eBay

robert_pilkey · ‎08-23-2014

International Shipping is neither faster, nor less costly.

I have shipped much larger shipments thru Rock Auto that took less time to arrive and didn't cost as much to ship.

I might as well of sent the part on a tour excursion!

The part I ordered literally drove right by me shipping from Wisconsin and landing in Kentucky before it MIGHT make a more direct path to Canada. Going to take twice as long to receive. How is that efficient?

eBay, this is NOT a very good service and you need to do much better.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-02-2016

If the item was paid for on August 21 it is already longer than 180 days.

i.am.vivian · ‎03-02-2016

@reallynicestamps wrote:
the place I preferred from was from Chino Kentucky USA

Have you googled this town?
I just did.
I think you bought from ChinA.
The seller is using a fake location.

There is a Chino, California. I wonder if the buyer got the location mixed up after all these months or did a seller actually pretend to be selling from the U.S. using the GSP. Too bad we can't see the original listing. I think it is too late even for a paypal claim unless maybe the buyer phoned paypal and pleaded with them.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-02-2016

Perhaps the seller is in Chino CA, and shipped to Erlanger KY? But actual disappearance once in the hands of the GPS is really rare.

Anyway, August to February/March, the buyer waited too long to seek redress.

Patience is not always a virtue?

va3epr1-6 · ‎03-07-2016

scares the outta me thinking bout all this... many years ago i bought off ebay alot. all we had was cp and usps... very good for shipping... always came in on expected date even a day early. now as everyone says this global shipping , i agree , when this came into effect , everything went to in a hand basket.... my wife and i are in canada as well, and have been waiting for nearly a month for her pants to come in from china. china used to be very quik . now it seems like they have killed all the pack mules and are awaiting shippments of their own ,so they can get the mail out... all i can say here is that i am going to from now on , ask for direct shipment from seller. and to all buyers, BUYER , BEWARE!

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-07-2016

all i can say here is that i am going to from now on , ask for direct shipment from seller. and to all buyers, BUYER , BEWARE!

The gsp is used only in the U.S. and the UK so the package from China would haven been sent direct. If they sent it by ground, it apparently isn't uncommon for a package to take a month from there. Plus, I believe the Chinese New Year was last month and they seem to take extra time off for that.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-07-2016

"nearly a month" ?

The Lunar New Year from Feb 8-13 causes huge disruption in Chinese commerce, because everybody goes home to visit their children.

And your seller may have chosen to use cheap but slow Surface shipping.

If the pants have not arrived 30 days after payment, go to the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page and open an Item Not Received dispute.

You will be asked to contact the seller first. Do not allow the seller to send a replacement or for more time. Thirty days is plenty.

Then if he did not refund you, escalate to a Claim and get your refund.

24randyo · ‎04-21-2016

I totally disagree with the Global Shipping Program as well. The majority of items I purchase are USED, so therefore Canada Customs should not be charging import duties on products that have already been purchased once. However, the GSP still adds import duties, so that money probably goes directly into Pitney Bowes pockets. The shipping rates quoted are also much too high, and once the Seller has listed the item using GSP, it can not be changed. From what I understand, the Seller would have to cancel the listing and re-list. Many of the items I buy could be shipped by USPS Regular Mail for next to nothing and with no import duties.

I have been very angry several times when I found an item I would like to purchase, but could not make arrangements with the Seller to ship economically. VERY DISAPPOINTED!!

marnotom! · ‎04-22-2016

@24randyo wrote:

I totally disagree with the Global Shipping Program as well. The majority of items I purchase are USED, so therefore Canada Customs should not be charging import duties on products that have already been purchased once. However, the GSP still adds import duties, so that money probably goes directly into Pitney Bowes pockets. The shipping rates quoted are also much too high, and once the Seller has listed the item using GSP, it can not be changed. From what I understand, the Seller would have to cancel the listing and re-list. Many of the items I buy could be shipped by USPS Regular Mail for next to nothing and with no import duties.

Here we go again.

Used items are just as subject to duty as new ones.

Having said that, a chunk of what you are likely paying in your "import charges" is the equivalent of taxes: GST or HST.

If the seller has listed a GSP item properly, Pitney Bowes will take a cut of the "import charges" of around five or six bucks for processing your item through customs, remitting taxes to the feds on your behalf, and other niceties.

Yes, the GSP is expensive for smaller items. So is USPS Priority International and Express International.

Yes, the GSP is extremely difficult to work around if you don't want your seller to use it, but not impossible. What you may run into, however, are sellers who never had the intention to ship to Canada and have found themselves with listings to which eBay has automatically applied the program.

24randyo · ‎04-24-2016

So, Marnotom!, what you are saying is that the GSP can be overwhelming and confusing for the Seller too, and therefore adding to the argument that it is a monopolistic money grab by Ebay and Pitney Bowes? Thanks for your support!

femmefan1946 · ‎04-24-2016

It's not a monopoly, because both sellers and buyers can choose not to use it.

It's not a money grab because most of the money goes to Revenue Canada. There is a ~$5 USD 'service' fee collected by PB and I'm quite sure part of that is forwarded to eBay as a 'finder's fee'.

Pitney Bowes sorts the GSP parcels and trucks or flies them to their destination country, pays a shipper/postal system to deliver the parcel, and forwards collected duty and sales taxes to the appropriate governments.

