Ebay Global Shipping Program

[lludwig]

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Ebay Global Shipping Program

Has anyone used it? If so, what is your opinion?

We recently decided to give the Global Shipping Program (GSP) a try after another book went missing in the black hole of South America. Although we don't sell many books to SA, the last 5 or so in the past year never arrived. We did consider, of course, eliminating South America, from where we ship to but decided to first try GSP.

Also several months ago I had a buyer from Sweden email me about two volumes I was selling. He had recently purchased a large and heavy set of books and his shipping cost was less than what I could offer on just 2 much lighter books. 

When we checked a 7 vol set of regular sized books that we have for shipping to the UK, the buyer would pay about $40.00 in shipping which is less that what a Flat Rate Priority Medium Box would be. For us to ship those to a UK buyer, it would be at least double the cost or more.

Maybe by offering the GSP we might gain back some of the international buyers we used to have before postage costs became so high. GSP now ships to 102 countries.

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/ship-smart/global-shipping-program/help.html#tab=eligible-co...

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[chagrinbooks]

Got my first official completely GSP managed sale over the weekend, yet another UK sale. A Czech language book that's been listed for too long, very tough to sell in the US. At the very least the exposure to the world market has reopened. Nothing to crow about but it did finally sell. 

[lludwig]

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chagrinbooks - Great to hear! re: "Nothing to crow about but it did finally sell." Around here when a book sells, my DH will ask if it was a 'good' one. A 'good' one is defined in two ways: 1. a higher priced book or 2. a book that has been languishing on the shelf for far too long!

I did receive payment within 24 hours for the 7 vol slipcased set that I sold to the Philippines, bringing the total to 6 sales within 1 month since I opted into GSP. re: "At the very least the exposure to the world market has reopened." Exactly the way I feel. My 6 international sales in the past month represent more sales of than the previous 6 months - heck, they could be more than the previous 12 months!

As we all know, not all buyers leave FB but I did receive positive for two of the sales including the second sale to Canada which was shipped during the iffy time of a possible strike by the Canadian PO workers. So far I have been impressed with Pitney Bowes handling time: in the door in the AM and out the door in PM of the same day.

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[chagrinbooks]

And another one yesterday. It's going to Italy. Surely this can't be happenstance. That's 4 GSPs within 2 weeks and, like you, that's better than it has been in months. Also, 2 more sold outside the GSP in the last few days. Evidently one of the customers opted out, and one used the "Flight to" Japan program. It's obviously causing greater exposure. Thanks for the advice, Lludwig. It's nice to be back in the world market saddle again!

[lludwig]

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chagrinbooks - I agree that it just can't be happenstance. Just when I think international sales have come to a standstill another one sells. re: It's nice to be back in the world market saddle again! Apt description!

I am now into my 6th week of  using Pitney Bowes GSP and sold my 7th book today. This one is going to Canada which is making a strong comeback in being the great international customers of days of yore. Out of the 7 sold, this is the 3rd one to the Great White North.

The 7 vol slipcased set that I mailed on July 15 cleared customs in the Philippines on Sunday, July 24 and is now in transit with the destination carrier. It took an interesting route with the last leg to Anchorage and then to Guangzhou, China before arriving in the Philippines. I knew that much of the shipping from China comes in via Anchorage but had not given any thought to outgoing on that side of the world. It was in and out of the port the same day.

One of the things that I always liked about international selling was looking up destinations or stops along the way. Among other things, I learned that Guangzhou is a sprawling port city northwest of Hong Kong on the Pearl River.

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[lludwig]

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Last night I received postitive FB from my buyer in the Philippines of the Slipcased 7 Volumes. Among other things that he said was "Professionally packed". While we receive such comments many times, in this case it stands as testament that Pitney Bowes GSP either didn't re-do the packing or if they did, they did a great job on re-packing. I think it is highly doubtful that any repacking was done unless the USPS banged up the box a lot on the way to PB.

The buyer was so happy with the purchase that he emailed me asking if I had later volumes in the series. He wants me to notify him when I get the others.

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[lludwig]

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Another international sale (Canada) last night bringing it a total of 8 within the 6 weeks since opting in to GPS. Canada is in the lead with 4 customers. 

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[lludwig]

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Another international sale, bringing the total to 9 in the last month and a half. A book that has been sitting on the shelf for awhile has finally found a home in Australia. I am truely amazed at the difference in sales pre and post GPS.

