Global Shipping disaster

[catgirl770]

This new program in the UK and the US is a disaster. It routinely charges 200% or 300% of the usual cost and it's very difficult to get round. I've been badly stung twice with purchases from the UK and now I won't buy items that are sent by Global Shipping - and it's not as though the seller gets the money. If it was some random seller not on ebay you'd think it was a scam, it's so outrageous.

[reserves!]

I noticed a UK seller with GSP yesterday.

Though dedinitions will be argued over, a string of questions keeps poping up about the GSP's implementation. To me it reads like the default setting has you operating as an agent of the Global Shipping Program. Would that position be a Condition of Use for the Ebay sites that offer GSP? Ebay is always at pains to explain "We are only an auction site" whenever pressed on a topical matter. (The advertising goes without saying.)

[terminalvelocd]

If a seller chooses to allow shipping via the GSP, they can also provide secondary shipping services (e.g. Royal Mail in the UK, USPS in the States).  It is up to the seller to provide shipping options and they don't have to if they don't wish to.  There's no 'lock' as such.  As I have said so many times, I have been a winner on a large scale with the GSP, having hundreds of kg of items shipped to me at a small fraction of the price that they would have cost me if I had them shipped via other means.

[padi*0409]

I believe the main problem with GSP (in USA anyway) is that it's a default setting for shipping, and apart from few sellers knowing how to opt out of it, anecdotal evidence suggests that in an auction if there are bids on the item then the "opt out" is not an option.

It would also appear that combined/reduced postage prices are not possible with the GSP. 

[sprinklespowerpuff]

Fine for you then but certainly not for a huge number of buyers of jewellery, collectables and so on - small items that with GSP make purchases of such items completely unviable cost wise. No wonder many no longer buy on this site.

[zanadoo_56]

I've been reading about the intro of GSP ('Global Shipping Programme'  LOL) in the UK and many sellers have complained about being opted in automatically like in the US, or even opted in when they had already contacted eBay not to be (I gather this was an option).  So eBay is up to its old GSP tricks it seems.  Like the US they send stuff to a processing centre then on it goes (hopefully).

I also read that initially it only applied to posting to other EU countries....where in a situation remarkably like the Canada/US debacle, buyers were being changed for duty where none was required, due to some agreement between EU nations...or something like that. (Don't quote me!  I haven't read the UK boards for a while).

UK sellers of course have had the advantage of advanced warning of how the GSP works (or doesn't) compared to US sellers, and they seem to be more cynical about it, not to mention savvy about opting out.  I'd be surprised if eBay/Pitney Bowes are as successful there as they have been in the US.

If the GSP from the UK now includes shipping to Oz that is really bad news.

[lyndal1838]

Do you know if the UK service is handled by Pitney Bowes?

I thought I saw a post somewhere mentioning a different company being the shipper from the UK.....It was on the Australian boards but I can't find it now.

[mark311055]

I find I can no longer shop for my bargain or vintage or individual clothes overseas because of the ridiculous postage prices .. And now the UK too! Second hand clothes are no longer a bargain or good value when you are paying 2 to 3 times what the postage should be! Occasionally I will strike a seller who is not using GS and their postage is reasonable ... But they are few and far between! Buyers can only WALK away .... Sellers are the ones who have to change -don't use Global Shipping or your customer base will diminish! I will only shop locally one ( Australia)

[zanadoo_56]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Do you know if the UK service is handled by Pitney Bowes?

I thought I saw a post somewhere mentioning a different company being the shipper from the UK.....It was on the Australian boards but I can't find it now.

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This is from eBay's GSP UK site:

PayPal is the exclusive payment method currently accepted, to allow the buyer’s payment to be split between you and Pitney Bowes - the global technology and international postage provider who will manage the UK Shipping Centre.

[cq_tech]

Bugger! Well there goes another neighbourhood. 😞

[wilk1149]

And it won't be long before Pitney Bowes and the global shipping program is the default option for international shipping out if this country. Might be a hint in the first part of their name, Global