Questions about the Global Shipping Program

[kalvin@ebay.com]

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,

[femmefan1946]

This came up when the GSP was first introduced.

The problem is that many guitars use rare woods and traffic in those woods is banned by the CITES treaty.

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/restricted-and-endangered-wood-species/

For some reason GSP is ultra-aware of this and have been very hard on exporting guitars in particular. They may do the same for violins and cellos, but fewer of those are being shipped, I guess.

Your best bet is BEFORE BIDDING to contact the seller and ask that the GSP not be used for shipping.

You will pay more for import fees with UPS or FedEx, or even USPS/Canada Post, but you are much more likely to get your purchases.

For this purchase, the seller has done his duty for delivery when the guitars got to the GSP plant in Kentucky.

He does not lose any part of your payment.

But you should contact him and politely explain the problem. Ask if the guitars are returned to him, that he contact you for a new transaction that doesn't included the GSP (spit spit spit).

when they were finally released i had received a notice saying my payment had been refunded 

Were you refunded? Is the money in your Paypal account or on your credit card invoice?

[marnotom!]

 nicofischer1993nick wrote:

the sellers have been getting angry because they loose their item as well. 

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Just to underscore Femmefan's point, the sellers do get to keep the money from the sale.  The way Pitney Bowes sees it, the seller was selling the item to convert it into cash, so they get to keep the proceeds from the sale.

[mcdemir]

Will never shop on eBay because of GSP. That is just a high way robbery.

[mcdemir]

I will never shop on eBay because of GSP. There shouldn't be a duty charges on used and vintage electronics.

[marnotom!]

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wrote:

Will never shop on eBay because of GSP. That is just a high way robbery.

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So UPS Ground to Canada is better?

The GSP is a forwarding service.  Of course it's going to potentially be more expensive than a direct shipment.  But do your homework.  Not all direct shipment services are created equal.

[marnotom!]

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wrote:

I will never shop on eBay because of GSP. There shouldn't be a duty charges on used and vintage electronics.

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There are sellers offering to ship their items to Canada by means other than the GSP.

But do your homework and scan through the GSP terms and conditions.

http://pages.ebay.ca/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html

For starters, the "import charges" aren't just duty--if it's applicable.  They include various processing fees and the GST/HST that Canadian sellers registered to collect those taxes would charge.  Just because items sent by mail aren't always hit with tax charges doesn't mean that those items are tax-exempt, just like if you drive at 80 km/h through a school zone and don't get a ticket it doesn't mean that it's actually okay to drive at that speed through a school zone.

More information can be found on this page from the Canada Border Services Agency:

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/dtytx-drttx-eng.html

[1986puma]

I only wish that I could exclude  from  my search anyone who uses the global shipment program.

It is way too expensive and takes longer  to get here. 

[lorraine_carol]

Ever since ebay has implemented the Global Shipping program, I no longer purchase on ebay unless I can find what I'm looking for is in Canada which unfortunately is seldom. 

[erikcampbel_9]

Hello,
I would like to upgrade my shipping to the fastest possible option. How do I do that?

[reallynicestamps]

You are in the wrong Board for that.

This is where we mutter , groan and shriek about the Global Shipping Program.

That being said.

Are you planning to be a buyer or a seller?

If you are buying read the Shipping tab on your seller's listing.

That will tell you which services he offers to Canada.

It will also tell you how long eBay thinks delivery will take.

They are optimists, but there...

If you find a seller who has what you want at a decent price but who has chosen what seems to be a slow service*, you can ask him BEFORE buying if he would be willing to ship by another service. Remember to tell him that you are willing to pay for speed.

If you are planning to be a seller:

Do a little buying first, to learn how the site actually works, as opposed to what eBay tells you.

They are optimists.

Use Canada Post for shipping.

The prices are low and the service covers the entire world.

Did you know that couriers, who don't cover rural and isolated destinations, actually sub-contract those deliveries to Canada Post?

Pay particular attention to tracking. Our US customers are fanatics about it, because it is a cheap USPS domestic service. But it costs us an arm, a leg, and three baby teeth.

*Most of your buying will be from Canada or the USA.

Here are their websites, which will help you a little.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e3s1

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

@kh-leslie

[marnotom!]

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@1986puma wrote:

I only wish that I could exclude  from  my search anyone who uses the global shipment program.

It is way too expensive and takes longer  to get here. 

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You can't exclude items forwarded through the Global Shipping Program from your search results, but if you have your search results displayed in "list view" rather than "gallery view", you'll find that GSP-forwarded items have the message "Customs services and international tracking provided" underneath "From United States" in the result  box.  Simply avoid clicking on those listings.

