I opted out of Ebay's international shipping program. Let me share a different perspective.
I do ship worldwide and have been shipping internationally since 2002. However, I do not want a third party, as an Ebay hub involved. I ship international only through DHL. They have been the only reliable carrier in my opinion and is the gold standard in international shipping. I have an account with DHL and receive 45% off rates. I have an Account Manager who works hard to get me the best rates each year. He haggles with his Manager to get me the lowest rates, even though I don't ship much internationally.
When shipping via DHL, I know the package will arrive in 3-4 days, pass through Customs easily and the signature will show up as "delivered" and signed for. That company is run like a finely tuned clock. USPS has been losing packages galore in the past 3 years, things get stuck in Customs, they are slow and the package may not show delivered at the end. In the past, I have had bad experiences with USPS and so has my family and 2 close friends who are also business owners. USPS used to be more reliable.
I decided to opt out of Ebay's international shipping program because I want to manage and control my shipments. I sell expensive items and I do not want to take a chance that the item I am sending is, lost, stolen or switched out with something else. Too many hands will touch the package and there is great margin for error and mistakes. I was never interested in the Global shipping program either.
I don't even buy regular shipping labels from Ebay. I use Fedex for shipping, I have my own account.
Each year, I speak to my Account Manager and they give me highly reduced rates. When you have your own Fedex account, you get great rates and can control your packages. For example, I put a security measure on my account where no one can re-route the package to another address. They also can't sign online and must show ID during delivery. I was able to set 5 security measures.
The safest way to ship is with your own account. For domestic parcels, I have 45% off Fedex Express and 25% off of Ground. I could get a better rate on Ground, but I mostly use Express so I have a maximum % discount on that service.
Another thing to consider, there have been a lot of problems with the Authenticity program. Sellers are shipping sneakers and handbags to third party hubs that Ebay contracted with and things are getting lost, stolen and switched. In theory, the concept was a good one but, the people who work for these authentication programs are sketchy at best. I am skeptical about the Ebay hub international shipping program because the authentication program had quite a few problems. Both are hubs where you send your package out to and then it is sent to the buyer.
My situation is a bit different because I can spring for DHL because I sell pricey pieces. I realize that is not possible for all sellers. I did use USPS Express 4 times in the past and 2 of the times were a disaster. I gave up on USPS for international. I can't even imagine USPS regular economy shipping.
