The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: Nilenna on January 01, 2018, 10:56:31 AM
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I'm wondering if you care about the global shipping program on ebay? Do you bid/buy if seller use this option?
What country are you from?
Can someone explain this GSP for me? I think it's so expencive. And do you have to pay customs/import charges too, or this baked into the GSP?
I read so many negative things about GSP. :/ And feel like most listings on ebay use this option.. :blink:
Thank you for reading/answering :lol:
~ Nilenna ~
[moving to TS ~ Kiwi]
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I personally try to avoid it. I have only bought from sellers twice who used the GSP, and both times the shipping service poorly re-packaged the ponies. They were more expensive ponies too so it was disappointing that there was not more care in packing them, considering it was nearly triple the cost to mail them with the GSP. One box arrived crushed and open. I called eBay and they said that as long as the item arrived undamaged, they cannot do anything about the packing. I was a bit gutted they did not seem to address the poor packing of the GSP. So from a buyer's standpoint, I have chosen not to bid on items that use the GSP.
I have not received any customs fees either, but I am unsure if the GSP has anything to do with that, or if it varies by country/cost and type of item. (I am in the USA). I believe as a seller, the GSP is supposed to offer more security. I'd be curious to hear a seller's perspective on this though. :)
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AVOID the GSP at all costs! It's overpriced, they open the boxes and REPACK!!! and you have no recourse over what happens :(
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its fraud on a global scale. They charge more than needed and make you pay import duties when none are needed. They are breaking the law and ebay are helping them.
I tried to call them and never got through.
SOmetimes you have no choice and if no import duty is to be charged then I use it as the tracking (when it works) is very useful, but I prefer not to.
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If postage is via the global shipping program, it's not for me.
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I never have brought this way as like said they will poorly repack items. I would buy I guess if it was an item I really wanted but certainly I wouldn't buy any thing that required good packing like moc ponies, wingers etc.
The program has also taken out perfume bottles from moc items
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I won't use it. No no no no no.
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I avoid GSP auctions at all costs. They're nothing short of fraudulent 99.9% of the time.
The rare exception would be very large/heavy items, which once in a blue moon may end up less expensive to ship through eBay for whatever reason I can't divine. But I wouldn't trust them with anything fragile or very valuable for the reasons already stated.
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I agree with everyone else here - avoid buying if the seller uses GSP if you possibly can!
the price of shipping and the tax if you are international is crazy over inflated. The items are very poorly repacked too :( (on the couple of occasions where I have tried buying items that sellers only shipped using GSP my parcels were almost open and no protection inside for MIB either!) are just a couple of examples why it's a no no 99% of the time for me. I will not ship using this method either.
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I avoid all international auctions that use GSP. I don't care for the fact that they repackage things that the seller has taken the time and care to package correctly. They take a lot of the necessary package material out of the box and leave the items at risk to be broken or even lost. There is no way I am paying more for this kind of service. Its just not logical to me.
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GSP = AVOID AT ALL COSTS NO MATTER WHAT
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I never have brought this way as like said they will poorly repack items. I would buy I guess if it was an item I really wanted but certainly I wouldn't buy any thing that required good packing like moc ponies, wingers etc.
The program has also taken out perfume bottles from moc items
:panic:
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I hate the GSP I think it is a total rip off, but... I will use it occasionally when I have something high value. It protects me from fraud- otherwise there are unfortunately just a few people out there who will claim that they didn't get the item, or sometimes they mean well but something happened with customs or they didn't see the pick-up slip, or it was delivered to a neighbor- so many things to go wrong. Or maybe it is just taking way too long in the mail. All things that can cause a buyer to file a Non-Received-Item claim, and as we all know, ebay will "resolve" such claim quite quickly, granting a full refund to the buyer.
I could solve this by requiring the buyer to pay for priority mail or registered mail, but that is even more expensive than GSP.
So no more international sales for me, except through GSP, unless to a friend, or a low value item that I don't care about a potential reversal.
