eBay

kalvin@ebay.com · ‎09-26-2013

Do you have questions about the Global Shipping Program? Please post here & I'll do my best to track those answers down for you!

If you have any comments about the program, use this forum instead.

Thanks,

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

00nevermind00 · ‎04-30-2016

@sylviebee wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:
I've mentioned this many times during the past month, but here I go again:

I just purchased 2 half gallon jugs of Pureology hair products for $130.00 plus $18 shipping via the GSP. These are very heavy items to ship.

Import charges should be about t $17 (Ontario).
This seller ships to the US hub for free. That leaves $1 to cover GSP handling fees plus expedited shipping to me from the Canadian hub.

Clearly, something is not adding up.
Back to my original post.

I don't pay attention to what types of items are charged duty as 95% of the items I buy are antiques and not subject to duty,.
It may be even be possible that new hair products are subject to duty as well as tax. I don't know.

These types of listings are occurring more and more often. I did not search this listing out. I found the product I wanted and bought it If there had been surprises at the check out I would have pointed that out long ago.

There seems to be some kind of state secret surrounding this. I tried asking about it during last week's chat on the US boards. All I got was a canned reply that didn't answer my question. I asked four times and got the same reply four times.

Why all the mystery? Don't they realize that the lack of transparency only serves to fuel the "scam" and "rip-off" accusations?

sylviebee · ‎04-30-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I've been wondering how that works too.Even though I am in Alberta, I would be charged the same amount as you so in theory, we would be paying the same amount for taxes.
That does look like a great deal. I love that shampoo!

Yes, it's a great product. I started buying it in gallon and half gallon jugs from the US because the cost isn't much more than a couple of small bottles cost here.

Total for shipping plus taxes plus (maybe) duty is $18.92. Taxes are $16.90 and I'm pretty sure that duty would apply to new hair products on top of that.

It just doesn't add up no matter how you arrange the numbers. If they take the taxes out that only leaves $2 for shipping and (maybe) duty plus a P-B handling fee.

If this were the only GSP item like that I'd think it was a mistake, but these have been cropping up regularly for the past month or two.

This lack of transparency just leads to more suspicion and distrust.

sylviebee · ‎04-30-2016

@00nevermind00 wrote:

Why all the mystery? Don't they realize that the lack of transparency only serves to fuel the "scam" and "rip-off" accusations?

I was typing my post and didn't see yours until after I'd posted and we said exactly the same thing.

marnotom! · ‎04-30-2016

@misslee706 wrote:

i sold a picture on ebay and used global shipping fedex and it got lost (actually it was sent to Ohio instead of Ky,) and i filed a claim through ebay fedex smart post and ebay won't pay for the lost item, ...they decided to hold it against me because as they said"I chose to ship through global"......so they have ruled in favor of the buyer, and have taken the money out of my paypal account.......even though i filed a claim.....i am not disputing the buyer should get his money back, only that the claim should of been paid to the buyer instead ebay is black-listing me and using it to lower my rating on ebay
i am at a loss at what to do now....i tried to appeal it but they wont' allow it, said its my fault for using gsp/fedex/usps

If I'm understanding your post correctly, you shipped an item out of the United States using a FedEx service, not the Global Shipping Program. The item got lost somewhere en route, probably after it reached a shipping hub in Ohio.

It sounds as though there may be two claims at play here. The first is the buyer's claim made to eBay (or possibly PayPal) of non-delivery, which you did not prevail in as you could not prove delivery to the buyer's location. In a shipment that does not use the Global Shipping Program, you must prove delivery to the buyer's location, not to the shipping hub.

The second claim is an insurance claim you may have filed with FedEx, but I'm unclear if there has been anything ruled on that yet. I think you may be confusing the two claims. You should check the fine print with your agreement with FedEx to see if the shipper or the receiver gets paid out in the event of an insurance claim with the carrier.

I hope I'm understanding your post correctly.

marnotom! · ‎04-30-2016

@sylviebee wrote:

Total for shipping plus taxes plus (maybe) duty is $18.92. Taxes are $16.90 and I'm pretty sure that duty would apply to new hair products on top of that.

It just doesn't add up no matter how you arrange the numbers. If they take the taxes out that only leaves $2 for shipping and (maybe) duty plus a P-B handling fee.

If this were the only GSP item like that I'd think it was a mistake, but these have been cropping up regularly for the past month or two.

