eBay

kgboy72 · ‎05-06-2018

I've been on eBay for a decade or so and it used to be a place to find cool stuff. I've come to rely on eBay when trying to find something less ordinary. You can still do that, but, only if you have the stamina for it - and, I'm really tired.

Dropshipping plague: I understand people want to make money by not doing anything and relying on dropshipping businesses. But, how long before you get burned by sending **bleep** that people want a refund for (because you have never seen the product yourself)? I was sent stuff that was stinky, toxic. It also takes a month+ to get the stuff (no fault of eBay).

Mis-posting: You have to wade through hundreds of cheap junk offers from China. This has become a real plague - to the point that I'm looking for genuine leather and the non-English speaking sellers purport cheap pleather to be the real one and even when you select material leather - it still comes up. Today, I was just looking for men's shorts, first thirty or so results were Chinese bermudas with girl posing in them, all the while saying it's men's. I can understand that some men may choose to wear skirt-like bermudas... perhaps allow it in unisex section. eBay is a mess this way and should police this more vehemently - otherwise you may as well do away with categories and make one heap called "Mislabeled Chinese **bleep** for peanuts".

The other beef is the Global Shipping program - I have pretty much resorted to Amazon, Etsy or independent sellers, when buying from the US. It's OVERPRICED! Who would by a pair of worn shoes for 20-30 bucks and pay $60 for shipping/GSP?! I feel sorry for all those cool thrift store around the US - they stand no chance! I have many times stopped myself from ordering something because and only because of the GSP.

I think eBay is toast, if they don't reign in the Chinese mis-posting at the least.

reallynicestamps · ‎05-06-2018

You have to wade through hundreds of cheap junk offers

I deal with this by setting my default from Best Match to Highest Price+Shipping.

This allows me to drill down through a few dozen accurately described items to my price point, instead of wading upstream against hordes of carp.

YMMV.

This also has some effect on the GSP problem. Because of the cost of shipping.

Who would by a pair of worn shoes for 20-30 bucks and pay $60 for shipping/GSP?!

I have been wondering if US sellers using GSP are told to use International Shipping Rates when they are actually only shipping to Kentucky.

I tried posting the question to the dotCOM Seller's Board, but got no answer.

If you Search on a laptop/desktop rather than a phone, using List View, the "
Customs services and international tracking provided" warning shows up.

If you are buying items between $16USD and $100, that are not bulky, definitely avoid GSP. But for high value items especially heavy things, it can actually be a saving, as well as making many more items available to Canada.

You probably know much of this already, but others will read it, too.

marnotom! · ‎05-06-2018

@reallynicestamps wrote:

Who would by a pair of worn shoes for 20-30 bucks and pay $60 for shipping/GSP?!
I have been wondering if US sellers using GSP are told to use International Shipping Rates when they are actually only shipping to Kentucky.

I can't imagine this happening. The shipping price is the sum of the seller's charge for shipping the item to Kentucky plus Pitney Bowes' (DBA the GSP) charge for shipping the item from Kentucky to Canada. If sellers were charging international shipping rates, that would mean that they're charging US buyers international shipping rates.

I think a large part of the problem is that sellers aren't providing enough information to the GSP "bot" on their items' packaged size and weight, so the bot has to calculate a shipping price based on a category average. Because an average is being used, smaller items appear to be shipping for a ridiculous price while large items appear to be shipping for an astonishing price.

A category where there isn't much variation in the shipping weight of an item can see pretty reasonable GSP shipping rates, particularly if the seller offers "free" shipping within the US. The three cell phones I purchased and had forwarded by the GSP had shipping rates of less than US$15. Try finding a US seller willing to ship a mobile phone directly out of the country for that sort of shipping price.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-06-2018

One other little disadvantage of the GSP is that as a seller if you are actually personally involved with your packaging/postage you know exactly what it is costing you to get your item to your customer(postage, Packing material, time) and then at your discretion be able to pass on those savings to your customer when rates go down. Would imagine once it gets into the hands of Pitney Bowes any savings are not going back to the seller or the customer. Pitney Bowes should be able to pass on any savings due to their access to volume discounted postage rates but has anyone ever heard of that happening? And as stated by marnotom, sellers using GSP more than likely are not including accurate information for their packages. This does not include the fact that sellers using GSP on the most part offer only 1 shipping service, usually noted as "Intl Priority", but the service your items arrives with, is really at their(Pitney Bowes) discretion. From my previous experiences with GSP my items never arrived in anything that resembled a priority. Sadly, live and learn.

-CM

femmefan1946 · ‎05-09-2018

able to pass on those savings to your customer when rates go down. (sic)

Oh my dear, what lovely fantasy world do you live in?

But yes, combined shipping can be cheaper than sending three packages, and PB cannot cope with combining shipping charges (although putting multiple items in one box works fine).

Pitney Bowes should be able to pass on any savings due to their access to volume discounted postage rates

Wouldn't that be part of their business plan?

Unlike the private seller whose shipments travel in the regular mainstream, single and lonely, PB is driving truckloads across the border on one manifest.

