eBay Global Shipping?

[ainterne]

Hi, I hope this is the right area here for this question, if it's not, apologies.

Does anyone have any experience of the eBay Global Shipping Service?

Until recently I have steered away from offering pens globally. My reservation is based on some of the difficulties I have had with items getting lost during shipping. It seems to me that the chances of items being lost is greatly increases when introducing overseas purchases/sales. I know some people have never encountered problems, but equally others including myself have. I bought one item from a seller here and it took 2 months just to get the pen though customs and then another seller Cob (note the plug :)) where the nib arrived the following week. So no consistency, and that's not fair to buyers in my eyes. Also the cost of shipping to some locations is prohibitive as the shipping is often the same price or more than the item sold if tracking is an option the customer requests. Last year I sold an item for $30. I had to advertise un-tracked as the shipping was $54 with tracking to Ireland !!

I noticed that eBay offer their Global Shipping Service and it would appear that after selling an item, you send it on to the central US depot and the eBay take care of the rests. With that said, I have seen negative reports from users, and also reading some of the small print it seems it's not clear about costs after the initial cost of shipping to the central depot. I am also curious about hidden or played down fee's such as customs management fees etc.

Does anyone have experience of the service and have any advice on the pros and cons? Obviously being able to sell to a global market over a local market has it's attractions, so I would like to use the service if it's safe for the buyer and equally for me.

I am just a little gun shy at the moment and am seeking user experiences rather than eBay's marketing material. I don't sell for a living etc, however when I do build up enough moxie to sell one of my pens I would like to feel confident in the service. I am more of a buyer than seller by a long shot, and so have empathy for the buyers...

Thanks very much for any advice shared...

[checkrail]

The problem with the GSP from my perspective as a buyer in Britain is the imposition of 'import charges'. A proportion of items I buy from outside the European Economic Area the British Revenue and Customs releases with no imposition of import tariffs. The GSP turns, say, a 60% chance of import tariffs to a 100% chance. If I really would like something on eBay offered with GSP, I ask the seller if s/he will send USPS. If not, that ends my interest. I immediately switched GSP off on my selling account when it was introduced in Britain last year. As far as I am concerned it is another way for the eBay commercial octopus to trouser more money, at the risk of a mixed metaphor, and octopuses (not octopi, please) have big trousers to fill.
Kind regards
Timothy

[togwdog]

I've used the eBay global shipping program twice as a US-based seller. The shipping cost to me is the same as if a US-based buyer had bought the item. I had no problems either time, but maybe I was just lucky.

[Chrissy]

I have seen many ebay items offered with GSP. The shipping charges look very high on the items I have seen, and Customs fees seem to apply even when they should not, i.e. for items worth less than GB£15.

Now that ebay charge sellers final value fees based on the total price paid, I can't help but wonder if ebay recommend this because the higher shipping charges give them more fees.

I buy items from US sellers if they are advertised with USPS 1st Class International shipping, and have never had any problems with that service.

If I look at an item and see GSP, I'm afraid I just press the back button.

On ebay UK, sellers are automatically opted in, so if you want to opt out you have to go to your account and click on GSP then opt out. I assume that's what happened on ebay.com too.

[Cob]

I have never heard of this scheme. I sell abroad and always use Royal Mail International Signed and Tracked; I charge £8.50 which is about cost, sometimes a little less sometimes a little more. No one's complained to me.

Cob

[john]

The Ebay global shipping program is no good for the buyer who will have to pay more and with the longer shipping time. Ebay wanna squeezes every cent from the sellers and the buyers.

[Alex2014]

As an European-eBuyer, I used GSP once and I swore not to use it again. The shipping cost is much higher than USPS International Priority Mail. The delivery is slower (4-5 days more) because the parcel has to travel through USA to Kentucky, before being delivered oversize. The tracking system is not in real time. But what is really worse is the HUGE import tax that must be paid when buying. HUGE !! The partners from abroad of GSP are also very slow. A disaster. USPS Inte'l Express Priority Mail is cheaper, is a good solution, faster and safely, with assurance and a good tracking facility.

[Chrissy]

I never even considered the possibility that shipping would take several days longer. However, it seems inevitable that if a seller has to ship to Pitney Bowes, then they have to ship to the buyer, days are being added onto the dispatch time. That could mean the seller receives a poor detailed seller rating star for dispatch time on their profile. Not to mention the fact that they might also get a poor star for S&H cost.

I'm glad I opted out.

[ainterne]

Mmm I am just starting to think I should stay as I am....but perhaps not....

"Chrissy" pretty much identified got the cheapest way of doing it when sending from US to UK. I checked based on a $100 pen as an example and 2lbs in weight. The I picked the option I would normally think to go with that included the box, customs forms and the extra service of registered.

First-Class Package International Service™ $24.15
Your Total $37.80 Note that there is no on-line service available for this option. This is shipping in a box. As far as I am concerned if you ship via envelope then you really are gambling. Still, someone is paying an extra nearly $40 for the pen to get there.


On the the other hand, the next option, which is mail priority which is how I send all internal US mail from Michigan unless requested, always costs me $6.00 for a average pen in a tube of some sort packed up and ready to go.

The equivalent sending to the UK...

So a pen I would send on Friday for example, going to London that cost $100 would cost $78 to ship if the buyer wanted to have their pen arrive quickly for a birthday present for example. The same pen going to the UK with the same options of shipping would cost $78 !!!


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Some people have pointed out on previous mails that they can sit back, switch off to the fact that there is a pen on it's way and handle it if there is no time restriction on the package. That's a quality which I must say I don't have, and I respect their ability to do it...personally it rattles around in back of my mind there is a pen on it's way and what's happening to it.

The reason I say this is that if I don't pay attention and wait for more than x number of days then USPS can tell me to get lost because I didn't claim within 15 to 60 days, then it's a lost cause. So given my recent experience with a pen coming in from lower Europe all could have been lost very easily.

I have to say that USPS does respond to email quickly, at least in my experiences, however if something is stuck in customs then they have no power what's so ever, even find out if it's still there and not been mislaid.

With all that said, because of cost, complications etc, and then reading "dogwood's" response I think I am going to put up a minimal cost item on eBay and get someone in the Uk to purchase it, then ship using the US "Global Shipping Program" and see how it does and thereby test the service.

If I can really send an item to a US eBay central collection depot and then not be required to pay lot's of surprise extra's, then that would be perfect.

[checkrail]

I never even considered the possibility that shipping would take several days longer. However, it seems inevitable that if a seller has to ship to Pitney Bowes, then they have to ship to the buyer, days are being added onto the dispatch time. That could mean the seller receives a poor detailed seller rating star for dispatch time on their profile. Not to mention the fact that they might also get a poor star for S&H cost.

I'm glad I opted out.

I am fairly sure that eBay indemnifies sellers against poor S&H ratings as a sweetener to support its sweetheart deal with Pitney Bowes. When GSP delivery and handling is unsatisfactory I am not clear how robustly the buyer is supported by eBay. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has been in that situation.
Rather like Amazon, eBay has found there is a decent subsidiary goldmine in getting its hands on 'fulfilment' charges.
Kind regards
Timothy

[john]

I have never heard of this scheme. I sell abroad and always use Royal Mail International Signed and Tracked; I charge £8.50 which is about cost, sometimes a little less sometimes a little more. No one's complained to me.

CobIn my experience of buying pens from overseas, such as US, UK and some European countries. The shipping charge of UK and the European countries are reasonable. If from US, I should pay around $25 something at least.