BEWARE Global shipping program

[daffyduk]

Buyers beware before you purchase from US sellers check that they do not use the Global shipping program. You will have to pay 2 shipping costs. One for the seller to ship the item to the shipping company in the US. And a second exorbitant cost (min of aboutUS$25) to then ship to you. A simple $5 purchase becomes $50 before you know it. To make it worse most of the yanks don't even know they have signed up for it. This has to be one of ebays biggest rip offs yet!

[35jojo]

Hi Everyone from Australia. 

I just had a little fight with the GSP myself. The seller advises the shipping as $23 USPS Priority, which is fine with me, as I am so deperate to get the T-shirt for Father's Day on time. Item posted on 23.08. The tracking shows item being allocated to FEDEX Australia on 31.08. Estimated time for delivery: 19 September. I contacted Fedex I told them that the last time they hold my item for 2 months blaming Australia Post which had nothing to do with it. Their answer: The GSP chooses the economy fee for Fedex so they can keep it in their depot for up to a month. If they paid what the buyer had to pay which is PRIORITY fee I would get the item like during the old good times within 5 days. Suck in. So I call ebay GSP and they tell me that if I paid through USPS Priority it would cost me $2 more. So I asked him : DON'T YOU THINK THAT SINCE I ALREADY PAID $23 I RATHER PAY EXTRA $2 AND GET THE ITEM ON TIME?  He told me I should be buying items from my own country only.  Brilliant customer service.

[gscalefan]

I have just had a second highly collectible item "lost" by the Ebay/ Pitney Bowes(PB) Global Shipping Program(GSP) and had difficuty getting the shipping cost refunded.

The first item was classed as oversize even though Ebay, PB and the seller's records clearly show it was not! it was then promptly "liquidated" by PB within 1 day and onsold before any action could be taken to recover it or pay for "oversize" shipping.

The second item has just disappeared without any tracking information.

It is very disappointing winning an item that you consider has value beyond the auction price and then having it snatched away due to the incompetence or dishonesty within the GSP. A refund does not really compensate. It's even worse when the shipping cost is not refunded. Supposedly Ebay is sorting it out..........

I can't help wondering if there is some sort of racket going on to steal valuable collectible items within PB.

I don't intend to purchase from sellers using the GSP in future.

B

[cq_electrical]

When it comes to an eBay affiliate, nothing at all would surprise me these days. I will say however that for such a large logistics company, Pitney Bowes certainly does appear to have considerably more than their fair share of "non-delivery issues" and "other associated losses".

[the_pooze]

With greatest respect I disagree most vigorously.  I most certainly see very little in the way of "distress" pricing on their items.  We could also go on to disucss what they realised for my apparently "undeliverable" Longines watch.  A Gross Margin of 40%+ is VERY good business indeed.

[afantiques]

I most certainly see very little in the way of "distress" pricing on their items. 

The ebay outlet selling the items is not part of the GSP business. They buy from the GSP at low prices. What they ask after that is up to them but does not go into Pitney Bowes' pocket.

[cq_electrical]

I don't understand why they even bother listing on ebay.com.au as all of their listings specifically state "Does Not Ship To Australia". Some items obviously wouldn't clear Customs, but the majority of items listed are perfectly legitimate to import into AU. Go figure.

[scootaolle]

i also from experience would not buy from anyone who uses the global shipping program. just bought on ebay 3 small items separately lised by the same seller for a total od $89 us dollars.they would be shipped in same package.seller initially quoted $30 postage .system came up 3 separate postages totaling $98. rediculous. they said i agreed to the condition of the global service

i will bet that ebay owns this pitney bowes company.they are probably the most greedy company [ ebay] in the world.

[i-love-my-sheep]

Scoot, you can't combine postage using the GSP, which is one of the biggest bugbears. Contact your seller and ask if they would be willing to post using USPS. If they agree, go to the eBay US site and request an invoice from the shopping cart. It's the only way a seller can send an invoice with revised postage costs as the GSP prevents them from sending one the normal way. Doing that overrides the GSP.

If the seller refuses your request, ask them to send a cancellation request as having to pay those sorts of costs is outrageous, especially as GSP will send the items in one box.

[lyndal1838]

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@scootaolle wrote:

i also from experience would not buy from anyone who uses the global shipping program. just bought on ebay 3 small items separately lised by the same seller for a total od $89 us dollars.they would be shipped in same package.seller initially quoted $30 postage .system came up 3 separate postages totaling $98. rediculous. they said i agreed to the condition of the global service

i will bet that ebay owns this pitney bowes company.they are probably the most greedy company [ ebay] in the world.

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Ebay does not own Pitney Bowes....they are a long established and reputable Shipping and Logistics company.

I just think they have bitten off more than they can chew by getting involved with ebay and the GSP....they need more staff and more depots to cope with the volume of items being shipped.

And they need to pay FedEx for a faster shipping service....all they pay nfor is Economy delivery to Australia and FedEx will often sit on items here for up to 3 weeks before either giving them to Australia Post or delivering it themselves.

[ajarnjenny]

And yet.....................I bought a heavy quilted bedspread and pillowcases through the GSP, with a bit over $30 postage and they arrived in nine days!

For heavier items it is good.