The shipping charge in the listing results page for your purchase is C$7.12 less than what it is on the listing page. That sounds like a reasonable amount to cover everything else.

ve2krn · ‎04-30-2016

The Global Shipping Program for Canada is a total **bleep** and is very very slow. USPS Surface shipping from US to Canada is faster than taht. No joke! 😞

marnotom! · ‎05-01-2016

@ve2krn wrote:

The Global Shipping Program for Canada is a total **bleep** and is very very slow. USPS Surface shipping from US to Canada is faster than taht. No joke! 😞

It probably depends on where you're located, and perhaps the nature of the item, too. I'm on Vancouver Island and it's not unusual for items sent by mail from the States to take three weeks to reach me. In fact, on two different occasions I've purchased two mobile phones that were forwarded through the Global Shipping Program. At the same time I purchased each phone, I purchased a case for the phone from a US-based seller who was not using the Global Shipping Program.

In both instances, the phone arrived before the case, although in fairness one of those US-based sellers was probably using a drop-shipper from Asia by way of Europe.

By the way, it's my understanding that USPS ceased using surface mail for international shipments many years ago.

sylviebee · ‎05-01-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:

Total for shipping plus taxes plus (maybe) duty is $18.92. Taxes are $16.90 and I'm pretty sure that duty would apply to new hair products on top of that.

It just doesn't add up no matter how you arrange the numbers. If they take the taxes out that only leaves $2 for shipping and (maybe) duty plus a P-B handling fee.

If this were the only GSP item like that I'd think it was a mistake, but these have been cropping up regularly for the past month or two.

The shipping charge in the listing results page for your purchase is C$7.12 less than what it is on the listing page. That sounds like a reasonable amount to cover everything else.

Say what?

afantiques · ‎05-01-2016

In the UK I'm seeing $15 for shipping a gallon of liquid and import charges of $35 (US$)

This seems cheap for the weight as a shipping price but the tax figure is about what I'd expect.

Liquids of any form are prohibited items for the GSP, according to the rules, so it seems this restriction is not really being enforced, odd as the usual criticism is over-zealous enforcement of rules.

sylviebee · ‎05-01-2016

@afantiques wrote:
In the UK I'm seeing $15 for shipping a gallon of liquid and import charges of $35 (US$)

This seems cheap for the weight as a shipping price but the tax figure is about what I'd expect.

Liquids of any form are prohibited items for the GSP, according to the rules, so it seems this restriction is not really being enforced, odd as the usual criticism is over-zealous enforcement of rules.

Once again: Say what?

if you want to make a meaningful contribution to the topic then you need to go back and read my OP. In your eagerness to support the GSP you are commenting on a different transaction.

afantiques · ‎05-01-2016

I am not sure what 'say what' means, I assume it is some slightly deprecating expression, though, but I really cannot see anything to deprecate.

I found it interesting that firstly, the figures for shipping for Canada came out so cheap, inexplicably so as in many examples that have been cited here recently.

Secondly, it is interesting that liquids are shipped in direct contravention of the prohibited items list

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/shipping-globally.html

I have no interest in supporting the GSP, and if 'say what' is the equivalent of the 'Wassay?' that my grandfatther used when he could not hear or understand something said, I can't see much point in referring to the original post, could identify it, or felt inclined to.

The real point of interest is how the figures are being presented to Canadian buyers, and how for the same item they seem to differ a lot from those for other GSP markets such as the UK.

sylviebee · ‎05-01-2016

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=say+what

00nevermind00 · ‎05-01-2016

@afantiques wrote:

I found it interesting that firstly, the figures for shipping for Canada came out so cheap, inexplicably so as in many examples that have been cited here recently.

(...)

The real point of interest is how the figures are being presented to Canadian buyers, and how for the same item they seem to differ a lot from those for other GSP markets such as the UK.

The GSP works in mysterious ways. They seem to want the lack of transparency to continue. Why is that? Your guess is as good as mine. If they have nothing to hide, why act as if they did? It only fuels suspicion and resentment. If they do have something to hide, then maybe they should re-design that part of the program so that they have nothing to hide after all.

It's interesting to note that the GSP charges from the UK are highest to Canada. Higher than they are to even Australia and New Zealand. At least they were when I last looked at GSP items located in the UK. Which, I admit, was some time ago.

marnotom! · ‎05-01-2016

@sylviebee wrote:
Say what?

Sorry. I ended up mixing currencies and my math and analysis became confusing as a result.

Here's the shipping rate as stated in the listing: C$23.70 at current eBay exchange rates:

However, the shipping rate as stated in the search results for the item converts to C$11.75, which is what I think is the actual amount earmarked for shipping the suds.

So that's a difference between the two shipping quotes of C$11.95, the missing "import charges".

Now that's not enough to cover Ontario HST payable on the shampoo (that comes to C$21.17 at the exchange rate used by eBay) but it is more than enough to cover GST.

