eBay International Shipping Program

[Tabe]

As a seller, it's great. For buyers, it can be rough. They are often charged very high additional shipping fees as well as all the customs fees, etc.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Tabe

As a seller, it's great. For buyers, it can be rough. They are often charged very high additional shipping fees as well as all the customs fees, etc.

Maybe this is one of those rare exceptions for why international buyers should sign up for a vault. Or maybe Canadians can buy a PO box in Point Bob or something.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

For Canadians, it absolutely stinks. I refuse to use it. eBay price gouging to the buyer at its worst. Don't forget all the ridiculous import fees which always seem much higher than they should be. A lot of that money is going right into eBay's profits.

If a seller can't ship to me in Canada without using this system, fine, I've given up fighting and pleading. I just have the stuff sent to an American friend or a p.o. box.

[seanofjapan]

As a buyer in Japan, this is what made me stop using Ebay completely.

I used to buy a lot of low to mid end cards on Ebay from sellers who offered resonable shipping. When this program started, the cost of sending a card here went from about 3$ from guys who would just send them in an envelope via standard airmail (which I never had a problem with over hundreds of transactions), to about 30$ to send it via this stupid, slower system. Most of the cards I was buying were in the 50 to 100 dollar range, so this change instantly made Ebay worthless to me as a way to get cards. I haven’t bought anything on there in years now.

[UKCardGuy]

eBay international shipping is great for sellers but stinks for buyers.

Being based in the UK, using the eBay international shipping service is seldom cost effective. Instead, I use a mailing service in Florida. They accept my packages and the consolidate them into a single shipment to me once a month. It saves loads on international shipping charges and opens my options for the number of places that I can buy from.

As a seller in the UK, I sometimes get requests from buyers in Europe to offer an shipping option for them outside of the International Shipping service. I'm normally happy to oblige.

I think having eBay International Shipping enabled opens my listings to a wider international audience. If people then ask me for additional shipping options, I like having the option.

Gary G01db3rg

[Snapolit1]

No issues as seller in dozens of transactions. I print out label and sent to wherever they say to send it. Never give it another thought.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

No issues as seller in dozens of transactions. I print out label and sent to wherever they say to send it. Never give it another thought.

Well, of course. It's fine for the seller.

As much as we sellers constantly complain that eBay is always geared towards the customer and not the seller, just remember Global Shipping the next time you're about to air a grievance.

And don't forget to take into consideration the potential loss of much of your international business. I realize that most don't care about that small fraction of your prospective customer base since we're talking baseball memorabilia here.