Why would a seller of $5 items that can ship with an envelope and stamp suddenly start using GSP?

[sin-n-dex]

So there's a seller that other sourcing stamp dealers don't bother with because his listings are disorganized and cluttered. I take advantage of that and bid, and get items from him for 10% Cat value.

Today, randomly, he's decided to add GSP to all his listings. This seller is not particularly responsive to messages (from my experience with him in the past) and he's very slow to ship, taking up to 15 business days to ship for no particular reason. All reasons others won't deal with him. But for the good price on stamps I can tolerate all of this and deal with waiting a while for my stamps to arrive.

I've been buying every couple of days for the past few weeks... if he didn't want to ship to me because I'm buying a lot, he could block me, but adding GSP is as good as blocking because there's no way I'm paying $13 to have each and every $5 lot I bid on shipped. (I've also gotten every single package he's sent, so in my case it's not as though these letters to Canada are getting lost in transit).

I just don't get it... he's already having a tough time making sales and I'm seeing many relists on his items, why poison the few customers you have with ridiculously high shipping?

I'm trying to tell myself that 9 full stamp albums is enough to work on this winter and I don't need to buy more, but I can never resist and opportunity to scoop up a good deal on stamps.

C.

[lepke1979]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

It is NOT first class mail. It will go by Asendia which is being accepted. In fact Pirateship tells me they have removed "first class" from their list of options so you can not select it even if you wanted to. Asendia/simple export is handled differently and is going through just fine.

If this is true then I would want to try this service.  From what I heard the cheapest method to ship to Australia by USPS is by Priority Mail International flat Rate envelope which is over $40.  $10.49 is obviously way lower, if it will be accepted.  Is it very hard to sign up for this service? Do I need to download a software like Stamps.com?

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You sign up. Then you chat with support to have Simple Export enabled. Never tried talking to them on the weekends, but they're usually fairly fast during the week. Think most I ever waited was 5 minutes. You can also talk with them about any questions regarding it and stuff going to Australia.

[sin-n-dex]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

Why not just reach out to him, tell him he’s a favorite, but explain GSP tips the boat? You’re a great customer and would love to keep working with him?

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He's not very responsive to messages... he's basically a seller here that isn't trying very hard to sell or build customer relations.

C.

[marnotom!]

@sin-n-dex wrote:

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I ship from Niagara NY, so I can use GSP because I have all USPS labels (and I'm on the dot com site, so eBay sees me as a USA seller).

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I don't think using USPS or any other US-based shipping service to get the item to the Global Shipping Center in Erlanger would enable you to use the GSP, though.  Your items are located in Canada and that has to be accounted for when the item is processed by the Global Shipping Center, but I don't think it's set up to handle the electronic paperwork for exports that originate from outside of the US.

See "item eligibility" on this page:

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/ebay-global-shipping-program.html#m17-2-tb4

Also, there's this somewhat confusing requirement of being a "US seller rating of standard or above".  I'm thinking that you're still registered on eBay.com and didn't switch your registration over to eBay.ca when it was established.  As your eBay ID card says you're in Canada but your listings say you're from the United States, I'm not sure if you're considered a "US seller" by eBay or not.

Anyway, I know I'm way off topic here and babbling about something you're probably never going to consider, but I do want to add that I'm glad things seem to be working out for you.  There are quite a few posts on the eBay Canada community boards from sellers who are also registered on the .com site but have had a heck of a time trying to get Managed Payments to deposit into their Canadian-based US dollar chequing (checking?) accounts.  Maybe you can drop by to offer advice based on your experiences?

[7606dennis]

Perhaps he simply doesn't want to engage in international selling and has decided that he will only ship internationally through the GSP program.  That was the main reason it was created, I believe, to get sellers that didn't want to ship internationally to do so.   

[gurlcat]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

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@this*old*attic wrote:

Why not just reach out to him, tell him he’s a favorite, but explain GSP tips the boat? You’re a great customer and would love to keep working with him?

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He's not very responsive to messages... he's basically a seller here that isn't trying very hard to sell or build customer relations.

C.

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When I write a post asking for information or advice, the most frustrating thing in the world is when people's replies are about everything BUT the sentence I wrote with a question mark at the end.  So I try to keep that in mind when addressing other people's posts.   What's interesting about this one is, taken at face value, you've described a deal-breaker decision that your favorite seller made (changing his shipping policy in such a way that buying from him is now cost-prohibitive), stated your reactive decision (not to buy from him anymore), maybe even hinted at relief that you don't "have" to buy from him anymore because you need to focus on the stamps you already have, and your only question for the community was about the counterintuitive decision he made.  
It definitely appears you don't want to write to him even if there's a chance it could change his mind (even if he doesn't tell you so in a reply) because just shooting him an email would take a fraction of the time you've spent in this board writing your post and replying to replies (which, and don't take this the wrong way, cannot be anything more than speculative psychology from people who haven't seen this guy in action like you have).  A surprising number of the replies are actual attempts to answer your actual question, so color me envious.  Did any of them provide reasoning you hadn't considered before?  Would you call any of them acceptable answers?  If so, that is what the 'Accept As Solution' button is for.  It will bring that reply to the top of the page, so that people just scrolling through posts will see that this question is already answered, and you won't keep getting replies about how you should write to this guy.  

