Item bought supposed to ship USPS Ground Advantage switched to EBay International after sale

[legalopin]

I bought an item from the USA. The listing said it was being shipped through USPS (USPS Ground Advantage). Tracking was provided BUT the shipment was from the seller to Illinois (eBay's international shipping hub). I contacted the seller who told he shipped with USPS and did not even know where I was located (!). 
I specifically AVOID buying items shipped through EBay International Shipping for all the reasons that appear everywhere on this board.
Now my item is stuck in their US warehouse.

Who lied to me? The seller or eBay? How could I even avoid this nonsense in the future if I can't even trust what is written in eBay's listings?

[mrdutch1001]

I suspect that your item could still be traveling via USPS....

Passing through a Chicago Hub is not specifically for EIS ....

ALL mail travels through a hub/spoke system...

even shipments going from Canada to USA via Canada Post travel through a Chicago hub....

[marnotom!]

Where in the listing was "USPS Ground Advantage" mentioned?  In the listing description itself or in the "shipping" section of the listing?

Was your shipping location set to "Canada" when you viewed the listing page?

USPS Ground Advantage is only for US domestic shipments, so I'm a bit puzzled about why this information would have shown up for a Canadian buyer.  Your item was likely shipped by Ground Advantage to the Glendale Heights hub, if that's where it ended up, but why this information showed up for you isn't clear to me right now.

Being able to see the listing in question would be helpful if you're comfortable sharing the listing number.

[femmefan1946]

Ground Advantage is a domestic only service.

Your seller may have used it to reach the eIS hub in Illinois.

Once at the hub, the seller's responsibility for delivery ends and is transferred to eBay/eIS.

Nothing unusual is happening.

If the item is more than $40Cdn, you will be paying Canadian sales taxes. If it is over $150Cdn you will be paying duty.

Shipments sent through eIS often have the import fees (duty and sales taxes) paid in advance. Look at your invoice to see if you have already paid them.

If not you will be paying on delivery along with a service/customs brokerage fee.

If USPS/Canada Post had been used without eIS, you would certainly be paying those fees on delivery.

Now my item is stuck in their US warehouse.

It's not a warehouse, it's a plant.

What is the last estimated date for delivery?
If that has not passed, do not watch tracking.

If it has passed, open an Item Not Received claim under eBay's Money Back Guarantee.

[legalopin]

Strange that both the buyer and the seller thought it was going to ship with USPS. I was on eBay.ca, not eBay.com

[legalopin]

Well if you look at the listing now, it shows that it ships through eBay international shipping: how did that change?

[legalopin]

Nothing unusual? Showing USPS when I bid/buy and then eBay International Shipping when its time to ship. Could you tell me what I did wrong through my buying process so that I don't EVER AGAIN be a cutommer for eBay International Shipping (mega SLOW ) service? 

Thank you

[marnotom!]

Hmm.  I used the clues you gave on the transaction details page to look the completed listing up on both my phone and my laptop and, as you've found, the listing page states that eBay International Shipping will be used for the item.  Do you recall any other details associated with the shipping as you remember it, such as whether it mentioned your postal code or an estimated delivery time and what that estimated delivery time was?

At this point, I'm inclined to think it was a glitch that may have been the result of the listing being in auction format.  I'll see if I can find some auctions that have USPS Ground Advantage stated as the shipping method to Canada and get back to you.

Keep in mind that we don't see many "good news" stories about eIS because people don't tend to post here when things go right.  I've only purchased two items that were forwarded to Canada by eIS and while they pretty much took the maximum estimated delivery time, it wasn't any longer than that and the items didn't spend all that long at the Illinois hub.  Mind you, this was about a year ago.

UPDATE:  I checked on about half a dozen listing pages for auctions where eIS was the forwarding agent and they didn't state a US domestic shipping method.

[legalopin]

Thank you for your time.

I am not pretending the listing was offering USPS Ground Advantage as an option for shipping through eIS, I am saying eIS was simply NOT mentionned before. If a listing is using eIS, that's it, that's what will be used (and therefore I will not buy) so don't waste your time scanning listings clearly stating eIS as a shipping method.

If you look at my screeshot, you can see both my address (Canada), the shipping carrier (USPS) and the shipping charge (16.23 $USD).

If I go back to the listing and enter my US address, I get quoted a little over 4 $USD; if I put a Zip code for Alaska or Hawai, the cost remains $4.68: how could USPS Ground Advantage (domestic only) come up to charge 16.23$USD as in my screenshot?

It seems obvious that something changed at one points i.e. I can't explain that appears on the same page

1. the high shipping cost

2. my address in Canada

3. USPS Ground Advantage 

[marnotom!]

