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

tuff-ind · ‎07-06-2016

Is the GSP using Canada post as means for final delivery once the item reaches Canada from the US?

I'm just curious if this will be changed if it is used, if Canada post goes on strike?

Or will the GSP just switch to another carrier in Canada?

mzsuzycreamcheese · ‎07-06-2016

Today I have bought an item on ebay US and I live in Canada. The item in question is "Made in Canada" yet as it is being shipped via the GSP I have been charged import duties and taxes. This is not right, there should not be any duties collected for this item. I phoned ebay customer service to complain and the representative stated that the seller chose the GSP and as such the item is shipped and there is nothing that can be done. To be perfectly frank, in my opinion, the GSP is a cash cow for certain parties. Nine times out of ten if I order an item in the US and it is shipped to me via USP I pay zero (0) in duties and taxes.

i.am.vivian · ‎07-06-2016

@mzsuzycreamcheese wrote:
Today I have bought an item on ebay US and I live in Canada. The item in question is "Made in Canada" yet as it is being shipped via the GSP I have been charged import duties and taxes. This is not right, there should not be any duties collected for this item. I phoned ebay customer service to complain and the representative stated that the seller chose the GSP and as such the item is shipped and there is nothing that can be done. To be perfectly frank, in my opinion, the GSP is a cash cow for certain parties. Nine times out of ten if I order an item in the US and it is shipped to me via USP I pay zero (0) in duties and taxes.

Made in Canada items are exempt from duty but never taxes. You pay tax at the cash register when you buy in your hometown. The GSP import charges include a HANDLING FEE on top of the shipping so it is all called "import charges". Even an item less than $20CDN in value will have the GSP "import charge" hidden in. The other items you bought came in the mail and they don't usually bother adding charges on low price items. Anything over $20 could be charged because it is a government requirement. It just happens to be rarely enforced on small value things.

cruzmiester · ‎07-06-2016

WHEN WILL EBAY CANCEL THE GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM?

(the sooner the better!!)

reallynicestamps · ‎07-06-2016

It won't.

The purpose of the program was to encourage US and UK sellers to offer their products internationally.

It worked.

More US and UK sellers now sell internationally and eBay is seeing more sales at higher prices and therefore collecting more fees as a result of the introduction of this Seller Protection program.

cruzmiester · ‎07-06-2016

although I may have missed them, I have yet to read a positive review of GSP. All these posts are useless, I doubt anyone at eBay with any influence reads these posts, otherwise with all this feedback eBay would've done something a long time ago. These forums exist to appease and calm us down.

It would be interesting if a sympathetic eBay employee shared the personal email of a senior eBay executive. At least we would be able to annoy them as much as they annoy us!!!

reallynicestamps · ‎07-06-2016

The item in question is "Made in Canada" yet as it is being shipped via the GSP

Which means it was made here, shipped to the USA, and then resold into Canada.

Canada is an exporting nation.

There may be a Canadian eBayer selling the same product, but you will probably still be paying sales taxes and shipping may or may not be the same.

On the other hand, you probably would save the ~$5 GSP service charge.

tuff-ind · ‎07-07-2016

Why would you want it cancelled?

The GSP is a fantastic! better rates to ship from the US to Canada, way faster shipping! then USPS/CanadaPost.

Taxes and duty prepaid, no hassles what so ever after shipped.

When I shop eBay, I look for items that offer the GPS, and pass those that only offer "international" shipping, as we all know that means UPS, which is cheap to ship for sellers in the US, but costs us over the border here ridiculous brokerage fee's and taxes and duty, all adding up to much much more then what the GSP would have cost us.

And shipping charges themselves from sellers that don't offer the GSP are extremely high and I hate getting gouged on shipping.

And if that isn't enough, if the GSP does get cancelled, sellers everywhere will loose sales.

