Inflexible Global Shipping Program

[rufoustfirefly]

I have just been whacked &14.42 pounds of shipping costs for & 2.75 pound postcard--all due to the inflexibility of the Global Shipping Program. 

For years I've bought postcards from the UK which the sellers shipped Royal Mail International Standard Rate.  No extra import fees or any other additional costs have ever been assessed. I waited patiently, sellers waited for feedback and in the end both of us were happy.

Now today since the seller used the Global Shipping Program and the Global Shipping Program only ships International Priority, I will pay about 5 times more for shipping than for the item.

Have other buyers run into this? Is there any way to complain directly to ebay about the inflexibility of their Global Shipping Program? I'd like a clear way to choose either priority or standard postage rates.

I will not be participating in auctions that use the program as long as the program only uses priority rates.  That means I lose access to historical British postcards, the British sellers lose a potential buyer, and ebay will miss out on auction fees.

What say you all?  Is there an up side to this program?  Is the benefit to sellers large enough to outweigh what I see as a downside to buyers?

Update: the seller has cancelled the sale since I complained.  I would rather have paid the exorbitant shipping and been more careful in the future but I was not asked.  The seller also stated that I had "chosen" the GSP rate.  Was there a way that I missed to change the shipping rate, i.e., switch to Royal Mail International Standard rate?

(This post consists of a post that I made today in Ask a Mentor.  I believe I should have used the Shipping Board earlier and so am reposting with a few updates/edits.

[slippinjimmy]

Your seller doesn't know what they are talking about. GSP as you probably know is all or nothing, there is no option for a buyer to chose a different service.

There is nothing wrong with GSP, there is something wrong with a seller who uses GSP for an inappropriate type of item. Low value, ultra lightweight items were never intended to be shipped via GSP, vote with your wallet and don't buy from a seller that makes this type of mistake.

[pjcdn2005]

Some sellers aren’t comfortable with shipping out of their own country and since there is some extra seller protection with global shipping they choose to use that.   If they are set up for global the buyer can not choose any other option.

On the mentor board they mention the new eBay shipping program that sellers in the US are slowly transitioning over to.  It seems to be less expensive but I don’t know if they will be using it in the UK as well.