Yes...I've dealt with the same exact problem....apparently Canpar has a contract with Pitney Bowes who outbid Canada post for shipping ebay items through the stupid global shipping program. I won a Voodoo 2 card on ebay and it was shipped to me with that ridiculous global shipping program...even after providing them with my pone number canpar didn't call me to tell me my package was ready for pick up at their truck depot on the other side of the city. ...I only found out after I checked the tracking number. They wouldn't ship to the Po Box that I have been receiving items at since 2003 with no problem at all because their truck refuses to deliver the package to Canada post who owns the mailbox I have. You're forced to drive to their depot to pick up your item if this is the case. It was held at their depot for 1 week and if I did not pick it up within that week it would have been sent back to the us global shipping program office (probably Pitney bowes)....what a joke. I think I paid 18 bucks for the shipping too. ..which is ludicrous for such a small item. It's an absolute monopoly and fascist way of doing business. I tried to complain directly through eBay but of course I got no response.

I'm betting US sellers are seeing a dent in their sales because of this.

The only saving grace to this is the Canpar depot is on my way in to work.

Some of those employees also don't seem to give a shit about proper handling of packages either. Had a Dell Precision 620 workstation that was delivered through this clown show of shipping program and the dude literally plopped the box down on their loading conveyer when I went in to pick it up. It was probably already damaged previous to that as the seller was an idiot and thought a single layer of bubble wrap was good enough protection for a 40-50 pound tower, but still. At least in this case the hardware made it out fine.

In Australia I have a PO box and everything gets sent there. Most use Australia Post and there are little issues. I usually check with the seller though. Some use couriers and they often don't attempt delivery, even when at home, and just stick a card in the mail box. I had dips on 2 1600 x 1200 monitors but the seller insisted on using a courier, so we agreed to forfeit the deal.

I had a copy of TIE Fighter sold to me on eBay, and shipped via the GSP. At their facility in Kentucky, the package was opened for inspection.

Well, it must have been opened with a machete, because they cut right through the padded bag AND the game box. Grrrr. And yes, I know it wasn't the seller, because the gash in the bag has eBay/PitneyBowes branded tape over it.

And now, to hold them to account, I had to open a dispute through eBay, which gives the seller more work to do, makes them look bad, etc. I was promised in a telephone call that the GSP would be providing me with a "courtesy refund". How gracious of them.

In future, I'll just use HopShopGo, Shipito, or some other forwarding service. Forget GSP.

I haven't used the global shipping program yet but your stories don't encourage me to do so. It reminds me of the time when ebay started to force you accepting Paypal, and you couldn't opt out. Or when google forces you to have a google+ account to post on youtube.

These big corporations seem to think "we have a near monopoly on this, so we can do whatever the hell we want". Then they market the new feature as a "fantastic improvement" when the change is actually detrimental to the user, who is forced to adopt it anyway. When is all this crap going to stop? We need business to be done in a more ethical way.

I phoned them, I specifically said "I don't want a refund if the seller is going to provide it." I followed their instructions, I opened the dispute, I escalated it, and whaddya know, I received an automatic refund FROM THE SELLER.

FFS.

Fuck you eBay.

Told ya, folks.

SquallStrife wrote:

In future, I'll just use HopShopGo, Shipito, or some other forwarding service. Forget GSP.

Do you have a choice regarding that matter? For us international buyers, it seems we don't have a goddamn choice. 😵

MMaximus wrote:

I haven't used the global shipping program yet but your stories don't encourage me to do so. It reminds me of the time when ebay started to force you accepting Paypal, and you couldn't opt out. Or when google forces you to have a google+ account to post on youtube.

These big corporations seem to think "we have a near monopoly on this, so we can do whatever the hell we want". Then they market the new feature as a "fantastic improvement" when the change is actually detrimental to the user, who is forced to adopt it anyway. When is all this crap going to stop? We need business to be done in a more ethical way.

Worse, voting with your dollar is easier to be said than done, since the said company holds near monopoly. It seems when a company can afford to screw their customers, they will mostly do it.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Told ya, folks.

SquallStrife wrote:

In future, I'll just use HopShopGo, Shipito, or some other forwarding service. Forget GSP.