In today's market, there are many more options other than eBay, I choose eBay when I'm buying outside of Canada because of the GSP.

cruzmiester · ‎07-07-2016

Buddy what bad eBay Kool-Aid have you been drinking? your post is replete with bad information.

GSP = extra costs + extra time. i.e. the item I recently purchased made it all the way to Cincinnati OH, then did a U-turn to Kentucky where it's still sitting.

GSP = dissatisfied customers

Dissatisfied customers = sellers lose business

some say who cares about the Canada's 1/10th the population of the USA, the fact is if a US seller can't sell to Canada because of ineptitude, a country that has many similarities with the USA, they won't be able to sell anywhere else either.

tuff-ind · ‎07-07-2016

You're entitled to your opinion, but I base what I say on fact.

I've been buying and selling on eBay for the better part of 15 years, (much more buying then selling as of recent years) and it's been my experience using the GSP has saved me money, time, and frustration.

I just wish it was around back when I was a power seller, I might have stayed in it.

But shipping costs from Canada to the US, which was my bread and butter, just got out of hand, and I could no longer compete with US sellers.

The cool-aid crack actually made me laugh out loud lol thank you for that!

😃 have a great day!

cruzmiester · ‎07-07-2016

my reply was good natured!! I'm glad you had a laugh, laughing with each other is much better than alternative.

00nevermind00 · ‎07-07-2016

@tuff-ind wrote:
Why would you want it cancelled?

The GSP is a fantastic! better rates to ship from the US to Canada, way faster shipping! then USPS/CanadaPost.

Taxes and duty prepaid, no hassles what so ever after shipped.

When I shop eBay, I look for items that offer the GPS, and pass those that only offer "international" shipping, as we all know that means UPS, which is cheap to ship for sellers in the US, but costs us over the border here ridiculous brokerage fee's and taxes and duty, all adding up to much much more then what the GSP would have cost us.

And shipping charges themselves from sellers that don't offer the GSP are extremely high and I hate getting gouged on shipping.

And if that isn't enough, if the GSP does get cancelled, sellers everywhere will loose sales.

In today's market, there are many more options other than eBay, I choose eBay when I'm buying outside of Canada because of the GSP.

The GSP can be a good choice for large and/or heavy and/or bulky and/or expensive items, which is what you seem to be buying.

For everything else, not so much.

Ask buyers of postcards or inexpensive costume jewellery what they think of the GSP. Chances are they don't have anything good to say about it. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Your opinion of the GSP depends on what you use eBay for. Unfortunately, eBay's bumbling, incredibly amateurish implementation of the program has made, and still makes, calm and factual discussion of the program difficult.

mzsuzycreamcheese · ‎07-07-2016

I have to wonder at the markup of some items being sold through the GSP when factoring in the GSP. Case in point, small cast iron pot on serving board sold on ebay UK (saved in my watch list). CAD 31.38 buy it now, Shipping CAD35.76 + GBP 4.71 import duty through GSP. That is CAD 67.14 before the import duties + tax added. I just bought the same item at Homesence in Canada for 9.99 + tax of $1.20 for a grand total of CAD 11.19.

mzsuzycreamcheese · ‎07-07-2016

No Canadian ebayer selling the product. Not in Canada, that is why I bought on US site. One pair in that color, only one size in the one I need. Either buy it or forget it. Ebay is best used for buying discontinued, hard to find items that you can't buy at your local shopping mall.

marnotom! · ‎07-07-2016

@mzsuzycreamcheese wrote:

I have to wonder at the markup of some items being sold through the GSP when factoring in the GSP. Case in point, small cast iron pot on serving board sold on ebay UK (saved in my watch list). CAD 31.38 buy it now, Shipping CAD35.76 + GBP 4.71 import duty through GSP. That is CAD 67.14 before the import duties + tax added. I just bought the same item at Homesence in Canada for 9.99 + tax of $1.20 for a grand total of CAD 11.19.

HomeSense tends to sell discontinued or overrun merchandise, though, so they probably got the item for a lot less than that UK seller did.

