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??

[i-love-my-sheep]

That was the point I was trying to make, if it's supposed to take 2 weeks and it takes 6, how is that my problem? You have sold a few things, how would you feel if you'd done everything right, posted within a few hours of payment, there is some delay in the postal system and it took 6 weeks to arrive instead of 2, then your buyer turns around and negs you and blames you because it took so long to arrive?

If your seller hasn't posted overseas before, maybe they didn't KNOW that it would be slower than USPS. Especially as I said earlier, they see the word 'priority' and assume that it will be faster because they think it takes priority over regular mail. It's a very common misconception. Also, sometimes GSP is quicker than USPS. It depends on when the item gets to Kentucky. If there is a full shipment ready to go, then it will be shipped out the same day as it arrives there. If a shipment left the day before, then it might sit there for 2 weeks until they get a full shipment, before it gets sent.

Here's an idea, why don't you contact your seller and ask them to check they sent the correct tracking number. One of my sellers missed a digit out of the tracking number a couple of weeks ago. It had 4 x 3's in it and they only put in 3. Easy enough mistake to make, especially if you have a lot of orders to go out. Your number had a lot of zero's in it, maybe they put one less or an extra one by mistake..

[bitsnpiecesofstuff]

I assume your not a seller kuromusha1, GSP also amongst other things offers the seller some sort of protection against defects from postage price and speed etc. Often sellers are punished by buyers for things relating to postage that are totally out of the sellers control.

[i-love-my-sheep]

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@breamandbass wrote:

I assume your not a seller kuromusha1, GSP also amongst other things offers the seller some sort of protection against defects from postage price and speed etc. Often sellers are punished by buyers for things relating to postage that are totally out of the sellers control.

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Apparently the sellers do have full control over delivery times............ I think it was actually my fault that a mail truck crashed en route to WA a few months back. I think it had something to do with me sleeping through the alarm one day.

[cq_tech]

Sheep, I'd have thought you had far more important things to do than waste your time arguing with the ill-informed cretins and morons who seem to pop up in these forums with increasing regularity.

[i-love-my-sheep]

Awww, but sometimes it's fun CQ!

[cq_tech]

For a while, perhaps, but then it just becomes tedious and thoroughly annoying, and it should be clear by now that your current opponent is never going to accept the truth and change his mind, and I don't know about you, but I have a very low tolerance threshold for one-eyed zealots. AFAIC, they're a complete and utter waste of time and space.

[i-love-my-sheep]

Generation "I always get my own way because no-one has ever told me no" or Generation "I've always had everything given to me that I want otherwise I'll chuck a tanty".

I don't think some people realise that the seller/buyer they are threatening could quite easily come to the forums and see exactly what they are up to. Just because the seller is overseas, doesn't mean they won't pay a visit here. I've seen a few sellers just suddenly materialise from nowhere and see what their buyers are up to.

[littlepuss3]

What an absolute rip off these US Global posting costs. I wanted a little 10ml bottle of essential oil. The postage...$21.10! It just puts customers off and sellers wont get sales. Fix this for goodness sake!

[zanadoo_56]

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@littlepuss3 wrote:
What an absolute rip off these US Global posting costs. I wanted a little 10ml bottle of essential oil. The postage...$21.10! It just puts customers off and sellers wont get sales. Fix this for goodness sake!

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Ebay have got themselves nicely covered when it comes to criticising the GSP.  Sellers use it and it sucks for buyers but it's not the sellers' fault that postage costs are grossly inflated and parcels could probably arrive faster on a rowboat than handled by Pitney Bowes.

If only there was a star to check for eBay's service....separate from the seller.  Then eBay can be dinged for the GSP's poor service.

[cupcake15]

You guys are confusing me.

Are sellers compelled to use GSP when listing an item for international buyers?