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Ebay's Global Shipping. Is it hurting International sales?

I would like to hear from buyers as well as sellers. Is eBay's Global Shipping Program hurting business? As a buyer do you avoid purchasing from sellers who use eBay's Global Shipping?

Tags: ebay, global, program, shipping

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Not sure if it is very effective but I always require signature confirmation. Also struggling to understand why these challenges are unique to the global shipping program. I am not disagreeing, just not understanding that unique relationship.

From my understanding the major issue is the import duties and fees that are prepaid by the buyer. The same would be charged if, for instance, I place the actual selling price on the shipping form. The difference is the buyer would not have to pay that until the package arrives.

Most try to get around this by placing a lower amount of the value of the item. Thus evading the duties and fees.

The problem is the seller is stuck if there is a dispute. Global shipping guarantees the seller is protected.

Thus, I have decided to stay with eBay's Global Shipping after all. Too much risk involved. Yes, I probably lose more, possibly most, potential sales from the international market. But, at least, I don't risk losing my autograph or money. 

I blame excessive taxing and fees which hurt business and, eventually, the overall economy.

I am on the same page, Joe.

correct they only wat to protect yourself from a charge back and ive been on ebay since day one.

Joe ,well I think you have answered your own questions! A huge problem is the vat countries have placed on goods, now if your a dealer in another country do you really want to pay tax on the item on import because that would eat into your profit margin and collectors avoid paying because it's a complete RIP off paying tax on a 20 , 40 year autograph etc.. 

The other issue I find is international buyers think automatically that your aware of their tax laws when they ask you to declare low customs. 

you cant unless u overnite it or do it buy regesterd and both are very expensive might as well use global shipping. to ship a  signed álbum by regesterd mail to the uk is around 45 us dollars. only certian way u can u can ship fro, the united states tat can be tracked and there very expensive. i only ship overseas rebesterd or i dont send i dont need the sale  not worth the charge back

I am also curious if anyone customizes the global shipping option to make it available to specific countries, Joe.

Global shipping prices are too high, no doubt. But at least you hav someone taking responsibility. At the rate USPS craps its pants and the similar unreliability of other countries' couriers, at least you have someone to hold accountable in this instance. I also don't have to putz around with customs forms or worry about bidding from countries where the postal service is especially bad.

I used to buy around 50 to 60% of my collection from the US this has now dropped to around 5% because of global shipping programme its a total rip off and designed for no other purpose than to make money for e bay,most decent medium and large sellers in the US dont use it because they know it is damaging their sales,here in the UK we incur some of the highest charges in the world and I can only speak for my experience of the global shipping programme as a buyer here in the UK  

For one e bay do not tell the sellers that they are charging the fees half the time they have no idea that the fees have been added

It is not possible to combine shipping if you buy more than one item from the same seller though e bay do save on shipping costs by charging two or three seperate fees to the buyer but send all the items in one box  

When I pay a bill I have a right to ask for a breakdown of that bill try asking e bay for a breakdown of what the charges are on any global shipping fee,they put a fee as import charges when half the time the item doesnt incur import fees items such as books ,handbills,posters, autograph books,paper goods like tickets etc if imported into the UK with a correct import code 4901100000 incur no vat and no import duties at all but these items through global shipping incur import fees I believe e bay are flat charging the fee and pocketing anything they dont have to pay import duties on 

Items coming into the UK with a value of under £15 incur no duties so items under this value should incur no fees through global shipping but e bay are getting round this by simply upping the shipping costs on lower value items I recently bought some toploader sleeves from the US to keep my Hendrix handbills and programmes in as for some reason the US seems to be the only place to stock them, a pack of 50 had a total extra fees through global shipping of $25 made up of $15 shipping and $10 import fees a pack of 25 half the weight had fees through global shipping of $25 made up just of shipping fees so in other words if they cant make a buck on the import fees they simply up the shipping cost so they make the same amount ,I contacted the seller he said he had no idea and had nothing to do with setting the amounts it was all taken care of by e bay

I struggle to understand why many US sellers are so s*** scared of selling abroad if you use a method of tracking to prove the item has arrived how can you be ripped off USPS passed on to the Royal Mail is a very reliable service and higher value items can be Fedexed,the couriers the global shipping service uses once the item arrives into the UK are the most unreliable on offer and dont give a monkeys about package care or customer service basically they are the cheapest couriers in the UK and are awful , if you charge accordingly for a reliable shipping service with tracking and some type of insurance cover can be bothered to fill out a customs form and block certain unreliable countries you can safely ship abroad but I regularly see items such as a ticket stub the size of a stamp being offered with either global shipping fees or stupid shipping fees of $50 to $60 because sellers are so scared they overcharge to effectively rule out any international bidders when in reality a ticket stub with a value of $100 could safely ship to the UK with USPS for around $15 fully tracked ,in return I could ship the same item from the UK to the US fully tracked with £250 of cover for around £11 it just takes some common sense something a lot of people dont seem to want use these days because its just easier to let a global corporation remove the need for it  

+1

Outstanding post.

I hope every U.S. based eBay seller will take the time to read it.

There's really no need to use "Global shipping" when dealing with a whole host of countries.

It is designed to profit handsomely at the buyers expense.

If further interested put the term "eBay Global shipping" into Google search  

Page one will show at least 3 well written articles on why this program sucks.

Food for thought

 

Thanks Don

Thanks for that vat number I've been racking my brains today finding the correct code to ship to the UK. It's difficult if your not citizen to keep up on the laws when shipping.

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