eBay

jsmhighlanddude · ‎11-19-2018

So I am waiting on an item - it was coming from California, but because the seller uses the Global Shipping Program, it goes all the way to Erlinger, Kentucky (all the way to the east coast) before coming all the way back to Western Canada.

Now with the strike, the item (a new oxygen regulator for my mother who is on oxygen - and an oxygen regulator that is no longer available) is somewhere between Kentucky and Alberta. Is there no way that a secondary shipping center could be set up so that items that aren't crossing the country don't have to cross country.

I'm now in the frustrating position of the tracking information not giving any information - and we're a week overdue on delivery.

jdj53 · ‎02-27-2019

There is a simple solution, don’t buy from sellers who us GSP or ask the seller first if he will ship USPS. Many sellers don’t even know what GSP is or that they are using it. I only buy from sellers using GSP if there is no alternative and I am prepared to accept the added cost.

bmwhp · ‎02-27-2019

I am unfortunately experiencing the less than satisfactory issue of not being able to track a purchase that is now past the "expected" date.

EBay, how do we find out exactly where our package is?

reallynicestamps · ‎02-27-2019

Here are two methods for tracking GSP shipments. Both are cut and pasted from other posters' work.

"But be care to always call it please, research." -- Tom Lehrer.

Another poster worked this out for buyers who have not yet received their GSP shipment.
TRACKING SYSTEM FOR GSP
It's not user friendly... But I found how to track your package via the global shipping program, once it gets to Canada you need to:
- Log on to eBay.ca
- Under the My eBay menu select Purchase History
- Under your orders find the specific order. It should have something like the following:
Estimated delivery Mon, Jan 11 - Thu, Jan 21
Tracking number: Tracking number UPAAB000000#########
- Click on the UPA number. This should open up a Shipment Details window, which should contain something like this:
This shipment has been transferred to CPC for delivery to the final destination # 70351#########
-Click on the Canada Post number to see where the Canada Post Tracking history and expected delivery

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...

trixie-cat · ‎02-27-2019

Looks like it applies to you, it's the Dunning-Kruger effect. Kroger is a grocery chain in the US.

trixie-cat · ‎02-27-2019

I live in BC Canada and am hard pressed to believe you could not purchase this item in Canada, locally. If it's a life or death situation why would you take a chance on your mother's life this way?

randall-prue · ‎02-28-2019

This thread is very interesting. I have heard US sellers talking about the benefits (to them) of using the GSP. I was wondering whether I should have used it to send some trinkets to Europe. Canada Post Small Parcel Air cost less than any option at USPS (the United States Postal Service), although I did not get any tracking (no proof of delivery). I am relying on the integrity of the buyer. Prices for overseas with tracking seem to start around $50 for a very small (and lightweight) parcel.

Of course, it is easy to toss outrageous accusations (minus any fact), and the fact-based responses are very enlightening to me, who knew exactly nothing about this program before reading this thread.

momcqueen · ‎02-28-2019

Are you based in the USA and selling on ebay.com or based in the UK selling on ebay.co.uk? The Global Shipping Program is not available to Canadian sellers on ebay.ca. We are not eligible.

jsmhighlanddude · ‎02-28-2019

OP here. The item never came. The seller was honest and refunded the purchase. You can’t blame the postal strike for the item disappearing. That’s on Pitney Bowes. There was never any further tracking info available. Unfortunately as a discontinued hard to find item, there wasn’t another seller to go through for the item. My mother is still using her very unreliable one or the one that chews through a tank of oxygen in rapid fashion because it’s continuous feed. I hardly buy from eBay any longer - instead I shop for many things through Wish. The items come direct from China and regularly get her within 3 weeks ahead of their shipping estimates. Again I say the Global Shipping Program sucks. (And I do look for sellers who don’t use it but when there is only one of a specific item available.)

Also if the original item hadn’t had to go to Kentucky, it would have been here /before/ the strike.

marnotom! · ‎03-01-2019

@jsmhighlanddude wrote:

OP here. The item never came. The seller was honest and refunded the purchase. You can’t blame the postal strike for the item disappearing. That’s on Pitney Bowes. There was never any further tracking info available. Unfortunately as a discontinued hard to find item, there wasn’t another seller to go through for the item. My mother is still using her very unreliable one or the one that chews through a tank of oxygen in rapid fashion because it’s continuous feed. I hardly buy from eBay any longer - instead I shop for many things through Wish. The items come direct from China and regularly get her within 3 weeks ahead of their shipping estimates. Again I say the Global Shipping Program sucks. (And I do look for sellers who don’t use it but when there is only one of a specific item available.)

Also if the original item hadn’t had to go to Kentucky, it would have been here /before/ the strike.

