Ebay Global Shipping

[Runscott]

I just discovered that ebay has changed my shipping policy to 'Global Shipping' - without my approval, of course, and also without even letting me know.

Fortunately, it's simple enough to edit the policy; however, it was apparently very confusing to my new potential customers. They saw 'United States' and 'free shipping', then saw 'Canada' and other countries listed for other areas I would ship. There was no mention of the fact that ebay was going to charge them the cost of shipping to/from the global shipping center. So the only way to let customers know how this works, is to figure it all out yourself and explain it in your description.

If any of you understand it and have a disclaimer or description prepared for your listings that explains the costs to the customers, please post. I don't mind using ebay's new thing, as I'm certain they will eventually force it on me anyway, but I don't want confused and angry international customers.

[auggiedoggy]

BEGIN RANT:

As a "foreign" buyer (Canadian) that idiotic GSP forces me to pay import fees on top of shipping costs. In fact, it forces me to pay these inane import charges on inexpensive items that Canada Customs don't even give a rat's ass about. GSP is evil and must be eradicated. Canada Customs is fully capable of making the appropriate decisions on what requires import fees to be paid by Canadian citizens and what does not.

END RANT

[SikSyko]

Originally Posted by auggiedoggy

BEGIN RANT:

As a "foreign" buyer (Canadian) that idiotic GSP forces me to pay import fees on top of shipping costs. In fact, it forces me to pay these inane import charges on inexpensive items that Canada Customs don't even give a rat's ass about. GSP is evil and must be eradicated. Canada Customs is fully capable of making the appropriate decisions on what requires import fees to be paid by Canadian citizens and what does not.

END RANT

+1

[MikeKam]

Originally Posted by auggiedoggy

BEGIN RANT:

As a "foreign" buyer (Canadian) that idiotic GSP forces me to pay import fees on top of shipping costs. In fact, it forces me to pay these inane import charges on inexpensive items that Canada Customs don't even give a rat's ass about. GSP is evil and must be eradicated. Canada Customs is fully capable of making the appropriate decisions on what requires import fees to be paid by Canadian citizens and what does not.

END RANT

Preach.

[h2oya311]

Scott -

interesting that you brought this up. I just sold two inexpensive JD McCarthy PCs on eBay to a Canadian buyer. I'm worried that he won't even be able to combine shipping on the two (separate lots). I sold them for a whopping $11. I asked him to summarize his xp for me so I can remove the program from my listings if the charges are exorbitant. Given the Canadian feedback above, I'll assume the answer is that they are, in fact, EXORBITANT!!

Anyone care to give an example of what it costs you so I can assess whether to remove them from my listings going forward?

[D.P.Johnson]

Do Canadian sellers have a GSP, or is this program strictly for U.S. sellers???

[Runscott]

Thanks for the feedback, Derek.

Ebay sent me an email awhile back, announcing their new global program and asking if I wanted to use it. It sounded like a huge mess to me, and even if they handled shipping, I would still have to deal with returns and complaints about items sitting in customs. I refused the offer, but they updated my shipping policy anyway.

A few months prior to that, I discovered that I had TWO shipping policies being used across my listings. Needless to say, I never created either of them. I discovered the problem because of a customer issue, and to fix it, had to work with ebay on the phone. The customer rep had no idea how to fix the problem, but we guessed until we got it done.

So the take-home message is to occasionally spot-check your listings to make sure ebay hasn't modified your settings to make you 'more customer friendly'.

[auggiedoggy]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

Do Canadian sellers have a GSP, or is this program strictly for U.S. sellers???

Although I'm primarily a collector I have sold a lot of my collection over the last year or so and the first time I became aware of such a thing was when buying from American sellers. Safe to say this is only for sellers in the USA.

[Bob Lemke]

I generaly don't use the GSP option, but on certain items that should appeal to international buyers, I add this to the item description . . .

"I am opening this item to international bidders with the proviso that if it won by an overseas bidder, it will be shipped via eBay's Global Shipping Program. Utilization of this service will add significant postage and possibly customs costs to the buyer and increase its time in transit. I have no control over these factors and have no information on what the added charges will be. Please keep this in mind when bidding."

I've tried a time or two to find out what fees and extra postage GSP will be adding to the winning bid, but eBay keeps that information very well hidden.
On the other hand, if an international bidder wins, I don't have to deal with the usual hassles of a "foreign" transaction.

