eBay International Shipping Program

[Fballguy]

I was surprised to receive an offer from outside the U.S. this morning and soon realized I had been automatically "opted in" to eBay's international shipping program on all of my listings. Read a little about it and it seems seller friendly, but curious about anyone experiences with it. What are the actual upsides and downsides of it?

I assume others have been "opted in" as well. If so, have you stayed in?

[rc4157]

I am curious as well. Like you, automatically opted in and haven't changed it as of yet. I don't sell much but am trying to downsize a variety of items at this time. On the surface it appears to not be a huge potential problem but would like to hear from more experienced sellers on this issue.

[skelly423]

I'm on the Canadian side of the border. To be frank it's a pain in the ass. If I buy multiple cards from the same seller, they must be shipped individually rather than in a single package. Rather than send the card directly to the buyer, you are asked to send it to a sorting depot in Illinois. Once it reaches that depot, the seller is off the hook for any losses in transit on the second leg of the trip.

The card seemingly goes into a black hole for roughly a week or more with no tracking updates, and re-emerges on the Canadian side. It probably adds two weeks to the shipping time vs a straight delivery directly to the buyer, but that's apparently what eBay wants.

From the US point of view, it's great. You just ship it domestically, and as soon as it reaches the sorting hub, your end of the deal is done (unless you have a return from the buyer). Shipping in multiple packages is annoying, but that cost is all covered by the buyer

[toppcat]

It's worth it for expensive items and all you have to do is mail it to the eBay distro center. After that, it's all on them. I sold a box of unopened vintage die cast cars a few years ago that were only sold in Australia and New Zealand in the early 50's. If I had limited the audience to the US it would have sold for a pittance, instead it did quite unexpectedly well and ended up with an Australian buyer. It then got hung up in customs for 6 weeks after eBay shipped it and the dispute filed by the buyer was immediately rejected.

[dbrown]

As a seller, I love the program. Never fill out a customs form again, never worry about the ridiculous int'l rates, just ship it to ebay's shipping center.

It doesn't seem super-speedy, I'll grant that. It's mostly trackable, too, so the buyer can see what's going on.

[Tabe]

As a seller, it's great. For buyers, it can be rough. They are often charged very high additional shipping fees as well as all the customs fees, etc.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Tabe

As a seller, it's great. For buyers, it can be rough. They are often charged very high additional shipping fees as well as all the customs fees, etc.

Maybe this is one of those rare exceptions for why international buyers should sign up for a vault. Or maybe Canadians can buy a PO box in Point Bob or something.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

For Canadians, it absolutely stinks. I refuse to use it. eBay price gouging to the buyer at its worst. Don't forget all the ridiculous import fees which always seem much higher than they should be. A lot of that money is going right into eBay's profits.

If a seller can't ship to me in Canada without using this system, fine, I've given up fighting and pleading. I just have the stuff sent to an American friend or a p.o. box.

[seanofjapan]

As a buyer in Japan, this is what made me stop using Ebay completely.

I used to buy a lot of low to mid end cards on Ebay from sellers who offered resonable shipping. When this program started, the cost of sending a card here went from about 3$ from guys who would just send them in an envelope via standard airmail (which I never had a problem with over hundreds of transactions), to about 30$ to send it via this stupid, slower system. Most of the cards I was buying were in the 50 to 100 dollar range, so this change instantly made Ebay worthless to me as a way to get cards. I haven’t bought anything on there in years now.

[UKCardGuy]

eBay international shipping is great for sellers but stinks for buyers.

Being based in the UK, using the eBay international shipping service is seldom cost effective. Instead, I use a mailing service in Florida. They accept my packages and the consolidate them into a single shipment to me once a month. It saves loads on international shipping charges and opens my options for the number of places that I can buy from.

As a seller in the UK, I sometimes get requests from buyers in Europe to offer an shipping option for them outside of the International Shipping service. I'm normally happy to oblige.

I think having eBay International Shipping enabled opens my listings to a wider international audience. If people then ask me for additional shipping options, I like having the option.

Gary G01db3rg

[Snapolit1]

No issues as seller in dozens of transactions. I print out label and sent to wherever they say to send it. Never give it another thought.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

No issues as seller in dozens of transactions. I print out label and sent to wherever they say to send it. Never give it another thought.

Well, of course. It's fine for the seller.

As much as we sellers constantly complain that eBay is always geared towards the customer and not the seller, just remember Global Shipping the next time you're about to air a grievance.

And don't forget to take into consideration the potential loss of much of your international business. I realize that most don't care about that small fraction of your prospective customer base since we're talking baseball memorabilia here.

[Snapolit1]

And not once have I ever had an international seller try to scam me on condition, demand a partial refund, or any of the myriad other scams idiots pull today with frequency.

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Well, of course. It's fine for the seller.

As much as we sellers constantly complain that eBay is always geared towards the customer and not the seller, just remember Global Shipping the next time you're about to air a grievance.

And don't forget to take into consideration the potential loss of much of your international business. I realize that most don't care about that small fraction of your prospective customer base since we're talking baseball memorabilia here.

[Snowman]

Selling fees are higher for international shipments too. For cards in the hundreds to thousands of dollars range, that difference can be significant. At least enough to pay for dinner.

[Ray Van]

As a Canadian buyer, I believe the international shipping program is the worst program they have ever invented. I purposely ignore any listings from sellers under these conditions because the additional shipping and customs charges are cost prohibitive.

I understand that some US sellers are reluctant to ship internationally without this safety net to protect from being scammed, but I have purchased thousands of items on eBay in 20+ years and can count on one hand the number of items that were lost in the mail.

[samosa4u]

eBay has gone to hell.

- If I buy a graded card, then it has to be authenticated first.
- If I buy three cards from the same seller, they have to be sent separately to the main hub and I have to pay a high shipping cost for each packet. Furthermore, I have to pay tax on each card.
- Even if I buy a pair of shoes, they have to pass authentication first!

eBay = high shipping costs + taxes + long wait times + high seller fees ...

This is why I don't buy stuff from there unless I have no choice ...

The other option is to try to connect with the guy on Facebook so we both can avoid all the BS mentioned above.