topic Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread in Buying

GSP stupidity documented on this thread

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 03:07:42 GMT

There have been many threads about the GSP and how expensive it makes things from the USA, but I thought I would start a thread that shows the stupidity of the GSP rather than just talk about how bad it is.

Use this thread to show the stupidity through screengrabs. If you can't do screengrabs then post the item numbers that show the stupidity and I will do the screengrabs for you as a reply to your post.

I'll start it off with one example of the stupidity. Try not to laugh at postage costs in my example.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 03:16:24 GMT

Take a look at the postage on a Pentax K1000 manual using the GSP. Bear in mind that this manual measures 150mm across, 133mm high and only about 2mm thick.

Now, if I bought a Pentax K1000 camera (that weighs over 1kg) with a lens and a manual that is exactly the same as the one above

Talk about stupid !!!!!

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

zanadoo_56 — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:12:26 GMT

As opposed to one I bought recently from the US for under $6 with postage less than $4.

Item no: 161573461735

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

zanadoo_56 — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:22:18 GMT

Found something even cheaper (BIN):

Item no: 181642162782

..and they wonder why we don't like the GSP.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:27:47 GMT

@zanadoo_56 wrote:
As opposed to one I bought recently from the US for under $6 with postage less than $4.

Item no: 161573461735

the postage that shows on that listing is US$21.43. If you got it posted for $4 then you did well.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:31:11 GMT

@zanadoo_56 wrote:
Found something even cheaper (BIN):

Item no: 181642162782

..and they wonder why we don't like the GSP.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

imastawka — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 02:54:20 GMT

These are single playing cards - not decks. They weigh nothing and could

easily be sent in an envelope(with cardboard) for approx. $US3.

There is no customs duty payable on playing cards

I've given up asking.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

2106greencat — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 04:46:29 GMT

The stupid thing is, they are so not consistant, a friend of mine buys regularly from US, and doesn't even realise GSP is involved, but so far she has not been ripped (much) off considering the things she is buying.

A charge of $17.43AUD for a work book processor that weighed over 3.5kg that she paid over $98 for. She had it in 11 days.

Yet an order (enquiry) I was involved with was shipping quoted at $38.89AUD for a craft item costing $17.00 weighing 590g, and no I did not BIN after that.

I would love to actually see a calculated shipping cost from GSP - all other logistics company's need to provide them, seems this mob just charge what they want (and also think they are customs officers by refusing various items, even when the receiving country has no listed bans)

Not bad work if you can get it.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

cq_tech — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 08:09:38 GMT

Would it surprise you to learn that eBay own a good-sized portion of Pitney Bowes? Explains a lot, doesn't it?

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

falconsportspack — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 08:19:18 GMT

@cq_tech wrote:
Would it surprise you to learn that eBay own a good-sized portion of Pitney Bowes? Explains a lot, doesn't it?

92% is the figure I saw somewhere a couple of months ago.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

2106greencat — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 09:07:17 GMT

Did not know that.............therein lies the ~~problem~~ answer!

Is there anything eBay doesn't have their thumb in ?

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

davidc4430 — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 10:58:46 GMT

so true, i buy radio control car manuals or at least i did prior to the wonderful GSP, what was once posted for say $15 us now posts for anywhere from $40us to $90us. its just silly.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

lyndal1838 — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 12:39:27 GMT

@2106greencat wrote:
Did not know that.............therein lies the ~~problem~~ answer!

Is there anything eBay doesn't have their thumb in ?

I would say they have a bit more than their thumbs in this.....more like up to their elbows.

It is not that long ago that I saw that they were denying any involvement with PB...oh how quickly things change!

Greencat, the example that you have quoted with your friends shipping costs just proves what I have seen on the boards.....for heavier and larger parcels the GSP is very cost effective. It is the poor b*ggers who want a piece of jewellery or an instruction booklet who are priced out of the market.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

cq_tech — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:38:30 GMT

You have to feel for the poor sods in the UK who inadvertantly use the GSP, as not only are they being ripped off to the max on their shipping charges, eBay is still taking their extra 10% on top!

