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.

[alcoforever]

If what you say is true, I would expect his sales to dry up and then he might see the light.   Or, maybe he is just a hobby seller and doesn't need the money so the GSP will stay in place.

[sin-n-dex]

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@alcoforever wrote:

If what you say is true, I would expect his sales to dry up and then he might see the light.   Or, maybe he is just a hobby seller and doesn't need the money so the GSP will stay in place.

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He lists around 10-15 new things every day, all auctions, I'm not sure how many things get bids, but 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.

He might be a hobby seller but he has over 10K feedback, so at some point he sold enough to get that far. In my experience with stamp selling, 50% of my stamps are sold outside of USA, so putting GSP on listings would terminate half my sales opportunities.

I suppose in a few months when I've moved on and gotten back to buying again, I will check his listings to see if GSP still applies and I'll buy again if it gets removed. He can do what he wants with his eBay store I just don't understand it because his items are not expensive and can ship with a stamp or two.

I don't do GSP because it would kill my Canadian sales. They like paying $2.65 to receive a token and no one will pay me $13 (the apparent GSP cost to Canada on inexpensive stuff), to buy a $20 token. I've gotten comments from buyers about how happy they are that I'm not using the GSP. I would consider using it for outside North America, but I don't think I can choose, so to keep Canadian sales happening (which amount to 5-10 sales weekly), I opted to not sign up for GSP.

C.

[janet9988]

Maybe he is thinking it will expand his selling capacity. One never knows. Anyways it is really none of your business why the selelr decided to utilize that ebay offered service. Maybe you should be asking ebay why they even offer it since it drags down sales in your opinion.

The beauty of ebay is that you are in control of where you buy from..

[mozartbach1971]

Can you tell me how much GSP would cost to ship a item that weighs a few ounces to Australia? I heard they are no longer accepting first class mail and will  return them, so I need to find another way to ship cheaply there.

[nuclearomen]

why would a seller sell a $5 item is my question...seems like a huge waste of time. 

[duncanvr]

GSP does not suit the type of material we sell but some sellers are ignorant to the fact of how bad it looks from an international buyers view. I saw one today an envelope with stamp. Seller was asking $849 for it. Shipping was a crazy $35 and ebay was asking another $140 import tax. Ridiculous price and outrageous shipping and taxes, I don't think these sellers realize how much overseas buyers they lose doing this!. I used to buy before GSP came in a ton of stamp material from USA but when I started seeing a single $5 stamp with 40 dollars shipping plus GSP more import tax my buying slowed down by more than 70%. These sellers are to lazy to manage their own international shipping. Personally I NEVER buy from a seller using it. I will only buy from sellers managing their own international postage with a reasonable postage rate. So if some sellers wonder why international sales are down and they use GSP this is a big reason. Sin now your seller suddenly uses GSP send them a final message in feedback for an item you had bought and complain about it. If he doesn't read normal messages he should read his feedback. Poor customer service is also bad seller behavior. Take your money to other sellers. As a seller I never charge my overseas buyers postage and I ship around the globe minus a few countries.

[inhawaii]

Although you said the seller is not very responsive to emails it  seems like all you can really do is a polite email explaining the situation. Maybe they'll make an exception for you.  Maybe not.  It doesn't hurt to ask. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

Can you tell me how much GSP would cost to ship a item that weighs a few ounces to Australia? I heard they are no longer accepting first class mail and will  return them, so I need to find another way to ship cheaply there.

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GSP is not a shipping method, it's simply eBay's international shipping program. 

[lepke1979]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

Can you tell me how much GSP would cost to ship a item that weighs a few ounces to Australia? I heard they are no longer accepting first class mail and will  return them, so I need to find another way to ship cheaply there.

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Can try Pirate Ship. They use Asendia for stuff other than Canada. Might not be much cheaper though, but it's an option.

https://www.pirateship.com/usps/simple-export-rate

[lepke1979]

Perhaps he's gotten burned lately by international buyers with packages arriving late. And wants to be able to keep his money if it arrives late or not at all.

I usually use Pirate Ships Simple Export Rate (when possible) for international, but after nearly getting burned on something going to Italy I have been rethinking about it and for the time being using GSP for non-Canadian shipments.

Will probably change it back at some point since I do believe it's a little cheaper. But for now it's just easier.

[mozartbach1971]

Can try Pirate Ship. They use Asendia for stuff other than Canada. Might not be much cheaper though, but it's an option.

https://www.pirateship.com/usps/simple-export-rate

I need to find a shipping method to ship to Australia. I'm not sure I'm reading the link correctly, it appears to say a half pound package for rest of the world is $10.49. Is that correct?  Is this first class?  If so then I believe it will be rejected for Australia.

[richard1rst]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

Can try Pirate Ship. They use Asendia for stuff other than Canada. Might not be much cheaper though, but it's an option.

https://www.pirateship.com/usps/simple-export-rate

I need to find a shipping method to ship to Australia. I'm not sure I'm reading the link correctly, it appears to say a half pound package for rest of the world is $10.49. Is that correct?  Is this first class?  If so then I believe it will be rejected for Australia.

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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.

[mozartbach1971]

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?

[marnotom!]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

I don't do GSP because it would kill my Canadian sales. They like paying $2.65 to receive a token and no one will pay me $13 (the apparent GSP cost to Canada on inexpensive stuff), to buy a $20 token. I've gotten comments from buyers about how happy they are that I'm not using the GSP. I would consider using it for outside North America, but I don't think I can choose, so to keep Canadian sales happening (which amount to 5-10 sales weekly), I opted to not sign up for GSP.

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As a seller based in Canada, you wouldn’t be able to use the GSP anyway as it’s only available to sellers located in the US and UK.

Back to your question, I second the hypothesis that a bad experience (or a few) with direct international shipments likely drew this seller to the GSP.  If you’ve sent him a message detailing your concerns, we can only hope that others in your boat are doing the same.  Even if he’s not responding to these messages, at least he’s aware that this decision is having an impact.