From an Australian perspective, I reckon the GSP prices things about right - it's what I'd expect to pay to have something sent over by post. Often, USPS or other parcel delivery prices quoted by sellers directly far exceed the GSP price. The worst thing about GSP I find is that it's virtually impossible to combine post on items, unless you have a seller willing to relist as a combined item - and not all will. However, I've noticed that postage for UK sellers using GSP is higher than it used to be with just Royal Mail - or am I seeing things?

I've had a refund of an item via the GSP and got all my money back so I presume it's the same for everyone. Also, I had a seller massively underquote me for postage on an old Mac (he didn't measure it correctly), but he covered the domestic surplus cost (US$15 extra), and didn't say anything about the program collecting the deficit for international post from him - which IIRC is their approach.

So far I have never had any issues with GSP. With USPS international rates through the roof now (except for really small / light packages with 1st class mail: no tracking!) there is no way to sell anything through eBay internationally without GSP anymore. UPS / FedEx / TNT / DHL are all way too expensive as well for anything other than documents.

I have never dealt with returns or fraud involving GSP so far.

I've only used the GSP once so far - I shipped a Starcraft Battle Chest which just wasn't available here in Germany. Total shipping costs amounted to about 14EUR from memory, and I thought the service was quite good. Shipping was quicker than I expected, and there were plenty of documented events throughout so the tracking was really good.

I'd be glad to try it again, provided the costs aren't too prohibitive. Like you said, the estimates seem to vary quite wildly - maybe it'll take a while before costs settle down and normalise.

bjt wrote:

From a UK buyer perspective, it's definitely greatly increased the number of items available from the US.

This is the most noticable thing for me. Before the GSP was a thing, very few US sellers were willing to ship something outside of North America. Now there's a much better chance of international shipping, which is awesome.

The only issue with eBay's GSP is that Brazil's abusive taxes (sometimes they sum up to 100%, and they are calculated on top of the actual price+shipping) are charged together with the product itself, and I wish they could give me an option to just let me try my luck and see if my purchases go trough customs without being taxed.

As a buyer from a relatively remote and small country, this program is in theory good, because some sellers who previously would not ship overseas at all can now offer me service via this program. However, in practice, the shipping costs are so relatively high that I never found it useful even once. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I usually buy only inexpensive products on eBay.

Agreed that GSP is good for shipping to places that eBay sellers were not willing to ship to before, but actual shipping prices have gone up over 100% for the most part since I have been on eBay (since 2003)...and with GSP, it's about 30%-60% more for shipping to where I am.

It depends what country you live in for sure. I can say that it's a terrible service for US to Canada shipping because it adds no value really to the seller except just a tiny bit more security in that once it's out of their hands, they are not responsible for the item. Me as a buyer ends up paying a huge premium for no reason and to add insult to injury, the company (Pitney Bowes) that has the contract to send items with the GSP is not permitted to use standard Canada Post outlets to deliver their packages, so what they do is get a third party logistics company to deliver the item for them once it arrives in Canada at a central distribution facility. Usually this logistics company uses a truck to drive the items to a warehouse holding facility where they then deliver it to your door if you provide a street address, but if you have a box number registered with eBay that they originally use, you're out of luck and will have to arrange a time to go and pick up the item at their truck depot locally because they usually will not accept another address once they have your box number address.

It's ridiculously complicated and the cost, as I said is at least 30% to 60% more than just having mail sent to me with just regular US Postal Service.

Just as an example of how brutal the whole process can be. This was my first expereince with the GSP:

I won an eBay auction for a video card from a U.S. seller, and they sent the card in a tiny box to my registered eBay address which was a standard postal box address. I thought that the shipping cost was a bit high for such a small item, but I did not complain because I got the video card for so cheap, so I just accepted that cost.

I checked the tracking number when weeks went by and I did not receive the item yet. The tracking information would not register with CanadaPost, so I emailed eBay and asked what may have happened. They explained the GSP to me, and then they hinted that a third party logistics company may be sending my item to me for Pitney Bowes.

After some searching on eBay, I found the logistics company and called them.

