Adding GSP - should I do it?

[southern*sweet*tea]

Looking for some opinions and advice here.

I used to ship internationally to some countries, and I did get buyers from time to time, especially from Australia. I stopped last year because of the Covid mail mess.  I miss my international buyers but really don't want to start back with the mails still not up to speed.

How has GSP been working for those that use it? NOT Ebay standard international shipping - if I'm gonna do that I might as well ship direct myself.   GSP - global shipping program.

I'm thinking about trying it but am just looking for some honest opinions on how it is working at the present time.  I sell mainly old books and vintage and antique paper items, nothing hot, trendy, popular or in high demand, so that's not an issue.

Thanks in advance 🙂

[marnotom!]

Canadian buyers generally either loathe or barely tolerate the GSP.  The US and Canada have had impediments to trade between the two countries gradually knocked down since the end of the Second World War, and the GSP feels like a step backwards for many reasons I won't go into unless somebody asks.  (My first attempt to post about this got eaten.)

While the GSP may be a good fit for some items and good for shipping to some countries with problematic postal systems or customs offices, for the majority of items Canadians purchase from the US, it just doesn't work particularly well compared to directly mailed shipments.  I'd particularly advise against it if you're selling Antiques.  When the GSP was first unleashed on eBayers, Antiques was not a supported category.  While it is now, there still appears to be some problems once GSP-forwarded items reach Kentucky and some of them end up in a black hole.

Also keep in mind that you can't offer international buyers a choice between the GSP and another shipping method on the same listing.  If you enable the GSP on your listings, it overrides any other shipping information you may have entered for your listings.  Sellers can exempt individual countries from having the GSP applied, but I've forgotten how that's done.  It is possible, though.

[7606dennis]

Judging from the types of items that you have listed I probably wouldn't use the GSP program.  

[katzrul15]

Sellers can exempt individual countries from having the GSP applied, but I've forgotten how that's done.  It is possible, though.

Would love to figure this out.  

Also keep in mind that you can't offer international buyers a choice between the GSP and another shipping method on the same listing.

So if my listing says I will ship to Canada and I enable the GSP, I can no longer ship to Canada direct??

If this is the case, then NO GSP for me.  I will always want to ship direct to Canada.  

[dbfolks166mt]

     This program, from my optic, is one of the few things eBay has done successfully to benefit the sellers. I sell quite a bit internationally and have used the GSP since it was established. It had a rough beginning for a couple of months but has worked without a hitch since then. It does add a little bit of time to the delivery process since it gets routed through the GSC in Kentucky but most buyers do not seem to have any issues with this. 

     The thing I like best is that the eBay GSC is the one that actually sends the invoice to the buyer and adds on the international shipping cost, any other fees or taxes and takes care of any customs paperwork. I have no clue what the final invoice to the buyer looks like. The GSC also updates the eBay shipping and tracking information with the international carriers tracking information once the item is shipped from Kentucky.  

[mozartbach1971]

I ship almost every international package I have by first class mail using Stamps.com.  I think it's a lot cheaper than any other method that I know of, and they do insure first class international packages. 

[inhawaii]

In all these years never had GSP INAD. Just lucky I guess?

[jonathankirkland]

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@inhawaii wrote:

In all these years never had GSP INAD. Just lucky I guess?

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Aha. Well most of your current items are on the less expensive side, that maybe helps. 😊

[therogue-trader]

The GSP has been good to me over the years and it's cheaper for buyers for heavier items.

(last time I checked on this (2-3years ago for an australian buyer), it got cheaper at a package weight of ~4 pounds)

I've seen delays with their handling at the kentucky warehouse since the virus started going around, but no actual issues with the service.  

Even had a negative feedback removed this year per GSP policy.  (contacted eBay via facebook to get this done)

[downunder-61]

As an Australian I won't purchase smaller items from a GSP seller unless they are willing to enter dimensions into any parcel they would be sending to me.

I contact the seller first to ask if they will do this. If not - back button/no hard feelings.

The cost of GSP is prohibitive with small items, unless it is charged by dimension in which case it is similar to USPS for us.

Larger heavier items are worth the cost of shipping GSP to me.

Be aware though they are sticklers for Countries prohibited items - to the point of sometimes being ridiculous. We can not import bowie knives or flick knives - but GSP determined NO knives (even a butter knife) can be sent to Australia.

[dbfolks166mt]

Nice thing about first class international is the 4 pound weight limit and the 36" L x W x H limits. Sure beats the U.S. 16 ounce limit. 

[marnotom!]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Sellers can exempt individual countries from having the GSP applied, but I've forgotten how that's done.  It is possible, though.

Would love to figure this out.  

Also keep in mind that you can't offer international buyers a choice between the GSP and another shipping method on the same listing.

So if my listing says I will ship to Canada and I enable the GSP, I can no longer ship to Canada direct??

If this is the case, then NO GSP for me.  I will always want to ship direct to Canada.  

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Here we go.  This is how you can use the GSP for most countries but still ship directly to a small handful:

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/ebay-global-shipping-program.html#m22_tb_a1__5

[marnotom!]

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@downunder-61 wrote:

As an Australian I won't purchase smaller items from a GSP seller unless they are willing to enter dimensions into any parcel they would be sending to me.

I contact the seller first to ask if they will do this. If not - back button/no hard feelings.

The cost of GSP is prohibitive with small items, unless it is charged by dimension in which case it is similar to USPS for us.

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If the seller offers free shipping within the United States, that can also sometimes make the shipping cost of a GSP-forwarded item a bit more palatable as you're only paying the GSP's portion of the shipping cost and not the seller's portion.   But then, you may be paying for the seller's shipping with the item cost instead.

You do bring up a good point, though.  Sometimes smaller items are cost-prohibitive to forward through the GSP because the seller doesn't give the "GSP bot" anything to work with in terms of weight and dimensions so the "bot" has to calculate the GSP's share of the shipping based on a category average.  Averages being averages, this means that smaller items may get charged more for shipping than they should.

[pikabo-icu]

This is sort of relevant..

I've bought items from sellers outside the US  several times, from both the UK and Australia, none of them had US shipping on their listings. (I was shopping the other eBays)  

Anyway, after messaging them back & forth asking if they would consider shipping to the US, if I paid the extra cost, I've never had anyone decline..

I suppose this could be a risk for the seller- but I've always had in my mind if somebody outside my shipping area (US only) I would consider working something out with them as long as they seemed legit. 

I'm still too paranoid to add International shipping but I'm not outside of doing it in specific cases. 

Good Luck @southern*sweet*tea  I hope it's profitable for you. 

[48hrs-clothing]

I have been using GSP for quite a while and have not had any issues at all.

I have found GSP delivery to buyer in vast majority of cases better than when I shipped direct using tracked & signed service. During the time that I have been using GSP I can only recall receiving enquiries from 2 buyers regarding whereabouts of their item.

At the height of the pandemic one item got stuck in customs in NY and buyer was  extremely patient and eventually opened an INR case which eBay put on hold without any input or request from me and about a week later item got delivered.

In my experience and opinion GSP saves me a lot of time as any questions from buyer regarding shipping is met with a simple answer of shipment is via GSP kindly contact eBay and they will be able to answer all your questions and provide you with all required information. 

Not that it has happened but I understand that should a buyer leave a negative feedback due to late delivery then eBay will remove this.

In short I find GSP a win, win.

Good luck.

[katzrul15]

@marnotom! 

Thank you - will check this out.  Appreciate the link!