Ebay Global Postage Program

[havocpaul]

I have noticed more and more American sellers seem to have signed up for what eBay call the Global Postage Programme. It shows up as two different postage amounts and claims to include all import duties so the overseas buyer will not incur any additional charges. Some of the amounts shown have been ridiculously expensive, in excess of any charges that might be made by customs etc and in the case of vintage jackets, they are not subject to the same charges as new clothing anyhow. I recently bought a second hand jacket from the USA and it wouldn't have had customs charges as it was cheap and vintage, thankfully the charges in this case made at checkout weren't too dear but I noticed it has taken almost twice as long to reach me than had it been sent normal US Post International mail. I have also seen many people complaining about it on eBay's forum but of course they pay little attention to those comments anyhow. A few have also said that despite the statement that it includes all import duties they have had extra costs added by HMRC and Parcel Force. It might be argued that this scheme will flag items up and customs pay more attention to these packages. I am not sure if US sellers can still opt for standard international postage but it will lose many potential sales especially in the jacket market IMO.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yes. It's a scam, pure and simple. Just another way for eBay to make money, dressed up as some kind of labour-saving innovation for sellers.

We've talked about it at length somewhere, but I can't remember where.

 

[Smithy]

Yes. It's a scam, pure and simple. Just another way for eBay to make money, dressed up as some kind of labour-saving innovation for sellers.

We've talked about it at length somewhere, but I can't remember where.

BK is spot on, it's an absolute have. And it's not something I'm going to buy into.

Actually the last two used jackets I got were via members at VLJ and filmjackets. If I was after another used now I'd try and source here or at the two mentioned above first.

 

[Interbak]

I buy a lot of vintage motorcycle parts on the bay, but I refuse to use a seller that subscribes to this BS. It's bad enough that they charge sales tax on items bought from within Canada, now they want to be the import broker as well. Not for me!

B

 

[Joao Encarnado]

As being in Europe, I don't mind using ebay's GSP. It will cost me less using GSP than using USPS priority mail service because my country's customs house charges more taxes.

 

[Justhandguns]

It's totally rubbish.

And by the way, anyone in the UK noticed that their shoppings from non-EU countries got stopped and charged more often than before? I have noticed that Parcel Force/ HM Revenue have modernised their 'bills', another Cameron's cool idea to grab more hard earn money from us?

 

[RailRoad]

A seller can choose to use the GSP or not. The YouTube video's, showing the horror stories, told me all I needed to know. If a seller has a postal scale, takes time,
packs his item correctly then calculates the shipping, both here and overseas, he or she will find they have little need for the GSP. I was a new seller, until a year ago,
I didn't even know how to post pictures but I've now sold and shipped items to Asia and Europe without problems. In all fairness though I might feel differently If I lived
overseas and needed to deal with a U.S. seller.

 

[Capesofwrath]

It's totally rubbish.

And by the way, anyone in the UK noticed that their shoppings from non-EU countries got stopped and charged more often than before? I have noticed that Parcel Force/ HM Revenue have modernised their 'bills', another Cameron's cool idea to grab more hard earn money from us?

I noticed it started to happen about two years ago when I was charged duty on an item from the US. I used to buy stuff from all over the world and was never charged until then. But now I am charged every time on items bought from there. It's because so many people were buying computers and iPhones and such direct from the US where they are cheaper, and where if exported there is no sales tax, making them cheaper still. Everything else gets caught in the same net.

 

[Cyber Lip]

They put it in there as a default, and they've made it very dificult to remove and select a different option. I had to work really hard to remove it from my auctions...when I thought I had it de-selected and had another option in my listings it was still there, and was a real bitch to shut off. But overseas shipping rates have gone through the roof recently. You can no longer ship something overseas for a sane price. For example, it now costs about $20 to ship a single CD in an envelope folded and taped to be no larger than the jewel case just regular airmail with no tracking to the UK.

 

[Justhandguns]

I only occasionally buy stuffs from the outside of Europe, but before my recent charges (2 out of 2 times to be exact in the past 6 months), I got charged only once for buying an expensive military backpack from the US. And these two items basically cost the same as the handling + import duties, which I find it ridiculous. I do not mind paying for the VAT, but with £12-14 of handling charge and a delay of a week of notice? They have to do better than that! It's not that I don't want to buy local, it is just that you can hardly find many of the things that I need in the UK. In the past, most people who got caught were those who order expensive electronic goods from overseas as HMRC could make more money from processing those imports while letting most small items through. Right now, it seems, nothing can escaped even if you are receiving a present or even used item as long as it has a value declared on it.

This makes me wonder, who should I vote for in the next election.......

I noticed it started to happen about two years ago when I was charged duty on an item from the US. I used to buy stuff from all over the world and was never charged until then. But now I am charged every time on items bought from there. It's because so many people were buying computers and iPhones and such direct from the US where they are cheaper, and where if exported there is no sales tax, making them cheaper still. Everything else gets caught in the same net.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I tried it on my last round of auctions. What I found is that, since I always ship stuff in USPS Priority (or Global Priority) flat-rate boxes, it's not really worthwhile for me.

I did notice that the one item which sold to an international buyer took significantly longer to arrive than what I would usually expect. The item was shipped from the eBay Global Postage Program fulfillment center in the U.S. to a U.P.S. center on the East Coast, to Italy, and then finally to Greece . . . which struck me as odd.