They told me that they tried to deliver the item to me, but I did not have a physical address to deliver to. I told them that I always get my mail at my CanadaPost outlet as always and then they told me that they are not allowed to deliver there because it's a CanadaPost outlet and Pitney Bowes is a competitor. So they said that if I did not come by that same day to pick up my item from their truck depot, they would have to send it back to the United States as it has been sitting in their depot for a few days and I would not be able to get it back unless I paid another large shipping fee and administration charge.

I rushed over there and picked it up and got my item, but it just was not worth all that hassle.

I have since updated my address on eBay to allow me to provide a street address, but I am always discouraged from buying because of the hassle and huge added cost.

I don't think it will get much better anytime soon and it seems that postal service prices just went up again over the last few months. It's getting very expensive to send and receive items.

Do not like!

I bought a motherboard from the UK on Ebay shipped with the Global Shipping Program, after more than a week the shipping status changed to delivered without me getting the board. The delivering status notes ended in the wrong city with the note "delivered to postbox" and a time and date stamp.

It turned out they had delivered the board to yet another to me unknown courier, to find any information I had to go to the last courier seen in the shipping status and search on their site and by doing that I got the name of the new courier which led me to their site and after another search I found out that my package was in some obscure corner shop in the other end of my town. I diddnt get an AVI, an email or a SMS or anything and when I showed up at the corner shop they had never heard of the courier. I told them to look for a package with an Ebay sticker and sure enough they found it.

Edit The shipping cost was more than double the normal for a motherboard from the UK /Edit

Same here. The costs of delivering items to Poland through GSP are extremely high, even for small items.

So it's not only me. 🤣. Essentially, the GSP is a huge money grab for third party postal service providers. With online shopping becoming so popular, it's no wonder people want to capitalize on it's success...it was just a matter of time until greed set in. Extreme capitalism at it's best I guess.

That said, online shopping has always been a luxury though IMHO, but I believe that reality has really set in now for people like me. No more ordering whatever I want, whenever I want for a fraction of what it would cost locally 🤣. Somehow, some way countries have to limit spending to occur within their own borders to keep their own local economies going. When you look at it this way, I really don't know what to think anymore.

For Canada it's terrible when buying from the US.

There's always an "import duty" added to the final price, whereas if someone just shipped it with USPS, there wouldn't be.

And as long as you're sending a personal package to someone else (for all USPS knows), you can insure it for as high as you want and you can get tracking and the recipient won't have to pay a cent. This only applies to Canada AFAIK. So for us, it is a complete cash grab, and I often have to specfically ask the seller for a USPS quote.

Thanks for the input all. It sounds like the effect of the GSP is very much dependant on location. The US-Canada thing is crazy, I would never have thought GSP applied within North America.

Although there may be some positive side effect for some people, GSP is ultimately anti-competitive. I can eBay first making GSP a mandatory buyer option for all international sales, then prohibiting all non-GSP carriers. PayPal was once optional too! I would hope that the EU/US would step in to prevent that though.

bjt wrote:

I can eBay first making GSP a mandatory buyer option for all international sales, then prohibiting all non-GSP carriers.

With the costs being so high, I can't see them making it mandatory, without losing a huge amount of international sales. Think of Chinese products for $5 and under.

mockingbird wrote:

For Canada it's terrible when buying from the US.

There's always an "import duty" added to the final price, whereas if someone just shipped it with USPS, there wouldn't be.

And as long as you're sending a personal package to someone else (for all USPS knows), you can insure it for as high as you want and you can get tracking and the recipient won't have to pay a cent. This only applies to Canada AFAIK. So for us, it is a complete cash grab, and I often have to specfically ask the seller for a USPS quote.

It's exactly the same here, just replace USPS with Greek Post once the package arrives here.

In the US there is no alternative to GSP. There is no way to ship anything anymore: USPS Priority is just insanely expensive. I looked into mailing a MT-32 to RU a few weeks ago: USPS would have cost $75. 😵

CN has surface mail. That is how they are so competitive.

