Many items I have to take a pass on as the GSP adds a much higher cost to items that kills any real purchase It's nothing more than a program for lazy sellers who can't be bothered running to the post office to mail a package "GSP enables Buyers to obtain parcel processing, international shipping, and customs clearance services" With the added GSP fee. I still have to pay possible duties and taxes on top. A $400 watch adds $50.00 and if the price of the watch goes up. So does the fee. Why? A $1000 watch will fit into the same box as a $400 one and the processing won't take any longer, yet the fee will be double. Guess it works for sellers who don't want the highest sale price as I can't see any international buyers willing to pay the added cost of this program. Missed one time and got nabbed for an added $10 for a movement. Now I keep an eye out for it and pass on any seller opting in on it DON
Me too! Had a seller recently from UK who used this bloody GSP even within the European common market where no duties/import taxes are collected...
This is another money making scam packaged in legal BS. GSP fees are collected by Pitney Bowes and are non-refundable in case you decide to return the item. I know a few people who found this out the hard way. I paid almost $400 on top of a 1300+GBP purchase simply because the seller could not be bothered. Expensive lesson learned. The UK seller never sees these extra fees on their eBay page, only the buyer does. Clever, eh? I for one will never purchase an item with these fees again. Fool me once...
Interesting info. My main beef with GSP is that, based on my reading, they can re-package your stuff, likely do reduce size. For watches that's a bad idea as its an additional opportunity for pilfering. Also, any insurance you pay only insures the watch to the Pitney Bowes depot.
If you ship via Fedex insured, you're only sending it to the PB depot. After that Fedex considers it delivered, so no insurance after that. Also with regards to re-packaging, I sell thousands of items on Ebay every year. On the Seller Central forums theres always sellers complaining that their stuff was taken out of packaging. I am too chicken to take that risk. Would rather pay more in shipping and deal with buyers complaining about customs than risk a total loss of a thousand dollar watch.
Really hate it. Basically never paid full import taxes and now you will pay the full amount and all kind of fees. Ebay is getting worse and worse
This is 100% correct. FedEx, UPS, USPS all have different delivery rules for different countries, especially when you pay with PAYPAL. For example, a fully insured FedEx shipment sent from France was delivered to the wrong address. Since the seller had a tracking number which showed delivery (without signature) that's all PP needed to close my case. I lost 1250 Euros. Fortunately, someone at PP was actually doing his Job. He saw my account and the volume it goes through, and found it "odd" that anyone would lie about this package not being delivered, when others at 4 times the value were successfully delivered days before, through the same courier. He dug deeper and eventually got someone at FedEx to admit (three weeks later) that the package was indeed delivered to the wrong address and could no longer be retrieved (the driver went back to the address where he left the package, and it was a house literally across town from mine) He gave FedEx manager an earful for not being forthcoming with this info sooner as they knew about it right away but kept insisting that it was delivered to the correct address. Thanks to the agent's diligence, i eventually got my money back months later. I got lucky but would much rather pay extra for peace of mind than go through that again. I do my best to send and receive most of my international shipments using insurance through Parcel Pro. No courier is fool proof and It's not worth taking a risk when ten's of thousands are involved for a silly item like a wrist watch. Blasphemy, I know! ;-)
As someone who has sold a few watches via eBay, of which a number have been sold under the Global Shipping Programme, to be honest without the GSP I would have listed the watch as a domestic sale only, as I don't have the time or inclination to deal with foreign shipping. I think that's the great advantage of GSP - it broadens the market for buyers and private sellers, albeit at a cost. I'm sure it's a pain though when things go wrong or for people who sell lots of stuff and can do it better themselves.
I just sold some coins on Ebay. I quickly learned that you do not want to be part of the Global Shipping Program. Shipping via the USPS was much less expensive. $30 vs $12 on one shipment.
If you wish to ship international it is definitely not the way to go. I tried it once and as a seller and it was very convenient but the buyer was very unhappy. Everything I ship from ebay is USPS (registered or International Express for international). Relatively inexpensive. Relatively slow. But everything has made it through. CONUS only brings less buyers and less money. All depends on what your time is worth.
For us here in Australia the actual import charges levied by the GSP are exactly twice what they actually are if you just go through the government system. Its a total rip off and I always ask the seller if they can update their listing or send without it if I win. Once, early on Pitney Bowes actually couldn't find Australia and returned my item to the seller undelivered. The tracking trail on that one was hilarious.