
07-17-2016 11:29 AM
In the item description, the GSP no longer shows import charges, just the shipping cost. The buyer won't know he's going to be charged import charges, which are often way higher than they should be, until after he/she has bought. Expect some angry buyers if you use GSP.
This probably won't effect many Canadian sellers as I doubt many of us use GSP but for those that do, beware. The US and UK sellers, many of whom do use GSP, are going to get a lot of angry buyers from this change. Nice surprise charge after you've committed to buy. Cool.
07-17-2016 06:22 PM
I am on eBay.ca and I DO NOT SEE the import charges on items you provided as examples.
07-17-2016 06:41 PM
07-17-2016 06:43 PM - edited 07-17-2016 06:44 PM
You have to now click on shipping and handling and put Canada in to get the info, but it is there, just somewhat hidden so trap bay can use the GSP as I am sure many people have quit using it or won't ship international anyway due to all the problems it creates,
See above post
07-17-2016 08:30 PM
@block36 wrote:I am on eBay.ca and I DO NOT SEE the import charges on items you provided as examples.
We're all on eBay.ca if we're posting to this discussion board.
If you simply clicked on the links that fort2b provided, you would have been taken to the .com site.
These are links to the same listings that fort2b found, but on the .ca site:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/201620113704
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/112052291661
What do you see there?
Those of you who see the "stripped down" version of the listings (i.e. without the GSP logo, import charges, etc.) on .com, what do you see on the UK site? Is it different whether you're logged in or not?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201620113704
07-17-2016 08:37 PM
Logged in or not, I see import charges on each GSP item.
07-17-2016 10:00 PM
"Firefox 17 (yeah, it's old)."
WoW! Amazing it still works. I am using Firefox 47
07-17-2016 10:16 PM
Of course there is a very simple solution to this problem: Just don't buy anything from a seller using the GSP Ever. I never have and I certainly never will now. I almost did for the first time yesterday because I thought they had dropped the gosh darn import charges but when I saw that they hadn't, I didn't follow through with my purchase.
GSP is nothing but a big fat rip off. Period.
07-17-2016 10:21 PM
My objection is not with the import fees portion of the Global Shipping Program (although I do prefer to clear my own items at the border) but rather with the repacks at their hub(s). I ordered once from the USA GSP and once from the UK GSP and both transactions ended very badly with stuff either missing or getting wrecked and it was a Huge Pain in the Rear End.
07-18-2016 03:40 AM
@fort2b wrote:
Of course there is a very simple solution to this problem: Just don't buy anything from a seller using the GSP Ever. I never have and I certainly never will now. I almost did for the first time yesterday because I thought they had dropped the gosh darn import charges but when I saw that they hadn't, I didn't follow through with my purchase.
GSP is nothing but a big fat rip off. Period.
No question that the GSP isn't terribly cost-effective for modestly-priced, smaller items, but I'm wondering how you expect the program not to pay taxes and duty owing on an item on your behalf and then get you to reimburse them.
07-18-2016 06:45 AM
huh?
why does the program have to pay duty and taxes on my behalf at all? Why can't duties and taxes just be collected when the item comes over the border like has been done for decades.
If sellers are too lazy to write customs forms and put them on their packages then fine, GSP can do it for them....but there is no need for GSP to collect duty and taxes.
As soon as a middle man gets involved, costs go up because that middle man wants a cut, a piece of the action....and then Ebay gets a percentage of that.
The other reason GSP is bad is because items get shipped twice. They get shipped to the shipping center by the seller, where they are repackaged and sent to the buyer. Twice as much chances for things to get broken and lost and the second packing is by someone who possibly doesn't give a rat's behind about my item.
This move of hiding import charges by Ebay shows GSP is struggling and they are having to resort to trickery to prop it up.
07-18-2016 07:09 AM
07-18-2016 07:12 AM
07-18-2016 09:27 AM - edited 07-18-2016 09:28 AM
When I accept someone's money, I do so with the expectation that the buyer will receive something of value in return.
One reason the GSP has always rubbed me the wrong way is because buyers actually get less than nothing for their money.
That isi, not only does that money not buy you anything of value, it actually all but ensures that your service will be downgraded.
For example: It slows shipping time down and it adds to the likelihood that your item will get damaged en route.
Because there are a few sellers using it who would otherwise not ship out of the US (or the UK), it could be argued that what it does buy is the accessibility of the item.