Do you have a choice regarding that matter? For us international buyers, it seems we don't have a goddamn choice. 😵

As a buyer, sure, by using a forwarding service I get a proper USA address for the person to ship to. Since then it becomes a domestic sale for them, GSP is not involved.

Costs about the same, takes a little longer, but bypasses the GSP system.

Actually, the last two times someone's attempted to send something to me via Canada Post, the postal workers gave the keys to the parcel compartment on our community box to the wrong person. The first time it took several days before they got the keys right and the second time the person who ended up with the parcel actually brought it over to our house and dropped it on the front porch.

...I'm probably never going to have anything shipped through USPS or Canada Post ever again. The ironic thing is they're often more expensive to go with now and provide the slowest service for the price. :/

Can someone elaborate on what is being discussed here? I'm a US seller and sell internationally on ebay all the time. Whenever i create an auction, I don't see any GPS options when it comes to shipping. The only international options I have are through USPS (be it priority, first class, express)?

Jan3Sobieski wrote:

Can someone elaborate on what is being discussed here? I'm a US seller and sell internationally on ebay all the time. Whenever i create an auction, I don't see any GPS options when it comes to shipping. The only international options I have are through USPS (be it priority, first class, express)?

I think you have to select that you want to be a part of the GSP somwhere in your settings. It's better for us buyers that you dont! Just stick with what you have then and offer all shipping options without GSP. 😀

SquallStrife wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Told ya, folks.

SquallStrife wrote:

In future, I'll just use HopShopGo, Shipito, or some other forwarding service. Forget GSP.

Do you have a choice regarding that matter? For us international buyers, it seems we don't have a goddamn choice. 😵

As a buyer, sure, by using a forwarding service I get a proper USA address for the person to ship to. Since then it becomes a domestic sale for them, GSP is not involved.

Costs about the same, takes a little longer, but bypasses the GSP system.

Interest piqued. What service do you use?

I use a web site called HopShopGo. I get a delivery address in Ohio, then they airmail the parcel to me once they receive it.

They even offer a re-packaging service, so if you buy several small items, they pack them all in to one box to make shipping cheaper.

SquallStrife wrote:

I use a web site called HopShopGo. I get a delivery address in Ohio, then they airmail the parcel to me once they receive it.

They even offer a re-packaging service, so if you buy several small items, they pack them all in to one box to make shipping cheaper.

I'm using Shipito and can recommend them too. Apart from the cost saving - which is significant - they repackage items really well, so even if the (U.S based) seller hasn't done a good job of it, Shipito will strip off the original packaging and do it right before the item starts it's treacherous journey around the world.

I'll never forget the time I was selling something (non-computer-related), then the item was marked as "purchased", after which the guy told me his address was in Brazil. I was worried, since Brazil was not in the Global Shipping Program and I wasn't about to ship an item to a random address in an e-mail. Fortunately eBay support came to the rescue, their customer support is increasingly becoming the only good thing about eBay (public watcher count? $150 of inexpensive purchases per month required for eBay Bucks? when does the masochism end?)

badmojo wrote:

I'm using Shipito and can recommend them too. Apart from the cost saving - which is significant - they repackage items really well, so even if the (U.S based) seller hasn't done a good job of it, Shipito will strip off the original packaging and do it right before the item starts it's treacherous journey around the world.

I really got to check this out. So many cool items on eBay US but often the shipping is $40, even for little things.

So when you buy an item on eBay US (let's say it has free local shipping), you supply the address of Shipto and they take care of the rest?

Yes that's right, when you register with Shipito they'll give you your U.S address. Usually you can change the shipping address when you're paying (via PayPal), but occasionally the seller will specifically state they do not ship to AU for example, and in that case you won't be able to bid until you go into your eBay settings and change your default shipping address to the US one. Initially I just had a bare bones shipito account that let me send one item at a time, but now that I've used them and trust them to do a good job, I've paid something like 50 bucks a year to have a proper 'mailbox', so I can just order things until I think I have a good sized box full (items can sit in your mailbox for 90 days) and then send them in bulk.

I've gotten heaps of stuff now that I simply wouldn't have considered before.

Just a word of warning to US sellers. The Pitney Bowes facility in Kentucky that handles ebay GSP shipments has been known to destroy packages during their repackaging hijinks. A friend has resorted to printing explicit handling instructions on his packages to prevent them from damaging items.