Is anyone else disillusioned with the ebay buying experience since the GSP was introduced?

[mistergranger]

Shipping charges from the US under the Global Shipping Program are extorniate. A once favourite pastime as a buyer on ebay will become history if the sellers are unwilling or unable to opt out of this ridiculously expensive Shipping Program that has been FORCED onto them. 

What say you?

[bigbrickshop]

I have resumed using a US address for my purchases on ebay.com since most sellers started using the GSP. It takes a little longer but works out much cheaper in the long run as I can buy several items and get them shipped to Aus in one box.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

there are other threads regarding the GSP and Pitney Bowes. Take a look at http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/Thank-you-eBay/m-p/679059#U679059 by go-tazz.

Follow tazz's lead and communicate with sellers who have GSP in place and let them know that you will not be buying from them because of the GSP charges.

I would recommend that Aussie eBayers who want to buy from GSP sellers in the USA should try to have items sent to a friend/relative in the USA if possible.  This would mean NO GSP PAYMENT is needed, and you can buy more items from other sellers to fill a Large Flat Rate Box sent via USPS by the friend/relative and save on postage.  A guy I work with bought a juke-box controller and had it sent to my contact in the USA and paid no GSP charges.

edit: sportandplay got their answer in while I was preparing mine . . . . I type too slowly . . . . . great suggestion sport

[tys11mog21]

Unless the seller accepts a lower price from the purchaser those sort of fees will greatly diminish transactions. The same can be said for auction houses who place massive fees on the hammer fall price. A Melbourne auction firm recently sold an iconic kangaroo stamp for $65000.00 Au (hammer fall price) and fees were 20% to the buyer extra. How ridiculous, especially if they then charged fees to the seller for the listing. My opinion ---rip off after all there is no more expense selling a $100.00 stamp than a $65000.00 one.

Unfortunately fees and charges are not regulated and will continue to plague all deals until we refuse to pay them by finding another more enjoyable thing to do.

[davewil1964]

The seller probably would have paid 15%. Or more.

While it costs little more, timewise, to sell a $100 item than a $65,000 item, the commission on the $100 item wouldn't cover costs.

Also a more valuable item, like a $65,000 stamp, would require a LOT more time, effort and cost to prove provenance. And staff to supervise presale viewing (which many (any?) $100 items would not require).

Besides eBay is not a B&M auction house. For eBay 'auctions' it is basically an invitation to treat. So your analogy is, at best, flawed.

[cyclonic_thai]

I don't know about US Sellers being forced to use GSP's, as I have a number of Items on Watch from US Sellers who are definitely not using a GSP. In fact, I just bought from such a Seller. In addition, a GSP Seller, shocked at my revelations re GSP's, agreed to let me use USPS (though I didn't win in the end), which would seem to indicate that they can still go the old way, if they want to.

However, I, too am very disheartened at the increasing number who are using a GSP, and you and I are not alone in feeling that way. This is, in fact, just one of five threads (I think!) on this topic that I have seen, and there may be more. And I should think that they were just the tip of the iceberg, as many eBayers will make up their minds on this issue without going public.

What concerns me about this out-and -out rapacity is its potential to turn the clock back 20 years.As follows....

By making international txns unreasonable, the GSP's effectively limit "their" Sellers to local-only trade, which means the GSP's lose out as the Sellers don't have to use them for local-only.  Then the GSP's either have to cut their losses and let the Sellers go back to the old regime (USPS, best-case scenario), or, if they're determined to make a buck and don't care who they hurt, they'll start hitting local-only trade as well. That means everybody loses: Buyers will quit buying, and the Sellers will give it away as a bad joke and go back to using the classifieds, word-of-mouth, or just chuck their Items in the charity bin. Just like they would have done before eBay got going....

Not happy, Jan, not happy at all Someone needs to be "sent a message", me thinks....

[lyndal1838]

Cyclonic, the GSP shipper Pitney Bowes does use USPS.....but they use the most expensive service which gives the seller full tracking and insurance.  They use all the bells and whistles to give the sellers full paypal protection.

On occasion they slip up though....I have had several small parcels arrive clearly labelled Pitney Bowes but sent by First Class mail at roughly double the cost that it would cost the seller to send by First Class if they did it themselves....$20 + instead of under $10.

Pitney Bowes also does not mind being a bit dishonest either.   I recently bought 4 pieces of jewellery which I knew was going to be expensive to post because of the insurance component but I was horrified when it arrived to find how dishonest they were.  The jewellery was in a small box (as the seller had packed it) which was then packed in another box about 10 times the size needed and surrounded with packing peanuts.   The Customs declaration stated the weight as l lb 1 oz (17 ozs)....it actually weighed less than 8 ozs.  The value was stated as US$100 when it should have been closer to $1000.  I was charged US$56.00 which I probably not too far off what I would have paid if it had been calculated correctly but what would have happened if  it had gone missing...how much compensation would have been paid out.   I am guessing the poor seller would have only been entitled to the declared value of US$100.

[cyclonic_thai]

>Cyclonic, the GSP shipper Pitney Bowes does use USPS

I stand corrrected. Postings on this issue elsewhere (if I remember rightly) left me with the impression that PB used (?independent) couriers. Perhaps I'm getting confused with postings on another issue.

>PB also does not mind being a bit dishonest either.

A bit dishonest?? If I were a corporate cop, after hearing of your experience, I'd be out to feel their collars! Bait-and-switch pricing -- which they're quite open about (ie, they don't tell you what you'll have to pay till you can't back out) -- and now the kind of thing you mention....I have an idea Australian law would frown on this kind of carry-on, ditto US law. Can anyone enlighten me?

Btw, I avoided naming PB in my earlier post because they might not be the only GSP out there. I've also come across mention of something called "Bongo", which also appears to be a GSP or the like, though hopefully with better ethics! Does that name ring a bell with anyone?

[lyndal1838]

If you read the ebay spiel on the GSP you will see that PB is the only service mentioned.

Bongo is an International Mail Forwarding service and nothing to do with ebay apart from the fact that ebay members could use it if they wish...it is in no way affiliated with ebay that I can see.

[warranyah]

It is actually hard to understand how the Global Shipping price is determined..

Last December I purchased an item now listed as #171116199024 with deivery to Australia costing $33.61..

Postal rates were lower then and I paid $23, I think, for delivery..

It came by Fedex and was here in 6 days

The weight was listed as 44lbs.

I could hardly believe the low shipping cost.

How then do much smaller items cost so much more?