That implies that I'm at the mercy of the American (or whoever) who is creating that demand by dangling the item in front of me and then telling me I can't have it unless I first jump through a few hoops that their own do not have to jump through.
As a Canadian, I find that approach insulting.
07-18-2016 10:59 AM
A large chunk of the sellers who offer GSP don't even know it. They are often newish and the GSP is the default setting when they create their listings. They don't know they offer GSP until some buyer messages them about it. I've seen numerous threads on the .com sellers forum about this, usually remarking how international sales took off once they eliminated the GSP. I assume it's the same for the UK sellers.
07-18-2016 11:31 AM
07-18-2016 12:24 PM
07-18-2016 12:30 PM
07-18-2016 02:33 PM
@mr.elmwood wrote:Well, this weird. I checked one on FF and it showed all the numbers. Look at it on IE and it just shows shipping, no GSP charges, but the shipping is different.
Both browsers were on .com?
07-18-2016 03:02 PM
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@mr.elmwood wrote:
Well, this weird. I checked one on FF and it showed all the numbers. Look at it on IE and it just shows shipping, no GSP charges, but the shipping is different.Both browsers were on .com?
And are you using a Mac, PC or Frankenputer? 😉
07-18-2016 03:09 PM - edited 07-18-2016 03:12 PM
@fort2b wrote:
why does the program have to pay duty and taxes on my behalf at all? Why can't duties and taxes just be collected when the item comes over the border like has been done for decades.
It's been done that way for decades for items sent by mail, but it's not done that way for any other shipping method. Even items sent by carriers such as UPS have taxes and duty "advanced" by the carrier or an agent for the carrier.
Items shipped through the Global Shipping Program are sent in a palette of commercial freight and are cleared as such. It's simply a different way of dealing with the issue of remitting monies owing to the feds and is more efficient for commercial importers.
It's also mentioned in the terms and conditions that buyers using the GSP presumably agree to that Pitney Bowes will be acting as importer of record on a GSP shipment, not the eBay buyer.
@fort2b wrote:
If sellers are too lazy to write customs forms and put them on their packages then fine, GSP can do it for them....but there is no need for GSP to collect duty and taxes.
It doesn't collect duty and taxes. It pays them. The buyer pays Pitney Bowes back.
This is why taxes and duty don't show up as line items on a receipt for a GSP sale. Technically speaking, the buyer didn't pay them.
@fort2b wrote:
As soon as a middle man gets involved, costs go up because that middle man wants a cut, a piece of the action....and then Ebay gets a percentage of that..
If you do the number crunching, the cut of the "import charges" is usually around five bucks, much less than what you'd pay in brokerage fees for an item shipped by UPS or FedEx Ground, and less than what Canada Post charges for collecting duty and taxes charged by CBSA on a postal import.
I'll admit it's harder to figure out who's getting what in the shipping charges, but my semi-educated guess is that the charge for shipping the item from Kentucky to the Canadian receiving hub is less than what it costs to ship the item from the hub to its final destination.
@fort2b wrote:
The other reason GSP is bad is because items get shipped twice. They get shipped to the shipping center by the seller, where they are repackaged and sent to the buyer. Twice as much chances for things to get broken and lost and the second packing is by someone who possibly doesn't give a rat's behind about my item.
I haven't purchased much in the way of GSP items and neither has my wife, but my items have simply been opened and resealed, rather than repacked. My wife once received some CDs that were overpacked by the seller with bubble wrap taped around them and placed in a box about three times the size of the stack of CDs and the box was filled with foam peanuts. The box was the one originally used by the seller so my conclusion is that the GSP worker didn't do any sort of repacking..
As you note later, many sellers don't realize that they're using the GSP. The sellers' packing jobs may reflect this as they don't realize they should be packing for a freight shipment to Canada. They're also not providing PB with the info that they need to determine an item's country of origin. The official word is that this information is why most GSP items are opened: to check for this information.
As I say, no question the program isn't generally a good fit for Canadian buyers purchasing items that can be shipped more than adequately as oversized letters from the United States or United Kingdom, but I think most of these problems stem from poor communication of the program to eBay users. If US sellers took the time to read and understand updates to their eBay user agreement, they likely wouldn't be winding up in this program and/or using it inappropriately.
@fort2b wrote:
This move of hiding import charges by Ebay shows GSP is struggling and they are having to resort to trickery to prop it up.
Struggling it what way? I think this may have something to do with the eBay "study" on tax and duty levies on personal imports, and may be an attempt to get buyers riled up enough to push for an increase in the de minimis.