Global Shipping Problems

[uyenbetiteo]

I am signed up for the Global Shipping program, and have made several sales in Europe, but in the last week I have had two buyers complain that they are being charged huge amounts for shipping; one in England and the other in Brazil ($45.00US).  

Anybody know what is happening?

[siayan]

GSP is probably not the best for your type of items. You may want to go straight first class and expect a possible lost package.

[reallyhardtofind]

We ship to Europe and the  UK, postage just costs more to ship there. Some customers from the UK complain about paying VAT/customs duty we even received a neg once because the customer had to pay duty lol. I don't get these buyers who complain about shipping.

[missjen831]

Yep the other poster is right. The GSP is not suitable for inexpensive lightweight items. Ebay/GSP doesn't offer any economy options, only "international priority mail". Your patches can easily ship first class international for MUCH LESS than what the GSP charges. Although, I don't know how safe it is to ship direct to Brazil these days, especially via first class international. Its totally safe when shipping to the UK though 🙂

[uyenbetiteo]

How would shipping first class save the customer fees?  When the Global Shipping Program works I get the address in Tennessee and it just works.

These are all patches and decals so it is usually just an envelope?  Why are some shoppers getting zero fees and others are seeing huge fees?

[futuretomorrow]

Not sure where some of this information is coming from but I have yet to hear of a use case where the GSP works in favor of the buyer. They are assessed higher fees than if you simply ship it on your own and no you don't have to falsify any information on the customs forms to see the difference.

I know this from having shipped international extensively here and reading the horror stories on other destinations of what the GSP brought their total to. Buyers are not going to be happy because we chose a program that's convenient to us but financially off-putting to them with higher fees than they're used to paying. When eBay introduced the GSP I noticed a massive decline in international sales as did many of my friends. 

[siayan]

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@uyenbetiteo wrote:

How would shipping first class save the customer fees?  When the Global Shipping Program works I get the address in Tennessee and it just works.

These are all patches and decals so it is usually just an envelope?  Why are some shoppers getting zero fees and others are seeing huge fees?

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As an example it would cost $14.00 to ship 6oz to great britian directly. If you use GSP they will charge priority so the base rate will be higher to start off with. Also because GSP has a large group of items shipping in one lot all the items are charged duty fees whereas many countries don't charge duties for items under a certain amount or for first class envelopes.  So rather the a $14 shipping charge the GSP charge may be $35-40. For an items costing $5 it isn't economical. 

[elitefashions12-0]

1st Class shipping to the UK absolutely fine, Also when it arrives to the UK you can get even more detailed tracking via Royal Mail, Priority only for S America, if they want it that bad they will pay or they can buy multiple items to reduce shipping, 1st Class to S America will result in INR.

[siayan]

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@elitefashions12-0 wrote:
1st Class shipping to the UK absolutely fine, Also when it arrives to the UK you can get even more detailed tracking via Royal Mail, Priority only for S America, if they want it that bad they will pay or they can buy multiple items to reduce shipping, 1st Class to S America will result in INR.

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I agree, there are countries that I would just not ship too. A item held in customs for a few weeks gets a INR.