The UK GSP's shipping rates to Canada tend to be pretty pricey. Sometimes they're even more expensive than shipping to Australia. As the items are being shipped by air freight to Canada, that's going to be something that makes the shipping price more expensive than a US GSP item being shipped by ground freight. Also keep in mind the costs involved in shipping the item as a parcel from wherever it touches down to Canada to your door.

You'll probably find that the shipping price for that cast iron pot is somewhat less expensive to the United States than it is to Canada, and I suspect that's due to economies of scale.

tuff-ind · ‎07-08-2016

Exactly, If I can find it in a store in Canada, then that's where I buy, I would never buy an item from any online venue unless I can't get it myself in person. The only time I may purchase from a Canadian online venue, is if it's cheaper than in-store, and offers free shipping, if it's not going to save me money, then it's not happening.

Unfortunately, I'm as car guy, and Canada is not a good source for high performance aftermarket car parts, USA, and sometimes the UK, is where I shop for that stuff.

marnotom! · ‎07-08-2016

@tuff-ind wrote:

Exactly, If I can find it in a store in Canada, then that's where I buy, I would never buy an item from any online venue unless I can't get it myself in person. The only time I may purchase from a Canadian online venue, is if it's cheaper than in-store, and offers free shipping, if it's not going to save me money, then it's not happening.

Unfortunately, I'm as car guy, and Canada is not a good source for high performance aftermarket car parts, USA, and sometimes the UK, is where I shop for that stuff.

I'm not a car guy, but I have purchased a few auto parts on eBay. I'm amazed (though not surprised) by how many--if not most--online vendors of car parts insist on using commercial carriers such as UPS to ship their wares to Canada. As awkward as it is to say it, the GSP is a lot more preferable in these sorts of cases, and I think it was sales like these that were originally in the minds of those that devised the program, not letter-sized items.

I've also purchased a couple of mobile phones that were shipped through the GSP. Again, much less expensive or problematic shipping than what non-GSP sellers were offering, and interestingly enough, the cases I purchased the same day from sellers using the postal service arrived sometime after the phones did. (In fairness, one was likely drop-shipped from an exotic location not stated in the listing.)

newcoyote · ‎07-13-2016

What is the point of the GSP? I have bought several things in the last few months and been forced to pay for GSP. The types of items and same prices I have in the past and never paid or worried about anything other than the regular shipping cost. I never had to pay extra for customs, duty or whatever in the past. Of the items I have ordered the thing sits somewhere in Kentucky for about a week extra. As far as I can see, I am paying for storage and delay. I'm getting to the point where if I see an item I would otherwise like to buy but the stupid GSP is there, I'll just say forget it. Who does this benefit? It looks to me the seller should pay. Maybe these are not very good or specific questions and more of a rant but so far as I can tell, the GSP can suck it.

femmefan1946 · ‎07-13-2016

What is the point of the GSP?

It's a Seller Protection Program designed to encourage paranoid or xenophobic American sellers to accept international sales.

The seller is only required to show (cheap domestic) tracking to the GSP plant in Kentucky, after which the GSP becomes responsible for delivery

I never had to pay extra for customs, duty or whatever in the past.

The maximum duty free allowance for imported shipments is $20CDN (about ~$16USD).

CBSA officials have sensibly decided that it makes no sense to assess items for duty and (more often) sales tax, when it costs more to assess than could possibly be collected. They have informally (and actually illegally) bumped the allowance up to around $100CDN.

Couriers like UPS and the GSP have to obey the (stupid) law, so they assess, collect and remit duty and tax to the Canadian government.

GSP charges ~$5 for this. UPS charges ~$25+. There is a 3000 post thread about that archived here.

The GSP is not a useful program for buyers, particularly First World buyers like Canadians or Europeans.

It should be avoided on any purchase under $100 CDN

It should also be avoided by business to business buyers.

There are actually some benefits if the purchase is over $100.