That US$18.92 / C$23.70 shipping charge doesn't change when I change the shipping location from Ontario to BC, NS or NU, so I'm surmising (based on what I recall of the wording of the GSP terms and conditions) that for listings like these with supposedly no "import charges" Pitney Bowes is moving money in and out of a contingency fund to deal with any excesses or shortages in the amount allotted for taxes and duty.

marnotom! · ‎05-01-2016

@00nevermind00 wrote:

The GSP works in mysterious ways. They seem to want the lack of transparency to continue. Why is that? Your guess is as good as mine. If they have nothing to hide, why act as if they did? It only fuels suspicion and resentment. If they do have something to hide, then maybe they should re-design that part of the program so that they have nothing to hide after all.

Here's my guess. The shipping charge on a GSP item and the part of the "import charges" that aren't devoted to tax and duty (when applicable) are based on past practice, estimates and educated guesses. Pitney Bowes actually doesn't know exactly how much these charges are going to amount to until after the item has been delivered and the various contractees send their bills. And even then, the likelihood of these charges being traceable to a single item shipped through the program is probably slim to none.

@00nevermind00 wrote:

It's interesting to note that the GSP charges from the UK are highest to Canada. Higher than they are to even Australia and New Zealand. At least they were when I last looked at GSP items located in the UK. Which, I admit, was some time ago.

That was my recollection, too, so I managed to find one of those infamous "one quid" postcards listed with the GSP attached. (It's item 381611011278 if you want to try it out.) Canada is still the most expensive of the three countries you mentioned. For what it's worth, the United States is pretty close to Australia in its shipping price and a bit less expensive than New Zealand. However, Mexico is more expensive than Canada as are several Asian countries.

sylviebee · ‎05-01-2016

marno/tiques:

I don't want to have to keep repeating myself and I'm not sure why you're pulling my post apart and posting pictures of my personal purchase and what not.: Dissecting it to death.

Are you arguing with me? Whatever it is you're doing is a drag and makes this board a stressful place to hang out.

It's frustrating and I keep posting the same thing over and over so that my OP isn't misunderstood and misinterpreted.

It's not that difficult.

Once again, and al in US funds only please because that's where I started so let's keep it consistent:

Even though P.B. pegged their charge as a shipping cost, I've treated it as a general P.B charge in case they divide it differently eventually.

The total P-B charge was $18.92.

Taxes should have been $16.90.

$18.92-$16.90 = $2.02.

If they were charging import charges that would mean that $2.02 is left over for the P-B handling fee (repackaging, transporting, paper-work etc.) as well as shipping a 20 pound item within Canada.

Clearly something doesn't add up.

Can we stop now?

marnotom! · ‎05-01-2016

What I'm saying is pretty straightforward and I'm not sure why it's getting you so upset. The point is, the amount you were charged in shipping for your shampoo is going towards what Pitney Bowes calls "import charges" as well as shipping.

Perhaps you could clarify your point if you feel it's being misunderstood, but what I'm reading from you is that Pitney Bowes has only a couple of bucks to play with after remitting taxes. I think PB has more than that amount of money to play with. I can't think of how else this would account for the considerable difference between the shipping charge on the search results page and the shipping charge on the listing page.

Looking at this another way: Pierre found a listing similar to yours with a shipping charge that was about US$6 less than the shipping charge in your listing, even though your seller offers "free" shipping with the United States, but that item had "import charges" as a separate line item.

By the way, I'm flattered that you still feel that AF and I are the same person even after he's taken me to task over a couple of points I've made badly on this board, but his posts are generally much more razor-sharp and pithy than mine are.

sylviebee · ‎05-01-2016

I'm not going to argue with you.

It's very frustrating to have to keep repeating myself so that my OP isn't misinterpreted and misunderstood.

My post is very straightforward.

$2.02 is not enough to ship a 20 pound item from the Canadian hub to my home and cover the P.B handling fee.

It's not even close.

sylviebee · ‎05-01-2016

P.S. marnotom! I lumped you and the afantiques id together because you're saying the exact same thing and my reply was the same.

It wasn't to prove any point.

marnotom! · ‎05-01-2016

@sylviebee wrote:

I'm not going to argue with you.

It's very frustrating to have to keep repeating myself so that my OP isn't misinterpreted and misunderstood.

My post is very straightforward.

$2.02 is not enough to ship a 20 pound item from the Canadian hub to my home and cover the P.B handling fee.

It's not even close.

I'm not arguing with you. However, you're being very stuck in your posts and this is making it difficult for you to take on what is an elaboration on your post.

No, two bucks isn't enough to ship a twenty pound item from Kentucky to your home.

But if you consider the shipping charge to be US$9.38, the converted amount from the search result page, things might start making a bit more sense.