Buyers need a way to specify type of shipping

[riderfandave]

If nothing else, the Canada Post strike has hammered home the requirement that buyers need the ability to specifiy what type of shipping they want. Especially if the item is going through the eBay Global Shipping Program.

When I purchase an item, I want the ability to select how it's shipped to me. If a seller wants to use the postal service, that's up to them, they don't ship it to me anyway, they ship it to an eBay warehouse, and it gets shipped to me from there. If I specify FedEx, then eBay puts it on the FedEx truck.

I'm tired of my purchases being held hostage by Canada Post's overpaid workforce that has become irrelevant.

[mrdutch1001]

As a buyer you have no say in how an item is going to be shipped unless your item is being shipped directly to you by the seller. Those sellers who utilize the eIS system ship their items to the eIS HuB and thereafter the workers at the HuB decide how packages will be shipped. I suggest if you want control over who handles your package, that you work only with sellers who do NOT use the eIS system.

If a seller ships via USPS, yes they ship the item directly to you. There is no eBay "warehouse"...eBay does NOT ship anything! If a seller is using the eIS system, the seller ships the item to the eIS HuB and then it is forwarded to you by the workers at the eIS(who BTW, are NOT eBay employees)

[wonsxela]

I disagree with your opinion that Canada Post is "irrelevant." Letter mail is still by far the only reasonably-priced way to ship small items such as single (or small amounts of) trading cards. For some of us, that's most of what we sell.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@riderfandave wrote:

If nothing else, the Canada Post strike has hammered home the requirement that buyers need the ability to specifiy what type of shipping they want. Especially if the item is going through the eBay Global Shipping Program.

When I purchase an item, I want the ability to select how it's shipped to me. If a seller wants to use the postal service, that's up to them, they don't ship it to me anyway, they ship it to an eBay warehouse, and it gets shipped to me from there. If I specify FedEx, then eBay puts it on the FedEx truck.

I'm tired of my purchases being held hostage by Canada Post's overpaid workforce that has become irrelevant.

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@riderfandave 

Another way of looking at this would be for sellers to offer buyers choice instead of one size fits all. Something I have done since I started selling and will continue to do when this strike is no more. From the US to Canada  perspective eIS may be A choice but not the best choice for many.

[marnotom!]

The US version of the Global Shipping Program (GSP) is no more.  It died a couple of years before Pitney Bowes pulled the plug on its logistics/eCommerce operations.  It's been replaced by what's been prosaically named "eBay International Shipping," or "eIS" for short.  The UK version of the Global Shipping Programme still appears to be operational under that name, however.

eIS works a bit differently when it comes to the handling of taxes and duties due on an item.  Whereas the GSP estimated and paid those charges on the buyer's behalf  and the buyer paid GSP back in the form of "import charges," eIS listings seem to be a bit of a hotch-potch of taxes/duties prepaid items. taxes/duties due on delivery items, and listings where the buyer is offered a choice between the two.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the "due on delivery" shipments are ones where the postal service is involved in one way or another, whereas the shipments where the listings where taxes and duties are paid at Checkout use other carriers.  If you're adverse to having your items "held hostage" for payment of taxes and other customs fees due, you're probably better off choosing listings where you pay those fees at Checkout.

If your objection to items being "held hostage" at the post office/outlet is because Canada Post won't safe-drop them at the delivery address you give them. my experience is that carriers other than Canada Post will sometimes hold items for pickup as well, depending on the nature of the item and the method of shipment used.  Your mileage may vary.

[reallynicestamps]

Sellers choose the shipping service as part of their Seller Protection.

They are balancing their needs for secure handling and tracking, with the buyer's desire for speed.

Since the Seller has more in the transaction than the Buyer, who can claim a refund if things go pear-shaped, eBay has probably hit as close to the right balance as possible.

If your item has been delivered to the eIS Hub in Illinois, the seller has no more responsibility for delivery.

EIS has assumed that responsibility.

If the shipment is late , eIS will refund the buyer.

Shipping by courier is often more expensive than the postal system. And for non-urban addresses, couriers subcontract their deliveries to the cheaper postal system which covers the entire country.

If the shipment arrives after the refund, eIS does not want the shipment returned.

Shipping by courier is often more expensive than the postal system. And for non-urban addresses, couriers subcontract their deliveries to the cheaper postal system which covers the entire country.

If the shipment arrives after the refund, eIS does not want the shipment returned.