Does anyone else HATE this stupid Global shipping program?

[berwen2010]

I've found Global to be inflexible, expensive and frustrating. I've just had an item sent through it and of course it's under multiple carriers and the number I was given by WNDirect cannot be tracked. I've therefore paid for a Priority Mail service and received what was First Class without the tracking. I live in Australia and First Class International through the good old U.S. Post can now be tracked here. It is SO much better than what I just experienced and costs me so much less, but when a seller locks themselves into a Global listing, it appears that they can no longer override the invoice so I've just paid double for this rubbish! So not happy!!

[imastawka]

Just imagine one day that in order to see your doctor, you have to pay a consultant to assess your situation before you'd even be allowed to speak to the doctor. 

I believe it's called triage.   It's been around a long time.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@4channel wrote:

Hi victoriandoll2 , GSP is an arrogantly and rudely inserted middleman. Inserited with the arrogance of any greed based unwarranted middleman service. Just imagine one day that in order to see your doctor, you have to pay a consultant to assess your situation before you'd even be allowed to speak to the doctor.  Same thing! Someone dreamt up a way to make money. And they're creaming it now.

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I have a different take on why the GSP was introduced.

eBay could see that many sellers in the USA would not post internationally.  The introduction of the GSP allowed sellers to continue to only post domestically while selling internationally.  Sure, it costs buyers more, but the point has been made that many US items that are now available for purchase by Aussies would not be available without the GSP being in place.  For this privilege there comes a cost.  Not only do buyers pay the sellers domestic shipping charge they have to pay for the processing for exporting and shipping to get the item to Australia.

I have made this point before as well . . . . . . buyers have all the power in a transaction at the ‘choice’ stage.  When a buyer is ‘choosing’ who to buy from they alone decide who their choice will be.  No seller makes a buyer buy their items.  Buyers make that choice.  For a buyer to choose to buy from a seller and then complain is ridiculous, especially when the costs are outlined before buying.

Sure, choosing not to buy an item that is shipped by the GSP might mean missing out on the item . . . . . . BUT, if the seller wasn’t going to ship internationally without the GSP in place then you are not missing out at all.

When I was selling cameras I only shipped to Aussie addresses.  If the GSP was rolled out here in Australia I wouldn’t mind because it would make my items available to overseas buyers . . . . . buyers who would make their own decision about how badly they wanted to buy my cameras.  If the GSP was available to me it would protect me against negative feedback for slow delivery times, Item Not Received claims due to slow delivery, negative feedback for shipping cost, negative feedback for item damage while in transit and Item Not As Described claims for items that are damaged during overseas shipping.  You can’t blame a seller for not opting out of using the GSP when you take these situations into account.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@4channel wrote:Just imagine one day that in order to see your doctor a specialist, you have to pay a consultant GP to assess your situation before you'd even be allowed to speak to the doctor specialist.

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this is already the case when wanting a blood test/pathology services or seeing a specialist.

Spoiler

should’ve thought through that analogy a bit more before posting.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

an interesting read:

https://www.webretailer.com/lean-commerce/ebay-global-shipping-program/#/

and in the the interests of balance 

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/ebay-global-shipping-program-disadvantages-4114389

[lyndal1838]

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@4channel wrote:

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@imastawka wrote:

Padi, if it's not in your history, then the mods, in their ulltimate wisdom, have deleted it.

Maybe the conversation, perhaps with 4channel got a little heated?

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Nothing got heated there imastawka. The thread has been found.

Even though Padi went to a good effort to write it out and made some good points on it, it didn't really cover the horrid side of GSP.

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That is the whole point of Padi's thread....to put some balance into the discussion about the GSP.

There are already enough posters complaining about the "horrid" GSP without any attempt at giving a balanced view.

[padi*0409]

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@4channel wrote:

Even though Padi went to a good effort to write it out and made some good points on it, it didn't really cover the horrid side of GSP.

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Sure I started the thread 4channel and I did give both the pros and the cons for the GSP, but there were certainly other members input to that thread - for which I'm very grateful.

At least it gives a balanced view of the GSP, something that your posts very rarely do.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I buy from sellers using the GSP when it benefits me, and I avoid the listings where it does not benefit me.  I really don’t see that it could be any more simpler than that.

[marwi_3023]

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/business/pitney_bowes.html

[lyndal1838]

If you read that site you will see that it is a US site and the participants are complaining about a different aspecct of the Pitney Bowes business.

It has nothing to do with the GSP to Australia.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@marwi_3023 wrote:
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/business/pitney_bowes.html

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if I was considering a long-term lease or contract arrangement with PB then I might find the site you linked to useful . . . . . . but like other eBay members whose only contact with PB is through one-off shipping of items I didn’t find anything useful to my experiences on that site.

For those who haven’t looked at the site, it is mainly reviews of the PB business contracts/leases and complaints about terminating leases (nothing to do with the GSP) or billing practices (nothing to do with GSP) or returning equipment (nothing to do with GSP) or problems with speaking to PB employees on the phone (nothing to do with the GSP).  I have included one of the PB reviews in the spoiler below to highlight the type of reviews on the link page

Spoiler

I have been getting charged for both a rental and lease account for over 15 months. I have tried to reach someone to help for 15 months. I keep getting charged late fees. I can rarely reach a human and when I do they agree to help and then nothing gets done. Run... Don't stop at Pitney Bowes. There are other solutions for postage needs.

and in this next spoiler is one review related to eBay and the GSP from an eBay member in Finland lamenting the use of GSP for UK items.

Spoiler

As an avid user of eBay lately especially when ordering from the UK it has become the only option to have the goods delivered via Pitney Bowes. It takes 3-4 weeks for a simple delivery to reach me. That's longer than stuff usually takes to come from China! The worst of all is there is no usable tracking number that would work here in Finland when the delivery has entered the country. For comparison Royal Mail often delivers in 3-4 days from the UK to Finland with a proper tracking number. The service just dismal is all I can say.

Now, before I get accused of being a PB apologist, I have modified my purchasing from the USA and I do avoid items that have high shipping through the GSP.  I just don’t go on and on about lost item opportunities or on and on about uncooperative sellers.