Thread: Ebay's Global Shipping Program

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I worry about nothing when I ship out of CONUS,The onus is on the buyer to decide what he wants.
I sent two razors,USPS standard air to portugal today,The custom docs take 2 mins to fill out.
I Told the buyer,shipping standard air (no tracking,no Ins.) will be 16USD.
If you want full tracking and ins,It will be 56USD,yay or nay? he declined and went with standard Air.
I print out the response and file it away (this is what paypal told me to do)
I would feel bad if the package was lost or badley damaged,but I have zero liability.
Sellers have rights also,just protect yourself.

Not a thing wrong with what you are saying either. Unless the buyer requests a different mode of sending the bay automatically opts the seller into the GSP, if I understand correctly. That can cause extra and unexpected penalties for the buyer at the other end over sending it via USPS.

A buyer once bitten that way may, instead of asking for USPS delivery, just not bid on an item with GSP shipping in the future.

The seller in the OP admitted that GSP was hurting his overseas business and I take from that was a little puzzled as to why. Seems like it is a misunderstanding of how GSP works by both the buyer and seller. Both the seller and buyer assume that it a hassle free way to ship and then the extra charges show up possibly souring the buyer on using GSP offered goods again.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Not a thing wrong with what you are saying either. Unless the buyer requests a different mode of sending the bay automatically opts the seller into the GSP, if I understand correctly. That can cause extra and unexpected penalties for the buyer at the other end over sending it via USPS.

A buyer once bitten that way may, instead of asking for USPS delivery, just not bid on an item with GSP shipping in the future.

The seller in the OP admitted that GSP was hurting his overseas business and I take from that was a little puzzled as to why. Seems like it is a misunderstanding of how GSP works by both the buyer and seller. Both the seller and buyer assume that it a hassle free way to ship and then the extra charges show up possibly souring the buyer on using GSP offered goods again.

Bob

Do Not do ebay anymore,will not pay the crazy fees they charge.
Is all up to the buyer as far as i am concerned,If you feel you need tracking and ins,than you pay for it.
Not my problem if you want basic, cheap delivery,and for the most part,The USPS do's a fantastic job even with basic, cheap service,IMO

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Do Not do ebay anymore,will not pay the crazy fees they charge.
Is all up to the buyer as far as i am concerned,If you feel you need tracking and ins,than you pay for it.
Not my problem if you want basic, cheap delivery,and for the most part,The USPS do's a fantastic job even with basic, cheap service,IMO

Yea well what ever.

Bob

I wasn't talking about the USPS and Canada Post. They are reliable it's what happens when it reaches italy or England or bangkok.

The issue is both Eboy and paypal feel the responsibility is on the seller not the buyer if the package does not arrive or the contents are missing. You can keep a record of what they want in terms of shipping but eboy has this guarantee and if they file against you eboy will just take the money out of the sellers account and then the seller can argue with eboy or paypal. I'm not sure they would accept that. If a buyer wants a cheaper shipping alternative I make them send me a E-mail where they accept all responsibility if it doesn't arrive and they will hold me harmless. I've never had an issue but am not confident it would hold up.

Most folks will not use GSP unless it's a very expensive item. Even where an item is a few hundred bucks I've had buyers walk away from the auction they've won because of a $80 GSP fee.

If there are problems shipping to certain parts of the globe just list where you will and will not ship to or only ship within your own country.

If you don't like how the bay treats sellers WRT liability for lost in transit items I don't know that there is much you can do except switch to another venues for sales.

Imagine the nerve of a buyer walking away from a deal where it will cost him half the purchase price of the article they won the bid on. When you say $80 for that particular transaction I'd be willing to bet that there are additional charges to the buyer at his end beyond the $80 quoted for GSP.

Bob

In the world of the bay, and paypal, if you cant provide tracking info, you are not covered for any loss. Plain and simple. With the USPS there are crap limits on what forms of shipping can be insured/tracked and with the cheapest forms of shipping, it may not even be possible.
When I post an auction, I state clearly that I will ship international but ONLY if they are willing to pay for the insured/tracked option. From what I gather there are serious problems with mail going missing in places like Greece and Italy, (Russia being anybodies guess) and I will not put myself in a position to be stuck for the cost of a razor be it 20 bucks, or 200.

As a buyer I will take a chance on not having insurance but I would not be without tracking. I don't know what it costs to ship USPS to, say, Europe but I just got a small box of goodies shipped from California via USPS International First Class with tracking and the shipping cost me $11.50. That seemed reasonable on $90.00 worth of stuff and covered the seller because it had tracking but, I assume, no insurance. I shudder to think of what the shipping cost would have been using GSP .

Bob

AFAIK the only way I got tracking for international shipments, using USPS, was to ship global express. There were two options with that, one guaranteed, which was prohibitively expensive, and one regular global express. It included tracking + $100 insurance. Additional insurance was optional. I always insured for full value. For example, I shipped a one pound package to Austria for around $50 USD. Same thing as others have said, I'm not getting stuck and ebay will usually rule in the buyer's favor. Of course the items are going to be expensive or it wouldn't be worth it to the buyer to go the freight.