Global Shipping, the problems are never ending, everyone loses in the long run.

[4channel]

Hi sent this message to a UK seller last year .. .. .. .. .. ..

Hi, I am interested in a record from your selection. The problem is that the postage - GBP 12.90 (approx. AU $22.03) is 3 times the normal amount to post a 45 to Australia by AirMail. Is it possible please that you can change the postage to just normal AirMail. I have a secure mail post office box too. Cheers

The seller replied with    .. .. ... 

Ebay will only ship tracked and insured

And after some back and forth with polite messages both way. me trying to tell seller that she is losing business this way. I finally got this reply  .. .. .. ..

Hi,

I'm the sort of person that respects the agreement I have between Ebay and myself. I wouldn't ask others to manipulate their agreement for my own benefit. I guess I'm just respectful and trustworthy, perhaps to my own financial detriment.

Good luck for the future

I'd like to add that the seller has been cordial all the way though. But  .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Are we now in some kind or Orwellian nightmare ??????????

The thing is that sellers are now becoming robotic and do not seem to think outside the created tunnel of programmed thinking. Collectors are being held to ransom almost. Pay triple postage or don't bother applying.

And to those Ptney Bowes defenders her that come to the rescue of PB for whatever reason.  we are taling about small and medium size collectors items that are the majority of the items that are sold on ebay.

Sad sad sad sad.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

I had a reel of 16mm film (which contained an episode of a very rare Australian TV drama series from 1970) sent from the UK vis GSP a fortnight or so back. Sure, I wasn't happy about the shipping cost ($75 AUD, although the seller accepted a Best Offer of $35 less for the item, which subsidised the freight charge a bit), but it arrived within four days of leaving the UK, safe and sound. Had a highly-collectible prop license plate shipped from the US last year, same thing.

Sure, if there are two identical items up for grabs - one sent via GSP and one sent via whatever regular service the seller's chosen - I'll go with the non-GSP one pretty much everytime.

No way I'd let it come between me and an item I really wanted, though. Comes down to how badly a buyer wants / needs the item in question, I guess.

[4channel]

Thanks for your reply performance_parts_c… . Good input and something to think about.. Being philosophical is a good thing too.  Cheers.

[4channel]

Like the drug pusher who sells to the addicts, both young and old. PB realises that some people are prepared to pay through the nose if they want something bad enough. This type of business is EVIL. No good can come from it. Like the parasitic drug dealers who finance their lavish lifestyle on the suffering of another human being, someone is making a huge profit out of someone else having to pay double, triple, quadruple the postage amount. How can this be a good thing?????

[lyndal1838]

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And to those Ptney Bowes defenders her that come to the rescue of PB for whatever reason.  we are taling about small and medium size collectors items that are the majority of the items that are sold on ebay.

Sad sad sad sad.

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There is not much that Pitney Bowes does that is defensible in any way BUT if a poster is demonstrating that they have no idea how it all works and blame PB for things that are not their fault then I believe that those of us who do know should enlighten them.

It is not defending PB....just telling people what they are misunderstanding.

You can hardly blame sellers for following the ebay instructions like little sheep....ebay makes it very plain that it is in their best interests to do so as the item is insured and tracked all the way and ebay will remove any bad feedback that the seller is given in connetion with the GSP.  The seller wipes their hands of the transaction once it reaches the GSP hub.

As for the cost....the seller could make it more reasonable by entering the dimensions and weight so PB could calculate the cost properly.  Most of them have no idea.

The GSP is a courier service.....try getting a quote from another international courier service based on the same criteria and see how they compare.

[redders_60]

Hi to Lyndal & the OP; Something that might be worth checking out....My daughter uses an Aust Post service called Shopmate when purchasing from the USA. Her particular shipping address is located in a business park in Oregon USA. All shipping costs via Shopmate are in $AU. You get full tracking & insurance with SOD & can combine multi purchases from many sellers (depending on size / weight) within the one parcel. 21 days free storage @ the facility, then a fee applies. 

She has been using the service regularly for nearly a year. Usually parcels arrive promptly without any repacking or customs tampering. It's only happened noticibly to her on two occasions, where the padded bag was damaged that a repack occurred. It seems they usually send the package on in the post bag/parcel it was originally sent in from the supplier; Sometimes all in a larger box or bag for multi packages.

