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??

[afantiques]

The extra costs involved are due to the GSP packaging the item, plus, being a business, they are entitled to make a profit. The seller doesn't package the item. Unfortunately, they buyer has to wear the costs of the packaging, same as buying from other sellers who charge a handling fee.

Another misapprehension. The item is packed by the seller and if they have got their item specifics correct, it will not need to be examined before export. Examination for export documentation or permissability is the reason for any unpacking/repacking. Unhappily the GSP is most often used by  incompetent sellers, hence the accounts of opend and resealed packages.

The items are also shipped with tracking which costs extra (my tracking numbers have always worked when buying with a GSP postage).

Tracking does not cost extra, but GSP tracking is notoriously useless, and you may have been lucky in  getting it to work.

For larger, heavier items, it actually works out cheaper to have it sent via the GSP than it does USPS. Mine was $69 using GSP and would have been over $100 using USPS.

These items are the ideal  fit for GSP shipping to  Australia. "Avoid anything that does not make financial sense" does not seem tough advice to follow. Remembering that the sellers will in general be a clueless bunch who may well not know they are in the GSP should help.

[leicavulpes]

IMHO....

- GSP is extortion. Paying for the uselsess transmission of items to some locale in North Carolina, for no perceived benefit to the buyer.

- how does one set up ones account to either avoid items with GSP - or - to highlight them more effectively?

- why not simply give bad feedback in every instance where its used, then let ebay and the seller slug it out. If enough sellers complained to ebay about this p.o.s then maybe they'd respond. Lord knows they ignore buyers comments.

[i-love-my-sheep]

If you have extra options open on your search page, you can easily see which US sellers use it. See photo below. Any US sellers that have this will be using the GSP.

On the actual listing, this will appear in the postage section under the item price.

[lyndal1838]

You cannot leave bad feedback for an item sent by the GSP....ebay will remove it.

[jessam55]

I have had a few items shipped through GSP when i have purchased items off Ebay.....the shipping is so slow it tours the US forever.....I am now waiting for another parcel from the US that was posted on the 11/10 & it still hasn't left the US yet & I have just received an email to say that it now has a tracking number & it's an Eparcel through Australia Post but on their website it says no events currently found? how weird...by the way postage was $65US..... ridiculous!!!

[lyndal1838]

A lot of the smaller parcels are handed to Australia Post once they reach Australia with FedEx...mostly they are eParcels with the sender being listed as FedEx.   Occasionally they are ordinary mail.

The AP tracking will not show until the parcel is in Australia, and possibly delivered to you although the FedEx tracking should pick it up as soon as it is in their possession.

[padi*0409]

jessam, a couple of things that may help you, firstly if you go into an actual PO they can access a tracking site that shows more detail than the one you can use on their website.

Secondly, you can try the link to the tracking website below which covers most countries worldwide.

http://www.17track.net/en/

[zanadoo_56]

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@padi.0409.0409 wrote:

jessam, a couple of things that may help you, firstly if you go into an actual PO they can access a tracking site that shows more detail than the one you can use on their website.

Secondly, you can try the link to the tracking website below which covers most countries worldwide.

http://www.17track.net/en/

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I've found phoning AP Customer Service works too when it comes to asking for more tracking information.

[reserves!]

I have just had an exchange of messages with an American about the problems the GSP would create for me if I won items at his auction (expected to be items around the $30 mark). He said "Wow, I had no idea." He has withdrawn from the GSP and was informed the process would take about 72hrs to complete. 

[83bj60]

Just a question about avoiding sellers who are in Global Shipping Program - Do you know of any script that could be used to weed out the vast majority of listings that now use this scam? eBay sure isn't giving users the option, like it does for free shipping. Getting stuff on eBay is a real struggle now.