eBay global Shipping Program

Iron Patch

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I think it's probably fine in your situation, but my big problem with it is from the buyers point of view dealing with a shipper who uses it. Here's the problem, which for me has to do with International shipping, but might also apply to a small degree for state tax.

To easiest explain it I'll just give you my experience. I'm Canadian and bought some gym pants from the US that cost $29.95. When Making the purchase I seen shipping was $9.95, and did notice $19.95 below that, which I assumed was if I wanted to upgrade the shipping... which of course is a pretty normal thing sellers do. However, when I went to pay the invoice it had the $29.55 for the pants, $9.95 for the shipping, and $19.95 for customs fees which was being charged up front! So the pair of pants that was $30 at first glance, is actually going to cost me double that when it's all said and done. I wrote the seller and said to cancel it, which they did, because the big problem is there's no way customs on $30 would ever cost almost $20 - it's insane. In fact, I bought about a dozen items around the same time, one costing over $150, and another over $200, and never paid a cent extra for customs when they arrived. So it seems quite obvious the shipping company is taking a nice processing fee on top of the customs charge, and I'm guessing they must have a basic formula that's applied and sometimes it works in your favor, and other times not. It would be impossible to calculate the customs cost to Canada in advance because the tax rate for each province is different. Now if the shipping company charge didn't include tax and was just duty and processing, it's even more insane! I did buy another item using it which cost about $80 and strangely it was about the same as the pants charge.... so I'm a little confused how they come up with these figures. Whether this would matter shipping state to state I do not know, but I tell you an International seller would never want to do this because it will turn many buyers away seeing that guaranteed duty charge.
 

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TreasureHunters

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yeah and he still hasnt paid or contacted and i cant send an invoice....grrrrrrrrrr
 

GrizLeeBear

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I got so frustrated with the shipments outside the U.S. that I quit selling internationally.

Is it possible the import fee is higher on some types of items, such as clothing, to protect the home grown industry?

One thing I learned on eBay is that shipping and handling is not the same as postage. People like to charge for their package, packing, labor, trip to the post office, postage etc.
 

jerseyben

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I got so frustrated with the shipments outside the U.S. that I quit selling internationally.

Is it possible the import fee is higher on some types of items, such as clothing, to protect the home grown industry?

One thing I learned on eBay is that shipping and handling is not the same as postage. People like to charge for their package, packing, labor, trip to the post office, postage etc.

Well, yes. And ebay allows this practice.
 

GrizLeeBear

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To clarify, that's not how I shipped, but had others try and do that to me. There are those who sell things such as DVD's and CD's who want a lot for postage. They can sell their item for cost and make money on the service side. eBay has max shipping costs now for most items.
 

GibH

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If I sell a CD or dvd the maximum rate is $3.00 I think. Probably actually lose money on that unless I were to buy padded mailers in bulk. Postage is like $2.10, padded mailer is $.75 and ebay and paypal fees on the shipping.
 

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TreasureHunters

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well apparantley I didnt have to charge anymore just regular fees since I just have to ship to ebay and they forward it internationally. So I dont know yet, he still hasnt paid.
 

jerseyben

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If I sell a CD or dvd the maximum rate is $3.00 I think. Probably actually lose money on that unless I were to buy padded mailers in bulk. Postage is like $2.10, padded mailer is $.75 and ebay and paypal fees on the shipping.

Don't quote me on this but I believe you are allowed to charge an extra handling fee to make up for stuff like bubble mailers, etc. can anyone confirm based on ebay policy? I know I have personally done it in the past and noone complained and ebay didn't cry foul on me.
 

GibH

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Don't quote me on this but I believe you are allowed to charge an extra handling fee to make up for stuff like bubble mailers, etc. can anyone confirm based on ebay policy? I know I have personally done it in the past and noone complained and ebay didn't cry foul on me.

I just did a dummy auction for a cd or dvd and was only allowed $3.00 maximum. From Ebay:

About Maximum Shipping Costs
In certain categories, sellers are required to specify at least one shipping cost less than or equal to a maximum shipping cost. The cost includes all shipping costs such as handling. It applies only to the first flat rate shipping service you offer within or to the U.S. There are no maximum shipping costs for international shipping services or additional U.S. shipping services. You can offer other shipping services, such as expedited or overnight shipping, and enter your own cost.

The maximum shipping cost for the category that you are listing in will appear under the area where you enter your shipping cost. You won't be able to list your item if the shipping cost you enter is more than the maximum cost.

