Sellers: please don’t use eBay Global Shipping Program

[chupacabra2000]

It may appear easier, but it costs me double to ship, takes weeks while item languishes in Kentucky, then no indication given how to track after item clears Canada customs.
Ever heard of Apple Express? Me neither. But they have my order now and made a delivery attempt and “ maybe” will “try again” in next couple days before returning to sender. No pickup option,
Period.

[femmefan1946]

Ugh. The problem isn't the GSP it's Apple Express. There have been complaints about them for at least two years.

tyler@ebay  - Sorry to keep bugging you, but if anything can be done to encourage PitneyBowes to drop this incompetent bunch of nitwits, it would be a mitzvah.

Now the GSP is only available to US and UK sellers, so you are on the wrong Boards if you want sellers to hear you. That would be eBaydotCOM.

The program is a Seller Protection meant to soothe paranoid and xenophobic US sellers (the UK came later) by allowing them to ship to Erlanger with cheap domestic trackinng The seller's responsibility for delivery ends there.

The extra costs are the import fees which you would be paying on any imports. For US imports these are duty on imports valued over $150 and tax if over $40. Most of what you pay is Canadian sales tax (5-15% of declared value) and ~$5 service fee.

Canada Post charges a $9.95 service fee for the same job. UPS starts at $25.

You can avoid GSP sellers by looking for :

Customs services and international tracking provided

on the listing.

You are told about the import fees just before you pay, so if you miss the "tell" on the listing, you can stop before you buy and pay.

If you decide to buy anyway you can track the shipment, with some difficulty. This is boilerplate posters put together a couple of years ago.

Unison worked this out for buyers who have not yet received their GSP shipment.
TRACKING SYSTEM FOR GSP
I found this thread today while awaiting a shipment. Once I learned that Pitney Bowes was the relevant company, I was able to find my package's tracking info in about 10 seconds.
 
Step 1: Go to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Tracker page at https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/
 
Step 2: Enter your eBay-supplied Global Tracking number (mine began with UPAA...)
 
Step 3: You will be shown limited tracking info. In my case, only up to the point the package left the USA and entered Canada.
 
Step 4: Click on the "Track on carrier's website" link at the top right.
 
Step 5: You will be provided with tracking on the page of the actual shipping company, in my case Canada Post, with a tracking number in THEIR system.
 
Problem solved! If only eBay would put a link to https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/ in their shipping emails, this could all be avoided... 
 

I think that if you look at this, you will be able to see that the holdup is not usually with the Erlanger plant, although they do have some quirks, for example, they are closed on Sundays.

The big holdups have been in Chicago and Mississauga, both postal terminals.

However- eBay gives you a window for delivery. If the shipment has not arrived by the last estimated date for delivery, go to the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page.

If the GSP can't prove delivery, you will be refunded.

If the shipment shows up after that, GSP does not want it back. No seller are harmed by this.

[marnotom!]

Well, @femmefan1946 pretty much said it all: If you want to get the attention of American sellers using the Global Shipping Program's forwarding service, ya gotta post what you have to say somewhere on the US (.com) discussion boards, not the Canadian (.ca) ones.

I'll just add that most US sellers see their shipping options as being either having their items forwarded through the Global Shipping Program or not offering international shipping at all.  A few of those sellers think there's no other way to have their items sent out of the United States, but most of them just don't think it's worth the hassle to make an excemption for Canada when there's about 100 other countries the GSP can ship to and Canada makes such a small proportion of their sales.

Canadian sellers generally have to sell internationally to make their businesses viable; American sellers have enough domestic buyers to do okay on eBay without having to add an international customer base.

The GSP is actually not too bad when paired with the right sort of items, but it's a matter of getting a sense of what those items are.  I've found it's much better for shipping cell phones than by some overkill tracked up the wazoo next-day shipping option with over the top customs clearance fees built-in, which is what a lot of sellers would probably use for cell phones if the GSP wasn't offered and they felt they needed to offer international shipping.

I will point out, though, that direct mailed shipments from the United States are gradually becoming a thing of the past as the costs of mailing stuff out of the United States skyrocket and USPS's operations are getting kicked in the shins by mismanagement.  Most of the items from the US that my powershopper wife purchases from venues other than eBay appear to be forwarded in a manner similar to that of the GSP.

[audiovideotogo]

'direct mailed shipments from the US are gradually becoming a thing of the past' That is a shame, 10 years back, in my first 2 years on ebay, and pre GSP, I would purchase a few hundred dollars worth of books and magazines yearly .....now those same items cost well above what I want to pay, 10 times more in some cases. I don't know many people nowadays who will  pay $40 or more for three US shipped magazines in a  now  obligatory box.

[parts_and_diecasts]

"Canadian sellers generally have to sell internationally to make their businesses viable; American sellers have enough domestic buyers to do okay on eBay without having to add an international customer base."

this is key. The truth is we would all do the same as said US sellers if we were them.

I tried being Mr. Wonderful for a while swimming naked by shipping small packets international (untracked) until I got hit by 2 INRs. Now, it's Canada & USA only (mostly USA) and sales have not suffered as a consequence, the Int' sales were marginal to start with (less than 5%). Sounds good and exotic on an "Entrepreneur of the Year" blurb though: he has buyers from Malaysia, Hungary, New Zealand...the truth is 90% of sales will be US bound anyways.

[reallynicestamps]

Oddly lately I have had more sales to Canada than to the USA  and my international sales were 12% in October. US sales were 31%. Don't know if this is an outlier.  And I offer Free Shipping to both Canada and the USA (untracked, my products are cheap).

[femmefan1946]

Until July 2020 we paid import fees (duty and sales taxes plus service charges from the shipper) on any import valued over $20Cdn*.

This is still true of imports from overseas, although CBSA has an informal policy of ignoring most imports valued under ~$100Cdn.

But our US and Mexican imports, under the latest iteration of NAFTA, are now duty free if valued under $150 and tax-free if valued under $40Cdn.

With that situation, you can start buying through GSP again if you wish, since they don't seem to charge even their ~$5 service fee if there is no duty or tax.

Or of course, you can Buy Canadian.

magazines in a now obligatory box.

Huh?

Why is a box 'obligatory'? I can see sellers using them for protection or because Priority boxes are free, although Priority shipping is much more expensive than First Class International Package.

But, like tracking, there is no obligation involved.

*Postal carrier. For private carriers like UPS or FedEx the value is $40.

[honnorjustice]

I believe eBay doesn’t do Global shipping anymore. Because of that decision, as a purchaser, it is frustrating because it costs me more in customs fees and takes longer to get to me. The global program was perfect. It had tracking and was faster. Now it costs me anywhere from $10-$20 extra. Not happy.

[brettjet38]

THE GSP IS DEAD, GET READY FOR THE SEQUEL ...

Zombie thread from 10-12-2021

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue discussing this topic.

Thanks for your understanding!