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Ebay Global Shipping Service?? WTF is that??

Started by DiamondCityComics,

118 posts in this topic

1Cool

1Cool

Posted
Posted

My international sales basically doubled when I opted out of the program. It's really not much more work to send it directly to the buyer compared to sending to a sorting facility.

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Doohickamabob

Doohickamabob

Posted
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That may also be how they "legitimize" the program...

They legitimatize the program by automatically opting all eBay sellers into the program through their eBay agreements. It's robbery disguised as a service.

The way eBay handled the whole thing is shady. They initiated the program, then they automatically made it so that every new sales listing has the GSP checkbox checked.

 

I don't remember if eBay sent out announcement emails about the GSP program, but if they did, they didn't give much information about how to opt out. They also didn't give much information about what the program DOES, or how it works. It was there, but it was mysterious, and I had to dig before I realized that it meant you sent your item to Kentucky where they would completely open and repackage the thing. eBay must have KNOWN that people wouldn't like the sound of this, and I think they purposely obscured or downplayed it while promoting it (or "force-promoting" via the automatically checked-in checkbox).

 

I decided right off the bat that I didn't want to use the GSP, so I unclicked the box, and then I saved that listing as a template. I thought I was done.

 

I was wrong. Unclicking the box and then saving that listing as a template was useless. eBay overrides the template you use and re-checks the box for every new listing (or at least, that's what it was doing last time I was in this situation). I had no reason to believe eBay would override the choices in my template, because everything ELSE in the template (every checked box option, etc.) remained the same as I had saved it.

 

So I ended up with new sales/auction listings that had the GSP program chosen, and I didn't even realize it!

 

Long story follows:

 

 

 

I had a rude awakening when a Canadian buyer won one of my auctions, and he emailed me to ask me to send to him directly instead of via Global Shipping. I was very surprised when I realized I had Global Shipping chosen, and I was both P.O.'ed at eBay and also embarrassed for my part in not seeing that GSP was still on my listings. Since most of my auctions were to U.S. buyers, it hadn't come up before.

 

I had no problem shipping to the Canadian customer the usual way -- in fact, this is what I wanted to do all along. But when I went to my shipping/invoice page, eBay had LOCKED the GSP in place. They provided NO way to change a GSP invoice and payment setup to an ordinary invoice and shipping setup. Once the item is purchased, if you have GSP selected, you HAVE to ship via the GSP. Which is ridiculous. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to change your mind about how you're going to ship after-the-fact.

 

I called eBay and they said the only thing I could do would be to cancel the sale, then re-list and remove GSP from the shipping options.

 

I did this (following eBay's own advice to me), and I worked it out with the Canadian buyer for him to purchase the same item via Buy-It-Now. I told him a time I would list the BIN, and he was supposed to buy it then. We could have done this other ways, but he wanted his buyer protection, I wanted my seller protection, and plus we were following eBay's instructions on how best to solve the problem. I was just trying to fix the headache of the situation.

 

I posted the BIN and within a few minutes some other buyer purchased. Argh! I requested a cancellation and explained to him my whole problem with Global Shipping, etc., and how I was following eBay's instructions to fix the problem and sell to the original winner of the auction. I mentioned that the new buyer could look in my completed sales and see the same item for the same price in my auctions from earlier that week.

 

The new buyer was immediately really nasty about it and told me that now I had to sell to him because he hit the BIN, and he basically called me a liar and accused me of not selling to him because somebody offered me more money outside of eBay. I calmly explained everything to him again, and the Canadian buyer even offered to bolster my explanation by contacting the new buyer. I also offered to get eBay's customer service to confirm my story and rationale for canceling the order.

 

The new buyer ignored my explanation, ignored my offers for evidence, and continued to insist that I was wrong and that the only fair thing to do would be to sell to him instead. I had already refunded his money and I continued to politely attempt to explain to him the situation, and he suddenly stopped replying to me. Then, several weeks later, he left me a neutral feedback with text that made it look like I pulled out of the deal for no reason. (I figure he would have negged me but he knew my situation was valid, but he still wanted to "punish" me and left the neutral.) I blocked him as a buyer, because he was so rude and self-righteous about the whole thing. It was already a headache to begin with, and he made it an even worse headache.