[mantleman]

The Ebay GSP is absolutely ridiculous for Canadian Buyers. I get the idea but it is so impracticle. Prepay the import fees is preposterous. When we buy from the USA we take our chances with the import fees.......usually only having to pay them 10-25% percent of the time. I am not even sure the sellers are aware of what the total shipping and import fees the GSP is charging when they list an item. I have had "estimates" at $52 for shipping and import fees combineed on a $40 item.

Ridiculous



Andy

[D.P.Johnson]

Originally Posted by auggiedoggy

Although I'm primarily a collector I have sold a lot of my collection over the last year or so and the first time I became aware of such a thing was when buying from American sellers. Safe to say this is only for sellers in the USA.

Interesting. Thank you. Perhaps ebay will one day make the GSP "customizable" to exclude Canadian buyers...

[Runscott]

Bob - that is exactly what I was looking for. Perhaps I will slowly begin updating my listings with that added to the description.

Thanks.

[ooo-ribay]

Thanks for the heads up on this, Scott.

I don't sell a ton and I THINK I have declined to participate in the GSP, but it wouldn't shock me if ebay just did whatever they thought was best

[SikSyko]

I have had $1100 in stuff have no duty here in Canada on it at all, the global shipping would of cost me around $150 more. I know a bunch of people who will not even look at sellers who have it.

[slidekellyslide]

If you use ebay's auction software the GSP is the default setting...you have to unclick it if you don't want to use it. I have been ripped off so many times by international buyers in the past year that I almost always use it now on items that I believe will sell for $50+....I have however let some Canadian buyers back out of the transaction and set them up with BIN's so I could ship directly to them.

On the bad side of using the GSP I am now having huge issues with international buyers backing out of transactions completely...I presume this is because of ebay's mystery charges.

If ebay would go back to their old seller protection plan I would dump the GSP in a heartbeat, but as it is now it's just too risky to send items out of the country.

[mart8081]

IMO it is a complete scam.

Case in point - lets look at a BIN t206 on ebay right now:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FRED-JACKL...item3f3f971300

Priced at $40.00

You won't be able to see this logging in from the US but the other costs are:

Shipping to the UK is $13.30

The GSP adds another $12.61 BUT - this is only an estimate. You DO NOT get to see the correct price until you check out. It is often higher.

Note - the GSP is listed with the words IMPORT CHARGES.

Now this is where things get more interesting - current UK law states that any purchases less than £28.00 = $43.87 at current rates are exempt from Import Duties (shipping costs are not included in purchase price calculation). Import Duty would start be based on every penny above £28.00 at 20% (yes 20%).

Additionally, books, magazines, newspapers, basically any written material is EXEMPT by law from Import Duty into the UK. BUT such items that are listed by US sellers that sign up to GSP do incur the GSP or Import Duty charge.

Please understand I don't mind paying Import Duty where expected but would rather pay direct to the UK government than ebay and its partner in GSP - Pitney Bowes.

I bought a couple of items from sellers using GSP but now simply refuse to even look at thier listings.

Martin Parker

[TistaT202]

I believe you can participate in the GSP and also have alternative shipping methods to select countries, like Canada, so you do not have to use the GSP. Under the international shipping, when listing an item, there is a section that asks if you want to offer alternative shipping methods and has a checklist of countries to select.

Mike

[h2oya311]

$14.48 shipping via Global Shipping Program for 2 x $5 JD McCarthy PCs sent from MA to Canada.

I'd say that's pretty excessive!! Time to remove GSP from all my listings!

[tbob]

I recently sold a DVD on ebay for $3.50 (I usually only sell cards) and was shocked that I was in the GSP and a buyer had purchased it from New Zealand because I always click the option to sell only to U.S. buyers. It apparently worked out ok although the buyer had to pay ebay about $16 for shipping it there. I figured out how to "opt-out" of the GSP and did it. In doing so I noticed ebay's policy that they can put you in the GSP if THEY like, and they did.
Key is to opt-out NOW and save future problems.

[mantleman]

Hi Scott,

I was going to post this in your new thread about Canadian Shipping but I remembered this thread from not too long ago. Here is a great example of some of the ridiculous Ebay Global Shipping "quotes" we see up here when looking at Ebay.com. There is a card on Ebay right now for $899.99. The GSP shipping quote estimates:

the shipping at $147.85,

and the import fees at $129.12

Ridiculous!

Andy