The maximum shipping costs are determined based on what sellers are charging for shipping (according to recent transaction data) and what buyers say they consider reasonable. When buyers think that shipping costs on eBay are too high they may make their purchases somewhere else. The maximum shipping cost will help buyers find items with reasonable shipping and help you sell more items and increase overall sales.
Large, heavy, or multiple items

If you're selling large or heavy items, multiple items, or an item bundle, you can use calculated shipping. Your buyer will be charged actual shipping cost based on the package information you provide, the service you select, and the buyer's location.
International sellers

International sellers listing directly on eBay.com in the U.S. are also required to specify a shipping cost less than or equal to the maximum shipping cost on their first flat rate U.S. shipping cost.
 

jerseyben

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I just did a dummy auction for a cd or dvd and was only allowed $3.00 maximum. From Ebay:

About Maximum Shipping Costs
In certain categories, sellers are required to specify at least one shipping cost less than or equal to a maximum shipping cost. The cost includes all shipping costs such as handling. It applies only to the first flat rate shipping service you offer within or to the U.S. There are no maximum shipping costs for international shipping services or additional U.S. shipping services. You can offer other shipping services, such as expedited or overnight shipping, and enter your own cost.

The maximum shipping cost for the category that you are listing in will appear under the area where you enter your shipping cost. You won't be able to list your item if the shipping cost you enter is more than the maximum cost.

The maximum shipping costs are determined based on what sellers are charging for shipping (according to recent transaction data) and what buyers say they consider reasonable. When buyers think that shipping costs on eBay are too high they may make their purchases somewhere else. The maximum shipping cost will help buyers find items with reasonable shipping and help you sell more items and increase overall sales.
Large, heavy, or multiple items

If you're selling large or heavy items, multiple items, or an item bundle, you can use calculated shipping. Your buyer will be charged actual shipping cost based on the package information you provide, the service you select, and the buyer's location.
International sellers

International sellers listing directly on eBay.com in the U.S. are also required to specify a shipping cost less than or equal to the maximum shipping cost on their first flat rate U.S. shipping cost.

Seems rediculous to me. Prices are "determined based on what sellers are charging for shipping (according to recent transaction data) and what buyers say they consider reasonable". This kind of logic completely ignores instances in which the costs go over these "reasonable" estimates.

Thankfully a savvy business person should be able to build the cost into the price of item. Prsonally, I offer Free Shipping and build the entire shipping and handling costs into the price.
 

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TreasureHunters

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Update she paid and the address to ship to ebay is:

Reference #ORAAB04a3000016097168
1850 Airport Exchange Blvd, Suite 400
Erlanger, KY 4101

I had a few of these before so apparently I send it there and ebay forwards it for me, so I guess its cool that I dont have to pay international fees, they take care of it all
 

585925

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Did a search for Ebay Global shipping program and this thread came up. I see it is from January, and was wondering if anyone has had further experience with the program. Pro's? Con's?
 

heybubbajay

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The assumption is you can send a DVD or cd at the "media mail" rate, which is pretty cheap. Books on eBay cannot be charged more than $4 for shipping. Kind of ridiculous if it is a large oversize book. I would list the items in a category that has no restrictions on shipping. For example I sold two books on vintage WWI posters and put them in Militaria:WWI
 

randazzo1

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I have to chime in here as well. The Global Shipping Program has not worked for us. On two of our accounts, we ship globally to anywhere USPS will deliver. Items valued by us at over $150.00 ship express mail only with insurance. Everything else goes first class USPS international and we self insure. Very few problems. I tried out the global shipping program on one of our accounts and several good international customers complained that the shipping was exhorbitant. I don't know what it looked like from their side, but I presume it was something like what Iron Patch described.

That's the end of that. No more global shipping program as an option. We just stick with self serviced international shipping. It is so easy now that it doesn't make sense not to.

Also - while we're on the subject here's two tips:

1. The difference in what we get for items offered internationally versus only domestic is mind blowing. Taiwanese, Russian, Japanese, UAE and Austrailian Buyers top the list. Lots more sales to mainland China recently as well.

2. If you are shipping to a county that does not officially use the roman alphabet, ask the buyer if they could email you their address in the native language. You can then print this out and adhere it next to the shipping label. This is especially helpful in China and rural parts of South Korea.
 

dejapooh

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2. If you are shipping to a county that does not officially use the roman alphabet, ask the buyer if they could email you their address in the native language. You can then print this out and adhere it next to the shipping label. This is especially helpful in China and rural parts of South Korea.

I sell a LOT to China, and some of my customers have Chinese Characters as their Paypal Address. Also, many times, they include a Cell Phone Number in their address in case the postman has trouble delivering it (that is if they are in China, and they use Roman letters for their names).
 

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