@jsmhighlanddude wrote:
OP here. The item never came. The seller was honest and refunded the purchase. You can’t blame the postal strike for the item disappearing. That’s on Pitney Bowes. There was never any further tracking info available. Unfortunately as a discontinued hard to find item, there wasn’t another seller to go through for the item. My mother is still using her very unreliable one or the one that chews through a tank of oxygen in rapid fashion because it’s continuous feed. I hardly buy from eBay any longer - instead I shop for many things through Wish. The items come direct from China and regularly get her within 3 weeks ahead of their shipping estimates. Again I say the Global Shipping Program sucks. (And I do look for sellers who don’t use it but when there is only one of a specific item available.)

Also if the original item hadn’t had to go to Kentucky, it would have been here /before/ the strike.

If the tracking for your item dead-ended in Kentucky even with the tracking information in the link I provided for you near the top of this thread, your item may not even have made it out of the Global Shipping Center. Normally, once a GSP-forwarded item is accepted at the Global Shipping Center, Pitney Bowes takes responsibility for its safe passage from there and will take responsibility for a refund made through an eBay Money Back Guarantee claim or a PayPal claim should the item go AWOL or be damaged in transit.

The fact that your seller made the refund opens up a few possible scenarios.

The first possible scenario is that your item arrived damaged at the Global Shipping Center, which means that the item wouldn't have been forwarded from Kentucky and your seller would have been on the hook for a refund.

The second possible scenario is that your seller didn't have a clue about what they were doing and just issued a refund to wash their hands of the sale.

The third possible scenario is that you went directly to the seller for a refund instead of through the Resolution Center.

The fact is, if the item did indeed go missing on Pitney Bowes' watch, your seller shouldn't have been out anything. Because the seller did issue the refund, I'm not convinced--based on what little evidence we have on this sale--that Pitney Bowes is completely at fault here. I'm not saying that Pitney Bowes couldn't be at fault, but I just don't see a smoking gun from the information you've provided.

ddawson108 · ‎07-23-2019

No, the GSP is horrible. The cost is way more than straight shipping and it is the same as being shipped twice. Once from customer to shipping center and than again to customer. No matter how you slice it the program costs to much, doubles the travel time and has only one purpose which seems to be making Ebay money. I for one switched most purchases to Amazon sellers when some time back and could not be happier. There is no reason to cut Ebay slack when they have increased both the cost and wait time for the customer. In this case Ebay is the only winner

mrdutch1001 · ‎07-23-2019

The choice to purchase from a seller who uses the GSP is on the buyer. The best option is simply don't purchase from a seller who uses GSP .....and at the very least a potential buyer can always contact the seller to see if the seller will use an alternate shipping method &/or ship directly to the customer.

marnotom! · ‎07-23-2019

@ddawson108 wrote:

No, the GSP is horrible. The cost is way more than straight shipping and it is the same as being shipped twice. Once from customer to shipping center and than again to customer.

Last I checked, this is how forwarding services generally worked, and the GSP is a glorified forwarding service.

A lot of people seem to think the GSP is something it is not, and I'm not sure why this is the case when links to further information on the program are all over the place.

As suggested in the previous post, there are sellers who don't use the program if you don't like it. The thing is, some eBayers in other countries are pretty satisfied with the program as they live in countries with challenging customs bureaux or postal systems and the GSP bypasses those. For reasons related to our trade relationship with the United States and our geographical proximity, the GSP doesn't generally work so well for us Canadians. It is what it is.

femmefan1946 · ‎07-23-2019

A lot of buyers make the claim that USPS shipping is cheaper, but I'm not sure it would be.

Here is the USPS international shipping rate card.

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

If you bookmark it, you can easily make an educated guess whether the shipping cost is reasonable on future purchases.

Many buyers find that, especially on high value goods, the GSP is cheaper than USPS.

Keep in mind that technically Canadian duty and sales taxes will still be due on any import over $15USD ($20Cdn).

If your purchase is under ~$50-100 Cdn, there is a pretty good chance that CBSA will ignore it, but if the don't Canada Post will be collecting both on your doorstep plus a $9.95 service fee.

Oh, and NAFTA only applies to stuff MADE in the USA , not to stuff BOUGHT in the USA. That seems to be a widespread misunderstanding.

retroman_studios · ‎07-24-2019

Part of the issue is the lack of transparency that eBay has with regards to GSP. Last I purchased from a seller that used GSP other than import charges being displayed there was only a small one liner that mentioned TOS with a hyperlink.

I mean, eBay went through so much trouble when they launched the new "My eBay" a while back they had a "tour" showing you all the wonderful things, why can't they do that with GSP?

