Global shipping program = tremendous rip off to buyers!

[nutti-brain]

So I accidentally had one of my items up for the global shipping program, and a potential buyer from Austrailia asked me what is the best price I can do with shipping on the item. I responded that I could come down to $105 and postage would be $22.75. I sent him an offer and he bought the item. The next thing I know is he asks if I can reduce shipping to the agreed upon price. To my horror Ebay will not let me reduce shipping because it was purchased under the global shipping program. I emailed him back and asked how much are they requesting for shipping, and he responded- $48.40 USD. So they are jacking people up over double on the price that it would actually cost them. I was disgusted to say the least! This is profitting Ebay in a big way and reducing many people's international sales. I realize this benefits those sellers smart enough to not use global shipping but this is a rip off and people need to be educated to stop using this program.

[rolenboy01]

Well scamming buyers are a tremendous rip off to sellers therefore they use the program to protect themselves.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@nutti-brain wrote:

So I accidentally had one of my items up for the global shipping program, and a potential buyer from Austrailia asked me what is the best price I can do with shipping on the item. I responded that I could come down to $105 and postage would be $22.75. I sent him an offer and he bought the item. The next thing I know is he asks if I can reduce shipping to the agreed upon price. To my horror Ebay will not let me reduce shipping because it was purchased under the global shipping program. I emailed him back and asked how much are they requesting for shipping, and he responded- $48.40 USD. So they are jacking people up over double on the price that it would actually cost them. I was disgusted to say the least! This is profitting Ebay in a big way and reducing many people's international sales. I realize this benefits those sellers smart enough to not use global shipping but this is a rip off and people need to be educated to stop using this program.

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It seems you are unfamiliar with the GSP.  The figure includes any customs fees, tracking,  and also a charge for Pitney Bowes, who processes the transaction for you.  All the seller has to do is ship the item to KY, they take it from there and ship the item on to the buyer.

Sellers do have the choice of shipping internationally on their own or choosing to us GSP.  Some use it, some don't.

[ljonesny]

Those GSP fees often include 'prepaid' Customs duties that are the responsibility of the buyer. Many buyers prefer direct shipping because Customs fees may not be actually assessed and because the stopover and possible repacking slows down the overall transit time. I can't use the GSP for what I sell (on another account) and I do lose sales frequently because international shipping out of the US is expensive for all options.

[bubbleman2010]

Buyer should be tickled you're using GSP. If you ship it yourself med. flat rate is $95.00 regular priority is $51.05 thats based on packaged weight of 1 pound 5 ounces shipping from zip 21501. You ship yourself and any dispute filed you can kiss your item as well as the money good bye...

[siayan]

You can figure customs fees here.

https://www.wwcf.com.au/customs-duty-import-goods-and-service-tax-calculator

Add that to your shipping and GSP isn't all that bad. Especialy if the customer refuses to pay the customs at the other end or claims item not received when it is 5 minutes late.

[ozarkjoe]

GSP has been a godsend for me.  I tried the old way at the post office and would end up losing money since what I suspected was $20 would turn out to be $50.   The real problem is that USPS has severely raised the cost of international mail while our foreign competitors pay much lower rates.   I am also still confused as to why UPS and Fedex charge so much money.  A paperback book to the UK might be $15 with USPS but the private shippers want $100.  If I am reading their webites wrong on this then let me know.

[lookng2015]

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@ljonesny wrote:

Those GSP fees often include 'prepaid' Customs duties that are the responsibility of the buyer. Many buyers prefer direct shipping because Customs fees may not be actually assessed and because the stopover and possible repacking slows down the overall transit time. I can't use the GSP for what I sell (on another account) and I do lose sales frequently because international shipping out of the US is expensive for all options.

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GSP often also charges prepaid customs where none is due (especially to Australia which has a very generous import allowance)

[castlemagicmemories]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Buyer should be tickled you're using GSP. If you ship it yourself med. flat rate is $95.00 regular priority is $51.05 thats based on packaged weight of 1 pound 5 ounces shipping from zip 21501. You ship yourself and any dispute filed you can kiss your item as well as the money good bye...

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bubbleman, very useful, good info here, thank you.

[postingid2017]

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@ozarkjoe wrote:

GSP has been a godsend for me.  I tried the old way at the post office and would end up losing money since what I suspected was $20 would turn out to be $50.   The real problem is that USPS has severely raised the cost of international mail while our foreign competitors pay much lower rates.   I am also still confused as to why UPS and Fedex charge so much money.  A paperback book to the UK might be $15 with USPS but the private shippers want $100.  If I am reading their webites wrong on this then let me know.

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FedEx & UPS are similar to GPS - once the package arrives at the destination Country, they will speed up the Customs process and have their delivery staff make the delivery.  As with GPS, the fees are prepaid on the Seller's end. 

For as long as I've been selling international buyers are never happy with the cost of shipping either - if I choose Priority International, then they request First Class or an "M" bag (which I have no real knowledge of), so when I started to use PP for international buyers, I just shipped Priority International to cut down on the delay in shipping and to have tracking.  When I get back to listing to rid myself of everything, I will have to seriously think if I will ship internationally again.  I don't like to "segregate," but I am at the point I do not want to debate shipping anymore 😞

[nutti-brain]

Ok, yeah the customs fee will be $!6, which will raise the price from $23 to $39, still $9 less than what Ebay is charging the buyer. When they first intoruduced this they were saying that buyers would pay a smaller postage fee as the program would bundle packages into one package and mail them at a much lower per package rate, and that the buyer would see these savings. That is not happening. I have maile a hundred packages to other countries in the last 15 years, and have never had one lost.

[gramophone-georg]

How can it be a "rip off" when all costs are disclosed to you up front in a listing before  you go ahead and buy it?

I've never understood this thinking, even back in the "SELLER OVERCHARGED ME ON SHIPPING!!!" days when, it winds up, the charges were right there in the listing all along.

Buyers: Only YOU can prevent you getting "ripped off". Don't like the terms? DON'T BUY! It's just that simple.

[tunicaslot]

I love the GSP - others don't - it's an individual choice. If it doesn't work for you - don't use it - but it works for me.

[pjcdn2005]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Buyer should be tickled you're using GSP. If you ship it yourself med. flat rate is $95.00 regular priority is $51.05 thats based on packaged weight of 1 pound 5 ounces shipping from zip 21501. You ship yourself and any dispute filed you can kiss your item as well as the money good bye...

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Why would they ship it Priority when they have already said that they could ship it first class international for $22.75?

For those who said that  the total included import charges, Australia does not charge tax or duty unless the item is more than $1000.

[pjcdn2005]

I'm not a big fan of the gsp although I do have to admit that for heavier items, it can be cheaper for the buyer to use the gsp. The shipping price in this situation seems really high though. Do you have the correct dimensions and weight entered in your listing? If you don't, then the gsp just has to guess at the shipping cost.