Heads Up!....Global Shipping Program no longer displays import charges..

[fort2b]

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.

[fort2b]

Looks like the first thread I started about Ebay hiding the GSP charges has been deleted?  Can't find it anyway.

At any rate....it's gotten worse.  Now it no longer shows that it is a global shipping program listing in the search return like it used to.  Before after you did a search, you'd scan down the  listings and some would say 'customs services provided via global shipping program' under the listing title, to the right.

Well no more.....now it says nothing.   You don't find out until you click on the listing....then you see that it's GSP.  However, it is still not showing customs charges.

If the GSP is such a great program, why do they have to go to such lengths to hide it?.....if it's a good thing, they should be bragging about it, shouldn't they?

[ypdc_dennis]

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@fort2b wrote:

At any rate....it's gotten worse.  Now it no longer shows that it is a global shipping program listing in the search return like it used to.  Before after you did a search, you'd scan down the  listings and some would say 'customs services provided via global shipping program' under the listing title, to the right.

Well no more.....now it says nothing.   You don't find out until you click on the listing....then you see that it's GSP.  However, it is still not showing customs charges.

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Your other thread:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Heads-Up-Global-Shipping-Program-no-longer-displays-impor...

Other threads:

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Global-Shipping-Import-Charges-are-Hidden/m-p/344757

[fort2b]

ah thanks, I tried but couldn't find it....I even did a search for the title.  I'm always bad at finding things, for some reason.

I wish I could delete this thread and move my original post to that thread.....maybe the mod can?

[ypdc_dennis]

I still see: "Customs services and international tracking provided" in search when using list view -- it's not there when using gallery view.

-..-

[pjcdn2005]

I still see it in search in list view on both .ca and ,com.

[pjcdn2005]

If you have posted on a thread already, an easy way to find it is to clock on your own name to see your recent posts.

[fort2b]

that's a good idea.

As far as you not seeing what I see,  this was covered in the other thread.  Some people are part of a test group and others aren't.  I am.  This is what they are testing now, removing it from the search results and hiding the import fees....in other words they have hidden it more than before. 

[00nevermind00]

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@fort2b wrote:

As far as you not seeing what I see,  this was covered in the other thread.  Some people are part of a test group and others aren't.  I am.  This is what they are testing now, removing it from the search results and hiding the import fees....in other words they have hidden it more than before. 

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I don't see the import charges and haven't for a while.

But I still see the "Customs services and international tracking provided" blurb. Thank goodness! How else are we supposed to skip over the GSP listings?

Maybe it was a glitch? It's not exactly like eBay is free of them... What happens if you go back and look again?

[marnotom!]

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@fort2b wrote:

I wish I could delete this thread and move my original post to that thread.....maybe the mod can?

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Most likely.  Click on the "notify moderator" link and make your request in the response box.  Make sure you include the URL of the thread to which you wish to add this.

[pjcdn2005]

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@fort2b wrote:

that's a good idea.

As far as you not seeing what I see,  this was covered in the other thread.  Some people are part of a test group and others aren't.  I am.  This is what they are testing now, removing it from the search results and hiding the import fees....in other words they have hidden it more than before. 

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Yes I know that, I don't see the import amounts in the listing either but as I just posted I DO still see the customs blurb in the search view.

[00nevermind00]

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@fort2b wrote:

Looks like the first thread I started about Ebay hiding the GSP charges has been deleted?  Can't find it anyway.

At any rate....it's gotten worse.  Now it no longer shows that it is a global shipping program listing in the search return like it used to.  Before after you did a search, you'd scan down the  listings and some would say 'customs services provided via global shipping program' under the listing title, to the right.

Well no more.....now it says nothing.   You don't find out until you click on the listing....then you see that it's GSP.  However, it is still not showing customs charges.

If the GSP is such a great program, why do they have to go to such lengths to hide it?.....if it's a good thing, they should be bragging about it, shouldn't they?

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Here's another one... I was looking at items offered by a seller I like. To my dismay, he has been enrolled in the dreaded GSP. (He used to ship internationally on his own, and very cheaply too!)

But look at this: current bid price is well over C$200, yet the "import charges" show as 0 dollars? Seriously??? On eBay.com, where the inane "test" is still going on, import charges aren't even mentioned at all.

What is this?!?!  Am I supposed to believe that eBay/PB are going to cough up the "import charges" on a pricey item on my behalf? Seriously? Or should I assume the more likely scenario: the "import charges" would suddenly appear out of thin air if I were to win the item.

I honestly don't know what eBay is trying to achieve with this endless tinkering of the GSP on both .ca and .com. But these latest (and especially lame) attempts give all the appearance* of trying to deceive buyers by hiding costs from them until they have commited to the purchase.

*Disclaimer: I'm not saying that eBay is actually trying to deceive buyers, only that these latest experiments may well give that impression.

[pierrelebel]

What is the product for sale?  Is it taxable (GST/HST) in Canada?

