The last two items I sold were purchased by international buyers. I previously selected the Global Shipping Program in such cases because it is the first option and heavily promoted by eBay. eBay claims they take all of the hassle out of shipping abroad. This is not true.
In both cases, the buyers were completely unaware of the Global Shipping Program. They never heard of it and refused to accept when I told them I fulfilled my responsibility by shipping to the GSP hub in Kentucky. The buyers are confused by the tracking info and still assume I was supposed to ship the package to them directly. They assume I erred with the tracking number, not knowing the tracking info is automatically generated by eBay.
The first buyer contacted me repeatedly complaining the packing was going to the wrong address in the US. The second buyer contacted me immediately when the package arrived at customs in his country, stating he was told the package will be returned to the sender. In both cases, I called eBay customer service, and in both cases eBay told me simply to wait until the delivery date. They did nothing to tell the buyers that eBay had responsibility for the shipment abroad. Both buyers kept waiting and continued to complain to me directly while their packages were delayed. eBay did absolutely nothing to notify them that I fulfilled my responsibility and any further problems should be reported to eBay, not me. There was literally nothing I can do for them after the package is delivered to GSP in Kentucky.
The second package was supposedly rejected by Customs in Brazil. No reason was given to the buyer. I did not prepare the international shipment through DHL. It was handled by GSP, so I cannot do anything for the buyer or answer any of his questions. eBay should step in at this point and take over because they are literally the shipper, not me. I had to call eBay, who told me the buyer must wait. He waited more than two weeks and the package never arrived. All tracking stopped in Brazilian customs. He opened a Undelivered Item request as his only option.
Wrongly, eBay automatically forces me respond to the buyer. We already know what happened, but eBay is not taking responsibility as promised. What good is GSP if I must continue to take responsibility, but have none of the information and did not ship the item abroad?! Why is eBay profiting, but keeping the seller on the hook for their delivery issues? I had to call again, and the customer service rep told me I must enter my original tracking number and the carrier. eBay already has this info because eBay automatically sold the shipping label to me. On top of this, both I and the buyer must wait 3-5 days for eBay to verify there is a problem. They could have done this two weeks ago when the buyer first told me, instead of eBay. Then I called eBay to relay the problem and they did absolutely nothing. Now I am still handling the issue while they are holding the funds to me and the buyer had waited a month for the item that will never arrive.
I want eBay to take responsibility for its own GSP shipments once they receive the my shipment from me within the US. They did exactly the opposite of what the GSP promised was a service benefit to me.
