@matilda-mary,
Your first post is directed towards a person you apparently don't know, taking her to task in what is frankly an incomprehensible way. That is bizarre. I cannot imagine myself marching up to a stranger, grabbing them by the collar, and hectoring them on the basis of an ill-informed "I bet" position.
- No, 98% of padi's posts are not "sticking up for [...] Pitney Bowes and the Global Shipping Program." 98% of padi's posts are not even about PB or the GSP. padi posts on a wide range of topics, and does so with humour and helpfulness.
- padi does not consider PB or the GSP to be without fault or inappropriate in many cases. padi's opening post on the "Global Shipping Program put into perspective" thread goes into the pros and cons, and even addresses the question of asking the seller to send via another method. padi warns that there might be long delivery times, also warns that PB will confiscate some items that they consider are prohibited, and explains that fragile items might be damaged if the seller is sending through the GSP. padi specifically suggests that buyers look to other sellers in that case (or ask for seller to use another carrier).
- padi even asked for someone to post the opt-out procedure for sellers. (Not every seller is even aware of being opted in to the GSP.) I provided that information in one of early posts as per padi's request.
- The over-arching impression that any reasonable individual would gain from all of this is that padi was interested in providing options and balanced information, NOT in endorsing or supporting PB and the GSP.
The general view is that the GSP is often an expensive and slow option, and that in many cases it can be useful for the buyer to contact the seller pre-purchase to ask whether they would be happy to send via a direct shipping method to you/me/the Australian buyer.
- Yes, you have the right to complain about this third party service. It is certainly not a premium service and it can certainly be horribly expensive. I have avoided purchasing from sellers who will only send through the GSP. (In most cases, that's meant that I specified my US forwarding address and had several shipments consolidated and then forwarded to me here in Australia, though. It's not a cheap option, but it is certainly faster (and safer) than the GSP! Alternatively, one can ask for the seller to use a cheaper postage option... but I would never demand this, as the seller has the right to say no.)
- If you have the right to complain (and of course you do), padi has the right to post whatever padi wishes to post, as long as the community guidelines are adhered to. It does not make sense for you to claim a right which you deny another poster.
- Your comment about padi "do[ing] us all a favour" assumes that "all of us" agree with your views about padi's posts - which is far from being the case. If you had read padi's posts, I venture to suggest you'd realise that it's at least possible you agree with padi.
- Your instruction to padi to "pull your head in" is offensive without apparent cause.
- Your further instruction to padi to "stop typing the same old tired responce[sic]" is also without cause. As I've said, padi does not endorse or support the GSP, and if you were to actually read padi's posts when people post here with legitimate concerns or issues, from what I can remember padi does not post "too bad, the GSP is wonderful" sorts of posts, but rather posts suggestions on how to avoid similar issues and how to go about getting refunds of the GSP portion of a transaction. (I'm not going to re-peruse padi's posts in order to verify this, though. However, had padi been all gung-ho about the GSP and PB, I'd have noticed.)
- Your comment about "the same old worn out name" is offensive without apparent cause.
- Your comment about "the same old worn out comments time and time again, against everyone who had a grip about the blatent[sic] ripoff on postage and handling" is inaccurate. You as much as admit that you haven't read padi's posts (when you say "I bet 98% of thosenearly[sic] posts are sticking up for the biggest ripoff of the century"), so I feel reasonably sure that you haven't actually read any such "worn out comments", let alone "time and again", which suggests that you are not being forthcoming about why you are targeting padi.
- You are correct in saying "Pitney Bowes does not even do the delivery". PB are indeed a logistics company, and their fees for what they do are more than I would be happy to pay. For that matter, I would certainly not want PB to repack items which the seller has presumably carefully packaged, to the items' detriment.
- Yes, the way in which the GSP works is that you pay two different postage components. One is the postage from the seller to PB's warehouse. The other is what PB charge (not just the actual overseas delivery cost, not just any handling fees and import charges, and not just the GST component for that - but also PB's admin fee for actually collecting the GST, and GST on that admin fee!). No one disagrees with you that this is outrageous.
- If you don't want to pay the GSP fees, and feel that those fees would be ripping you off, just avoid purchasing from sellers who will only send through the GSP. The choice to avoid those fees is ours as eBay buyers who can choose from whom we buy.
- You aren't going to be able to get PB to change their ways - at least, I don't think you can. Several on these boards have attempted to communicate with PB in an attempt to get them to justify the fees - to little avail.
There may be situations where the GSP ends up being cheaper than any other postage method. I believe that for large, bulky, heavy items, it can actually be cost-effective. For smaller and lighter items, and for situations where multiple items from the same seller ought to be able to be combined (but aren't), of course it's ridiculously overpriced.
Again, I reiterate that I have never purchased anything shipped through the GSP, and I doubt I would do so in the future. I'm not an advocate of the GSP, but I can see that for sellers, it's a boon when they want to avoid issues with overseas buyers.
DISCLOSURE: While I don't know padi in person and we've never communicated off these boards, I like padi from everything that I know of padi from these boards.
@matilda-mary wrote:
padi*0409 12,963 posts and you say start you up and you'll never stop. I bet 98% of thosenearly 13,000 posts are sticking up for the biggest ripoff of the century Pitney Bowes and the Global Shipping Program. As a long time e-bay buyer, I have the right to complain about being ripped off by a third party that gives third rate service and chargest the highest premium first rate price. So do us all a favour and pull your head in and stop typing the same old tired responce to people who have a legitimate gripe against being ripped off
I skipped thru many pages on this forum and the same old worn out name cropped up with the same old worn out comments time and time again, against everyone who had a gripe about the blatent ripoff on postage and handling. And there is no other name for it, as Pitney Bowes does not even do the delivery, all they do is sort parcels into destination to country and then farm it all off to another freight company. So to put it into perspective, we pay the seller to ship it to Global Shipping (owned by Pitney Bowes) who the subcontracts it out to another carrier, so we pay the usps price to get it to Global Shipping who the charge an absolute ripoff price the pass it all on to a cheaper third party carrier. So you tell me, how are we not being ripped off, just give your tired old comments a rest and leave the rest of us alone
Barry