[momcqueen]

For my European buyers, I would not object to being enrolled in a program like the Global Shipping Program because for many of them, paying import charges at a government office prior to their item being returned to the postal system again for eventual delivery (their system of collecting fees is different than ours and much-more labour intensive and inconvenient for the importer) but I would never allow a third-party to open and repack my carefully-prepared shipments. Package condition is paramount to some of my buyers and I have not ever had an item roughed-up in transit; I am extremely careful while packing and go to great expense to have all-sizes of shipping containers in stock as well as the correct void fill for each job. I would not ever take the chance of an impatient third-party wrecking that part of the experience for my buyer.

[00nevermind00]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

What is the product for sale?  Is it taxable (GST/HST) in Canada?

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It is a small collectible, fully taxable in Canada.

Maybe it was a glitch because I checked a couple of other products at random (both FP and auction), and the import charges were displaying on eBay.ca.

Either that, or it's yet another dumb, unexplained test.

[sylviebee]

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

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What is this?!?!  Am I supposed to believe that eBay/PB are going to cough up the "import charges" on a pricey item on my behalf? Seriously? Or should I assume the more likely scenario: the "import charges" would suddenly appear out of thin air if I were to win the item.

I honestly don't know what eBay is trying to achieve with this endless tinkering of the GSP on both .ca and .com. But these latest (and especially lame) attempts give all the appearance* of trying to deceive buyers by hiding costs from them until they have commited to the purchase.

*Disclaimer: I'm not saying that eBay is actually trying to deceive buyers, only that these latest experiments may well give that impression.

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I've completed several purchases like this and they actually do go through with no import charges.  (At least that's the way it worked for me.)

Shipping cost isn't enough to cover the taxes etc. so it's clear that something is going on behind the scene that's not quite right.

I don't know what they're trying to achieve either because the end result is that I (we?) dislike the GSP even more because it's clear that we're being misled and manipulated.  No one likes to be treated with such disrespect.

Another poster said that she was billed P.B. costs a day after the sale which had been paid for the previous day and now I'm always wary that I'll get a second unexpected bill.

[marnotom!]

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

Here's another one... I was looking at items offered by a seller I like. To my dismay, he has been enrolled in the dreaded GSP. (He used to ship internationally on his own, and very cheaply too!)

But look at this: current bid price is well over C$200, yet the "import charges" show as 0 dollars? Seriously??? On eBay.com, where the inane "test" is still going on, import charges aren't even mentioned at all.

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If your seller didn't specify shipping to Canada when he created the listing, the GSP may have been automatically applied by eBay.

What you've observed about "zero" import charges was noted by Sylviebee a while back and has been discussed on one of the GSP mega-threads.

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

What is this?!?!  Am I supposed to believe that eBay/PB are going to cough up the "import charges" on a pricey item on my behalf? Seriously? Or should I assume the more likely scenario: the "import charges" would suddenly appear out of thin air if I were to win the item.

I honestly don't know what eBay is trying to achieve with this endless tinkering of the GSP on both .ca and .com. But these latest (and especially lame) attempts give all the appearance* of trying to deceive buyers by hiding costs from them until they have commited to the purchase.

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Well, don't forget that Pitney Bowes pays the taxes and duty owing on a GSP purchase on your behalf.  Part of what makes up the "import charges" is the reimbursement of those charges.

Just out of curiosity, what shows up as the shipping price for the item (both on .com and .ca) when you do a list search for it?  Is it significantly different than what shows up on the listing page?

What we're seeing may also be a bit of a glitch--as you suggest--based on the fact that this is an auction-style listing and import charges can't be finalized until the auction has been completed.

[i.am.vivian]

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@sylviebee wrote:

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

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What is this?!?!  Am I supposed to believe that eBay/PB are going to cough up the "import charges" on a pricey item on my behalf? Seriously? Or should I assume the more likely scenario: the "import charges" would suddenly appear out of thin air if I were to win the item.

I honestly don't know what eBay is trying to achieve with this endless tinkering of the GSP on both .ca and .com. But these latest (and especially lame) attempts give all the appearance* of trying to deceive buyers by hiding costs from them until they have commited to the purchase. 

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I've completed several purchases like this and they actually do go through with no import charges.  (At least that's the way it worked for me.)

Shipping cost isn't enough to cover the taxes etc. so it's clear that something is going on behind the scene that's not quite right.

I don't know what they're trying to achieve either because the end result is that I (we?) dislike the GSP even more because it's clear that we're being misled and manipulated.  No one likes to be treated with such disrespect.

Another poster said that she was billed P.B. costs a day after the sale which had been paid for the previous day and now I'm always wary that I'll get a second unexpected bill.

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I know this will sound far fetched but since computer systems track our ISP and know exactly where we are, logged in or not,  is there any chance that items viewed by outsiders have these charges blended into the ITEM PRICE? 

