topic Re: Global Shipping Program.....again in Buying

Global Shipping Program.....again

samoaman — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:08:29 GMT

Why is there such a wide discrepancy in the cost of shipping by GSP for a similar item? Specifically, I am looking at buying a used computer (Dell To 7610) from the US. According to the search results, seller 1 charges $US1,232.61 postage, BUT his item description page says $US292.70! Seller 2, on the other hand only charges $US30.79 for a similar computer, which I find hard to believe!!

Where is the logic in all this?

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

padi*0409 — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:13:21 GMT

@samoaman wrote:

Where is the logic in all this?

If the seller inputs the dimensions and weight of the laptop the shippings costs will fall dramatically.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

4channel — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:54:50 GMT

__________________________________________________________

@samoaman wrote:
Why is there such a wide discrepancy in the cost of shipping by GSP for a similar item? Specifically, I am looking at buying a used computer (Dell To 7610) from the US. According to the search results, seller 1 charges $US1,232.61 postage, BUT his item description page says $US292.70! Seller 2, on the other hand only charges $US30.79 for a similar computer, which I find hard to believe!!

Where is the logic in all this?

__________________________________________________________

Hi samoaman, what padi says about seller putting dimensions in and the price dropping would be true. On smaller items like books, records, dvds, tapes etc, it's a horrendous situation with people paying double, triple the cost of USPS. The thing is that Pitney Bowes have been making a killing on the post of larger items that don't have correct dimensions and have been making huge profits. Not an honourable practice. Also if you got 2 larger items from the same seller in different auctions and he/she packed them together, you'd be charged double. And any extras from seller like adaptors that you bought in a different auction from that seller, you'd be charged extra as well.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

samoaman — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 00:12:30 GMT

Thanks padi and 4channel! True but sad! Just think how much more overseas income would be generated by being reasonable. There is an interesting correlation to this. When the British reduced their letter rate to 1 penny in 1840, their postal income went through the roof, simply because of the sheer volume generated. I'm sure that eBay/Pitney Bowes would experience a similar boon if "they saw the light".

Nevertheless, I still can't see why the search result page should show an almost 4x postage to what's in the acrual description. Surely this is a disincentive to buy!

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

4channel — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 04:32:48 GMT

@samoaman wrote:
Thanks padi and 4channel! True but sad! Just think how much more overseas income would be generated by being reasonable. There is an interesting correlation to this. When the British reduced their letter rate to 1 penny in 1840, their postal income went through the roof, simply because of the sheer volume generated. I'm sure that eBay/Pitney Bowes would experience a similar boon if "they saw the light".

Nevertheless, I still can't see why the search result page should show an almost 4x postage to what's in the acrual description. Surely this is a disincentive to buy!

Hi again samoanman. The problem is that Pitney Bowes appear to be running a scam. The bulk of the money is made by the many smaller items which people are over charged for continually. It try as much as I can do to avoid this.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

samoaman — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 05:07:08 GMT

Yes, a "legal" scam it seems. Fortunately, there are some sellers who aim to please. Just this morning, I managed to save almost $50 on postage by simply asking the seller if he could offer an alternative to the GSP. He could, and did, and we are both happy. The solution is to ask, and to be prepared to look elsewhere, if possible.

By the way, this forum seems to be very Ausie-centric. Have we been isolated from the rest of the eBay universe?

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

lyndal1838 — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 05:14:54 GMT

@samoaman wrote:

By the way, this forum seems to be very Ausie-centric. Have we been isolated from the rest of the eBay universe?

What else do you expect?

You are on ebay Australia, posting on the Australian boards asking questions pertaining to shipping to Australia.

The responders are Australian.

If you want to ask questions on other ebay sites you are quite welcome to do so but the answers may not be as relevant as different sitess have different rules.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

4channel — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 06:39:41 GMT

@samoaman wrote:
Yes, a "legal" scam it seems. Fortunately, there are some sellers who aim to please. Just this morning, I managed to save almost $50 on postage by simply asking the seller if he could offer an alternative to the GSP. He could, and did, and we are both happy. The solution is to ask, and to be prepared to look elsewhere, if possible.

By the way, this forum seems to be very Ausie-centric. Have we been isolated from the rest of the eBay universe?

Yes samoaman, many sellers are very good and will offer to help by changing the settings. a problem that can occur is if you desire an item on buy-it-now. Due to the time difference, the seller is likely to be in bed dreaming of nice things. By the time seller comes back to log in, someone else could have snapped that item up before he gets to read your message.

There was a 45 record I wanted from a UK seller. Polite lady, but she follows what she thinks are the rules and thinks that changing the settings from GSP to normal UK Post would somehow be manipulating things for her and my advantage. . Those are the words she used. (Can you believe that ?????). Well, nobody bought the item and she ended up listing it for a low bid auction. I found a very nice guy in the UK who was willing to help. I bought something from him first. He won the item for the low bid and when it arrived in his mail box, bundled it into the parcel with the item that I got from him. He was happy, I was happy and the poor woman who believes that there are rules to be obeyed only got a fraction for her item. Oh, and the guy that helped me told me that he used to use Global Shipping. But, after a while he dropped it t and went back to using normal GB / UK post. And, his sales increased again.