PeterLI wrote:

In the US there is no alternative to GSP. There is no way to ship anything anymore: USPS Priority is just insanely expensive. I looked into mailing a MT-32 to RU a few weeks ago: USPS would have cost $75. 😵

CN has surface mail. That is how they are so competitive.

Here's a tip for shipping to Canada inexpensively:
ALWAYS USE "First Class". Here's why:

1) Letter - Large Envelope - This method allows for an envelope with the maximum size of 30cm x 38cm x 1.9cm. The most important thing is the width . Now here's the secret: If you go to the post office and mail it from there, they'll scrutinize it (and might even reject it based on what you put inside). If you just buy your own stamps, you put on enough stamps that equal the price of postage to your destination ($2.38 to Canada) and dump it in the nearest mailbox for pickup. You can even get away with a larger width (they don't care at the sorting facility). Note: This method has no tracking or insurance, and needless to say, it's always wise to put your return address on the envelope in case something does happen. I've been with eBay since 1998, and every single item shipped to me with this method has arrived here safely.

2) First-Class Package International Service (to Canada) -
This is the second most inexpensive method for items that do not fit in a large envelope. You have a maximum length of 24", and a total combined size of 36". The price is $7.10, but if you print the label yourself (just cover inkjet-printed labels with tape, because rain will cause the ink to run), it's $6.39. Tracking is included free for shipments to Canada, but not to most other places.

So USPS is fantastically inexpensive if you know how to use it.

@mockingbird - Good point. I totally agree and I know what you're saying regarding using First Class service...the problem is that most eBay sellers refuse to offer it though or just don't know that they can use it. And I try to explain your first "Letter - Large Envelope" method to sellers and of course they are not willing to risk it (even though there is very little risk). I also just try to explain your second method to sellers and they have none of it as well.

The only items I buy from the US for the most part are from sellers that agree to change their listing to include First Class International shipping with USPS as an option and yes, it is always cheaper. Most are worried that without tracking, the package will get lost but like you, I have always received items with First Class International service with no issue (since 2003 on eBay). I wish that all U.S. sellers would offer their items with just regular USPS First Class. I also noticed that people usually overcharge for shipping because they are using arbitrary numbers when using the USPS website for weight and size and because the website displays the more pricy options first when getting a quote, some don't understand that you can select First Class as an option with just a couple more mouse clicks.

It's just all so frustrating knowing that it could all be just so simple and so much cheaper.

retrofanatic wrote:

@mockingbird - Good point. I totally agree and I know what you're saying regarding using First Class service...

Preach it brother.

I'm pretty sure that USPS First Class Package International has tracking (when sending to Canada), but it's not clear on their website. So yea, most sellers have zero excuse for not using it.

Back in the old days people on eBay used common sense when shipping. Nowaday, it's like you said. They use the wrong measurements or don't weight it properly (A scale is a small investment of what, like $10?), and they get lazy and just use eBay GSP. Back then, you had to get a US money order from the bank and wait until the seller got your money order, but now that the prices are so high (especially with our as-of-recent fallen dollar), I usually only buy from Canadian sellers, just to avoid the hassle of the back-and-forth over shipping. So I feel we've gone one step forward on the technology side of things, but two steps back with regard to common sense.

I have had much better luck getting private individuals and NPOs to do First Class than I've had with small companies. But there have been at least a couple of companies that did change their shipping for me. One outright did letter, and with the other they switched to UPS over USPS, because they wouldn't do First Class, and UPS was less than USPS Priority.

Their USPS contact was unaware of the free included tracking to Canada with First Class International.

Any shipping service without signature delivery is eBay buyer fraud waiting to happen.

Opinions? Well, It's simple a must if you don't want to get defrauded by unfair buyers. It helps sellers by protecting them from frauds and helps buyers by giving them a better variety of items available for purchase since sellers feel safer to list their items worldwide by using the Global Shipping Program. It helps eBay as well by bringing higher revenues due to higher number of bidders. So it's a win-win solution for everyone.

I would say if you have an inexpensive item like a video game that cost like $50 or less you can just go with the first class mail without using the Global Shipping Program since most likely unfair buyers won't bother by going after a small fish. If it's an expensive item then you probably want to use the Global Shipping Program.