How to file a complaint about the Global Shipping Program?

[artemis-kun]

Getting quite fed up with this scam of a program, and the fact that you can't seem to actually file a complaint about it.

Before useless replies chime in saying to use the resolution centre, this is of no help to my particular issue, since all the resolution centre offers is a way to complain about the seller. The seller is not the person at fault here. eBay and its useless GSP is.

My item has been sitting in the Erlanger facility now for 4 days and has not moved, and this is completely unacceptable. Had I realized previously that there were ways to circumvent using the GSP, I would have absolutely done so, however that doesn't solve the core problem, and likely still leaves a great number of us Canadians with very unsavoury experiences, which I am sure most mistakenly attribute to the seller. So, not only is the program essentially a scam for us Canadians, but it results in negative feedback for the sellers involved.

I have been an eBayer for 13 years, and in that span of time, I have never failed to receive items from sellers, so the excuse that the GSP 'guarantees an item's safe delivery' is a farce at best. Further, in all of those years having items cross the border using USPS and Canada Post, the MOST I've ever waited for delivery from time of purchase has been 10 days total. Now, I am pushing 16 days of wait time for a service which is somehow supposed to be faster and more reliable? Utter nonsense.

I sincerely hope that eBay revises their ploy of using the program, or foisting it upon sellers and buyers in an unawares manner, because it will surely lose them business from Canada. I know that going forward, I will do everything possible to circumvent the program, and if it ever comes to pass the eBay enforces its use, I will be saying goodbye to the service and the company for good.

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

"Before useless replies chime in saying to use the resolution centre, this is of no help to my particular issue, since all the resolution centre offers is a way to complain about the seller. "

Here we go:  File a complain through the Resolution Centre.  That is the way to go.

It does not count against the seller.  The GSP provides the seller with protection against delays.

"four days" may be unacceptable to you and most buyers.  However, there may be a reason for it.  Maybe the seller did not properly identify the item and it required opening the parcel and repacking.  That may cause a delay.  It may also have been re-shipped but the scanning was missed on the way out of the distribution centre.  or.. or..  There may be so many reasons.

In any case, as stated here repeatedly for three years, that program is not "buyer friendly" to Canadians and should be avoided in most instances.  Its only purpose is to help American sellers increase their exports sales while foreign buyers (including Canadians) suffer delays and pay extra for the service!

[reallynicestamps]

It may be in Erlanger, it may be on a truck, it may be in Canada awaiting transfer to Canada Post.

The 'tracking' you see is just the last time that it was recorded before moving on.

Doesn't matter.

It will arrive eventually.

If 'eventually' is longer than 20 days, open a Dispute in the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page.

If PB/GSP can't prove arrival, you will be refunded your entire original payment.

If the item arrives after that, NOW you have an ethical problem, because you can't return it (to where?) and you can't keep both the money and the item.

And stop looking at tracking. It is irrelevant and obviously upsetting.

[dxcan]

I have quite buying on e-bay, for over 17 years, 

This GPS is a scam, to pay more then what the item is worth.

To me, it's cash cow, and for us Canadians it's a slap in the face.

Enough said...oh don't get me on the GST...that's another thing...

DXCAN

[hennmann]

It's not viable for me to purchase from an American or UK seller using the Global Shipscam Program anymore. A $0.75 cent dollar and additional bogus charges motivated me to purchase more from Amazon or from sellers
that don't use GSP. If the seller uses GSP I skip over and keep looking elseware. It amazes me how many have no idea how bad it is and if I purchase from a seller who doesn't use it I seldom pay "import charges"

[marnotom!]

Oh, for crying out loud, people.  Why is the Global Shipping Program a "scam"?  Why are the charges "bogus"?  It's a forwarding program **Bleep**.  If you're running into listings where it's being used inappropriately or unnecessarily, it's likely that the seller had no intention of shipping the item out of the US (or UK) and the program was automatically applied to the listing by eBay.  In the old days of eBay, you would have had to work out some way to get the item from the US to you yourself.

As for charges, if sellers don't provide enough information in their listings on the item's shipping size or weight, the GSP calculator uses a category average and bases Pitney Bowes' share of the shipping charges based on that, so lightweight items often end up getting slapped with outrageous shipping charges and heavier ones can sometimes go for a song.

"Import charges" amount to duty plus GST or HST plus five bucks US or so in various customs processing fees.  Casual imports such as ones made by mail or courier are subject to the same taxes and duty one would pay if they purchased the item from a Canadian retailer registered to collect taxes.

On the day I get slapped with a traffic ticket for speeding through a school zone, I'm not going to tell the officer that I've never been ticketed for this offence before, so why am I getting a ticket now.  If you haven't been assessed taxes and/or duty for an import by mail, you've either been very lucky or exclusively purchasing items with a declared value of less than C$20.

Buying items from US sellers on other sites doesn't insulate you from the effects of a 75-cent dollar or the possibility of getting hit with a bill for taxes an duty.  In fact, some US e-commerce sites simply bury import charges into the price of the item.

Sorry to rant on a more or less dead thread, but I am starting to wish that more Canadian buyers purchasing items from outside of the country would do some homework.  No, the GSP isn't perfect, and it can be a pain in the patoot, but no shipping method is perfect for everything.

[highland.2112]

My reduction in ebay buying has been around 500 percent over the last couple of years because of the gps ripof, and i purposely spelt it wrong since I suspect all this will be edited out by the watchers on payroll. 

[marnotom!]

@highland.2112 wrote:

My reduction in ebay buying has been around 500 percent over the last couple of years because of the gps ripof, and i purposely spelt it wrong since I suspect all this will be edited out by the watchers on payroll. 

I eagerly await your useful response to the OP's post, as old as it may be now.

[momcqueen]

As noted, this is a zombie thread from 2015. Anyone who has a problem with the Global Shipping Program today would find it more conducive to open a new thread as opposed to adding to the pile-on of an old, outdated thread where the comments are probably not relevant. 

@happy_pigeon