Great news that you saved $50

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

marwi_3023 — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 21:58:44 GMT

It would be interesting to know what impact the GSP had on items leaving the US and the UK.
It definitely had an impact not so much on me but the local antique dealer was making a lot of money off me.
I would buy broken watches from the States and fix them then sell them to the dealer.
I never made any money as he only paid fifty dollars if I was lucky but usually for thirty and I had to use new parts for the repairs and they cost a lot of money.
He was selling them for a hundred and forty dollars

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

collect247 — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 02:11:44 GMT

Very smart dealer you have there lol

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

tazzieterror — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 02:45:56 GMT

@4channel wrote:

Hi again samoanman. The problem is that Pitney Bowes appear to be running a scam. The bulk of the money is made by the many smaller items which people are over charged for continually. It try as much as I can do to avoid this.

My goodness - how long are you going to continue harping on about GSP being a "scam"? Your posts are like a broken record - it's just the same thing over and over again.

As you're well aware GSP is an international shipping option that is often given unbeknownst to the seller of the item. If they've provided no, or arbitrary dimensions for an item, it can result in ridiculous shipping quotes being shown exactly where shipping costs are always shown.

Yes, it's expensive for smaller items even when dimensions and weight are correct; no, not every seller is going to revise their item weight and dimensions to bring the price back down to where it should be or provide an alternetive option like USPS; but just like with any online purchase do your research first and if you're not happy wth the price, buy elsewhere or don't buy at all.

No one is being forced to part with money; no one is being tricked or scammed; it's just a poorly implemented shipping option from a buyer's perspective that can actually still deliver good value on certain larger items.

But why you have to keep flogging this "scam" horse is beyond me - your hyperbole is actually unhelpful.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

tazzieterror — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 02:52:19 GMT

Hi samoaman, many sellers don't realise GSP is offered as a shipping option, and if they haven't given accurate dimension and weights in their listings, the shipping cost given is huge. Many sellers don't even know they've made an international sale - they're given a domestic shipping address to send to in the States (or UK I guess) and aren't exposed to the international side of things.

As you've already noticed, smaller items are expensive to send via GSP anyway, but larger heavy items can actually be significantly cheaper to send compared to any other carrier, which was my experience with a large item I ordered from the US a couple of years ago.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

*tippy*toes* — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 11:50:43 GMT

@tazzieterror wrote:
@4channel wrote:
Hi again samoanman. The problem is that Pitney Bowes appear to be running a scam. The bulk of the money is made by the many smaller items which people are over charged for continually. It try as much as I can do to avoid this.
My goodness - how long are you going to continue harping on about GSP being a "scam"? Your posts are like a broken record - it's just the same thing over and over again.

As you're well aware GSP is an international shipping option that is often given unbeknownst to the seller of the item. If they've provided no, or arbitrary dimensions for an item, it can result in ridiculous shipping quotes being shown exactly where shipping costs are always shown.

Yes, it's expensive for smaller items even when dimensions and weight are correct; no, not every seller is going to revise their item weight and dimensions to bring the price back down to where it should be or provide an alternetive option like USPS; but just like with any online purchase do your research first and if you're not happy wth the price, buy elsewhere or don't buy at all.

No one is being forced to part with money; no one is being tricked or scammed; it's just a poorly implemented shipping option from a buyer's perspective that can actually still deliver good value on certain larger items.

But why you have to keep flogging this "scam" horse is beyond me - your hyperbole is actually unhelpful.

Oh gawd, don't say broken record. He collects them and will probably start on the ultra rare video tape or the even rarer DVD that got damaged.

He thinks if he contacts a seller of one of these ultra rare records/DVD's/video tapes, the seller will assume there is interest and bump the price up. That would be crazy on the seller side of things, because it would immediately do you out of a sale.

The horse flogging will continue because it's "every day mum's and dad's who are being ripped off" and "the sellers are just every day people selling off some personal items". There is also this misconception that if he rants enough, eBay will think "oh look, someone is really pished off with the GSP because they want to buy collectables from the US......be gone GSP"

No doubt I'll get accused of being a GSP apologist. That couldn't be furtherer from the truth I am careful who I buy from. I don't assume that a seller will bump the price of their items up if I send a message asking if they could combine all the items into one listing. I don't ask if they will change to USPS, I just ask to combine into a single listing so I don't pay multiple postage costs. Funny how most people are happy to do that when you tell them why.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

tazzieterror — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 16:56:59 GMT

@*tippy*toes* wrote:

Oh gawd, don't say broken record. He collects them and will probably start on the ultra rare video tape or the even rarer DVD that got damaged.

