Ebay Standard International Shipping - Worth the Change ?, Or more Aggravation than standard USPS ?

[metallicaguitarist]

As mentioned in a previous post, We switched from using USPS First class mail, to using Ebay standard international delivery, except for items being shipped priority mail or express, A while back when it was instituted, because we got a call from ebay touting this new shipping method as being better than first class, more protections for sellers, etc, ... We were told point blank that if the tracking showed the item as being delivered to the consolidation center, that it was out of our hands, we had nothing to worry about, and ebay would handle it from there, However this has not been the case, and aside from the typical "packages disappearing" or "tracking never being updated" issues we had with USPS, We now have a whole slew of NEW problems with this shipping method that never previously existed, Such as buyers who are not familiar with how this system works, seeing the tracking showing that the item was delivered to the consolidation center and immediately opening a case because they think that we sent the item to the wrong person, OR, more frequently, we have gotten numerous items returned to us with a shipping label affixed over our original label, and ZERO explanation as to WHY its returned.  The most recent return was a small circuit board that goes to a home security alarm keypad, upon contacting ebay they had no idea why it would be returned, so we went straight to EasyShip which is the courier service that moves these for ebay and asked them, and the person said "these items are restricted and cant be shipped" !, Which is NOT true !  I told the person "we've shipped these same items a hundred times through USPS with the item description on the customs forms and had ZERO ISSUES with them, why would they suddenly be an issue now ?, to which the person only replied back "I can't say as to why they would be restricted, only that it says here that they are and so you should just refund the customer".... More likely than not, the item is NOT restricted, what IS restricted is the shipment of small lithium batteries via airmail, and since they can't PROVE that there are no batteries on the board, they just want to say "not allowed" period, without checking into it.  Guaranteed that if I reship this item right now via USPS it will make it but if I reship it with Ebay it will probably get returned to us again !.... The whole point of using the Ebay international delivery instead of USPS was for the added protections AND less aggravation, Both of which seem to be non existent, and if anything, there's just added aggravations that never previously existed. 

[shipscript]

Most circuit boards have capacitors. I wonder if someone told EasyShip that a Lithium Ion Capacitor is a battery....?  If that is not the issue, perhaps you need to print a sticker with a no-battery icon.  Another thought is whether the item is restricted or whether there is an embargo on the destination country or against the country of origin of the circuit.

Lithium-ion capacitor: A lithium-ion capacitor is a hybrid type of capacitor classified as a type of supercapacitor. It is called a hybrid because the anode is the same as those used in lithium-ion batteries and the cathode is the same as those used in supercapacitors. Activated carbon is typically used as the cathode. Wikipedia