eBay's Global Shipping Center- wth?

[Fräulein_Kim]

Have you tried contacting the seller to see if they offer alternate shipping? GSP is strictly for countries outside the sellers country.

I wrote to like 3-4 different sellers in the past and they never even replied. (rude!)
Another one said they'd not be covered against PayPal-fraud w/o the GSP and I get that.. it's just that paying $50 extra is not worth it to me. xD;

[MikeysGrrrl]

I think some sellers are misinformed as to whether or not they will be covered, in order for them to be covered the item has to have tracking, it doesn't need to be done through the GSP.

I know it's really expensive and the custom fees are ridiculous. I guess your only other option would be to find someone in the US that will purchase on your behalf and then mail out to you.

[skyrocketneko]

I am so done with this- a buyer from France bought 2 things from me, she asked for combined shipping and I told her I can't. She asked for the package to be marked as a gift, and I can't do that either. It's such a waste of time for us. And the tracking is super confusing- so the seller has tracking only until the package gets to the US shipping center, then they ship it with another number?
She was trying to tell me that she buys lots of stuff from the Us, but I can't seem to get my point across saying that the international price doesn't even go to me- it goes to them, so I can't refund her if I try to combine because I don't even know what they are charging her.

I am so confused, annoyed. 

[Ringlets]

What a pain!   
 GSC - another great idea from ebay  *insert sarcasm*

[tootie_tails]

Omg what a huge mess this whole thing is... i can't believe ebay are not realizing that..! I mean even ebay do change things when they have tried something and it didn't turn out well. Because whatever doesn't work for the buyers and sellers will eventually catch up on ebay and be an ordeal to them too, right? Causing a lot of of extra work and so on to keep it all running...... So how can they *not* see what a mess the GSP is? 

I also find it unbelievably rude how ebay apparently re-enter sellers after they opted out 

update on my purchase:

Spoiler

In October I bought an item from a US seller who shipped with the GSP. I have been waiting three weeks now and have yet to receive the item (which I paid Priority Mail shipping for).
During these three weeks there has been no contact at all at this end - no package or pick up slip in our mail box, no phone call or visit from any mail carrier.
Ebay keeps replacing the estimated delivery date (yes, they are changing it, moving it forward in time). It originally said Estimated delivery Nov 7 - Nov 14, currently it says Estimated delivery Nov 9 - Nov 21.
The Global tracking number keeps giving me inconclusive information. It says both "In Transit" and "Delivered". It takes me in turn to three different tracking pages, giving me three different new tracking numbers of which the last one turns out to be a dead end. "Sorry, the tracking number you entered does not exist"
(and of course the seller is clueless as in the GSP there is nothing they can do once the item left their hands)
Way to go ebay!!

But I will still get the item in the end, right? Right..? 

I did recieve this GSP package in the end, almost a month after the seller shipped it.
Shipping was more than $30, said to be "priority mail", and it took a month. 
If it had been shipped outside of the GSP it would have been around $7 and had taken about a week to get here.

 

[skyrocketneko]

It must be hard at that shipping center- they get the packages and have to figure out where the final destination is... Ugh, I am so opting out permanently.

[ashlite]

So I just went through this whole hassle this weekend and I ended up calling eBay.

Here's what I learned and what (I don't think) has been posted here yet.

1. For Canadians logging in to ebay.ca and ebay.com show two different interfaces.
This is important because when I logged in to both I saw that shipping costs were different even though its shipping to the same location no matter what account I log into. I assume this might be the same for other regions as well.

2. Logging in to ebay.com gives you different options
So, logging in to ebay.com I was given the option of combined shipping on items I bought from the same seller, it automatically lumped them up together in my shopping cart at the top right corner. (For Canadians we don't have a shopping cart)

Also, there is a small greyed out bar that says "request invoice" that you can select. This allows you as the buyer to cancel the GSP shipping option and sends a note to the seller to send you a proper and more acceptable USPS shipping quote if they choose to do so. This gets you out of the outrageous fees, doesn't cause any trouble at all and you can process your order like normal.

Ebay assures me that they are working to correct this issue because the site should be displaying with the same options no matter what region you are logged into and in no way should shipping be more expensive on one version of the site and cheaper on another. They have filed my case to look into it further along with someone else who complained that day as well.

Hopefully this helps others, its really quite easy to get out of once you know where to look and once you know the site displays differently for all the regions. Also, your login information works the same for each site as well.



For my personal case, GSP was trying to charge me $45 for 3 ponies. Obviously more than the ponies are even worth and way more than I paid. LOL hence, why I needed to get to the bottom of this ASAP. In the end I paid $5 shipping. Silly GSP.  

