Global Shipping Program

[jumunjipeter]

 Buyers beware of sellers in the USA who are on the Global Shipping Program. I recently bought 4 watches from the same seller in the USA, and when I went to pay, there were 4 shipping costs - $17.70, $17.40, $17.80 and $17.89. (Try and work out why they were all different???). When I asked the seller to combine the posting, he replied that he cannot as the Global Shipping Program does not allow him to combine.

 When I messaged eBay about this I received a message back that said in part "The seller doesn't know the import cost since it is the global shipping provider that would determine depending on your location. Thus, the US sellers are not allowed to combine postage." That is a load of crock. THERE IS NO IMPORT COST FOR WATCHES INTO AUSTRALIA. I have imported for the last 2 years.

 Talk about getting ripped-off.

 Pitney Bowes are the Global Shippers, and their site reads "AFTER you've completed checkout, you can review these charges on the Order Details page. The Order Details page shows the total charges and the payment amounts to the seller and the payment amount that went to the global shipping provider".

 The seller posts your item to Pitney Bowes and they forward post it to you.

 I read up on this Global Shipping Program and it says that they are not affiliated with eBay, yet eBay obviously gets a kick-back from them. This is what their site reads under "Description of Fees"::

 1. U.S. Shipping Fee

 2. International Shipping Fee

 3. Fuel Surcharge

 4. Transportation Fee

 5. Parcel Processing Service Fee

 6. Distribution Center Management Fee

 7. Loss Management Fee

 8. Transportation Risk Premium Fee

 9. Referral Fee - a variable fee paid by Pitney Bowes to eBay Inc. for referring you to the program.

 I wonder, if ever, when eBay will stop it's quest for greed at the expense of the buyers and sellers. There are millions of items sold and bought on eBay every day. When is "enough" enough??

[fracturedfairytales]

could still turn up.

your feedback left for others says it all.

[stua.mont]

Your non helpful reply says it all - troll with (0) transactions

[stua.mont]

Really? 6 negative feedbacks out of 73 transactions, that says it all does it? I call a spade a spade mate and if something is wrong with an item, or as in one case, only 1/3 of the shipment arrvies, I will leave feedback accordingly to warn others .

also if a item is advertised as being in Sydney (approx 4-5 hours from here) and is actually shipped from China, I will also do my best to warn others. So get over yourself and go back to whatever it is you do.

[mtzelnic8qpu]

David hi,

if you have a problem again,  have them ship it to me and I will ship to you. No proble.m

take care

mori

[scootaolle]

absolutely you nailed it, the ebay affiliated GSS is the most inefficient postal system imaginable. they lost a ''once in a lifetime comes along'' item and could'nt care less. ebay's involvement was just as bad they more or less said ''you got your money back what are you complaining about'' and then with the usual fob off dismissed my complaints.legaly i wonder how ebay can get away with the sellers not showing in the  initial up front listing that they use the GSS.it doesnt seem to get shown until you payfor the item.

as well how come the GSS can take import duties out before the item has left u.s shores. and what right does pitney bowes have to judge whether the item cmplies with australian custom laws. that's what we pay our taxes for  ,for australian authorities  to judge not some pitney bowes emplyee. 

i've come to the stage where i'm not going to buy off u.s sellers who insist on using it,or if i get caught show in the feedback my displeasure. 

[imastawka]

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@scootaolle wrote:

absolutely you nailed it, the ebay affiliated GSS is the most inefficient postal system imaginable. they lost a ''once in a lifetime comes along'' item and could'nt care less. ebay's involvement was just as bad they more or less said ''you got your money back what are you complaining about'' and then with the usual fob off dismissed my complaints.legaly i wonder how ebay can get away with the sellers not showing in the  initial up front listing that they use the GSS.it doesnt seem to get shown until you payfor the item.

as well how come the GSS can take import duties out before the item has left u.s shores. and what right does pitney bowes have to judge whether the item cmplies with australian custom laws. that's what we pay our taxes for  ,for australian authorities  to judge not some pitney bowes emplyee. 

i've come to the stage where i'm not going to buy off u.s sellers who insist on using it,or if i get caught show in the feedback my displeasure. 

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-It is always shown on listings - always.  

       

If there are any import charges, then PB pays them for you

Many people won't buy from a seller who uses the GSP and the numbers are growing.

But the sellers like it because they are protected from negs and defects.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@scootaolle wrote:

absolutely you nailed it, the ebay affiliated GSS is the most inefficient postal system imaginable. they lost a ''once in a lifetime comes along'' item and could'nt care less. ebay's involvement was just as bad they more or less said ''you got your money back what are you complaining about'' and then with the usual fob off dismissed my complaints.legaly i wonder how ebay can get away with the sellers not showing in the  initial up front listing that they use the GSS.it doesnt seem to get shown until you payfor the item.

as well how come the GSS can take import duties out before the item has left u.s shores. and what right does pitney bowes have to judge whether the item cmplies with australian custom laws. that's what we pay our taxes for  ,for australian authorities  to judge not some pitney bowes emplyee. 

i've come to the stage where i'm not going to buy off u.s sellers who insist on using it,or if i get caught show in the feedback my displeasure. 

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Waste of time. Bad feedback can't be left about the GSP. EBay removes it. You're better off doing what the rest of us do and avoid sellers that use it (Unless the item is large and bulky, then it's way cheaper to have it sent that way). The other option is to ask the seller to post using USPS, but the number of people willing to do that are diminishing because they don't have the same protection.

[gec2002]

"You're better off doing what the rest of us do and avoid sellers that use it"

Does that include Australian sellers that use it, because I suspect it coming to us in the near future. On my selling ID I was sent a survey on selling internationally. After giving a negative to selling internationally the next set of questions all gave a strong indication that they want to try a similiar scheme in Australia. ie Would you sell internationally if eBay protected your feedback, if eBay covered any missing items etc etc, everything that GSP offers in the US.

Looking at it with my selling hat on, I don't sell overseas as I regard it too risky, and on the odd occasion that I do, I always have expensive tracked, insured postage.  However that doesn't protect me from negs etc, so if I use GSP even if I sell nothing overseas I am no worse off, and anything I do sell is a bonus with no risk attached.

[imastawka]

You won't get that protection on domestic sales though - only international sales

Even if they bring it in here

Otherwise, all sellers in the UK and USA would have 100% fb

[buffalotice]

Global shipping, as someone mentioned is for lazy sellers. I just received an item whch when when photographed by the seller was fine but after useless apcking by Pitney Bowes arrived partly broken. ie They put a small item in a huge box with no padding around it so it got smashed around inside the box on it's journey. Not really the sellers fault but I can't claim against Pitney Bowes either!

I think in future unless the seller ships direct I will not buy the item. Pitney Bowes sucks!