 

 

 

Suffice to say, after all of that, I figured out how to permanently opt out of the Global Shipping Program. eBay makes you dig and dig through your account settings before you can remove it. You have to click down several levels of menu, and then you have to scroll down and un-hide a section of your account settings. Finally, you can opt out of Global Shipping, but in order to do so, eBay makes you click an "Are you sure?" screen that warns if you opt out, you won't be able to get back in (or something to make it seem like a very, very serious matter to opt out). The whole way eBay handled the roll-out, implementation, marketing and other aspects of the GSP is a giant crock.

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goldust40

goldust40

Posted
Posted
I wonder if eBay is truly pocketing this extra cash, or if countries have forced them to use it, as a means of guaranteeing their cut without having them to do the work themselves.

 

I doubt there is a conspiracy.

 

Only customs and excise in any country can levy duty and tax on an item, as legally the item has to have made the international journey to incur a charge. Plus Chrome made it clear that in Belgium (and presumably other EU countries) they still charge duty in any case on GSP delivered items.

 

Ebay's arbitrary charges (usually 25% across the board) are too obvious for that sort of subterfuge.

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VintageComics

VintageComics

Posted
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For the OP: If you have the original receipt for your package it would state the dimensions & weight, get Ripme Bowes to compare it to their "empty" package for weight.

 

Brilliant idea.

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revat

revat

Posted
Posted
So if someone is using GSP and they say their item is damaged or not as advertised who is on the hook for that since it could have been damaged by poor packing at Ebay?

 

its ALL ebay if it goes through GSP

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DiamondCityComics

DiamondCityComics

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Didn't want to bring this thread back but I wanted to update what I found. First they tell me the package was empty when they got it and now I check the tracking and get this. Wow seems fishy as hell to me. I called them the other day and the woman said she would send a picture of the empty package to me which I never received. I told her they were just a bunch of scammers and she giggled, almost as if she already knew it. Hopefully this doesn't mean they destroyed the package which was Cap and Thor movie cards. Can't imagine they would be ineligible to ship internationally. Guess I'll have to call again which I'm sure will do no good.

 

 

Exception - Destroy-Export Restricted

Apr-29-15, 18:52 PM, Erlanger

 

Delay at the Global Shipping Center – Processing In Progress

Apr-27-15, 15:46 PM, Erlanger

 

Processing at Global Shipping Center

Apr-27-15, 15:43 PM, Erlanger

 

Arrived at Global Shipping Center

Apr-22-15, 23:51 PM, ERLANGER, KY 41025

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wombat

wombat

Posted
Posted
So if someone is using GSP and they say their item is damaged or not as advertised who is on the hook for that since it could have been damaged by poor packing at Ebay?

 

its ALL ebay if it goes through GSP

 

So someone can advertise a NM book and send a reader copy and EBAY is on the hook for it?

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CAMPER49

CAMPER49

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Posted

The Import Charges to Canada from any US seller using this GSP are ridiculous.

At first, I ordered comics a few times from GSP sellers, eBay (from Erlanger KY) sent the comics to me through a mysterious carrier (not Canada Post) and the packages ended up just sitting outside on my sundeck...no signature required. Thankfully it wasn't raining those days.

I don't even bother opening an auction from a US seller if it shows they are enrolled in the GSP.

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rodan57

rodan57

Posted
Posted
The Import Charges to Canada from any US seller using this GSP are ridiculous.

At first, I ordered comics a few times from GSP sellers, eBay (from Erlanger KY) sent the comics to me through a mysterious carrier (not Canada Post) and the packages ended up just sitting outside on my sundeck...no signature required. Thankfully it wasn't raining those days.

I don't even bother opening an auction from a US seller if it shows they are enrolled in the GSP.

 

Same.

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gumiho

gumiho

Posted
Posted
The Import Charges to Canada from any US seller using this GSP are ridiculous.

At first, I ordered comics a few times from GSP sellers, eBay (from Erlanger KY) sent the comics to me through a mysterious carrier (not Canada Post) and the packages ended up just sitting outside on my sundeck...no signature required. Thankfully it wasn't raining those days.

I don't even bother opening an auction from a US seller if it shows they are enrolled in the GSP.

 

Same.

 

+2

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