This may be unnecessary, especially for low value items shipped to Canada.

It may cost more than items that are shipped via the postal system and ignored by CBSA.

But it is neither a monopoly nor a money grab. Just a pricey pain in the posterior.

marnotom! · ‎04-24-2016

@24randyo wrote:

So, Marnotom!, what you are saying is that the GSP can be overwhelming and confusing for the Seller too, and therefore adding to the argument that it is a monopolistic money grab by Ebay and Pitney Bowes? Thanks for your support!

Yes, the GSP can be overwhelming and confusing for sellers who haven't done their homework on it--either because they're not aware they're participating in it, or because they haven't read up on all the details--but I don't think it adds to the argument (if there is one) that it's a "monopolistic money grab".

Canadian buyers can make use of parcel forwarding services based in the United States to send their items up to them, for example. They can shop with a US shipping address and have their items sent to that address, which makes them able to shop from sellers not set up to ship to Canada as well as ones who are.

Of course, those forwarding services come at a price. Are they "money grabbers" as well?

24randyo · ‎04-24-2016

How economical do you think these forwarding services are when a buyer doesn't live 10 miles from the border? I live on the Prairies... 95% of the people live more than 75 miles from the border. When you factor in gas and wear & tear, a buyer needs to be doing thousands of dollars in transactions to make it worthwhile. We have a perfectly good Postal Service that comes right to our doorstep in most cases. But Ebay seems reluctant to make it practical for the Canadian buyers and American sellers to work together and use it to it's full benefit. The American sellers use it because it is made so attractive and easy by Ebay and frankly most Americans don't care if they sell to Canadians anyway!

marnotom! · ‎04-24-2016

@24randyo wrote:

How economical do you think these forwarding services are when a buyer doesn't live 10 miles from the border? I live on the Prairies... 95% of the people live more than 75 miles from the border. When you factor in gas and wear & tear, a buyer needs to be doing thousands of dollars in transactions to make it worthwhile.

It doesn't matter how "economical" these forwarding service are as my point is that the fact that these services exist means that the GSP doesn't have a monopoly on forwarding items to non-US eBay buyers. The GSP, after all, is in essence doing the same sort of job as a forwarding service. It may not necessarily be doing a particularly good job of this, but at least in theory sellers and buyers have some sort of fall-back if the service fails to do its job; that's not always the case with a forwarding service.

@24randyo wrote:

We have a perfectly good Postal Service that comes right to our doorstep in most cases. But Ebay seems reluctant to make it practical for the Canadian buyers and American sellers to work together and use it to it's full benefit.

eBay has had some influence on USPS operations. For example, the fact that some international letter mail (First Class International) shipments have a form of delivery confirmation on them was likely due to pressure from eBay and other online retailers.

How do you envision eBay making it "practical for Canadian buyers and American sellers to work together and use [the postal system] to its full benefit"? More importantly, what exactly do you mean by this?

24randyo · ‎04-27-2016

At the request of the Canadian buyers, allow the American sellers to get a rate from the carrier that the Buyer requests, and then allow them to actually override the GSP and sell and ship based on that agreement. Simple... just like the good old days. And if this is already possible (which any Sellers I have dealt with deny), then provide the Sellers with instructional help on how to do it.

marnotom! · ‎04-27-2016

@24randyo wrote:

At the request of the Canadian buyers, allow the American sellers to get a rate from the carrier that the Buyer requests, and then allow them to actually override the GSP and sell and ship based on that agreement. Simple... just like the good old days.

I didn't think there were any "good old days" when it came to the GSP. Did I miss something?

24randyo · ‎04-28-2016

Haha! The good old days of Ebay, before the GSP! When the Seller was open to any or all carriers.

femmefan1946 · ‎04-28-2016

allow the American sellers to get a rate from the carrier that the Buyer requests,

Let's start with the reason the GSP exists.

EBay wanted US (and UK) sellers to ship overseas, but for many reasons some sensible some paranoid, they would not.

The GSP is a SELLER Protection Program.

Can you wrap your head around that?

It is NOT for the benefit in any way of the Buyer.

The seller is only responsible for getting the purchase to a domestic GSP centre, with Confirmation of Delivery.

Domestic Confirmation of Delivery costs less than a quarter purchased online.

And now the seller is not responsible for further delivery or time spent in transit.

In addition the seller is protected against complaints about the duty and sales taxes of non-US countries.

And the seller is further protected because if the buyer balks at paying the GSP import charges, she doesn't even have to ship since the Unpaid Item Dispute comes before shipping.

Now if you ask a seller BEFORE BIDDING if she will remove the GSP that's fine. She can agree or refuse.

But you can't ask after bidding.

Your choice.

It's still a badly designed and badly implemented program.

But at least try to understand that it is not about you.

24randyo · ‎04-28-2016

No, you are correct, it obviously does not benefit the Buyer to the same degree that it benefits the American Seller. Paranoia is an unfortunate affliction and it is too bad that it is the vast majority who has the affliction. I guess we should just be happy that the Americans let us be included at all.

reallynicestamps · ‎04-28-2016

The only 'benefit' for buyers through the GSP is that many sellers who were too nervous/paranoid/xenophobic to ship internationally are now comfortable selling to foreigners.

So there is more stuff available to non-US buyers.

That the shipping and import costs are outrageous is another question.