As for the matters of its cost and shipping time, keep in mind that the seller has a role to play in this.  If they choose a slow, expensive shipping method for getting the item to the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky, that's going to affect its transit time and overall shipping cost just as much as anything the GSP does.

[wwgerber]

why is it still even used? the pitney bows fees make  ebay purchases not worthwhile anymore, and the GSP system adds a week to shipping times. 

clearly it wasn't well receive and cutting into ebay sales, why is it still being forced on buyers?

i used to check ebay for purchases then online retailers and then amazon, now i only use ebay as a last resort, GSP has pretty much ruined ebay for Canadians.

[wwgerber]

why is it still even used? the pitney bows fees make  ebay purchases not worthwhile anymore, and the GSP system adds a week to shipping times. 

clearly it wasn't well receive and cutting into ebay sales, why is it still being forced on buyers?

i used to check ebay for purchases then online retailers and then amzon, now i only use ebay as a last resort, GSP has pretty much ruined ebay for Canadians.

[momcqueen]

If you want to avoid the Global Shipping Program, it's easy to do. There are literally millions of sellers on ebay and maybe one to two per cent use the GSP in some form or another. 

Search by filtering Canada Only to start. It's at the bottom left.

[lorraine_carol]

I have yet to come across a US seller who does not use the GSP. I no longer purchase on ebay because of the GSP unless I can find what I want in Canada, however that is a rarity. Your stated percentage of "one to two per cent use the GSP in some form or another" (assuming that includes USA sellers) of sellers  is off substantially.

[momcqueen]

I'm sorry to hear you feel that way but I can assure you that my numbers are quite correct. 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/242235/number-of-ebays-total-active-users/

[femmefan1946]

 @wwgerber

clearly it wasn't well receive and cutting into ebay sales, why is it still being forced on buyers?

Except that it has been well received and has improved eBay sales.

Your error is in thinking that GSP has anything to do with Buyers.

It is a Seller Protection Program.

US sellers are on the whole pretty xenophobic and paranoid. Much like the entire country.

They also live in the world's largest economy.

There is no particular reason for a US-based seller ever to sell internationally.

But eBay was experiencing flat growth and came up with the GSP to fix that.

The GSP allows the seller to ship domestically, but sell internationally.

• All shipments go to Erlanger KY for forwarding.

The GSP collects import fees to cover duty and sales taxes and pays those in advance to the recipient nation.

• Some non-US buyers would refuse a shipment when they learned they had to pay duty and sales taxes to their government. The seller was then stuck with shipping costs, which can be considerable, in both directions.
• There is a scam whereby a non-US buyer does not pickup a shipment until they have won an Item Not Received Dispute, paying the customs fees, but not shipping or selling price.

The GSP also covers most damage in transit.

• It's cheaper for them to pay the buyer and let him keep his (unwanted) purchase, than either to argue or to deal with returned goods.
• The seller is not involved with this and keeps her payment.

The seller does not have to deal with filling in customs forms.

• This takes all of 30 seconds, but see above, xenophobic and paranoid.

The result is that more US sellers now ship overseas, since they are protected in warm, fuzzy pink cotton wool by the GSP.

Non-US buyers have more products available from xenophobic and paranoid sellers who would never ship outside the USA to dangerous places like Germany, Hawaii, or Canada.

The first question when something seems weird is: Cui bono?

[wwgerber]

Hawaii is part of the usa....

I couldn't find any non GSP sellers for my most recent 4 purchases, so perhaps your numbers are correct for some items, but clearly some categories are dominated by GSP only, or were shown GSP sales when going to ebay.ca

Canada only doesn't eliminate GSP, it only shows items that will ship to Canada, still using GSP, just verified this and it does not remove GSP sellers.

either way i wont be using ebay for anything coming GSP anymore, i get stuff faster from across the pond than 4 hours drive because of the inefficiency of the GSP system

[momcqueen]

“Canada only doesn't eliminate GSP, it only shows items that will ship to Canada, still using GSP, just verified this and it does not remove GSP sellers.”

I’m afraid you are incorrect. ‘Canada Only’ means the user is only shown items LOCATED IN CANADA.

If you have data to support otherwise, please share a full-screen image capture.

[babinni]

They charged me duty /taxes on items that were made in US - which are exempt, Despite my protests. They make no distinction. If you're going to charge you better understand the rules. Also in one instance i was able to opt out of pre paid duties. but in true scare tactic style, the GS site warned me about higher charges later if I opt out of pr payment. I decided to take my chances. - in fact the duties were way lower than what they had quoted me. Somebody is making a lot of money on this.