Locked
Discussions in this board are limited to the original poster and Community Mentors
Shipping costs
When I want to list an item on ebay.com, I get this message: "Shipping cost cannot be calculated since the item location is different from the site. Use flat rate shipping". Why is it a problem when the item location is different from the site? The item location is The Netherlands.
5 comments
vroegewillem
OP6 months agoThank you again! I can do as you suggested, but it is complicated indeed. But I suddenly realised that my problem was probably caused because I wanted to make a listing on the international site ebay.com and I am living in The Netherlands. I did it again on the Dutch site ebay.nl and the problem was gone. But are the listings on the Dutch site also international visible? For instance in the UK or the USA? I want to sell a few Tolkien Calendars.
wooden_flower
Mentor6 months ago@vroegewillem
Sorry I didn't think to ask if you really wanted to post on .com 🙂
If you include the US as a location you will ship to, your item should be visible on the .com site. Same for the UK. It is best if you also specify a shipping cost. Without a cost, the system will show that you ship to me, but have not specified a cost.
vroegewillem
OP6 months agoThank you Wooden_flower. But what should I do? eBay says: use flat rate shipping. But the rate varies heavy when I compare different countries/destinations. So I know the exact rate only when I have a buyer and know the destination. I don't get it.
wooden_flower
Mentor6 months ago@vroegewillem
Yes, it is not easy to set a flat rate for international shipments. I don’t know what kind of items you will be selling - are they all similar like cards or coins or CDs? Or is everything different?
It might be a bit of work to set up initially, but you could use rate tables - here’s the international page - https://www.ebay.com/ship/rt?client=4&shippingType=ITEM_QUANTITY&locality=INTERNATIONAL&shippingDisplay=DEFAULT&packageType=SMALL_PACKAGE&basePath=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fship%
You would use the domestic rate tables for US locations.
You would need to find rates for each area of the world that you want to ship to, and for each kind of item, or weight class - 1 pound, 2, etc. to set up the charts. Maybe start with only the most likely locations and typical weights to see how well it works.
You can exclude locations you do not want to ship to and will not set up rates for here under excluded locations - https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
wooden_flower
Mentor6 months ago@vroegewillem
Calculated shipping on ebay.com is for shipping from US locations. If the item is not located in the US, this site cannot calculate the shipping - they don’t have charts here for PostNL, or for other carriers shipping from outside the US.
I assume this is true on other country-specific eBay sites, too - eBay.co.uk probably only calculates shipping using Royal Mail, and other carriers from inside the UK, etc.