l'm not happy with the ebay choice of carrier

[greyfoxkp]

As the buyer l pay for postage, yet have no choice in the carrier. l have reached the point where l no longer want goods l have paid for.  An item l paid for on April 30 still has not left the USA on May 11.  This is very poor service by any standard.

[lyndal1838]

The choice of carrier is entirely up to the seller.....not ebay.

I assume your seller in the USA is using the GSP.   Nobody could ever say it is a cheap and quick delivery service....it is quite the opposite in fact. 

However, it does give the seller very good protection against bad feedback, full insurance and tracking.  Without these, many sellers will not send overseas.

If you don't like the service don't use it.   Find a seller who uses other delivery services.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@greyfoxkp wrote:

As the buyer l pay for postage, yet have no choice in the carrier. l have reached the point where l no longer want goods l have paid for.  An item l paid for on April 30 still has not left the USA on May 11.  This is very poor service by any standard.

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I agree with lyndal, sounds like the item you bought is using the GSP.

Just because you pay for postage doesn’t mean you get to pick the carrier, especially for international items.  By bidding/buying you are agreeing to use of the carrier nominated in the listing.  The time to negotiate a different carrier would be before bidding/buying.

The exceptions to this info would be for domestic listings where a seller lists for pickup only and the listing says that they would facilitate a buyer organising freight themselves via courier service.

There have been reports on these boards where tracking on items is not kept up to date.  It might be that your item has indeed left the USA.  Time will tell.  Do please come back if there are any updates on this item.

[4channel]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

The choice of carrier is entirely up to the seller.....not ebay.

I assume your seller in the USA is using the GSP.   Nobody could ever say it is a cheap and quick delivery service....it is quite the opposite in fact. 

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Yes, I agree that GSP (By Pitney Bowes) is not cheap. Also if a person bids on and wins 4 items from the same seller, they end up paying 4 lots of postage. It's often been referred to as a scam. I agree with that too.

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

However, it does give the seller very good protection against bad feedback, full insurance and tracking.  Without these, many sellers will not send overseas.

If you don't like the service don't use it.   Find a seller who uses other delivery services.

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What it does is block a buyer's ability to give negative feedback which could be very useful in warning other potential buyers of a bad practice. In some instances it may be useful for a minority of sellers who could fall victim to wrongful negatives.  The tracking is nowhere as effective as it should be and in some cases the item goes off the radar and then there is nothing but silence.

There is the risk of theft, damage and confliscation when items are re-packed at Pitney Bowes' depot. I have had been a victim of damage and others victim of theft and confliscation.

I don't agree at all that sellers wouldn't be selling to overseas if not for GSP. Yes, possibly true sometimes, but only in the minority.

Some sellers  ..... 

*  Have no idea that their items are going via GSP

*  Have not idea that that they can opt out of it

*  Have no idea that their customers are paying through the nose for what Lyndal has just identified as a substandard service.

Many sellers   .....

* Go back to USPS and GB Post in disgust when they learn what is happening on the other end to their customers

* Have figured out that they are losing sales because of GSP and go back to USPS and GB Post

* Experience a fast increase in sales and custiomer satisfaction when ditching CSP

* Realise that a customer who pays through the nose for this substandard hugely costly service will most likely not be a return customer.

Most sellers when contacted will relist an item to go via USPS and the GB equivalent when asked. The problem is that between the time iof contact and re-list, the item can be snapped up by someone else when listed as BIN.

[davewil1964]

So what is your advice to the OP, having regard to the 'question' thay actually asked?

[tazzieterror]

I used GSP once for a large, heavy item from America. It was far cheaper than other shipping methods, and the tracking followed it all the way from the seller to my local post office - no complaints from me!

[4channel]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

So what is your advice to the OP, having regard to the 'question' thay actually asked?

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The OP, greyfoxp hasn't sent me a question via the PM service. How come you're so lucky?

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greyfoxkp@ wrote:

As the buyer l pay for postage, yet have no choice in the carrier. l have reached the point where l no longer want goods l have paid for.  An item l paid for on April 30 still has not left the USA on May 11.  This is very poor service by any standard.

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I'm just expanding on what the OP has written and given some reasons as to why the service stinks. There's an answer in there too if one is questioning why thse things often happen with the GSP. As you can see Lyndal in her post has given some reasons why it is a substandard service.

Oh, and my advice to the OP would be to stay clear of GSP.  And   ...   or as I have written, contact sellers and see if they are willing to change the listing to normal USPS etc.

You probably missed that one