The Ebay Global Shipping Debacle

[Fitski]

Good man dropping out of it! I salute you sir!

[hedrap]

^Like I said Fits, I had no idea the tariff's were so high, so I will drop out of GSP. But when they option popped up, it was right after a third never-ending headache with another Frenchie and it seemed logical.

I assumed it was a method to stop mail fraud, I.e not lost "lost" packages or XBOX machines full of rocks, as EBay pays out on each case. So if the packages are inspected by a secondary shipper, that removes a lot of fraud. But now, it appears to be as much of a tax collection system for imports, which I'm not cool with at all.

[Fitski]

Hedrap if your problem is with French buyers why take it out on the rest of the world? You can pick and choose who you sell to on the shipping options. You've just made it 40% more expensive to buy your item. Doesn't make any economic sense whatsoever

[hedrap]

I had no idea GSP was taxing costs that hard, but I can tell you exactly why I took the option; French buyers turned into the biggest PITA's, ever. And you don't want to isolate a whole country. So blame the international scammers as to why sellers may opt-in.

Edit: The solution might be for EBay to make it a per country basis. I would certainly sell direct to Canada, UK, Netherlands, Singapore, etc...all have been great, but France has to be GSP.

[palitoy]

Lousy? Remember when the exchange rate was fifty cents on the dollar not so long ago? (as a Canadian working in the US I miss those days! )

Heh, back in those days my sales territory was the US, I could give product away because of that exchange rate.

[cjefferys]

Stay away from Feebay...its a scam this GSP...it really sucks these days and with the current lousy Canuck dollar makes it very tough to buy anything these days !!!... So bummed !

Lousy? Remember when the exchange rate was fifty cents on the dollar not so long ago? (as a Canadian working in the US I miss those days! )

[Hotfoot]

I quit ePay about 6 years ago. Just keeps getting worse an worse.

[FETT1]

Stay away from Feebay...its a scam this GSP...it really sucks these days and with the current lousy Canuck dollar makes it very tough to buy anything these days !!!... So bummed !

[waffenmeister]

GSP has a fixed percentage fee that seriously affects buyers premium. It costs UK buyers nearly 1/3 on top of the final purchase which includes the postage paid and seriously limits what people will pay for goods when buying international. Makes it hard to put in a fair market value offer when you are already adding an extra 20% Duty with 11% Import fee. If sellers are shipping domestic only eBay expects you to ship free for better ratings!
There are many tax levies calculated as a percentage and some goods such as books are tax free but eBay GSP defaults to the maximum tariff. Of course if you are buying international you will also get ripped off on the exchange rate and cross border fees from PP on top of the purchase price.
I do think it is good for the seller as it gives full insurance cover, you just need to find a buyer prepared to pay for taxes that do not apply to some goods and are deliberately calculated at the wrong rate in cases for more profit to eBay.
It can work well on low cost items but not on anything over $20 value as postage is often more than this at $26 USPS for tracked small parcels. GSP will look at the $46 total and add $15. Now my $20 figure has cost $61. If it was sent directly it would not have been taxed at all by HMRC due to being under a certain value. If higher priced items are declared as vintage collectibles then they would be entitled to be calculated at the lower tax rate of only 5% and not be liable for separate duty and import fees as automatically done by GSP.
Another bad point on GSP is that they automatically open all parcels at their depot to inspect for goods and will remove items not declared on the label. This is fine for Pitney Bowes workers proffering some free goods but some sellers have shipped 2 or 3 items in one parcel to save on fees when the label might only be for 1 of the items bought. This unofficial customs seriously delays delivery time as it gets pumped around US until finally getting to an international airport and going through normal border control.

Pro's: Insurance cover for seller when item is damaged after Pitney Bowes cut open and rumage through MISB items.
Con's: Puts buyers off by delays, increased risk of damage and extra fees that are not applicable in customs to the country of destination.

[TrekStar]

I hate dealing with ebay, buying or selling, they seem to get more and more greedy as time goes on,
taking higher percentages of items sold, plus the higher the selling price the more ebay takes from the pay pal
account, that's why I've had problems in the past with them.

[starsky]

thanks for the input guys! much appreciated. i just noticed that ebay takes a portion of your shipping fees as well!!

[palitoy]

It is a colossal BS cash grab and I hate Ebay for it.

The duty calculated is inflated to a ridiculous amount with "brokerage fees" inserted.

DO NOT USE THE GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM.

[Gorn Captain]

I've come to the shocking conclusion that anyone in the global shipping program is worse than Hitler! Is it that hard for our American friends to print a dam shipping label through PayPal like a normal human being?

I can see Hitler saying "we may have lost the war, but my agents will unleash the nefarious Ebay Global Shipping Plan in the future, bringing down all my enemies!" (strokes a cat, a white cat, of course)....

[CAZAFANTASMA]

I've come to the shocking conclusion that anyone in the global shipping program is worse than Hitler! Is it that hard for our American friends to print a dam shipping label through PayPal like a normal human being?

hhahahahhahaha this post made my day! hahahaha

[Fitski]

I've come to the shocking conclusion that anyone in the global shipping program is worse than Hitler! Is it that hard for our American friends to print a dam shipping label through PayPal like a normal human being?