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US buyers have a slight advantage with GSP in terms of higher value items, because internationally if you have a country which charges buyers import, it's generally hugely inflated from what it would be at the border, making it overall a more expensive means of postage.
I only use it for lots of ponies where shipping works out cheaper than it would to ship it otherwise and where nothing valuable is being shipped. I won't use it for MOC or MIP items, which means there are at least three sellers on ebay whose ponies haven't sold this year because they use GSP - I would have bought them if they hadn't been so lazy ;)
GSP also isn't secure. Yes, a damaged item is likely to get a refund, but as proven by my spate of parcels signed for by 'the bush' outside my home, they don't require a signature from the client or don't care where they leave it. Especially if you have a bad courier company who isn't as reliable. I have heard of things being left halfway down roads when it's a rural address. I asked ebay about it and they frankly told me that GSP doesn't have to be signed for, so basically GSP takes twice as long, charges you extra import duties that you don't owe, and there's no guarantee you will get your item. It's only a good idea if the item you are buying is not valuable and very heavy through other methods, as it's the one and only time GSP has a point.
I know a lot of sellers were opted in, but a lot mention in the description that they use it, so they've chosen to ship that way. Basically it's a way for a seller to bother less about the customer, and the customer to assume a greater burden than with regular direct postage.
Galactica, by taking that policy you are forcing many buyers to receive items via unreliable couriers which damage the items. In the UK at least, direct mail comes through Royal Mail or Parcelforce. Neither are perfect, but it's easier to track back and find out what's gone wrong. By choosing GPS you're creating the situation for your buyer that you hope to avoid.
In short, it's to be avoided.
It's a shame, because in theory it ought to be a great thing - but it's too penny-pinching and greedy with the repacking, overinflated fees and the fact delivery generally takes 2x as long as it would through a direct method.
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I use Priority Mail on eBay instead of the GSP. To me the GSP is a complete waste of money because it's as expensive as Priority Mail BUT
- is slower
- they repackage items, and may do a bad job repackaging
- they also sometimes damage items while opening them, as they are apparently swinging willy-nilly with box cutters
- THEY REFUSE TO COMBINE SHIPPING (probably because it would cut into their profit) so if you buy three items from a seller, get ready to pay three separate, crazy shipping prices!
- hey, remember that time (http://mlparena.com/index.php?topic=375199.0) someone on the board tried to buy a MIB Perfume Puff Palace, except the GSP confiscated it because they are too dumb to tell the difference between a vintage playset and real perfume? (Real perfume can't be sent in the mail.) That was really sad. Neither the seller nor the buyer ever got the Perfume Puff Palace.
The GSP also charges buyers customs fees even on items that normally wouldn't incur customs fees. Which is another point for using Priority International instead.
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Well, the thing is I agree GSP is the suck, but I've now had 2 chargebacks filed on me several times due to buyers just being too stupid to pick up their own items at customs - after which time, they also presumably got their doll (as it didn't come back to me).
I usually also offer international priority, but it is so expensive.
I've noticed most international buyers these days, at least in the fashion doll community, use third party shipping services that accumulate all of their packages, and then send them in one go. It saves them on shipping and custom fees (if they tend to buy a lot)
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Oh wow, that sucks that you got hit with chargebacks! :0 Really unfair. :(
Yeah, Priority International is really expensive but most of the time it's about the same price as GSP, at least on ponies. (Maybe not on heavier items.) I feel like I've done my part if I'm offering an international option; if it's too expensive for a lot of international bidders then I completely understand and sympathize, but I've got to protect myself as a seller.
That said, I've still had a fair number of international buyers. Including a guy from France who bought a $10 Optimus Prime toy (a fairly recent one, not vintage), which surprised me. The shipping was over three times as much as the toy! The buyer left glowing feedback, so I guess he was happy. Maybe that particular toy wasn't sold in France.
I just signed up for a third party shipper in China, for Taobao. I'm very happy with it so far. Like you said, it'll be much cheaper to ship a bunch of stuff together--plus the people running it speak Chinese, so if there's trouble they can communicate with the seller on my behalf. I'll bet there are lots of similar businesses in the US, for eBay. Might be a good way for non-US ponypeople to save on shipping for US ponies like So-Softs, etc.
