Global Shipping Program a Scam

[wbell01]

GSP may be great for the Seller, but it's hell for the Purchaser. Their shipping is notoriously slow when compared to USPS. They charge the Buyer for 'import duties' that otherwise may not need to be paid. A real rip off.

In-fact, I normally avoid listings that use the GPS service as it's needlessly slow and costly. A money grab by e-Bay.

In a recent purchase, I paid Pitney Bowes $55.17 for "import duties,"  Although the item imported into Canada was duty free. As the total amount of the item was refunded by the Seller, today I received a refund from Pitney Bowes (GSP "import duties).

The amount refunded was $35.74 from Pitney Bowes and another refund from e-Bay for $19.43? One might ask why $19.43 of my original payment was diverted to e-Bay for "import duties" without my knowledge. Clearly this had nothing to do with "import duties" at all and was a kick-back to e-Bay. What a scam!

I'm tempted to press fraud charges. It's not like they don't charge the Seller enough, they have to scam the Buyer as well!

[jgoebert2012]

I'm a seller. I use GSP and the sales are way down.

What I dislike the most from my perspective is not allowing combined shipping.

Big, big hassle.

Jerry 

[wbell01]

Thanks Jerry. As a Seller, I don't know why you use it. I can't speak for people in other countries, but it's too slow and costs more money than USPS.

For most shipments under $100.00 Canada Post does not collect Sales Tax or Duty. They do with the GSP because the customer pays for every item to clear Customs. The Customer ends up paying. A USPS shipment would be cleared through without charge. The GSP process also causes a delay because it has to be processed.

This coupled with extra e-Bay kick-back charges make the GSP unattractive to those who've been bitten in the past. Unbelievable.

What surprises me is that many of the Seller who Volunteered to use GSP don't know how their customers are being treated and that they lose business because of it.

[casey768]

GSP is joint efforts between Pitney Bowles and Ebay,they retain a thrid party in Erlinger,Kentucky to handle the shipping,repacking and paperwork/

As a buyer,you are not just paying shipping from KENTUCKY to Canada,import duties but handling by this third party company.

Why does your partial refund come from Ebay?

It could be Ebay collected the fee and use it to pay this third party company each month. 

No one works for free,we dont really know enough of this GSP set up ,I doubt Ebay is making money ,it is set up to encourage sellers to sell to overseas buyers and get seller protection.

There are complaints from CanadIan and European buyers on how much they pay for import duties,I think you are better off avoiding sellers who use GSP.

One German buyer bought a laptop on Ebay and it was shipped via GSP, he took the laptop to another country,upon his return,German customs want to assess customs duty because the paper from GSP showing he has already paid looks like a bar bill?  

[janet9988]

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@wbell01wrote:

Thanks Jerry. As a Seller, I don't know why you use it. I can't speak for people in other countries, but it's too slow and costs more money than USPS.

For most shipments under $100.00 Canada Post does not collect Sales Tax or Duty. They do with the GSP because the customer pays for every item to clear Customs. The Customer ends up paying. A USPS shipment would be cleared through without charge. The GSP process also causes a delay because it has to be processed.

This coupled with extra e-Bay kick-back charges make the GSP unattractive to those who've been bitten in the past. Unbelievable.

What surprises me is that many of the Seller who Volunteered to use GSP don't know how their customers are being treated and that they lose business because of it.

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I would gather most of those sellers who use the GSP would NOT be even selling internationally if it was not for the benefits of the seller protections to so so.  Once the item is delivered to the US GSP center the seller is safe from most claims. That is the big draw. Those sellers really don't care if they lose international sales because they would not be willing to ship on their own.

[wbell01]

Before the GSP, Sellers who wanted to sell internationally did so. USPS offers a simple solution including insurance for the shipper. PayPal offers Seller protection.

Those Sellers who find it convienent to use GSP will do so. The bottom line is however, that they will lose sales. As a business owner, this is a path that I would not choose to walk. To me, customer satisfaction is important. Allowing anyone to rip-off your customers is bad business anyway you look at it.

[lancelotme]

As a seller,shipping intl is extra work,more paper work and higher risk.
First USPS does not offer signature confirmation if you are shipping an item $750 or more,USPS has implied insurance of $200 for USPS priority but not for first class mail,so we have to insure with third party seller.
Depends on country,there may not be any tracking,or tracking just shows it has bee delivered to that country which is not good enough to get seller protection from either Paypal or Ebay.
We do not collect customs duty,sometimes a buyer would refuse to pick up the package when customs fee is too high and file item not received,we lose original shipping and the item would take 30-60 days to return to us.
With GSP,all sellers need to do is to ship domestic to Erlinger,Kentucky and let GSP takes it from there.
It depends on the seller,if you dont like to prepaid customs and handling fee from GSP,then dont buy from thosee sellers.

[bonjourami]

'PayPal offers Seller protection'..THATS FUNNY!

[pjcdn2005]

@wbell01

When you look at a listing and see the shipping cost, part of that amount is for the international part of the shipping which is paid to PB and the other part of it is the domestic portion (to Kentucky) of the shipping cost  which would have been paid to the seller.   When you were refunded, was the item cost refunded by ebay as well?  I can't say for sure without looking at the listing but my guess is that the seller was charging $19.43 for shipping to Kentucky and the $35.74 was the international portion of the shipping plus any import fees.  So PB refunded what you actually paid them and ebay refunded the rest of the import fee which was originally charged by the seller for the domestic shipping portion.

I don't know if ebay receives something from PB for the global shipping program or if they benefit only because more sellers are offering international shipping but I can guarantee you that any fee paid to ebay is not shown when you pay or when you are refunded.  It would be a totally different transaction.

What type of item was it and how much was it?  Even if it was duty free, you would still have to pay taxes and if you are in an hst province that can get expensive.

[oaklandmaryland · Accepted solution]

Sellers do not benefit on the whole as they know the buyer will NEVER return once they are hit with the high postage and being told their purchases cannot be combined.

[pjcdn2005]

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@jgoebert2012@  wrote:

I'm a seller. I use GSP and the sales are way down.

What I dislike the most from my perspective is not allowing combined shipping.

Big, big hassle.

Jerry 

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If the buyer put their items in the cart, the gsp automatically does combine shipping.

[mg152]

I offer direct shipping to Canada & Australia. I’ve had several buyers buy low cost items through GSP. I asked them why they didn’t choose to have me ship direct to them & they all said GSP was cheaper than my shipping. I charge actual shipping costs. Weird!

[mg152]

Purchases on the same invoice can be combined.

[pjcdn2005]

@mg152

It depends what you ship and which service you use.  I can only speak for shipping costs to Canadan but heavier items are often cheaper through the gsp.  It also depends on the service used. If you use Priority International, it is likely going to be less expensive through gsp as well. For example your Nixon Life Magazine is $40 to ship by Priority to Canada. I'm guessing it is less than 4 lbs so it be would less expensive to ship first class but its possible that it would be even cheaper for the buyer using the gsp...but I'm just guessing.

But I'm curious...you said "I asked them why they didn’t choose to have me ship direct to them & they all said GSP was cheaper than my shipping."    I  wonder if you think that they can see gsp costs and direct shipping costs to you?  If you have gsp enabled for a listing, that is the only shipping cost international buyers will see.   To see what I see as a Canadian, go into one of your listings that has the gsp, click on the shipping tab and change your location to Canada and click on see rates.  You'll see that there are no choices given...just the gsp.  An example is item 142697971240. The only shipping rate there shown is for the gsp.

[wbell01]

"Don't buy from those Sellers."

Exactly. Well if it works for you....