Ebay International Shipping

[vintagecraze50]

Just a reminder to anyone who has been automatically enrolled in Ebay international shipping that does not want to ship international. Today they automatically opted me in and I went to my shipping preferences and opted out. We will see how well this program does with the “not as described” issues that are problematic. As I can see the same stuff applies when an international buyer states item is not as described and the subsequent chargeback etc etc etc still can happen. If I am wrong about this someone please chime in. We do not like taking risks with expensive merchandise. 

[gurlcat]

I can recall at least one INAD claim that my friend didn't have to pay for, but I don't remember enough detail as to why/how; it was early in my GSP experience so almost 2 years ago.  I would suspect the decision to cover or not cover refunds in those cases probably depended on how much.  The item I recall was a bracelet for about $30 I believe.  

[5594shelleys]

I would suggest to "opt out" often from international shipping. I find I must opt out several times monthly since eBay is determined to enroll my listings.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Imho the "writing was on the wall" when MP came in and we lost the ability to block foreign payments in PayPal.

ebay seems determined to have it's sellers sell to international buyers regardless of the seller's wishes.

(please note I said SELL not ship. I'm aware of the argument that you're only shipping to US addresses with these programs).

[tsme35]

 I read the "seller terms and conditions" which states max package size BUT also saw "Packages must meet or exceed 7.25 inches in width and 10.25 inches in length". Its not on the FAQ, just mentions max's, I ship alot of my items in 4x6", 7x9" envelopes and most boxes would be 4x4x4 or 6x4x4, if this is true, then 95% of my items wouldn't qualify

[tsme35]

Also I have combine shipping set up, if an international buyer puts 4 items in cart and pays together, would that be considered one order? Plus does EIS go by purchased label weight or weight by sale, when my US buys, the weight adds up per item. So if each item weights 4 oz then 4 items would be a pound but actually they would still only weight 4 ounces total. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Also I have combine shipping set up, if an international buyer puts 4 items in cart and pays together, would that be considered one order? Plus does EIS go by purchased label weight or weight by sale, when my US buys, the weight adds up per item. So if each item weights 4 oz then 4 items would be a pound but actually they would still only weight 4 ounces total. 

At the moment EIS does not support combined shipping but they are supposed to be working on that capability. 

[dbfolks166mt]

 I read the "seller terms and conditions" which states max package size BUT also saw "Packages must meet or exceed 7.25 inches in width and 10.25 inches in length". Its not on the FAQ, just mentions max's, I ship alot of my items in 4x6", 7x9" envelopes and most boxes would be 4x4x4 or 6x4x4, if this is true, then 95% of my items wouldn't qualify

Really good question and it may be possible that this only applies to the outbound foreign leg of the shipment from the EIS hub to the seller and not for the domestic leg from the seller to the EIS hub. Maybe possible that the EIS contractor repacks in a box to meet min size requirements. Possibly a question somebody could as at the 10 May monthly forum and post an answer. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Imho the "writing was on the wall" when MP came in and we lost the ability to block foreign payments in PayPal.

ebay seems determined to have it's sellers sell to international buyers regardless of the seller's wishes.

(please note I said SELL not ship. I'm aware of the argument that you're only shipping to US addresses with these programs).

     What you describe above was, and is, related to buyers that utilize(d) US based FF'ers and eBay recognized the buyers shipping address as US based quasi overriding the sellers wishes not to sell to foreign buyers. With EIS despite the fact that the EIS hub is a US based address it appears EIS is checking the buyers registered address and checking that against the sellers shipping exclusion list in determining whether the item can flow through the EIS program. 

     While it will not fix the long debated FF sell/ship issue with EIS if the buyer is registered in Germany and Germany is in the sellers country exclusion list the buyer should not see the item or at  minimum not see international shipping to them on the listing. 

[tsme35]

I plan on it, haven't shipped international in 6+ years and thought about getting back to it, but its in the "seller terms and conditions" not on the FAQ section, thought if someone is already using EIS would know.

[tsme35]

I read a post you all had back in January but no one was positive on it. I'd have to hold off until ebay did but then again I've been waiting for combine shipping on the app for over 5 yrs. Bad enough US buyers can't figure out the cart, not going to deal with upset international buyers when they have to pay so much per $5 fishing lure and I have to ship separate.

[gatafish]

I have sold Internationally for 20 years. I have opted out of any International shipping programs Ebay has because they all have big faults. Global Shipping used to confiscate my toy plane engines because they had a few drops of oil in them. It didn't violate any customs but whoever did the shipping would refund the buyer and send the money to the seller but rare engines went someplace else and out of circulation. I used to have about 25% International buyers but the last 4 or 5 years high shipping rates have hurt my International sales and now its about 10%. The only way I keep these customers is because they know I combine shipping.  8 ounce and under package is about $20 shipping, 9 ounce to 2 pound package is around $35. My boxes weigh about 2.5 ounces each so I can  ship 4-5 small engines in 1 box and a lot of times total weight is under 2 pounds so $35 total shipping for 4-5 small engines. If shipped individually it would cost my customers $140 shipping for 4  9 ounce packages. Since my customers are saving  over $100 shipping they can pay more for my engines. It also save me about $5 in shipping material and saves me time from boxing each item individually. I just shipped 10 engines in 1 package to the Czech Republic for $75 shipping and individually would have cost my customer over $300 shipping. Time is money and time spent doing extra shipping is time I could be listing more items on Ebay. I already opted out of the new Global shipping program  as not combining items is a huge flaw since I already have a large International customer base. I hope that after opting out I will still be able to sell and ship to International customers and print shipping labels through Ebay.