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90% of the time I avoid it like the plague. I've legit been quoted $50 to ship 6 MLP ribbons from the US to Australia via GSP! $50!!! They'd fit in a standard letter envelope for a few bucks! Not to mention our customs fee threshold is pretty high, (like $1000 I'm pretty sure) so it's rare to even get hit with customs fees, so why should I be paying them?!
If something is super heavy or large, but not hugely valuable, then I'll GSP it, just because it is cheaper somehow (probably because they're ripping people off on the smaller packages!). I've done this a handful of times with no issues yet, because usually the item is so big that they open it and just close it again, because it can't be re-packed, and is pretty durable. Otherwise, I see that little message that means GSP on the search result listing and don't even click on the item listing. I don't even tempt myself. Not worth the potential drama - they'd definitely be damaged, considering the big boxes I've had delivered through them were pretty seriously battered.
Third-party shippers are definitely a better option for those that buy lots of stuff in a particular country.
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I just don't. Ever. I hate the overcharging of course, but I'm occasionally willing to cough up for the right item. It's the repacking thing that gets me. Most of the stuff I'd want would be large lots of accessories or MIB items, and neither lends itself to clueless, don't give a crap repackers.
It sucks too because certain countries(the UK most notably) are infested with it. I'd say that at least 70% of sellers from the UK who ship internationally have it. Well, in the pony section at least. I've had better luck with Doctor Who, but it's spreading to that too.
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I just don't. Ever. I hate the overcharging of course, but I'm occasionally willing to cough up for the right item. It's the repacking thing that gets me. Most of the stuff I'd want would be large lots of accessories or MIB items, and neither lends itself to clueless, don't give a crap repackers.
It sucks too because certain countries(the UK most notably) are infested with it. I'd say that at least 70% of sellers from the UK who ship internationally have it. Well, in the pony section at least. I've had better luck with Doctor Who, but it's spreading to that too.
I think Ebay's horrible rules and tendancy to side with the buyer, no matter what, even when it looks like fraud, is why more people use GSP. It wouldn't surprise me if Ebay made things more difficult for the sellers as a way to force more people to use their rip-off service.
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Thank you all for taking time to answering me. :) It's just like I was thinking then. I don't always get the price either... sometimes they ask more money for two ponies then for a lot of six ponies for example. I don't get GSP at all. But I feel so so so many listings use this, and when I ask seller about it, they say they can't change it or they wont... :/ So that means there's a lot of lovely ponies (and other) that I really should not bid on. :( It sucks.
also..living in Norway, I guess the cost is even higher for me.. :/ Bah!!
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I just don't. Ever. I hate the overcharging of course, but I'm occasionally willing to cough up for the right item. It's the repacking thing that gets me. Most of the stuff I'd want would be large lots of accessories or MIB items, and neither lends itself to clueless, don't give a crap repackers.
It sucks too because certain countries(the UK most notably) are infested with it. I'd say that at least 70% of sellers from the UK who ship internationally have it. Well, in the pony section at least. I've had better luck with Doctor Who, but it's spreading to that too.
I think that's probably true. The US is the same, but you guys wouldn't see that any more than we see the UK ones. I imagine that probably the UK are as bad offenders with GSP overseas as the US are. It sucks. Personally I feel like if a seller would rather only ship to their own country they should list their auctions that way. What they're doing by listing GSP is saying that they want the money from international bids but can't be bothered to do any of the work that goes with international customer service. Instead they would rather the buyer pays inflated charges, extra import duty and ultimately suffers severe delays and maybe the damage or loss of their item. I would rather click on an auction and see "US Only" and know that the seller was being honest with the buyer about where they wanted to ship, than click on one that says GSP and know that the seller is fine about exploiting me as a customer if it means they get a higher bid price.