Do you often use the app to make purchases on eBay?  I'm now wondering if some of this problem is due to the app.  You've been on eBay long enough to remember the Global Shipping Program, the predecessor to eBay International Shipping.  My understanding is that the "import charges" that were calculated and estimated for purchases didn't show up on the listing page when it was viewed on the app.  I'm thinking this may be because the English- and French-Canadian versions of the eBay app were just slightly tweaked versions of the American app and as such, didn't take things like the GSP into consideration.  

In your case, I'm wondering if using eIS throws off the app because there's an extra shipping step in there that wasn't created by the seller, so you end up just seeing the seller's US domestic shipping method but the price for eIS added on top of that shipping method, in this case, USPS Ground Advantage.

My advice is to avoid using the app for purchases from the United States.  You'll probably find that the mobile version of the eBay.ca site works just fine for your purposes.

[legalopin]

This is very interesting.
The app never game me the feeling of being a finished product with some random features missing forcing me to go back and forth between devices or between app and websites.

I will make sure to compare the two experiences next time before buying anything but I think you put your finger on it.

And if the app is the culprit, you think they will correct it with an updated version?

Yeah, I am sure of that too...

Special thanks for your input marnotom!   and thank you all for your help trying to understand this situation.

[femmefan1946]

First, look at the window for delivery.

Second, don't watch tracking.

All shippers use spoke and hub systems, as do airlines.

Try to get to StJohns from Fort Mac without changing planes on this map.

 USPS does the same. Canada Post does the same.

Watching tracking does not speed up time in transit. Nor does it protect the package from damage.

All it does is confuse and irritate the watcher.

The last estimated date for delivery tells you when your item will likely be delivered.

 

[legalopin]

Thank you for your input but...maybe you should start another thread.

Hub or no-hub, I couldn't care less as long as the system is efficient.

No problem with USPS or CANADA POST.

UPS is the worst I know and is in a class of its own (their Montreal installation is a bit special apparently).

Ebay's system (my experience) is not efficient being both slow and expensive.

We live in a world where companies like Amazon excel at shipping merchandise and set new standards for online customers.

Basically: Amazon-next-day or eBay-next-month.

Of course, that is a bit of a shortcut as many parameters are to be considered but you can't prevent customers from comparing their experiences.

The topic of my FIRST post here is that I was imposed eIS after the deal without being asked or informed and the reason for me to write here is that I hope to find how I could avoid the same situation in the future.

[femmefan1946]

I am saying eIS was simply NOT mentionned before.

Except that Ground Advantage is not a service that can be used to ship to Canada.

It can only be used to ship from one US address  to another US address.

Just as Regular Parcel can only be used within Canada. All other parcel services have different names and different rates.

And again.

What was the estimated window for delivery?

Has that last estimated date passed?

Did you open an INR Claim when the last estimated date for delivery passed?

[legalopin]

I don't know all the different products from the USA's postal services (I am canadian) so I did not know that USPS Ground Advantage was domestic only: I did not see eIS but saw USPS so I clicked. I could not guess that a service not mentionned before would be used, I am not a psychic. 

As for the estimated time of delivery, or checking tracking or filing claims: it's all off topic and again, you could start another thread if you really want to discuss these subjects.

[pjcdn2005]

If you saw Ground Advantage then the system must have assumed you were in the US.   If I am signed into eBay and searching using my postal code, I will only see international options, not US domestic options. When I am listing items I often use a US zip code to search similar items so I can compare my total price to those in the US.  Perhaps that is what happened in your case? If not, I have no idea what did happen.

[marnotom!]

@pjcdn2005, if you look at the screenshot of the purchase details that @legalopin took from his phone (message 5), you'll see that USPS Ground Advantage is stated as the shipping method, but the shipping address is their address in Montreal.  As this screenshot is from the app, I'm thinking that for whatever reason, the app isn't providing the user with proper information on the shipping method when eIS is employed, but it's still providing what I assume is the proper pricing.

[pjcdn2005]

Thanks. I don't know how I managed to totally miss that screen shot!

[jayracz]

This is my situation as well. I would of bought elsewhere. Gotten new from China for $20 more if the listing I purchased showed additional charges up front. Think I paid $20 shipping for 2 pound package USPS ground advantage. Seems high. But then got what looked like the usual DHL spam email saying I owe for a package waiting at the boarder. But this seems legit. As it says the same on eBay tracking. I stopped buying on eBay long ago because of these surprise brokerage fees. Which use to be insane I might add. I figured it out then. Only buy off USPS shippers from the US. But a closer look at ground advantage shows shows it's domestic only. I'm only buying from China for now on. Or Amazon.

[jayracz]

I hear you brother. I thought I figured it out too. But nope. Best to stick to Chinese eBay sellers or Amazon if you are Canadian.