[Ringlets]

Thanks for posting that info ashlite

For my personal case, GSP was trying to charge me $45 for 3 ponies. Obviously more than the ponies are even worth and way more than I paid. LOL hence, why I needed to get to the bottom of this ASAP. In the end I paid $5 shipping. Silly GSP.  

eeesh! what a ridiculous price difference!     i think ebay needs to get rid of GSP ASAP

[ashlite]

I agree Ringlets. It doesn't seem to be working for anyone. Buyers and sellers alike are disappointed with the service it seems.

[HawaiianRain]

Here's one for ya folks. From my Model Horse group. It's MHHR a reference for buyers and sellers as well as feedback on each end:

reds to ebay's global shipping program

I received an item I bought but it was the wrong item (a Barbie doll instead of Affirmed).  Turns out when the global shipping people relabelled the box, they labelled it wrong so I got someone else’s item and they got mine.  Ebay did give us both refunds, but I’d rather have had my horse.  L  So, not only does the Global Shipping option cost the buyer more, they can screw up the orders.  That’s the last item I’ll buy from anyone using this terrible system.

[skyrocketneko]

I just had to cancel 2 transactions- now I won't be able to relist and send before the holidays. Ugh.

[CupidStrikes]

Omg what a huge mess this whole thing is... i can't believe ebay are not realizing that..! I mean even ebay do change things when they have tried something and it didn't turn out well. Because whatever doesn't work for the buyers and sellers will eventually catch up on ebay and be an ordeal to them too, right? Causing a lot of of extra work and so on to keep it all running...... So how can they *not* see what a mess the GSP is? 

I also find it unbelievably rude how ebay apparently re-enter sellers after they opted out 

update on my purchase:

Spoiler

In October I bought an item from a US seller who shipped with the GSP. I have been waiting three weeks now and have yet to receive the item (which I paid Priority Mail shipping for).
During these three weeks there has been no contact at all at this end - no package or pick up slip in our mail box, no phone call or visit from any mail carrier.
Ebay keeps replacing the estimated delivery date (yes, they are changing it, moving it forward in time). It originally said Estimated delivery Nov 7 - Nov 14, currently it says Estimated delivery Nov 9 - Nov 21.
The Global tracking number keeps giving me inconclusive information. It says both "In Transit" and "Delivered". It takes me in turn to three different tracking pages, giving me three different new tracking numbers of which the last one turns out to be a dead end. "Sorry, the tracking number you entered does not exist"
(and of course the seller is clueless as in the GSP there is nothing they can do once the item left their hands)
Way to go ebay!!

But I will still get the item in the end, right? Right..? 

I did recieve this GSP package in the end, almost a month after the seller shipped it.
Shipping was more than $30, said to be "priority mail", and it took a month. 
If it had been shipped outside of the GSP it would have been around $7 and had taken about a week to get here.

 

Did you complain to ebay? I'd be demanding a shipping refund if that had happened to me!

[Skeen]

Reading these stories made me go double check that I had opted out of this stupid program.  Even though I specifically remember opting out when it first came about (I even remember what I was eating at the time!), somehow we were still signed up for it!  Mr. Skeen has been doing some selling recently and we haven't had any problems, but we also haven't been offering/being stuck with GSP on his auctions, so we had no idea!  So, everyone, go make absolutely sure you're NOT signed up for this thing. 

[MikeysGrrrl]

With all of the complaints and hassles that this program has caused to both buyers and sellers, I'm honestly surprised that ebay hasn't canned it yet. I do believe that the majority of US sellers (not sure if it's offered worldwide since it's never been offered to us) don't realize that they keep getting auto enrolled in it.

I was looking for ponies the other day and np word of lie out of 20+ auctions/listings I was interested in, at least 15 were set up with GSP, better yet, at least 5 of those stated that they ship within the US.

Talk about frustrating shopping.

[MoonHawke]

I've had a mixed bag as far as the GSP has gone for me as a seller.

My first experience with it was a pain, but I understood from the buyer's side that she didn't want to have to pay all this money. Calling ebay it was explained to me that the buyer was able to "opt out" of the program by requesting an invoice, but I as the seller couldn't do anything about it.

There is no way to combine shipping. I learned this through my boyfriend's experiences with the program.

The cost is high because you are paying to ship the item to the GSP hub, and then one to you, and all of the customs fees rolled into one.

Other than that first buyer that was a bit gun shy about the program, I have had no buyers contact me trying to opt out of the program or about the cost.