[sin-n-dex]

@marnotom! 

I set up on eBay in 1998, there was no dot ca site (but there was in 1999... the B&M store got established on the .ca site).

My business address is registered in Canada with Canadian Tax ID - so I was treated as a Canadian when signing up for MP (as in no SSN required, and I get no 1099). I file my taxes in Canada because I live here.

When eBay was having me set up the addresses for my business, the shipping address is the freight forwarder in Niagara NY (and for those purposes eBay considers the item to be in NY because it's shipping from there and the ship from address will substantiate this), which is why I show that in the item location. But in my description I put that I'm in Canada to let buyers know up front so when I send my courtesy email to explain when shipping will happen it won't be a complete surprise (unless they didn't read the description).

So I guess being registered in Canada, I'm on the dot com site, but a Canadian seller. But I do know I can use GSP (at least I assume so) because when I ship I get all USPS options including the standard international delivery which is Erlanger KY just like GSP. (I don't use this option but I accidentally printed a label for a shipment to go there once.)

Also in my listings I can check the GSP box (I'm using SixBit), so I have the option of adding GSP to my listings.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@gurlcat wrote:

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

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@this*old*attic wrote:

Why not just reach out to him, tell him he’s a favorite, but explain GSP tips the boat? You’re a great customer and would love to keep working with him?

---

He's not very responsive to messages... he's basically a seller here that isn't trying very hard to sell or build customer relations.

C.

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When I write a post asking for information or advice, the most frustrating thing in the world is when people's replies are about everything BUT the sentence I wrote with a question mark at the end.  So I try to keep that in mind when addressing other people's posts.   What's interesting about this one is, taken at face value, you've described a deal-breaker decision that your favorite seller made (changing his shipping policy in such a way that buying from him is now cost-prohibitive), stated your reactive decision (not to buy from him anymore), maybe even hinted at relief that you don't "have" to buy from him anymore because you need to focus on the stamps you already have, and your only question for the community was about the counterintuitive decision he made.  
It definitely appears you don't want to write to him even if there's a chance it could change his mind (even if he doesn't tell you so in a reply) because just shooting him an email would take a fraction of the time you've spent in this board writing your post and replying to replies (which, and don't take this the wrong way, cannot be anything more than speculative psychology from people who haven't seen this guy in action like you have).  A surprising number of the replies are actual attempts to answer your actual question, so color me envious.  Did any of them provide reasoning you hadn't considered before?  Would you call any of them acceptable answers?  If so, that is what the 'Accept As Solution' button is for.  It will bring that reply to the top of the page, so that people just scrolling through posts will see that this question is already answered, and you won't keep getting replies about how you should write to this guy.  

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I don't like contacting sellers, which is why I don't want to email him. I'm OK with buyers contacting me, but a number of sellers (that post here) block people who contact them (sometimes I agree with them, sometimes not), so I don't want to be blocked when I've found a favourite seller. I try very hard just to mind my business and not bring up any issues when buying my stamps because it's a niche market (to get good quality material) and I don't want to be excluded from it.

As for correct answers, lots them are good theories and there is more than one answer that I'd consider to be a solution. Often times I use the "accept solution" button when I ask a technical question and it gets answered almost immediately, so that I don't get a bunch of the same answer wasting people's time. This particular question to me is more of a discussion since no one answer is the "correct one", but many answers are good ideas to suggest what might have happened.

C.

[fern*wood]

Sorry, I haven't read the entire thread, but I used to use GSP and a friend from Canada informed me I could exclude that country from the program--so I did.  It was merely ignorance on my part and don't know if this still applies, but if it does, he may just not know.   He may have set it up across the board due to troubles with some countries and this latest issue with Australia.  

[pjcdn2005]

@mozartbach1971 

I haven't read to the end of the thread yet so I'm not sure if anyone has answered you but a small package from the US to Australia would be about $15 plus whatever your domestic shipping charge is to Kentucky.  If a buyer purchases a few items and puts them in their cart before purchasing, they will receive discounted shipping but only on the international shipping portion.  If you have any domestic shipping discounts set up they won't be passed on to the buyer.

[mozartbach1971]

I haven't read to the end of the thread yet so I'm not sure if anyone has answered you but a small package from the US to Australia would be about $15 plus whatever your domestic shipping charge is to Kentucky.  If a buyer purchases a few items and puts them in their cart before purchasing, they will receive discounted shipping but only on the international shipping portion.  If you have any domestic shipping discounts set up they won't be passed on to the buyer.

Are you referring to Pirate shipping  or GSP?  

[ed8108]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

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...  I win the majority of what I bid on at minimum price. There will be $100 CV in a stamp lot (my estimate) and I win for $10.

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It doesn't matter why, pay it or find another source. 

[sin-n-dex · Accepted solution]

I have an update - it was an error. The 1.75 shipping has returned tonight. I've gone ahead and placed a bunch more bids on the latest items.

C.