@lyndal1838 wrote:
Seller protection through the GSP is very good....the item is tracked and insured and once it arrives at the GSP hub the seller has no more responsibility for the item. If it goes missing the seller does not refund....Pitney Bowes does.
Yes, that's true as far as seller having no more responsibility. With USPS, it's record of being able to safely ship items to different locations is superb. There is a minimal amount of items that are lost or damaged. There's probably a higher amount of items damaged, lost through the Pitney Bowes GSP due to the bad re-packing ((I can testify to that )), double handling and using a different carrier inn the process. When this happens, regardless of refund etc., it will create a dissatisfied customer because they will not buy from that seller again. The customer would have wasted weeks out of their life waiting in anticipation for their prize and then it can turn into a headache to go through the motions of getting their money back.
@lyndal1838 wrote:Many sellers do not sell overseas at all and have no idea that ebay has put the GSP on their listings. All they know is that they post to Erlanger KY, which is just local postage. They are often surprised if they have contact with the buyer to learn that the buyer is overseas.
The majority of sellers are NOT happy to change to USPS or Royal Mail, especially if they don't normally sell overseas and have been opted into the GSP by ebay.
Yes probably true in the first. Many sellers have no idea that their item has gone overseas. But that in itself is not good because as a seller (if I was selling again), I would like to know where my items are going. It makes good sales sense and provides important info in knowing where to make changes for the better, streamlining, improving description, or adding info to auction page etc..
You say .... The majority of sellers are NOT happy to change to USPS or Royal Mail Well, I disagree. OK, talking about the non-overseas selling folk, now. Well, many of those few sellers that don't sell overseas may not. But if GSP wasn't around and speaking in general, the majority would be open to the idea of selling overseas. And how do I know that? Well, I've been buying on eBay (and selling in the early days) since around 2002.. So many times I had asked seller how much to send to Aust. and the answer would be ... "Ok, just wait until auction ends and I'll send you an invoice for the total"..
Even with GSP, the majority of sellers I approach are happy to sell overseas and change the listing to USPS First Class etc.. Same for UK. And this is the case even if they don't sell overseas. The majority of my requests have been met with success.
@lyndal1838 wrote:It would depend entirely on what you are buying.....I doubt that it would be a problem with anything I would buy.....and I know that the particular item Tippy was referring to would not have been snapped up like that.
I would say you have been very lucky if that is the usual reply that you get.
Yes true it is dependant on what you buy. For someone who wants not so common items then it is a risk to wait fo a seller to update a page or whatever as that item can be snapped up by someone with a keen eye. And there are many of them around. Obviously the item that *tippy*toes* got wasn't one that would get snapped up quickly.
I have done quite well in asking sellers if they would please change the listing. One item last year that I bought straight away and was shipped via GSP got damaged. It was fairly rare too.
@lyndal1838 wrote:In the early days of the GSP the usual arrival time was 10-14 days....but that time gradually became longer and longer. It is often not Pitney Bowes fault either. They pay FedEx for an economy delivery service which means they have longer to deliver the items once they arrive in Australia than if PB actually paid for the premium service that they advertise.
Yes, I would say that's true.
@lyndal1838 wrote:They only shop locally because they refuse to believe that the GSP can be very cost effective for larger bulky items.
I disagree. People shop locally for large bulky items regardless of USPS or GSP. It makes good sense. With USPS the prices have gone up. So folks hunt around here.
With GSP, large bulky items may sometimes be cheaper than USPS but the import duty is a killer. They travel slower too.
@lyndal1838 wrote:Economy what....seamail, airmail, economy USPS. You can't make a sweeping statement about economy delivery without specifying what sort of service you are talking about.
Fair enough, there's different types of economy. The item I got via economy from the US was a DVD. only cost about $3. The one from Europe (Germany I think
) wasn't much more. Both arrived in under a month, one just under 3 weeks.
I have seen larger items for sale like VTR and DVD player for around $40 to come here. Obviously that would go via sea and I would say that the tracking wouldn't be that great.
BTW: Turned out all good in the end. I have a very long history with the seller who is very reliable and accurate with grading.
I actually had a parcel from the US sent to me. I paid for USPS but seller mistakenly sent it via economy. Aust. Post told me that by looking at the tracking number. Unlike tracking with USPS First Class, it only showed the post date and nothing more. It took 2 months to arrive.
@4channel wrote:
@lyndal1838 wrote:
Seller protection through the GSP is very good....the item is tracked and insured and once it arrives at the GSP hub the seller has no more responsibility for the item. If it goes missing the seller does not refund....Pitney Bowes does.
