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Ebay Global Shipping Program

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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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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

Just sold a vintage Fisher Price toy catalog to a buyer in the U.K. ...

 

I want to thank Lludwig for starting this thread; without it, I would not have learned of the benefits of utilizing the Global Shipping Program.  

 

Aside from the cost-saving benefits it provides to the customers, it saves booksellers the hassle of preparing customs forms and makes it so much easier to ship packages overseas (via Kentucky).  

Message 61 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

I have sold 6 items via gps in August and September including camrea equipment to Italy which I would not have wanted to send to due to the vagaries of the Italian postal service.

Message 62 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

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Imagine.ink - You are welcome. I am pleased that you benefiting from using Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program. I have received excellent feedback from my international customers so they must be happy with the service too.


Rogersbooks32 - That is fantastic! I never had any problems with shipping to Italy except that it was very slow - same with Greece. GSP takes the worry out of so many things.

 


To kick off international sales in October, I just sold a book to Canada. May it be the first of many more international sales this month!

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Message 63 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

Books comprise only a small percentage of my sales, but out of my last 5 book sales, 3 of them have utilized Global Shipping:  one to U.K., one to Australia and the latest one to Germany. 

Message 64 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

For the month of October, I had 5 international sales via GSP. The countries were Canada, Australia, Portugal, Malaysia, and France. This one month is approximately the total number of how how many I sold last year when I did not use GSP!

Message 65 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

Since the recent election and upturn in the strength of the dollar against foreign currencies I have sold several lots to overseas customers using this program.

The increase in global sales is a little surprising.

Message 66 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

It has been quite a few months since I visited the BSB and updated this thread with my international sales. What a difference in international sales since I signed up with the Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program last June! My last update was the month of Sept and since then:

 

October: 5 international sales: Canada, Australia, Portugal, Malaysia, and France.

 

November: 2 international sales: United Kingdom and Japan. I also sold a book to the US Virgin Islands but that is mailed via USPS.

 

December: 12 international sales: United Kingdom (3), Sweden, Australia, Germany, Canada (4), Japan, and Hong Kong. I also had a buyer in Thailand who wanted to buy a book but he was unable to buy it because he was registered in France.

 

January: 2 international sales: Canada and Germany

 

Feburary: 4 international sales: Slovakia, United Kingdom, Canada, and Spain.

 

March is shaping up to be a good month. Just received an inquiry from another country so will have to wait to see if that results in a sale.

Message 67 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

As I stated earlier in this thread, books comprise only a small part of my sales inventory, but my last book sale (a scarcer Tom Swift volume) sold to a buyer in Canada via Global Shipping.

 

I wonder why books seem to enjoy better sales among international buyers ... anyone know? 

Message 68 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

March international sales - 5: Poland, Australia, Canada (2), Hong Kong, Sweden (3 books to 1 buyer). Also a sale to Puerto Rico, but technically not international since it goes by USPS.


imagine.ink - The vast majority of my book sales are in the US, but the ones to international customers are usually very specialized books. Scarce Tom Swift books are not easily found no matter what the country. When I sold off my son's collection of Tom Swift books, a number of them went to Canada and Australia. At one point in the early days of ebay, international sales accounted for about 1/4 of my sales, but then came the postal hikes. GSP has helped to no end to restore my international sales, not to the point they once were but one month now equals what 1 year in sales had been in the past few years. I know that Kindle has resulted in general books taking a hit in the US and most likely other countries.


Speaking of my son (aka Swifty), he has been visiting many different countries in the last month and right now is spending 3 weeks in the Orient. He is able to work while on the road. Some of my recent sales of last month match up with where he has been recently: Hong Kong and Japan. After flying 'suites class' from NYC, he arrived in Singapore and he also went to Thailand. So far Hong Kong has been his favorite city and that is where he met up with the son of friends of ours who has been living and working there for there past year. He also met up with a friend from the US who grew up in Hong Kong and had returned for a wedding. As the saying goes, 'small world'.


BTW if you want to check out flying at its finest, click on link below. My son said he has never had such service and the food was better than anything he has had in NYC including 2 star Michelin restaurants. The price to fly one way is $11,000 (he used airline points)and had a single, not a double as this guy did and Swifty did the opposite direction. He is not coming home the same way!


