I've seen hundreds of posts about the GSP, but the more I look into it the more I do not understand why it is in place.
I buy a lot of stock from international buyers and import to Australia on a weekly basis. The main purchases I make a sports and non-sports trading cards. I recently found an international ebay seller who had fantastic stock and great prices. But because they used the GSP, they couldn't combine the postage. So for each additional trading card, which is a small piece of cardboard that weighs about 5 grams, the GSP charge was around US$5 - $7 per item, roughly about the same value as the item. I couldn't complete my planned order with that seller for around US$7500.
One of the largest auction houses on Ebay uses GSP for some items. I look at thousands and bid on hundreds of items each week, so it is impossible to note how each individual item is shipped. When each order is finalised, there will typically be 5 items they ship with GSP, and the other 35 items are shipped with Fedex (EBAY can only combine an invoice for 40 items max). Fedex charges around US$60 for the 35 trading cards, and GSP will be somewhere around US$30 - $40 for the other five items. This significantly increases my freight bill (as those 5 items could easily have fit in the Fedex box). Once the items are shipped, Fedex will turn up in about 5 days, while GSP arrives in around 6 weeks. I only go through with the GSP sales to avoid the unpaid item strikes. Our business survives on fast turnaround times, first to market products and like any business - cashflow. GSP prevent any of these things from happening, they reduce international sales for Ebay sellers, reduce the purchasing options and increase the cost of freight for international buyers.
So my question is - if GSP reduces sales for Ebay Sellers, and restricts purchasing by Ebay Buyers - who does GSP benefit?