He thinks if he contacts a seller of one of these ultra rare records/DVD's/video tapes, the seller will assume there is interest and bump the price up. That would be crazy on the seller side of things, because it would immediately do you out of a sale.

The horse flogging will continue because it's "every day mum's and dad's who are being ripped off" and "the sellers are just every day people selling off some personal items". There is also this misconception that if he rants enough, eBay will think "oh look, someone is really pished off with the GSP because they want to buy collectables from the US......be gone GSP"

My apologies; Undesirable-dysfunctional-phonographic-polyvinyl-cloride-disc-of-extremely-common-occurrence.

At night time, the streets of Melbourne are full of every day mum's and dad's who bought using GSP, and GSP took everything - money, homes, joy. GSP always wins. GSP is watching...

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

4channel — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:05:16 GMT

@tazzieterror wrote:
@4channel wrote:
Hi again samoanman. The problem is that Pitney Bowes appear to be running a scam. The bulk of the money is made by the many smaller items which people are over charged for continually. It try as much as I can do to avoid this.
My goodness - how long are you going to continue harping on about GSP being a "scam"? Your posts are like a broken record - it's just the same thing over and over again.

As you're well aware GSP is an international shipping option that is often given unbeknownst to the seller of the item. If they've provided no, or arbitrary dimensions for an item, it can result in ridiculous shipping quotes being shown exactly where shipping costs are always shown.

Yes, it's expensive for smaller items even when dimensions and weight are correct; no, not every seller is going to revise their item weight and dimensions to bring the price back down to where it should be or provide an alternetive option like USPS; but just like with any online purchase do your research first and if you're not happy wth the price, buy elsewhere or don't buy at all.

No one is being forced to part with money; no one is being tricked or scammed; it's just a poorly implemented shipping option from a buyer's perspective that can actually still deliver good value on certain larger items.

But why you have to keep flogging this "scam" horse is beyond me - your hyperbole is actually unhelpful.

Sorry tazzieterror if my excercising of free speech terrifies you.You'll just have to wait until the far right servants of big business have tightened the screws even tighter before free speech is silenced once and for all. Until then, you'll just have to endure some of us excercising our freedoms.

FYI, samoaman is a new participant here and I am giving him a bit of an idea of what I went through.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

lyndal1838 — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:27:37 GMT

Samoaman only has to read the boards and he will see exactly what you went through......many, many, many, many, many times.....ad nauseam in fact.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

4channel — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:55:35 GMT

@lyndal1838 wrote:
Samoaman only has to read the boards and he will see exactly what you went through......many, many, many, many, many times.....ad nauseam in fact.

As much as I mention the bad things about GSP, you're there to pounce on any new thread by (often) a new member mentioning the bad things about GSP, or some other issue .... many, many, many, many, many times.....funny that! .

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

padi*0409 — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 02:16:12 GMT

@4channel wrote:
As much as I mention the bad things about GSP, you're there to pounce on any new thread by (often) a new member mentioning the bad things about GSP, or some other issue .... many, many, many, many, many times.....funny that! .

Unfortunately 4channel therein lies the problems with your posts, you inavriably only point out the negative sides of the GSP, so it's up to other experienced members to give the other side of the story.

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

samoaman — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 02:24:09 GMT

Hi tazzieterror! You are right about heavy items. I bought the computer yesterday, and to my great surprise the GSP postage was only $US86.94!! The computer (read server grade workstation) is very heavy at well over 20kg and located in Florida, USA. Not bad! I am very happy. Of course I also had to pay $US79.92 import charge on top, but despite that, I still got myself a bargain. I guess the seller did his job, and specified accurate dimensions etc. as has been suggested previously.

Could someone please tell me how to place quotes? Despite being an eBay member since 1999, this is my first post on the boards, and can't figure it out. Thanks!

Re: Global Shipping Program.....again

4channel — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 02:41:18 GMT

@padi*0409 wrote:
@4channel wrote:
As much as I mention the bad things about GSP, you're there to pounce on any new thread by (often) a new member mentioning the bad things about GSP, or some other issue .... many, many, many, many, many times.....funny that! .
Unfortunately 4channel therein lies the problems with your posts, you inavriably only point out the negative sides of the GSP, so it's up to other experienced members to give the other side of the story.

Well, given the ract that there is a small crew of bullies here (They seem to have quietened down now for some reason) and a couple that just don't like people to speak out against GSP, what I say evens it up.

Also people need to be aware that bidding and winning multiple items from the same seller means the buyer gets hit with multiple postage charges even though the seller packs them all in the same parcel. Also another party looks at what the buyer has when at the Pitney Bowes depot. This increases the risk of damage and theft. And as you pointed out with that electric guitar some time back, Pitney Bowes can confliscate and then sell the item later on. What about the poor buyer who has wasted time out of his / her life and ended up with nothing. Yeah, they'd be refunded later but that's not the point is it!

GSP is nothing but an arrogantly inserted middle man that makes buying difficult for many people, not to mention horrendously expensive.