Although some readers will disagree, for our money, eBay‘s Global Selling Programme is a good thing and a no brainer. As a seller you just indicate that you’re up for it, and then buyers from across the globe will see your sales and hopefully make a purchase.
Then all you need to do is ship the goods to a depot in the Midlands and eBay takes care of the rest. The additional postage costs are covered by the buyer and eBay takes that fee. You can ship to the UK and yet reach the world as a seller. And as a seller you’re protected on some level as long as your item reaches the depot. If you haven’t had a look at the GSP yet, we suggest you do. And, check this out because it never really happens on eBay, there is no fee to you.
This video explains the concept:
https://youtu.be/aoBjgAYSK44
But we’ve had some reports over the past few days that all is not well with the GSP. Tamebay readers have told us that GSP orders are coming through with the buyer name but not the despatch address and the all important reference number that will enable eBay to forward the goods onto the buyer wherever they are in the world.
The sellers affected have said that they have called up eBay to get the vital details but that’s time-consuming and irritating. The GSP joy should be convenience.
Needless to say, we don’t have any idea to what extent this is a problem. We’ve had reports from several sellers but don’t know if it’s universal. Have you experienced the issue?
[Edited to add: eBay tell us this issue was limited to three sellers and they’re working on a solution.]
4 Responses
So there’s an extra layer of processing, much higher shipping costs for buyers to pay, and basically no extra protection. Sounds great! Where do I sign up?
We had this the other day. The GSP address came through fine on the Paypal email but was missing on the order details on the eBay screen. I called eBay and they confirmed the customer had paid and they confirmed that it showed in the ‘Purchase History’ page and reiterated the details we had were correct and good to ship. It happened again the day after on one order so I sent this as normal after checking on both these pages again. They did acknowledge that it was showing on my screen though. We love GSP, not had a single problem at all with, wish we’d signed up sooner to be honest.
if pitney bowes would introduce a return system it would be unbeatable
Ebay may say that it was limited to 3 sellers but probably many more failed to report it and managed to get round the problem themselves by checking the Paypal details, I did as I didn’t have the time to waste by raising the issue with eBay! I also like the GSP as it’s eBay’s problem not mine if an international order is delayed in the post.