@onebadwolf wrote:
People keep parroting about how the GSP is intended to benefit sellers. Like that actually means something. Anybody who thinks about it longer than it takes to choose to take your tongue off of a glowing stove burner, would understand that Sellers don't benefit at all, unless buyers buy.
Well, non-US (or non-UK) buyers purchasing items that might otherwise go unsold is certainly one benefit of the GSP to US (or UK) sellers. There's also the fact that the seller is only responsible for the shipment while it is on US (or UK) soil. Once the item is accepted by the Global Shipping Center, the seller isn't liable in the event of an Item Not Received (INR) claim, and in most cases, they're not liable in the event of an Item Significantly Not as Described (SNAD) claim as the result of damage in transit. I'd say those are pretty attractive benefits for sellers squeamish about shipping out of the country.
@onebadwolf wrote:
I think it bears asking though, why then, if the GSP is God's gift to sellers, are Canadian sellers who sell to the US, not able to avail themselves of this miracle tool?
Why not ask the same about Australian sellers? Or French sellers? Or German sellers? Or Norwegian sellers?
The US has about ten times Canada's population; the UK about twice our country's population. It's probably not cost-effective to set up a GSP service here, and, let's face it, I don't think Canada is the first country many non-Canadians with limited online-buying experience think of when considering a purchase on eBay. (Remember, the GSP ships from the US and UK to about 100 countries, not just Canada.)
Also, if you hung out on the eBay.com or eBay.co.uk discussion boards in the 2000s, you'd probably be left with a less than positive impression about shipping internationally, or US or UK sellers. There were a lot of posts from paranoid uncertain sellers under all sorts of misapprehensions about the ins and outs of shipping internationally. Education campaigns by eBay didn't do much to allay those fears, so the GSP was born.