Yes, that's true as far as seller having no more responsibility. With USPS, it's record of being able to safely ship items to different locations is superb. There is a minimal amount of items that are lost or damaged. There's probably a higher amount of items damaged, lost through the Pitney Bowes GSP due to the bad re-packing ((I can testify to that )), double handling and using a different carrier inn the process. When this happens, regardless of refund etc., it will create a dissatisfied customer because they will not buy from that seller again. The customer would have wasted weeks out of their life waiting in anticipation for their prize and then it can turn into a headache to go through the motions of getting their money back.
@lyndal1838 wrote:Many sellers do not sell overseas at all and have no idea that ebay has put the GSP on their listings. All they know is that they post to Erlanger KY, which is just local postage. They are often surprised if they have contact with the buyer to learn that the buyer is overseas.
The majority of sellers are NOT happy to change to USPS or Royal Mail, especially if they don't normally sell overseas and have been opted into the GSP by ebay.
Yes probably true in the first. Many sellers have no idea that their item has gone overseas. But that in itself is not good because as a seller (if I was selling again), I would like to know where my items are going. It makes good sales sense and provides important info in knowing where to make changes for the better, streamlining, improving description, or adding info to auction page etc..
You say .... The majority of sellers are NOT happy to change to USPS or Royal Mail Well, I disagree. OK, talking about the non-overseas selling folk, now. Well, many of those few sellers that don't sell overseas may not. But if GSP wasn't around and speaking in general, the majority would be open to the idea of selling overseas. And how do I know that? Well, I've been buying on eBay (and selling in the early days) since around 2002.. So many times I had asked seller how much to send to Aust. and the answer would be ... "Ok, just wait until auction ends and I'll send you an invoice for the total"..
Even with GSP, the majority of sellers I approach are happy to sell overseas and change the listing to USPS First Class etc.. Same for UK. And this is the case even if they don't sell overseas. The majority of my requests have been met with success.
@lyndal1838 wrote:It would depend entirely on what you are buying.....I doubt that it would be a problem with anything I would buy.....and I know that the particular item Tippy was referring to would not have been snapped up like that.
I would say you have been very lucky if that is the usual reply that you get.
Yes true it is dependant on what you buy. For someone who wants not so common items then it is a risk to wait fo a seller to update a page or whatever as that item can be snapped up by someone with a keen eye. And there are many of them around. Obviously the item that *tippy*toes* got wasn't one that would get snapped up quickly.
I have done quite well in asking sellers if they would please change the listing. One item last year that I bought straight away and was shipped via GSP got damaged. It was fairly rare too.
@lyndal1838 wrote:In the early days of the GSP the usual arrival time was 10-14 days....but that time gradually became longer and longer. It is often not Pitney Bowes fault either. They pay FedEx for an economy delivery service which means they have longer to deliver the items once they arrive in Australia than if PB actually paid for the premium service that they advertise.
Yes, I would say that's true.
@lyndal1838 wrote:They only shop locally because they refuse to believe that the GSP can be very cost effective for larger bulky items.
I disagree. People shop locally for large bulky items regardless of USPS or GSP. It makes good sense. With USPS the prices have gone up. So folks hunt around here.
With GSP, large bulky items may sometimes be cheaper than USPS but the import duty is a killer. They travel slower too.
@lyndal1838 wrote:Economy what....seamail, airmail, economy USPS. You can't make a sweeping statement about economy delivery without specifying what sort of service you are talking about.
Fair enough, there's different types of economy. The item I got via economy from the US was a DVD. only cost about $3. The one from Europe (Germany I think
I have seen larger items for sale like VTR and DVD player for around $40 to come here. Obviously that would go via sea and I would say that the tracking wouldn't be that great.
BTW: Turned out all good in the end. I have a very long history with the seller who is very reliable and accurate with grading.
I actually had a parcel from the US sent to me. I paid for USPS but seller mistakenly sent it via economy. Aust. Post told me that by looking at the tracking number. Unlike tracking with USPS First Class, it only showed the post date and nothing more. It took 2 months to arrive.
It's not a case of may be cheaper for large items being sent via GSP, it IS cheaper. Sometimes significantly cheaper. The item I bought was 5.5kg. It wasn't available in Australia. It cost $US69 to be sent via GSP. At that stage I had heard horror stories about GSP, so investigated what it would cost to be sent via USPS. From memory, it was going to be around $US128 (I can't remember the exact amount, but it was over $US100. There was no import duty, as it was under $1,000. Surprisingly, it arrived in under 2 weeks.
You buy small items that are under the weight and size limit, so they can be sent via First Class. Once you go over that limit (4lb I think), the price skyrockets. Like I mean REALLY skyrockets. It borders on robbery.
If only sellers would put the weight and dimensions in their listings, the postage price would be comparable and there wouldn't be all these threads about GSP costs. It really is literally only a few $$ difference. If they did that, we wouldn't be seeing earrings with a postage cost of $150.