I will say, the one selling point of the GSP eBay makes is that bidders/buyer cannot leave negative feedback if the have to pay customs fee/import taxes/etc. In the past, I've had issues with buyers in the E.U. getting peeved at me about their country's import tax policies (which of course is absurd). The other issue I've had is international sellers asking me to declare lower values of customs forms, which I don't like to do because (a) it's purgatory in the U.S. to do so, and (b) if the item gets lost, you can only make a insurance claim for the amount declared on the customs form.

 

[l0fielectronic]

I had two items I bought with it go missing which put me off buying listings that use it.

The second one of those I received the dispatch and tracking information to say it had arrived in the UK and would be delivered the next day, then a week later eBay emailed me to say it was damaged in transit on route to its US 'hub' and would be refunding my PayPal payment in ten working days. Which actually took four weeks and a complaint in order for me to get.

The item also then popped up for sale again from a different location in the US a week or so later. Strange business and the automated emails from eBay about delivery, and the loss of the item, contradicted each other and were so poorly written I wondered to begin with if it was a scam/junk email.

I've never had an item go missing before sent or received internationally and the confused and slow process with the above has meant that if I see something is listed with the eBay Global Postage Programme as only method of postage then I just won't bid.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Although I continue to make purchases on eBay, I stopped selling things on eBay a long time ago, the charges a seller has to pay as it is, makes it a sad place to do business. However as someone that has sold items to Lounge members that live outside of the USA, I am very shocked at the rates of shipping and the customs rules and all that.

Anything connected to eBay as a company (in my opinion) is always directed at making them ungodly rich! If anything, they should be giving anyone and everyone a discount for using their services to ship.

 

[Foxer55]

Call me paranoid if you wish but I would be willing to bet that GSP was also embraced by government(s) as they benefit from tracking all movements of anything around the world.

 

[nightandthecity]

It's a blatant scam. The GPP is sometimes charging on items that are not actually chargeable by UK customs, for example because they are below the price threshold. In any case, UK customs is a lottery: most of my stuff sails through customs uncharged. I estimate only about 1 in 4 or 5 of technically chargeable parcels actually gets charged by customs.

Personally, if I see an item is being sold with the GPP I avoid it because it adds too much to the overall price. I can’t be the only one so sellers are definitely losing out by subscribing to it.

It also seems buyers can end up participating without realizing. I just bought a Hallett hat stretcher: the seller is signed up for the programme but the listing stated there would be no Import charges - presumably because the item is below the UK customs threshold. But when I got the Paypal email it turns out that a big chunk of the quoted postage charge was actually a payment to the GPP company. It seems you are paying the sellers postage to the GPP hub and then their postage to the UK, which explains why the postage seemed so high. I’m really p**** off because I had vowed to boycott this rotten scam.

 

[Dragon Soldier]

They're learning from the package courier services.

Normally when I buy from overseas I'll go with surface mail, I'm not usually in a hurry. I'd say one time in five I'll get a letter from the revenue demanding import duty.

Sometimes if I need something in a hurry, or where the seller chooses delivery method I'll end up using couriers. In this case 100% of the time I will receive a bill from the courier in respect of import duty. One such bill arrived some years back when I was on holidays and so it was about ten days before I got to see it. I had "invoices due" from the company phoning me threatening referral to collection agency at the fortnight mark. Irritated, I requested a copy of the invoice from HMRC, it was not forthcoming and requests for payment of the "duty" ceased.

I have used the same company twice since with exactly the same results. No bailiffs have called, I have not been to court and my credit rating is unaffected. It is a scam.

 

[nightandthecity]

well, I got the GPP hatstretcher today. Posted on the 3rd and arrived the 13th, ten days. Also got a pair of boots which didn't come through the GPP programme, ordered on the 7th - only 6 days! A big difference, so i looked at the tracking......

The boots inevitably went through a few sort facilities but were generally through in a few minutes to half an hour - the longest was three hours in UK customs - where the parcel was NOT charged, though I estimate the GPP would have charged me around $35-40!

The hatstretcher passed through the postal service stations in minutes, as quickly as the boots - but it was THREE DAYS at the Pitney Bowes GPP facility!!

Granted this is only one experience of using GPP, but it seems to confirm that it means the buyer pays a lot more and waits a lot longer.

 

[Talbot]

I have bought a few things on eBay over the years from the US and sense a certain reluctance of some sellers to ship overseas. This may be because of the accessability of the USPS and conerns about customs practices in destination countries.

eBay is exploiting these concerns. Apart from increasing cost barriers to shipping internationally, the benefit is purely perception. The articles are processed through normal channels and subject to regular border agency scrutiny of the destination country. eBay are unable to guarantee that articles will not be quarantined and that additional charges will not be levied.

Can't see it lasting.

 

[Talbot]

They're learning from the package courier services.

Normally when I buy from overseas I'll go with surface mail, I'm not usually in a hurry. I'd say one time in five I'll get a letter from the revenue demanding import duty.

Sometimes if I need something in a hurry, or where the seller chooses delivery method I'll end up using couriers. In this case 100% of the time I will receive a bill from the courier in respect of import duty. One such bill arrived some years back when I was on holidays and so it was about ten days before I got to see it. I had "invoices due" from the company phoning me threatening referral to collection agency at the fortnight mark. Irritated, I requested a copy of the invoice from HMRC, it was not forthcoming and requests for payment of the "duty" ceased.

I have used the same company twice since with exactly the same results. No bailiffs have called, I have not been to court and my credit rating is unaffected. It is a scam.

Not all couriers are certified to inspect articles and collect customs, however your experience reminds me of when I imported fabric from Italy using Fedex.

 

[Dragon Soldier]

Not all couriers are certified to inspect articles and collect customs, however your experience reminds me of when I imported fabric from Italy using Fedex.

There may be a reason for that!