What It's Like to Fly the $23,000 Singapore Airlines Suites Class
The world's best airline experience, from Singapore to New York.
http://dereklow.co/what-its-like-to-fly-the-23000-singapore-airlines-suites-class/

Message 69 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

June 15 marks a full year since I switched to the Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program and the end of May was the 12 month mark. I am very pleased with the increase in my international sales and my customers have been happy with the service.

 

In April, I only sold 1 book and that was to Canada. However, my store was closed for 3 weeks while we were on vacation so that was no surprise!

 

In May, I sold 7 books to 4 international customers: Greece (2 books to same buyer); two United Kingdom customers with one buyer purchasing 3 books; and one buyer in Hong Kong.

 

In the case of multiple purchases by the same international customer, GSP does not combine shipping, but this month I had a customer inquire if I could do better on both the price of the 3 books as well as the shipping (2 were large heavy books) . I could only knock a couple of dollars off the price of the books but what I did was  combine the 3 books into 1 listing which saved him about $13 ($31.97 instead of $44.00) The shipping costs via USPS would have been $78.90 for the 3 books.

Message 70 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

Just ran into one problem with eBay Global Shipping, so I thought I'd share it here.  

 

An eBayer from Australia sent me a question about one of my photos:

 

Would you be able to send this photo to Australia using a more economic way of shipping please? I would be happy for it to be sent well wrapped via a cheaper service if possible - have had several photos sent like this successfully from the US ...

 

I realized at that point that, while Global Shipping is great for saving international buyers shipping costs for heavy books, it's perhaps not so great for lightweight items like small unframed photos, which I can safely send for just $2 via First Class International Mail in an ordinary business envelope.  

 

So I revised my listing to remove the Global Shipping default and let the potential buyer know.  He responded:

 

Many thanks for your reply and change of shipping option.  I have left a bid and will see what happens - fingers crossed! (The Global Shipping has been very frustrating as a buyer and I have not bid on several items since it was introduced by eBay).

 

Just a heads-up to my fellow sellers here of an issue I had not been made aware of until now ...  

 

I will continue to offer the Global Shipping option on heavy books, of course ... whatever is cheaper for the buyer is obviously the best way to go.   

Message 71 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

imagine.ink - That is helpful to know. I wonder what the cut off point is in weight. Most of my books are too heavy to go First Class or Standard mail. It is something that in the past I have had to explain more than once or twice to international buyers.  re: "(The Global Shipping has been very frustrating as a buyer and I have not bid on several items since it was introduced by eBay). Well, I am glad he emailed you! Most sellers are more than happy to accommodate the buyer if possible imo.

 

I just had a buyer in Greece with whom I've exchanged several emails. I combined the two books that he wanted into one listing so that he could get a better shipping rate by having them mailed together.

 

June Tally:  7 international sales - 4 to Canada, 1 to Australia, 1 to France and 1 to Mauritius.

 

I had to look Mauritius up. It seemed familiar and the first link I hit referred to it as Eden - an Indian Ocean island nation known for its beaches, lagoons and reefs.  I realized then that it was a place my oldest son had mentioned. He spent his long 4th of July weekend in the Philippines. He's a travelin' man...

 

Mark Twain said "Mauritius was made first, and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius”

Message 72 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

Correction to earlier post: My son was in PANAMA, not the Philippines!

Message 73 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

I have recently had a similar situation. Mine was a lot of 3 books (MMPB) breaching the 1 pound barrier to Australia: better for the customer to buy through Alibris as they have an Australian shipping outfit that is exclusive.

Generally speaking anything less than a pound ships first class cheaper than priority mail, it's a little iffy to use that as a rule of thumb with Canada.

It would be helpful to know what the markup is for Global Shipping--because the buyer also pays your posted shipping to KY (unless you include free shipping). You may want to do that with ephemera and photographs

Apparently you can offer alternatives to Global shipping as well as Global Shipping so that the customer can decide.

Message 74 of 88
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Re: Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program

July was slow for me on the international book selling scene. Two books sold to a buyer in Greece via GSP. However, I did sell 3 other books to international customers (2 to China & 1 New Zealand). These transactions were handled via other 3rd party freight forwarding companies.

 

August international sales were strong. Sold a total of 11 books (1 of which was a 2-vol set in slipcase) to 7 buyers. One buyer became a repeat buyer later in August. Sales to: Canada, France, United Kingdom, China, Finland, and Sweden.

Message 75 of 88
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