There is a minimum cost of approx $27AUD for each parcel you get posted to AUS. There is a discount for posting multiple parcels (ie. items shipped separately) in the same check out for the service. This could be cheaper than PB & their questionable repacking service? Evidently there are online coupons for discounts available on some orders too! Worth checking on?

It doesn't have to be an eBay purchase. None of my daughter's purchases so far have been from eBay, but from other online stores that don't offer shipping to Australia, e.g Markiplier.com and Amazon US & etc.

My daughter is an accountant & says that It should be noted, that websites can recognise the origin of your debit/credit card and may deny the payment based on the fact that it may be fraudulent. It would be important to check the website will accept Australian debit/credit cards despite your using a US based shipping address before you commit to buy.

[4channel]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

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There is not much that Pitney Bowes does that is defensible in any way BUT if a poster is demonstrating that they have no idea how it all works and blame PB for things that are not their fault then I believe that those of us who do know should enlighten them.

It is not defending PB....just telling people what they are misunderstanding.

You can hardly blame sellers for following the ebay instructions like little sheep....ebay makes it very plain that it is in their best interests to do so as the item is insured and tracked all the way and ebay will remove any bad feedback that the seller is given in connetion with the GSP.  The seller wipes their hands of the transaction once it reaches the GSP hub.

As for the cost....the seller could make it more reasonable by entering the dimensions and weight so PB could calculate the cost properly.  Most of them have no idea.

The GSP is a courier service.....try getting a quote from another international courier service based on the same criteria and see how they compare.

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Well Lyndal, I'm not one of those people who is demonstrating that they have no idea. I know pretty much how it works,  or in actual fact ...........  how it does not work !!!! 

Pitney Bowes has been around for how long ????????????  And to this very day we see time and time again people crying out in pain and frusration and the often abysmal service connected with this company.  People being ripped off time and time again and other issues. I can tell you know to date that I have had 4 negative experiences with this process. Once I had poor packing by them that could have resulted in the damage of some extremely rare / irreplaceable video tapes.  The last time was a box set of DVDs that were repacked and one ended up looking like it had been run across the floor a dozen times. And that is no stretch of the fact!

I wouldn't insult courier services by calling Pitney Bowes one. It doesn't even come close. It is as hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people refer to. A scam!

Anyway, I want to get back to the issue of sellers that are going with the flow like brain-washed sheep, like something out of George Orwell's 1984. It is to their benefit to make sure they don't lose business. They will lose more and more as long as Global Shipping / Pitney Bowes is around. In the end amazon may end up being the winner which may not be a bad thing. But heck, I've been with eBay for a long time and I have fond memories of the good old days. Seems they are fading now.

[4channel]

Hi redders_60, that sounds interesting. Thanks very much for your input. I will look into that.

[lyndal1838]

Redders, some of the boardies investigated the AP service when it was first announced.

The general consensus was that it was overpriced and there were other options out there that were much more cost effective and had already proved their reliability.

The AP service was yet to prove itself.

[digital*ghost]

Brain washed sheep? That's a bit harsh 

Many sellers find the GSP attractive because of all the buyer issues it prevents.

If you want to lay blame for this "Orwellian nightmare", perhaps consider allocating some of that blame to every buyer who:

• Claimed INR when the parcel took "too long" for an international shipment (and by too long, I mean the ones who aren't prepared to wait longer than 2 weeks, and / or the ones who start hassling the seller after 1 week)
• Claimed INR when the parcel attracted customs duties and they didn't want to pay it
• Hassled the seller to pay said customs duties / taxes on their behalf, or opened INAD disputes because of it
• Left negative feedback for any of those scenarios (or both)

The GSP isn't perfect, by a long shot, but many of the sellers who use it wouldn't even offer their items for international shipping without those protections - either they've read all the horror stories, or experienced them themselves over the years. 

Perhaps your seller was just trying to say no politely, because they were no longer prepared to risk any of those things again, and didn't want to say so outright because it's bound to be taken personally. No different than a seller opting to only ship fully tracked with SOD because all other options caused them all to frequently.