Global Shipping Program

 Buyers beware of sellers in the USA who are on the Global Shipping Program. I recently bought 4 watches from the same seller in the USA, and when I went to pay, there were 4 shipping costs - $17.70, $17.40, $17.80 and $17.89. (Try and work out why they were all different???). When I asked the seller to combine the posting, he replied that he cannot as the Global Shipping Program does not allow him to combine.


 When I messaged eBay about this I received a message back that said in part "The seller doesn't know the import cost since it is the global shipping provider that would determine depending on your location. Thus, the US sellers are not allowed to combine postage." That is a load of crock. THERE IS NO IMPORT COST FOR WATCHES INTO AUSTRALIA. I have imported for the last 2 years.


 Talk about getting ripped-off.


 Pitney Bowes are the Global Shippers, and their site reads "AFTER you've completed checkout, you can review these charges on the Order Details page. The Order Details page shows the total charges and the payment amounts to the seller and the payment amount that went to the global shipping provider".


 The seller posts your item to Pitney Bowes and they forward post it to you.


 I read up on this Global Shipping Program and it says that they are not affiliated with eBay, yet eBay obviously gets a kick-back from them. This is what their site reads under "Description of Fees"::


 1. U.S. Shipping Fee


 2. International Shipping Fee


 3. Fuel Surcharge


 4. Transportation Fee


 5. Parcel Processing Service Fee


 6. Distribution Center Management Fee


 7. Loss Management Fee


 8. Transportation Risk Premium Fee


 9. Referral Fee - a variable fee paid by Pitney Bowes to eBay Inc. for referring you to the program.


 I wonder, if ever, when eBay will stop it's quest for greed at the expense of the buyers and sellers. There are millions of items sold and bought on eBay every day. When is "enough" enough??

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Global Shipping Program

It's a rip-off all right.


 


Look out for: Customs services and international tracking provided in listings.  This means the seller is using the GSP.


 


Aside from no combining of items plus those extra fees, if you are buying inexpensive lightweight items the postage costs alone are too high.  Actually it's not postage - your items are sent by courier which personally, I find massively inconvenient.


 


GSP?  My opinion is....avoid it like the Plague.

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Global Shipping Program

lyndal1838
Honored Contributor

The GSP does not always send by courier....but they do use the most expensive USPS services which give tracking and insurance for everything.


It seems to be used extensively used by large volume and business sellers...it is the lazy way out for them to have somebody else do the packing and Customs forms etc.


The majority of private sellers will still use First Class Mail.

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Global Shipping Program

It would appear that some sellers in the U.K. are using a similar service called "Parcelforce Global Value", I can't find out if this is another Pitney Bowes operation, but it's almost the same setup as the U.S. GSP.........:-(

______________________________________________________

"Start me up I'll never stop......"
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Global Shipping Program

lyndal1838
Honored Contributor

Parcelforce is a logistics and courier service so yes, it is similar to Pitney Bowes.  It is part of Royal Mail and used mainly for heavier items that the ordinary Royal Mail service cannot handle.  It also has services that have a higher standard of tracking and insurance, which would explain why it is so expensive.

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Global Shipping Program

Thanks for that Lyndal,


Tthe item I was watching was a small whistle "Vintage Whistle Bosuns ? Police ? Army ?" with postage of $18.05, so not so large.


Looking at the sellers other listings shows most are pretty small, but the postage is way over the top for most of their listings, around 4x what would seem reasonable......:|


Needless to say, I won't be bidding on it.....................


 


 


 


Padi.

______________________________________________________

"Start me up I'll never stop......"
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Global Shipping Program

I agree a complete rip off. The GSP total was only visible when I agreed to pay. The item is no longer affordable. Ebay should make this an option. Rang Aust Customs. The charges were only 10% of what Pitney Bowes quoted. I will no longer be purchasing from sellers who use this system.

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Global Shipping Program

Good.

 

Hopefully you will buy from Australian sellers, thus supporting Australia's economy.

 

Ha Ha.

 

After all - why are you buying from Australian sellers when you are logged into the US site? I can think of reasons, but none of them reflect well on you, so they will remain unvoiced.

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Global Shipping Program

I had a few items on my watch list and one of them was $30.21 postage but when I went into the listing the postage was

 

$42.89 and I wondered why?

 

Saw that they shipped via the GSP and then thought I'd better ask if there could be further charges.

 

The seller didn't know and only said that they have no control over the final postage cost.

 

I thanked them politely informed them that I wouldn't be buying from them and thanks for letting me know so that I can

 

avoid sellers that post through the GSP,(they even thanked me for my inquire),Whistle.gif

 

Ps: the items aren't available here yet and are more then 30% then when they do become available here when the

 

normal postage cost is added,good.gif

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Global Shipping Program

If I have to buy using the Global system its an automatic 1 star for postage!

 

and

 

They are delivered by fedex they do not get a signature, they are just left on the front door mat, I have been told twice now that pitney bowes does not need a signature so what happens if it gets knocked off!!  doubtless I will not be covered !!!!

 

and

 

it is ridiculusly expensive

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