And I say US only but I am of course aware that the UK are very guilty of GSP crime too. Just for me it only ever affects me buying from the US, as I'm not even sure if most of Europe use GSP and I buy from the US more than most other countries outside my own anyway. I am by no means slating just the US in this. I see UK GSP sellers in the same way or maybe more so, because I know how easy it is to ship internationally from the UK, and how NOT hard it is to fill in a custom form. My post office gives me them to take home so it's not as if you couldn't do it all in advance and just take it to the post office to be processed.
If it was really about fraud, then GSP would insist on a signature on receipt. Ebay told me categorically they don't insist on a signature, just the word of the courier that it's been delivered. That's a risk for fraud if you ask me, especially when compared with the actual signature that is needed for international postal items coming with tracking (including those from the US to the UK and vice versa).
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I just don't. Ever. I hate the overcharging of course, but I'm occasionally willing to cough up for the right item. It's the repacking thing that gets me. Most of the stuff I'd want would be large lots of accessories or MIB items, and neither lends itself to clueless, don't give a crap repackers.
It sucks too because certain countries(the UK most notably) are infested with it. I'd say that at least 70% of sellers from the UK who ship internationally have it. Well, in the pony section at least. I've had better luck with Doctor Who, but it's spreading to that too.
I think that's probably true. The US is the same, but you guys wouldn't see that any more than we see the UK ones. I imagine that probably the UK are as bad offenders with GSP overseas as the US are. It sucks. Personally I feel like if a seller would rather only ship to their own country they should list their auctions that way. What they're doing by listing GSP is saying that they want the money from international bids but can't be bothered to do any of the work that goes with international customer service. Instead they would rather the buyer pays inflated charges, extra import duty and ultimately suffers severe delays and maybe the damage or loss of their item. I would rather click on an auction and see "US Only" and know that the seller was being honest with the buyer about where they wanted to ship, than click on one that says GSP and know that the seller is fine about exploiting me as a customer if it means they get a higher bid price.
And I say US only but I am of course aware that the UK are very guilty of GSP crime too. Just for me it only ever affects me buying from the US, as I'm not even sure if most of Europe use GSP and I buy from the US more than most other countries outside my own anyway. I am by no means slating just the US in this. I see UK GSP sellers in the same way or maybe more so, because I know how easy it is to ship internationally from the UK, and how NOT hard it is to fill in a custom form. My post office gives me them to take home so it's not as if you couldn't do it all in advance and just take it to the post office to be processed.
If it was really about fraud, then GSP would insist on a signature on receipt. Ebay told me categorically they don't insist on a signature, just the word of the courier that it's been delivered. That's a risk for fraud if you ask me, especially when compared with the actual signature that is needed for international postal items coming with tracking (including those from the US to the UK and vice versa).
I have sold dolls using GSP before. I didn't even know it was selected. I wasn't planning on selling internationally since even tho the UK and Canada have reliable postal devices there's plenty of countries that do not and unfortunately ebay is all or nothing when it comes to international sales. Needless to say I got a buyer in Italy of all places who was even willing to pay my long shot BIN price. Since I found out I would only be responsible for shipping it to the EBay shipping center I decided to go for it and a person in Italy was able to get a doll that they really wanted. So yeah as an occasional seller I will use it. I feel bad for charging so much to UK and Canada peeps but I like that it gives people in riskier locations a chance to have something they otherwise wouldn't.
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AVOID the GSP at all costs! It's overpriced, they open the boxes and REPACK!!! and you have no recourse over what happens :(
This! I actually use first class shipping to ship out ponies unless someone requests priority. I have never had a problem with first class getting to my customer. Sometimes it may take longer, but usually it's actually pretty fast if shipping only a couple ponies in a bubble mailer and it saves my buyer on shipping costs.
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I try to avoid it, because it's just unnecessarily expensive more often than not, but as an international buyer I unfortunately have to make compromises and use it if I want to get some items that aren't available in my country, and also in relatively small amounts in Europe. I guess it's partly because the few European sellers of the item know the items' rarer status on the continent, but in such cases it sometimes happens that the item actually comes out cheaper from the US with GSP than if I bought it within Europe, without GSP).
