Ebay Has Me By The....as A Canadian

So I just bought a Scott #1. Living in Canada I have to pay an extra $43 in shipping and import charges. Imagine paying $22.85 to have a stamp shipped via International Priority Shipping! This sucks. They won't let me transact personally with the seller. That doesn't leave me too many options. Any ideas?

-Charles

Have you contacted the seller? I assume the seller is in the US in which case the problem is with the US Postal Service and the lack of many choices to insure an item going across international borders.

I did contact the seller, three times! We have decided that he will cancel the auction and re-list it with different shipping options. Here is a note I received from ebay:

You should have contacted the seller before you bought the item and asked them if they would be willing to ship directly to Canada without the GSP. They would have had to take the gsp off the listing before you made the purchase. Since you already bought the item, the seller has to ship through the GSP. The other alternative is for the seller to cancel the transaction, opt out of the GSP and relist the item and you repurchase it.

Here is my response:

Thank you. This is helpful. It addresses how to recover from a bad situation. However, it doesn't address the fact that charging me more than $20 to ship a stamp is profoundly bad practice (I could use other words, but won't). There is something unethical about it. Too bad there is no accountability involved.

-Charles

Wow! I just learned why not to get into the Global Shipping Program. Thanks for the explanation and details. I'm glad the seller is willing to help out on the deal. Good luck getting your stamp.

As I've mentioned on this forum in the past sellers should not be using GSP in the stamps category. I've sited international postage from $18 to $51 with USA sellers using the Global Shipping Program for a single stamp. Its quiet ridiculous. Be very cautious when bidding or with buy it now items, check first the seller feedback and then secondly the postage charge. Global Shipping Program will use the highest courier tracked service available, the seller does not see a cent of the postage it all goes to Pitney Bowes. Some sellers don't know that and ask the buyer why they didn't pay the postage. Personally I avoid listings using the service altogether, I used to buy a lot more from US sellers but now only stick with those that use good old fashioned airmail.

Yes, caution is called for here. The problem seems to be a lack of accountability on the part of ebay and whatever company handles this end of their transactions. Of course, now that I know I cannot transact personally with the seller, I will keep a careful eye on the charges. There is an option to have the seller change the shipping specs in mid-posting. I wonder if most sellers will do that.

-Charles

If I am not mistaken...eBay takes a commission off the total cost of the transaction...shipping included.
I rarely buy stamps off ebay these days because of the GSP...which is a major ripoff!
One of the reasons that I purchase from dealers on HipStamp is that the shipping costs to Canada is quite reasonable...however I did find a dealer the other day who's shipping rate for single stamp to the USA was $2.00...but to Canada was over $9.00...and with the current exchange it would make it around $11.00 in Canadian funds.
Simply ridiculous!

A 2 ounce USPS First Class Parcel with tracking costs $2.62 to mail while it costs $1.36 to mail a 2 ounce Stayflat mailer without tracking to Canada. Why charge more for shipping under $400 stamp orders to Canada?

When I have sales to Canada I mail by regular first class international. $1.15 last time I checked. It's my risk of loss of course but so far in over 40 years I have never lost an item to Canada. I also don't offer items over around $400.

Is there any way of bringing ebay to task on this issue? Because it is a ripoff!!

I really doubt ebay would ever change their position. However, the best thing we can do is educate philatelic sellers to not use the GSP program. There is no valid reason to use it. ebay deceived a number of sellers who were weary of international sales into the program and auto-enrolled many new sellers into it without their knowledge. If a seller has an item you are interested in make sure they are not using he GSP program and if they are see if they are willing to change to a better option before you bid or purchase. If not, don't buy from that seller. There are plenty of good sellers on ebay that do not use the GSP program. Shop around.

Suggestion, find a good USA friend and have it shipped to them and they can in turn ship it to you at a better cost.

Yes, that might work. But unfortunately I don't have any American friends, and I am not sure I would impose upon them such an extra effort given the volume of my purchases. The suggestion that I get a PO Box in the States would be a good one, except I am one of those people who gets nervous while going through customs and telling them I have nothing major to declare. The alternative is paying taxes there which I might not have to pay through USPS.

-Charles

While I am among the first to criticize ebay, I'm not sure that ebay is the culprit in this case. Assuming that the stamp is worth about $300, the USPS wants $41.50 to send it by International Priority Express; $23.95 by Priority Mail, and $14.55 by first class registered. And of course, both ebay and PayPal add their fees to these prices. You mention import fees. I believe the stamp is free of duty, but Canada Revenue will want their GST and provincial sales taxes on the purchase. That's something to be taken up with your MP. Actually, the point I'm trying to make is that international shipping costs are ridiculously high.

Why not have the shipper send it UPS or DHL? Include the shipping costs as part of the sale.

There are also mail forwarding services that work with US/Canada addresses.
Don