Given the number of sales that have been happening with GSP, I think it would be best if I do my reporting on a monthly basis instead of a daily starting in Aug; however, don't hold me to that since I get so excited to be selling all over the world again!

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[chagrinbooks]

About the same here (10) over the last month. I think it's safe to say the international market has reopened to ebay users - doesn't make a lick of sense to me but, I say, bring on the nonsense.

[bookthink]

If I may ask, Keith, how long have you been offering free (domestic) shipping, and how is it working for you?

When I looked at eBay's GSP a few years ago, it seemed to be too expensive for buyers, but yours and Kathleen's recent results are intriguing. I opted in this afternoon and will watch what happens with interest.

[chagrinbooks]

Craig, eh, I suppose you take the good with the bad. I've definitly received feedback from US buyers stating that free shipping was the attractor, even for highly scarce books. But I often have my own reservations and have considered charging a reasonable shipping cost (and I do, sometimes). It keeps books moving at a reasonable pace but I don't love it, no way. I've been using free shipping for about 2 1/2 years, I think.

The GSP is also a good-with-the-bad situation but, at least for me, the good wins out. I do believe it has everything to do with higher exposure and/or listing placement. It costs me the same rate as domestic shipping and it costs them a bit more, but it seems to work, at least for now. It did work very quickly. Good luck!

[bookthink]

Thanks. I offer free shipping on only one venue as of now - Abebooks - and I did enjoy a modest uptick in sales when I started this, but Abebooks is the only venue I don't discount books or run sales on. Many years ago I tried it on eBay and saw no merit in it, but I asked you about it in case the climate here had changed. Doesn't sound like it has much. 

I apologize if this was discussed earlier in the thread - I haven't read all of it yet - but how long have you been in the GSP program?

[chagrinbooks]

Craig, within the last month. That's about as many international sales using the GSP than any six month period over (about) the last 2 years without it.

Obviously free US shipping was less impactful to the bottom line prior to USPS rate increases. But (to anyone else reading this - Craig already knows it, and much better than myself), I simply have to consider the added shipping cost as the original price of buying the book. It may seem as if I'm simply imagining/compartmentalizing the source cost, but it represents a more realistic economic picture for relatively cheap acquisitions. That being said, this common method of buying can be unreliable, sometimes wildly unreliable. One day, hopefully I'll get a better handle on buying high and selling higher. It's something that Joe has been saying -even urging, for years, and I've done it, but not with any regularity.

[imagine.ink]

I sold my first book with the Global Shipping Program yesterday to a buyer from Australia.

Thanks to this thread, I made sure the Global Shipping option was activated.  Only about 10% of my sales are books (with 90% being photographs, postcards or ephemera), so I was very happy to be able to sell this book internationally. 

The bidder specifically mentioned that shipping would cost him about 1/4 the price of the book, so I know the cost of shipping is an important consideration among our international customers.   Anything we can do to make shipping more affordable to our customers will only improve our own sales.

Another plus:  I had activated the new eBay promo halving final value fees for sales in excess of $50  ... so this sale was a win-win! 

[lludwig]

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I've always heard that Europeans go on holiday the month of August and based on my international sales, it must be true.

The only international sale that I had in August was a book to Australia.

I did have a request for shipping to Argentina, but since it is a country that is not included in the Global Shipping Program, it was a no go.

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[lludwig]

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As I mentioned earlier, I was not going to update this thread every time I had a sale via GSP but instead on a monthly basis; however, I recently had a sale of two books to one customer in Australia and learned something that may be of interest to others who are using GSP. I also want to pass along a hint when you have an international buyer who wants to buy more than 1 book.

First from what we read and experienced, GSP does not combine the two separate listings into one shipment. Each one must be shipped to the packing center separately. Now, I think this would cost a bit more than if I could ship the 2 books in one package and they shipped to the buyer that way, but that seems to be the way it is. However, a hint that we read later on an older forum, but was too late for us to use is this: combine the two listings into 1 Buy It Now and have your customer use the Buy It Now. This should give them a better shipping price. Of course, this can only be done if the customer has emailed you beforehand and asked about combined shipping or lets you know that they want to buy more than 1 book/item and which ones.

I do want to add that even thro the buyer could not get combined shipping via GSP, the total amount for shipping the 2 books in separate packages was still less than what it would have cost to ship in a USPS Global Flat Rate box - $25.00 less.

Since I am posting anyway, the other sale that I have had so far in the month of Sept was one to Canada.  

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