[00nevermind00]

Shipping cost isn't enough to cover the taxes etc. so it's clear that something is going on behind the scene that's not quite right.

Exactly! The shipping cost that is quoted on that auction listing is for shipping, it doesn't begin to cover the taxes that would normally be due.

I don't know what they're trying to achieve either because the end result is that I (we?) dislike the GSP even more because it's clear that we're being misled and manipulated.  No one likes to be treated with such disrespect.

Yes, exactly. It does look like manipulation and it does look disrespectful. One the one hand, everything that eBay does tells us that Canadian eBayers do not matter because there aren't enough of us, but on the other they seem to be trying a number of things to make the GSP more palatable to us. So which is it: do we matter or don't we?

Another poster said that she was billed P.B. costs a day after the sale which had been paid for the previous day and now I'm always wary that I'll get a second unexpected bill.

That's exactly what I would be wary of. With all the tweaking that they've been doing (and it's been going on for months now) how are we supposed to have any confidence in what's going to happen? As long as this "experimentation" keeps happening, I will never buy a GSP item, not matter how much I want it. I do not want to be put in the position of having to cancel on a seller who listed in good faith.

Just out of curiosity, what shows up as the shipping price for the item (both on .com and .ca) when you do a list search for it?  Is it significantly different than what shows up on the listing page?

The same amount shows up on both, with eBay.ca having the added C$ conversion.

What we're seeing may also be a bit of a glitch--as you suggest--based on the fact that this is an auction-style listing and import charges can't be finalized until the auction has been completed.

Most of what I buy on eBay is still sold at auction, so most of the listings I look at are auction listings. Granted, I don't look at GSP listings very often, but this is the first time I've seen a $200+ item with zero import charges, that I can recall. Normally the amount under "import charges" goes up as the bidding increases, with a note that the final amount will be known at checkout.

[momcqueen]

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@i.am.vivian wrote:

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@sylviebee wrote:

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

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What is this?!?!  Am I supposed to believe that eBay/PB are going to cough up the "import charges" on a pricey item on my behalf? Seriously? Or should I assume the more likely scenario: the "import charges" would suddenly appear out of thin air if I were to win the item.

I honestly don't know what eBay is trying to achieve with this endless tinkering of the GSP on both .ca and .com. But these latest (and especially lame) attempts give all the appearance* of trying to deceive buyers by hiding costs from them until they have commited to the purchase. 

---

I've completed several purchases like this and they actually do go through with no import charges.  (At least that's the way it worked for me.)

Shipping cost isn't enough to cover the taxes etc. so it's clear that something is going on behind the scene that's not quite right.

I don't know what they're trying to achieve either because the end result is that I (we?) dislike the GSP even more because it's clear that we're being misled and manipulated.  No one likes to be treated with such disrespect.

Another poster said that she was billed P.B. costs a day after the sale which had been paid for the previous day and now I'm always wary that I'll get a second unexpected bill.

---

I know this will sound far fetched but since computer systems track our ISP and know exactly where we are, logged in or not,  is there any chance that items viewed by outsiders have these charges blended into the ITEM PRICE? 

I don't think they would dare to tinker with the seller-set item price..... yet. 

[sylviebee]

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@i.am.vivian wrote:

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@sylviebee wrote:

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

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What is this?!?!  Am I supposed to believe that eBay/PB are going to cough up the "import charges" on a pricey item on my behalf? Seriously? Or should I assume the more likely scenario: the "import charges" would suddenly appear out of thin air if I were to win the item.

I honestly don't know what eBay is trying to achieve with this endless tinkering of the GSP on both .ca and .com. But these latest (and especially lame) attempts give all the appearance* of trying to deceive buyers by hiding costs from them until they have commited to the purchase. 

---

I've completed several purchases like this and they actually do go through with no import charges.  (At least that's the way it worked for me.)

Shipping cost isn't enough to cover the taxes etc. so it's clear that something is going on behind the scene that's not quite right.

I don't know what they're trying to achieve either because the end result is that I (we?) dislike the GSP even more because it's clear that we're being misled and manipulated.  No one likes to be treated with such disrespect.

Another poster said that she was billed P.B. costs a day after the sale which had been paid for the previous day and now I'm always wary that I'll get a second unexpected bill.

---

I know this will sound far fetched but since computer systems track our ISP and know exactly where we are, logged in or not,  is there any chance that items viewed by outsiders have these charges blended into the ITEM PRICE? 

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It does sound far fetched, but then the things they're now doing to manipulate the GSP make no sense either.

It would be difficult to vary item price in tandem with GSP charges because every buyer would see a different item price.  For auction items even more difficult.

I have no idea how they're making this work for them because I do believe that by law the P.B. gang has to charge import fees for items over C$20 with no exceptions.  It's one thing for Custom's Officials to bend the rules but P.B. doesn't / shouldn't have that leeway. 

When the total P.B. fee is barely enough to cover import taxes the amount of the total charges defies logic.