there's no point in building another warehouse somewhere else (which would also have environmental implications).

As it's a forwarding service, it stands to reason that items shipped through it are not necessarily going to take the most direct route to their destination.  But it's not the environmental nightmare some seem to think it is.  Items aren't travelling solo journeys on otherwise empty trucks.  They're piggybacking on shipments with lots of other items as well.  In the case of shipments destined for Canada, they're likely being used to fill up transport trucks of freight that might otherwise be only partly filled.

The GSP functions best when sellers use the program to its best advantage and buyers are aware of its quirks and weaknesses.  If sellers don't provide enough information on the nature of an item or its shipping dimensions and weight, the GSP has to calculate a shipping price based on a category average.  Also keep in mind that the shipping price of a GSP item is the seller's shipping charge to Kentucky plus the GSP's charge for shipping from Kentucky to the item's final destination.  Your item likely was sent as a Canada Post Expedited Parcel from Mississauga, and parcel post rates are more expensive than small packet/letterpost (USPS First Class International) rates.

I've had four items forwarded through the GSP.  The first three were cell phones and the shipping charge was comparable to First Class International because the GSP used an average cell phone weight to calculate the shipping charge and the sellers offered "free" shipping to Kentucky.  My fourth item was a musical instrument and the shipping price was comparable to Priority Mail International, and the item wasn't "resealed" at the Global Shipping Centre because the seller provided enough information in the listing that the GSC workers could use.

I don't think I was lucky.  I just educated myself on the program when it was first unleashed on us way back when and I figured out when it kind of makes sense to use it and when it definitely doesn't make sense to use it.  I don't think you'd call Priority Mail Express International a scam if a seller used it to ship a five dollar collectable postcard.  Same deal with the GSP: If the seller doesn't know what they're doing, the consequences for the buyer are not likely going to be great.  The buyer needs to defend themselves with a bit of education, not vitriol.

While lengthy, the Global Shipping Program Terms and Conditions page for buyers does contain a lot of useful information on the program's workings and is a good place to start for figuring out its workings.

[ambros_51]

1. YOUR  REPLY  IS  A  HUGE  PILE   OF  BS .  the  global  shipping  should  be  named  the  global  rip  off  .

i  will avoid  buying  from  any  seller  that  uses  the  program  .

[huggymtl]

completely agree with you thats why i dont bother reply to those answers ...

as an update i still didnt received my ssd drive that was sent may 11

GSP is not good at all exept for seller

[huggymtl]

a glorified service OMG !!! really you wrote that wow

[huggymtl]

no options was available and yes its the seller that decide to ship through GSP ...

[15westcoast]

If you live in Canada the GSP is not a good choice .  I have had many

problems with the GSP and now avoid being tempted to purchase from

sellers that are on the program.  If I really would like the item I have messaged

the seller to see if they will use Priority Post and not the GSP.  Some will change

the shipping and oblige and others will not.  If they will not, I won't purchase the 

item.

[femmefan1946]

@15westcoast 

I agree about avoiding GSP sellers on low value items.  There is a place for it on highvalue/ bulky items where careful cost comparisons should be made.

But avoid USPS Priority shipping.

What you want is First Class International Package.

This is cheaper than Priority but offers the seller the Confirmation of Delivery that she is terrified to ship without.

Here's the USPS rate list.

I use 90210 as a placeholder zipcode.

And you have to use Size and Shape to get to the FCIP pricing.

 Unlike Canada Post, USPS gives the most expensive options first.

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

[irenepavai]

My ebay orders shipped through the GSP always used to go to Erlanger, Kentucky for processing en route to Canada. Recently, at least past 2 months, things are being sent to Glendale Heights Illinois (suburb of Chicago) for processing.....why the change? 

Takes at least 2-3 days longer to process and  to get moving to Canada. Is this happening to anyone else?

(I'm in Montreal)

[reallynicestamps]

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM MAY 2020.

The problem with zombie threads is that the information and advice may be out of date and no longer correct.

The GSP is being phased out and while GSP packages went to the PitneyBowes plant in Erlanger where the Cincinnati international airport is, the replacement eIS program uses a plant near Chicago O'Hare.

There are differences.

The one with the most impact for Canadian buyers is that while GSP charged import fees upfront, the eIS charges them on your doorstep.

[marnotom!]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

The GSP is being phased out and while GSP packages went to the PitneyBowes plant in Erlanger where the Cincinnati international airport is, the replacement eIS program uses a plant near Chicago O'Hare.

---

I've seen other posts that suggest that there may be other hubs in addition to Glendale Heights, but because people seem to be mixing up the names of eBay's (currently) various international shipping services, it might be eBay International Standard Delivery that's being referred to and not eBay International Shipping.

Or it may be that forwarding hub varies depending on the item's final destination.

[brettjet38]

Zombie Thread from 05-28-2020