eBay are expanding the Global Shipping Programme yet again to add dozens more countries to the list of those that sellers can ship to as easily as if they were selling within the UK.
The new countries added are: Antigua & Barbuda; Aruba; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Bolivia; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Cayman Islands; Dominica; Ecuador; Egypt; French Guiana; Gibraltar; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guernsey; Iceland; Jersey; Jordan; Liechtenstein; Macau; Maldives; Martinique; Monaco; Montserrat; Nicaragua; Oman; Pakistan; Paraguay; Peru; Reunion; Saint Kitts & Nevis; Saint Lucia; Sri Lanka; and Turks & Caicos Islands.
Buyers in these countries can now purchase from eBay UK and all the seller has to do is ship to the eBay processing centre in the Midlands. From then on eBay handle the export paperwork, worry about customs and duties and protect the seller from any substandard feedback.
For the buyer the advantage is that they get clear up front pricing including shipping and duty so that there are no nasty unexpected surprises when the item arrives.
Whilst many professional sellers have their own international shipping arrangements and this is clearly a programme aimed at getting the casual and consumer sellers involved in cross border trade with a minimum of fuss, eBay’s Global Shipping Programme is also ideal for filling in the gaps when there are countries you don’t wish to ship to.
Shipping to friendly neighbouring EU countries like France and Germany is simple, but others like Italy have a notoriously unreliable service, so why not make Italy eBay’s problem and keep the easy countries on your own inhouse courier?
14 Responses
yeah nowt said about it being two or 3 times more expensive than many carriers , extended delivery times,
and no credible managed return system so thieves simply ask for a return label for free goods
“So why not make Italy eBay’s problem and keep the easy countries on your own inhouse courier?”
If only it was that easy.
With GSP you have to have it totally on or off for a listing.
For a listing, you can’t have selected countries by Royal Mail and other countries by GSP. It’s either one or the other.
You can have one listing GSP and another listing by Royal Mail for example.
But not a mix of the two shipping methods within one listing.
I was hoping that you could have the best of both and checked this with eBay last year to be given the bad news.
When I saw this post I thought that perhaps it had changed so I called eBay today to ask how it could be done. Unfortunately they told me that nothing has changed regarding this.
If someone does know how to offer GSP and another shipping option for a listing then please let me know as I would love it to be this way.
Never had a problem with sending items to Italy, or France, or Germany.
The country with the largest % of losses since we started trading in 2003, is:
The United States Of America.
Take a bow Uncle Sam.
Tracked or Signed For items just vanish at the Hudsons Bay NY depot and are never seen again.
But I will say this much – the tracking on the USPS site is infinitely better than Royal Mail.
Examples:
RM: Your item has been passed to the other country for delivery.
USPS: 2.14pm and 36 seconds, your item has arrived at the Hudsons Bay NY Depot and is sitting in the corner in a comfy chair smoking a woodbine.
and I note in the recent updated terms and condition that pitney bowes will not recover customs duties on returned items? the GSP, is just a over priced rip off and should be banned by Goverment.
sellers are opted in by default
the naive and inexperienced are thrown into a shark infested sea
thinking there in a paddling pool with life guards
Do you have to revise the listings for the new countries to be added?
Or is it automatic via eBay?
I spoke with eBay about this program and they really sold it to me. When I asked what the cons were they said none. When i asked if it took longer they ‘yes, but you have the added security…’ so basically they are not being truthful about the negatives. I decided to research it as I felt it was not an honest description i was being given. Low and behold hoards of unhappy obeyers and only very few happy ones with this service.
Cons- much more expensive
-still open to fraud
-takes longer to ship
-excess charges in shipping taxes adde at time of purchase so seems like it’s all postage and very high
Also as a side note I have noticed recently a huge surge in orders from Germany and a massive return rate. Nearly new items being returned as not as described when described as in very good condition. I think the recent return rate is something like 25-30%. And it’s only Germany… have maybe recieved 30/40 orders from Germany in the past few months (by far the biggest european country for orders) and many returned items. Frustrating as these are expensive items sent by tracked delivery and of course I loose the shipping twice when it returned not as described.