Is there no end to their diabolical greed?

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

padi*0409 — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 17:41:34 GMT

The phrase "biting the hand that feeds them" comes to mind CQ................not much different to Ozzies getting slugged for OS postal charges when the US only have the 10% on a domestic shipping rate...........hmmmm.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

cq_tech — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 18:58:42 GMT

Indeed, Padi. By charging 10% on international postage from Australian sellers, eBay have done more to destroy overseas trade than any shift in exchange rates could have done, which is a great pity as the AU$ is so weak at the moment that there could be no better time for OS buyers to be buying from AU sellers yet I flatly refuse to ship offshore because of the exorbitant costs involved, and I can guarantee that I'm far from being the only one who feels that way.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

00nevermind00 — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 19:48:51 GMT

@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:
There have been many threads about the GSP and how expensive it makes things from the USA, but I thought I would start a thread that shows the stupidity of the GSP rather than just talk about how bad it is.

Use this thread to show the stupidity through screengrabs.

Hi from Canada. We probably hate the GSP more than anyone else. If you want to know just how much, you can check out these two threads. Better brew a large pot of coffee!

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Questions-about-the-Global-Shipping-Program/m-p/149063#U149063

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Comments-about-the-Global-Shipping-Program/m-p/149059#U149059

Here's my contribution to the documentation of the "GSP stupidity." It's a... postcard!

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

padi*0409 — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 20:58:30 GMT

Nice one from a friend in Canada, here's a chuckle from Oz for you..............

A pharmacist walked into his shop to find a man leaning against the wall.

"What's wrong with him?", he asked his assistant.

"He came in for cough syrup, but I couldn't find any so I gave him an entire box of laxatives."

"You idiot" said the chemist, "You can't treat a cough with laxatives."

"Of course you can" the assistant replied,"Look at him.........he daren't cough now."

"Picks up ticket to eBali....................sigh............."

Sorry slr, couldn't help myself.................slaps head repeatedly and with feeling for being irreverent................

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

afantiques — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 17:39:35 GMT

Talk about stupid !!!!!

There is a very simple answer to this, and your examples of a camera and a manual are ideal to illustrate it.

If the seller does not specify the weight and dimensions of the item, the GSP applies an average figure for items in that category. If the manual was listed in the camera catagory, as they usually are, then without any information to the contrary the GSP applies the average shipping cost for that category and you get the result of the camera and the manual costing the same to post.

If the camera manual seller had filled in all the details, the shipping cost would have been much lower. This is the sort of advanced stuff that users simply do not know about. They assume, for example, that because their item is 'free' or flat rate shipping, they do not need to fill in all the details for the shipping calculator. A reasonable assumption but in the cases noted above, the answer is often obvious when you know how the system works, and you can see why the shipping is so high.

(Not guesswork but solid information about how it works from a senior UK GSP person.)

Obviously sending one playing card is an absurd use of the program, indeed, sending any item inder 2 kilos is usually an inappropriate use of the program. It is an open argument whether the GSP sellers are to blame for not understanding how to use it,or ebay is to blame

for the lamentable failure to educate users properly, and to implement the software fixes (mandatory fields for sweight and size) that would solve the problem.

It is not really stupidity of the system, if anything it is the stupidity of the sellers and the designers of the listing software.

Now that you understand how these very high costs are generated, it should be easy enough to spot examples, like some above, where it is clear that the average category weight must be much higher than the specific item with the silly shipping price.

Trying to persuade ebay that this is a real problem, that they could cure if they wanted to, is quite another thing.

Re: GSP stupidity documented on this thread

christianbolt — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 10:55:11 GMT

I managed to talk seller into sending via USPS and only got charged $31aus. But the Global Shipping Rippoff Program wanted $84aus..... for something that only weighed 16 ounces and no bigger than a coke can !!! Bhaaahaaaaa