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,

[pierrelebel]

"I run a business in Canada and I am entitled to a refund of any GST or HST"

Unfortunately, GSP is for personal use only.  The terms and conditions of the program clearly exclude business use.

That said, CRA will accept your claim to include the GST or HST paid by you as part of the import charges.  It is rather easy to calculate based on your province

Since the HST rate in NL is 13%, you can claim 13% of the (Canadian dollar converted) value of the item IF you paid "import charges" to PB.

Typically on a Cdn$50 value, PB may have charged import fees of $11 or so ($6.50 - 13% x $50) could be claimed as HST paid) while the rest is a cost (fee).

[pierrelebel]

Please take a look at http://pages.ebay.com/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html#paymentsplit

You find that link in all listings offering Global Shipping Program (GSP)

#6 Eligibility - Non-Commercial Use. Any GSP Item that you purchase must be for the personal use or consumption of the designated recipient and not for commercial resale purposes. 

[poisonely]

Hi,
I recently sent back an item for a return to the Global Shipping Program (my seller was unresponsive and I couldn't get any return info) and I don't know what happened to the item.

Please answer quickly!
Thanks! 🙂

[femmefan1946]

I run a business in Canada and I am entitled to a refund of any GST or HST collected on any shipments of products I receive

That's nice, but the GSP is specifically not intended for 'business to business' use.

The duty and sales taxes were not technically paid by your company.

They were paid by Pitney/Bowes/ GSP from the fees they collected when your ordered.

YOU DID NOT PAY THE DUTY. Surprise!

If you see something you want from a seller using GSP, either ask for USPS shipping and pay duty and sales tax on your doorstep or buy elsewhere.

You could have your bookkeeper work out what the duty and tax probably was, claim it and it might pass. Or not.

[femmefan1946]

Open an Item Not As Described dispute in the Resolution Centre below.

You may be told to return the item with Confirmation of Delivery to the seller.

In this case the seller will be required to refund you the price and shipping. (I think GSP will then, separaely, refund the import fee minus their service charge.)

If it is decided that the problem was the GSP you may be refunded in full by the GSP and no return required.

Because you seem to have made your own system, you may not have used Confirmation of Delivery on your return. Your claim will then fail.

You may have returned the item to the GSP in Kentucky instead of to the seller. (You aren't clear about where it was sent.) Your claim will then fail.

I hope I am being pessimistic.

[shaw-118]

Why doesn't the GPS combine shipping charges from the same seller? The seller can ship multiple items in one package but I'm charged for each item as if it's being shipped individual. Why can't the sellers send an invoice with combined shipping for said items?

[pierrelebel]

"Why doesn't the GPS combine shipping charges from the same seller?"

That is the way the system has been set up from the beginning, three years ago, and nobody from eBay has ever explained why.

The only logical reason I can think of is for Pitney Bowes to keep costs down by having only one Customs line required per shipment.  Combined shipments may result in different items with different Customs classification, even different country of origin, requiring more time to prepare the paperwork to clear through Customs.

The current system uses the KISS principle from their perspective.

Most "combined" eBay transactions generally combine several low priced items (under $50 each).  GSP is not set up for those small transactions although many American sellers still use GSP for items with low value (under US$50).

Hopefully eBay will eventually have a "filter" in place where low priced items would not be eligible for GSP, forcing American sellers to offer direct shipment to foreign buyers (including Canadians) or not list for shipment outside the USA.

[pjcdn2005]

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@shaw-118 wrote:

Why doesn't the GPS combine shipping charges from the same seller? The seller can ship multiple items in one package but I'm charged for each item as if it's being shipped individual. Why can't the sellers send an invoice with combined shipping for said items?

---

If use a shopping cart when you make the purchase, it will cost you slightly less than if you purchased each item separately from the same seller.  It isn't always obvious on the shopping cart that you are getting a discount but it should be there. I don't know when they started doing that but most people don't seem to know about it.

A seller cannot send you a gsp combined invoice because they have no idea what the import charges are or what the gsp will charge you for the international shipping portion.

[gearhead334]

As a Canadian that purchases some (mostly smaller items)  through EBay the GSP is a very great deterrent, to the point that I will not bid on items that insist on using it. Your company should try to understand that at this time the difference in the US/Can dollar (plus very unfavourable PayPal exchange rates) is already a deterrent, then add on the cost of the GSP and the fact that any reasonable sized item will normally enter Canada with no charges at the border and it does not make purchasing this way a reasonable thing to do.

I personally hope that your company can see that the GSP is a very major problem and that removing it will likely increase sales to Canadians.

Jack Hayes 

[pjcdn2005]

I posted an example of the cost of gsp shipping if purchasing 2 items separately vs putting the same 2 items in a cart and paying for them at one time. The savings isn't that large is in this example but it was less when purchased through the cart.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Global-Shipping-Combined-Shipping-not-available/m-p/23872648#M4...

post 18

[guvic2012]

Well if I have to use the Global Shipping Program from Canada, i have just purchased my last item from Ebay! It takes tong and is too expensive. The tracking info is too vague. i ordered a part from ebay on May 27 and as far as i can tell from the tracking info it hasn't even left the USA, and the part was located only 800 miles away from my location. NEVER AGAIN WILL I USE EBAY!!!!!

George Halpenny.

[afantiques]

Why not just stick to sellers who do not use GSP for shipping?

Why penalise the competent ones?

[highland.2112]

Exactly.

[highland.2112]

Why?

Because eBay is attempting - successfully - to rip off Canadian buyers for as much as they can get.

Easy answer, don't you think, Yoda, er, pierre label?

Or are you paid by eBay to provide a more, um, force full answer?

[marnotom!]

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@highland.2112 wrote:

Why?

Because eBay is attempting - successfully - to rip off Canadian buyers for as much as they can get.

Easy answer, don't you think, Yoda, er, pierre label?

Or are you paid by eBay to provide a more, um, force full answer?

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Easy answers aren't necessarily correct or insightful answers.

[4928lawrence]

What happens to the GSP prepaid, incorrectly collected Duties on items that should legally enter  Canada DUTY FREE ?

In my example both Glass Vases and True Antiques (over 100 years old) are DUTY FREE yet the GSP still applies 

an erroneous Duty to these. WHY IS THIS allowed to occur ?

[pierrelebel]

"are DUTY FREE yet the GSP still applies"

Where exactly do you see duty being charged?

[puresimplenatural]

Pierre - what about sellers using the GSP for shipping supplies, which the buyer intends to use to create new items for sale? Is that a shady area, as the buyer wouldn't necessarily be reselling the item as is, but also not keeping the supplies for personal use or consumption?

[afantiques]

The point of the exclusion is that buyers cannot claim the import sales taxes as a business expense, or reclaim them if the item is exported.

No one really cares what buyers do with their items once they have them. Businesses can buy stuff, it's just that they pay the  same gross price as private buyers.

[pjcdn2005]

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@4928lawrence wrote:

What happens to the GSP prepaid, incorrectly collected Duties on items that should legally enter  Canada DUTY FREE ?

In my example both Glass Vases and True Antiques (over 100 years old) are DUTY FREE yet the GSP still applies 

an erroneous Duty to these. WHY IS THIS allowed to occur ?

---

I'm sure that there are times when items are charged the wrong amount of tax/ duty but when I checked a few antique glass vases, the ones shipped through the gsp were charged gst/hst, not duty. But perhaps you have seen listings that do charge duty?

In some cases, an item may be charged duty incorrectly because the seller listed the item in the wrong category or did not list the country that the item was made in.