I've assumed that is one reason why their service charge of ~$5USD per package is half that of Canada Post, and much lower than the service charges of other couriers.

only 1 shipping service, usually noted as "Intl Priority"

This is the one that confuses me.

The Canadian buyer pays for International Priority.

That payment goes to the seller (?).

The US seller ships to PB/GSP in Kentucky at USPS domestic rates.

PB ships to Canada (in their own or subcontracted trucks?) and passes the cargo on to Canada Post.

I would assume that PB gets substantial discounts from Canada Post for mailing large quantities that don't require customs brokerage.

But most of those costs would come from the ~$5 USD service fee.(?)

So who benefits from the difference between International Priority rates paid to the seller and the actual shipping costs?

I can't imagine that most US sellers are dumb enough to put International postage on a parcel headed for Kentucky.

(Some will be, just as some will ship directly rather than to KY. So the USPS benefits there.)

My suspicion is that the US seller is getting that money. Which is another reason the program is popular with them.

My conspiracy theory of the day.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-09-2018

My main point above was that if a seller is not using GSP a buyer usually has an assortment of shipping options available to them. With GSP we have their indirect routing which is usually very slow with extra handling and usually comes with only 1 option. Example: Recently had a return without GSP from PR arrived in 9 actual days for $10.00 USD. Previously a same sized package from California with GSP $18.00 USD in 25 actual days. No customs charges on first shipment with higher value. Customs and handling fees on 2nd package. Return to live and learn and shop with sellers not using GSP going forward. For sellers using GSP its out of sight out of mind once it leaves there door. Just saying GSP is not always the best option and especially not for low valued lighter items.

-CM

PS. If a seller is paying for service called Intl Priority they shouldn't be getting planes, trains and dog sled.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-09-2018

That should be Buyer is paying for...

marnotom! · ‎05-09-2018

@femmefan1946 wrote:

only 1 shipping service, usually noted as "Intl Priority"
This is the one that confuses me.
The Canadian buyer pays for International Priority.
That payment goes to the seller (?).
The US seller ships to PB/GSP in Kentucky at USPS domestic rates.

The seller receives payment for the item plus whatever their lowest domestic shipping charge is that they offer to Erlanger, Kentucky, be it by USPS, UPS, or what have you.

Some sellers who aren't clued into the workings of the GSP panic and figure that they haven't received enough dinero for an international shipment because they plan on shipping the item directly to the buyer, so they try shaking the buyer down for more money. Sometimes successfully, it would seem.

@femmefan1946 wrote:

I would assume that PB gets substantial discounts from Canada Post for mailing large quantities that don't require customs brokerage.
But most of those costs would come from the ~$5 USD service fee.(?)

The balance of the "international priority shipping" fee goes towards the costs of freight shipping of the item to the Canadian hub (usually Mississauga) plus the cost of shipping the item from the Canadian hub to the buyer. There are probably a few other small incidental expenses such as insurance or a contribution to a cookie jar fund thrown in there, too.

The US$5-ish in fees that are a component of the import charges goes towards various customs and processing fees, not towards shipping.

marnotom! · ‎05-09-2018

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

With GSP we have their indirect routing which is usually very slow with extra handling and usually comes with only 1 option.

The "indirect routing" isn't exactly the making of Pitney Bowes. Remember, they only have one processing centre that serves goods destined for 100 or so different countries. It's "indirect" for us in Canada, but isn't going to make a heck of a lot of difference to the overall transit time for items destined elsewhere. Also consider that a seller's handling time and choice of shipping method affects the overall transit time of a GSP item. For example, the last item I bought that was shipped through the GSP was delayed several days because the seller doesn't do weekends.

Besides, the GSP is a forwarding service. The very nature of a forwarding service means that it has to go someplace central to be processed.

Also consider that the GSP isn't the only service that relies on centralized processing in the shipment process. A month or two ago, my wife purchased some clothing from Malaysia which was shipped by FedEx International Priority (there's that word). It landed in Alaska and then went down to Tennessee before going back up to Canada and eventually to her.

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

PS. If a seller is paying for service called Intl Priority they shouldn't be getting planes, trains and dog sled.

"Priority" doesn't mean "fast". It just means "faster than something else". In this case, you're not getting the equivalent of economy shipping. Keep in mind that there about 99 other countries served by the GSP and most of them are going to have their items handled as air freight to the destination country. Items forwarded by the GSP generally travel from Kentucky to Mississauga. According to a check on Google, that's about a nine hour journey by road, not counting any time the freight truck may be stuck in a lineup at the border. Preparing the shipment by air would probably offer no appreciable time savings and be more expensive.

momcqueen · ‎05-10-2018

At risk of being pedantic, the dodo was hunted to extinction while invasive species and humans destroyed their natural habitat. The analogy, therefore, doesn’t quite fit despite that I think everyone understood the point you were making.

steveross · ‎05-11-2018

Actually, @momcqueen, now that you mention it, the slow, flightless Canadian eBay buyer is being driven to extinction by invasive sellers from . . . ahem . . . you all know where . . . using sleazy listing tactics that make it impossible for our poor bird friends to find the deals they're looking for.

As their natural habitat is destroyed these Canadian birds are being forced to other ecological niches like Amazon, Craigslist . . .