Global Shipping Program from UK to Australia

[kimballthurlow]

I purchased £33 worth of hobby parts from a seller in UK. He packed them in one parcel less than 1Kg and used the GSP to ship them. So the GSP shipping (alias Pitney Bowes Ltd) totals the individual postal charges and that comes to £78. That is for less than 1kg of small hobby bits and pieces. This is just gouging the customer!  That little 1kg parcel is shipped with 100s of other parcels to Australia in one large container or basket when enough weight/volume is collected and then re-distributed within Australia. Is there any way I can get a reduction/refund from Pitney Bowes/GSP on what is a simple case of rip-off for a service not rendered?

[countessalmirena · Accepted solution]

You are out of luck.

eBay specifically point out that there's no combined postage available through the GSP.

❝Keep in mind that you currently won't be able to combine postage if you purchase multiple items from sellers in this program.❞

- https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/shipping-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method/international...

The only possible way around separate charges for each item from a separate listing is if you ask the seller (before buying) to list the selected items as a single listing, which you then purchase. It's too late once the sale has gone through; this is not a retrofitted solution.

[papermoon.lady · Accepted solution]

Yes, unfortunately there is no combined shipping for Pitney Bowes.

Last year I had to specifically ask a seller if he could use USPS because I wanted to buy 3 items and knew that PB does not combine shipping. Luckily, he agreed.

You should have contacted the seller to find a viable solution before paying when you noticed how much postage was at checkout...

[gcat01]

Seems to be a common issue with many buyers.

Bulk shipping is always cheaper that individual.

It seems unfair.

Another recent issue is that often you hit a No PO Box delivery option.

For over 20 years all my Ebay purchases have gone to my secure PO Box without issue.

Suddenly more and more sellers are listing NO PO Box.

My street address is usually unattended during delivery times (we work) and the site is locked up and we've had things stolen when left at the gate or letter box.

To have things delivered to an unattended address is a real hassle  - having to contact the courier or post office and arrange a re-delivery or pick at at a remote warehouse.

Deliveries to PO Box are usually signed for on pickup so the excuse that they need a signature for a courier does not hold up. Many post offices are now accepting delivery from couriers outside the post system

[pixie-six]

Hello, everyone. This thread is getting a little off-topic. Could we please bring the discussion back to "Global Shipping Program from UK to Australia". Thanks!

[paper-jack]

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@gcat01 wrote:

....

Suddenly more and more sellers are listing NO PO Box.

My street address is usually unattended during delivery times (we work) and the site is locked up and we've had things stolen when left at the gate or letter box.

To have things delivered to an unattended address is a real hassle  - having to contact the courier or post office and arrange a re-delivery or pick at at a remote warehouse.

.....

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Recently a buyer (on another ebay account) told me she'd got around the No PO Box problem by using her local post office's street address. I'd encountered this solution before used by a buyer in a small country town, but my recent buyer is in Sydney. So this may be a work around for people with home delivery problems if they have a friendly local PO.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

Sorry moderator pixie-six, but going off topic briefly.

gcat-01, I had countless items stolen from the front door because the posties refused to card my parcels and take them back to the PO. What you can do (which is what I did) is open a My Post account and get your parcels where PO box isn't an option, sent to your local PO (or whichever one you select), where they hold it securely for you. 

It's called parcel collect. If you have a smart phone, install the AP app and they will notify you when the parcel is ready for collection. Instead of having your home address, or PO box in ebay, you would change it to your parcel collect address for those items, at checkout. Your address would look something like:

John Smith

Parcel Collect 12345-67890

1 That Street (being the street of your PO).

Somewhere 1234

Now, back on topic for the OP. As others have suggested, ask the seller prior to purchase if they could modify one of their listings to include all the items you wish to buy. Also request to input the weight and dimensions into the listing because that will bring the postage cost down to a more reasonable cost. A little more than Royal Mail in the UK, or USPS in the US, but not much more. I suggest to modify a listing, rather than create a new listing, because they may not have unlimited listings like we have here. That way they aren't wasting one.

I would never ask a seller using GSP to change to RM or USPS because most sellers use it for a reason. It offers them top notch seller protection, and I wouldn't want to take that away from them. Sure, there are some sellers that don't actually know they use GSP, but those sellers may not wish to sell overseas either, so it's a way you can purchase from overseas.