Amazon now has a similar service in which they do something similar to GSP. Except all they do is take a deposit for the estimate import fees, but you remain on record as the importer. Sounds cleaner.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201910710 if you want to read up on it. eBay could learn a thing or two.

brettjet38 · ‎07-24-2019

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM

11-19-2018 12:05:33 PM

femmefan1946 · ‎07-24-2019

EBay's "warning" that the seller uses GSP is coded and not really very helpful.

In Search on dotCA (but not on dotCOM) we see;

Customs services and international tracking provided

Which sounds good, eh?

And then, still on dotCA, on the listing is:

No additional import charges at delivery!

This item will be shipped through the Global Shipping Program and includes international tracking. Learn more

Of course, tracking is not useful to the buyer. Like the GSP, it is a Seller Protection.

When I Search on dotCOM, I still see that first warning, because I'm registered in Canada. I don't think a new "guest buyer" would necessarily.

When I open a listing, the note changes to:

$28.36 International Priority Shipping to Canada via the Global Shipping Program | See details

There's also a warning on the Shipping page.

Part of the problem is that like any good marketer, eBay is putting a brave face on a service that does not benefit the buyer and actually costs the Canadian buyer more than would be paid if USPS/Canada Post were the shipping service.

The additional cost however tends to be in lower cost goods (I used Item #

182223421936 which is fairly bulky and high priced) where CBSA as described above ignores dutiable goods as too expensive to assess.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-24-2019

The other thing that seems to happen is a buyer using the GSP program for the first time, finds out all the pitfalls and annoyances after hitting the pay now button thinking...Yay, I found what I was looking for and I got it for a great price. Which leads to those same buyers coming to this board with their issues and complaints of how everything went terribly wrong and why they will never use the program or why is it taking sooooo long for their item to arrive. You only really find out by making that first or 2nd purchase. Trying to recall the buyers that have shown up on here and advised that their transaction went super smoothly. Sorry, that doesn't happen!! The program only works well for certain types of items where duty and taxes are in reality a necessary evil and the buyer and seller are in good proximity to each other. Add any major variables and all that goes right out the window.

-Lotz

PS. Make it possible for a buyer to avoid using the GSP in search options.....if they so choose...easily? The best solution I can think of!!!

marnotom! · ‎07-24-2019

@brettjet38 wrote:
ZOMBIE THREAD FROM
11-19-2018 12:05:33 PM

While the OP's concerns may be ancient history, the concerns and information on the GSP in general haven't particularly dated. I don't think it's time to put the lid on this thread yet.

marnotom! · ‎07-24-2019

@retroman_studios wrote:

Part of the issue is the lack of transparency that eBay has with regards to GSP. Last I purchased from a seller that used GSP other than import charges being displayed there was only a small one liner that mentioned TOS with a hyperlink.

No question that information on the GSP is very hard to tease out of a listing if you're shopping on a phone or tablet, but conventional desktop/laptop listing pages have three or four links to more information on the GSP, at least for me.

@retroman_studios wrote:

I mean, eBay went through so much trouble when they launched the new "My eBay" a while back they had a "tour" showing you all the wonderful things, why can't they do that with GSP?

You'll probably find that "tour" disappears in a while. The GSP was launched about six years ago and while even then information on it wasn't front and centre, it was mentioned in announcement boards that had links to pretty flashy "tours".

The fact is, buyers aren't going to find this information if they're not going to be looking for it in the first place. I really don't know how eBay can educate its users into taking more responsibility for their experience on the site. Even tools such as these discussion boards are becoming a dying source of information due to lack of use.

@retroman_studios wrote:

Amazon now has a similar service in which they do something similar to GSP. Except all they do is take a deposit for the estimate import fees, but you remain on record as the importer. Sounds cleaner.

eBay could learn a thing or two.

I'd have to defer to somebody better versed in the nature of direct imports, such as perhaps @recped, but I suspect eBay and Pitney Bowes can't do it this way because they're not warehousing items and shipping them out on the seller's behalf the way that Amazon is.

By the way, my understanding is that Amazon has had this service for several years now. I don't get the sense that it's setting the online world on fire.

femmefan1946 · ‎07-24-2019

@lotzofuniquegoodies

Trying to recall the buyers that have shown up on here and advised that their transaction went super smoothly. Sorry, that doesn't happen!!

Well if it went well, they wouldn't bother coming here to complain, eh?

I've only purchased a couple of times through GSP, once in error (and was charged something like $20 for shipping a $5 comic book that could have been shipped lettermail ) and another was repacked from an envelope to a fairly large box.

I don't care for the program.

But the cost of GSP was pretty clearly on the dotCA listing. Again possibly not on dotCOM listings, but I think it's there too if the seller is registered in Canada.