I am mentioning continental differences here because recently I come across more and more listings where US sellers strictly state that they only ship overseas with GSP, but within Europe it's not this common. I guess US sellers have relatively more negative experience with overseas sales, as the longer journey the packet goes through leaves considerably more room for it to arrive damaged/get lost on the way/make some buyers frustrated over the long arrival time.
So yeah, I do not like it and try to avoid it, but I still have to use it more frequently recently, because more and more sellers refuse to send without it, even if separately messaged...
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Yes, I will bid on an item if the seller only uses the GSP for international shipments. However I will then opt to have that item shipped within the US to my reshipping agent in Florida. Thereby circumventing the GSP entirely. As has been mentioned, it is a slow and expensive shipping option and one that I will avoid. My reshipper is less expensive and uses a courier service, not the postal system, to get my parcel to me here in South Africa. Hope this information helps.
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I guess US sellers have relatively more negative experience with overseas sales, as the longer journey the packet goes through leaves considerably more room for it to arrive damaged/get lost on the way/make some buyers frustrated over the long arrival time.
I don't think that's the reason. I think it's just that there are generally more people in the US, so therefore you're more likely to hit one who doesn't ship abroad. Also because US people don't pay import duty, there are often miscommunications between seller and buyer and US sellers get fed up with buyers getting angry at custom duties at the destination, whereas buyers get fed up wth sellers who don't put the accurate value of the sale on the form but actually price up to what they think the item is worth, thus making it more expensive all around. GSP cuts out that process.
GSP allows a US seller to ship abroad without a custom form being filled in and without the risk of miscommunications over import duties. But I think it's also that a lot of people are selling now that might not have done previously. And as I said, the US is a big country. So that's a bigger chance of finding someone who doesn't ship abroad.
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No! It's terrible. I actually messaged a seller and asked if they could post the pony regular international mail, but she said she didn't know how to take off the GSP as it was put on by default? It's a rip off - customs charges for a $10 pony to come into the UK? Crazy!
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I said no to GSP earlier ... and I still would 99% of the time , but now I find myself postie stalking waiting for a doll shipped from the US via GSP. Because even with GSP she was still much cheaper than buying her from a Uk seller ATM. So I took the risk ^^; . It's a loose used doll so I'm hoping everything will be fine, there's no way I'd have considered it if she was MIB - but I'm still biting my nails due to the re-packaging XD
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Ouch, some terrible stories here!! Im sorry thi has happened to so many of you!
Ive not even known that it existed but today... well long story short, I just bought a BABW Luna pony on ebay UK. Shipping price seemed legit (10GBP for a big plush to Germany is ok... BABW themselves changes 15, so Im fine with 10) but then I got an email. It explained that I was to expect two different payments charged from my paypal account and I was like WTF WHY? Hm. Well, its "only" a plush. I guess it will be ok if the package gets opened and repacked but to be honest Im a little worried now... takes the joy out of my deal. Im 99% sure the auction didnt even state what kind of shipping method would be used. Crossing my fingers it will arrive safely!
*sigh* buying stuff for your collection gets harder and harder it seems.
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You know the saddest thing about this for me...and this is so totally going to show my age when it comes to pony trading but...
I find it more annoying to have to negotiate around GSP issues, sellers who don't know what they're doing and buyers who vanish into the ether without paying in the modern "safe" version of Ebay than I did back when everything was in dollars, before paypal existed, and the only way to buy from the US was to send them cash. In an envelope. Through the post.
In no way do I recommend anyone ever doing that in this day and age because we've moved on but the weird thing is that for the most part, I didn't have any of these issues with those transactions. I think I had one incident of a MOC pony in a padded envelope falling off card (and she was $15 so :/) and that was it.
It's stupid that GSP should be making it easier to buy from the US. Instead it's now harder and more unpleasant to buy from the US than sending cash in an unprotected envelope and hoping for the best.
I can't think of any more damning criticism on the current system than that.