Just tried new international shipping program - here's what to expect.

[richard1rst]

I'm sending a 6 pound package to a buyer in Germany. Ordinarily I would use USPS Priority Mail (cost $63.75) The new program was $57.00. Pirateship was the same $63.75.

So first - yes saved some money.

BUT

It shows a ship to address of:

EBAY INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY LAX

with an address in Redondo Beach CA.

and it is marked "Priority Mail 2-day". It shows a typical USPS tracking number but then below that a secondary bar code beginning ESUS. It is that ESUS number which shows up on my sold items page, not the USPS number. So if you do not make a note of that USPS number you will have no way of verifying that it actually made it to Redondo Beach.

I clicked the tracking number and it shows an estimated delivery date of Sunday March 15.

I know from past experience that shipments to Germany have only taken about 7-10 days by USPS so I am concerned about that 3/15 date. What is my buyer going to think when he sees that?

There is a reference number at the bottom of the label but I do not see any connection between that number and my order so it must be an internal thing to help them sort the package,.

Neither by buyer's name nor address nor country shows anywhere on the label.

It does show my address as the "ship from" although on these it also shows my eBay username.

If we ship to a freight forwarder then the delivery is considered complete once the forwarder gets it. i.e. no Not Received claim later on from the ultimate buyer.

Will the same apply here? If it gets lost between CA and Germany am I covered?

UNFORTUNATELY the label has the same orientation problems that FedEx labels have. I had to do a "screen print" and transfer it to a jpeg program to be able to rotate the label to get it to print correctly.

Hope this helps.

[buyselljack2016]

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@richard1rst wrote:

I'm sending a 6 pound package to a buyer in Germany. Ordinarily I would use USPS Priority Mail (cost $63.75) The new program was $57.00. Pirateship was the same $63.75.

So first - yes saved some money.

BUT

It shows a ship to address of:

EBAY INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY LAX

with an address in Redondo Beach CA.

and it is marked "Priority Mail 2-day". It shows a typical USPS tracking number but then below that a secondary bar code beginning ESUS. It is that ESUS number which shows up on my sold items page, not the USPS number. So if you do not make a note of that USPS number you will have no way of verifying that it actually made it to Redondo Beach.

I clicked the tracking number and it shows an estimated delivery date of Sunday March 15.

I know from past experience that shipments to Germany have only taken about 7-10 days by USPS so I am concerned about that 3/15 date. What is my buyer going to think when he sees that?

There is a reference number at the bottom of the label but I do not see any connection between that number and my order so it must be an internal thing to help them sort the package,.

Neither by buyer's name nor address nor country shows anywhere on the label.

It does show my address as the "ship from" although on these it also shows my eBay username.

If we ship to a freight forwarder then the delivery is considered complete once the forwarder gets it. i.e. no Not Received claim later on from the ultimate buyer.

Will the same apply here? If it gets lost between CA and Germany am I covered?

UNFORTUNATELY the label has the same orientation problems that FedEx labels have. I had to do a "screen print" and transfer it to a jpeg program to be able to rotate the label to get it to print correctly.

Hope this helps.

---

Read through the program a few days back.   As I read it we (the seller) are responsible for the entire trip of the item. Some insurance is included in the program.

While eBay has worked with shipping carriers to create the eBay international standard delivery shipping service, you're still responsible for getting the order to the buyer in good shape.

[mtgraves7984]

@richard1rst, @buyselljack2016 

I have always USPS International (First Class if possible, but Priority, too) for my shipments. To date, I still have my listings set for that.

Would either of you recommend the international shipping program? I still don't know if the savings are worth the sleeplessness.

Let me know, please!

[a_c_green]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

@richard1rst, @buyselljack2016 

I have always USPS International (First Class if possible, but Priority, too) for my shipments. To date, I still have my listings set for that.

Would either of you recommend the international shipping program? I still don't know if the savings are worth the sleeplessness.

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I doubt that the approximately 10% savings (in this example) is worth all the extra delay and extra handling along the way. It doesn't seem likely to goose international sales at all, and I would be really concerned about that intermediate stop and transfer just to get it out of the country.

I much prefer to just do my own packaging and ship the darn thing directly to wherever it needs to go. Keep It Simple and all that.

[mtgraves7984]

@a_c_green

… that's kinda how I felt. I'm HUGE on keep it simple and all that.

Thank you!

[glyph01]

Another new intl shipping program or is it just a new intl shipping center besides the KY one?

[richard1rst]

@mtgraves7984  asked Would either of you recommend the international shipping program?

Frankly, no.

First of all, pirateship has consistently been cheaper on first class international than eBay. Although the new program is cheaper by about 10% on priority mail I am bothered by the very long estimated delivery time.

As I mentioned in my original post eBay is showing 3/15 delivery time when by regular USPS it will most likely be there about 2/18 or so. I just have a gut feeling that my buyer is going to freak out when they see that estimated delivery time.

A 10% discount is nice BUT if the display of an extraordinarily long delivery time causes my potential buyer to go elsewhere is it a case of penny wise and pound foolish.

I am seriously considering voiding the label and re-doing it with regular USPS. A $6.00 savings is not worth what I see as a buyer's complaint for long delivery. It is just a  headache (and a red donut?) just waiting to happen.

[richard1rst]

WELL THIS SUCKS

I just went to the label page and THERE IS NO WAY TO VOID THE LABEL !

No it is not a time limit thing. Labels I printed before this one still have the void option available.

Ever has a buyer ask to cancel a shipment after you have printed the label but before you actually released it to the post office? Or maybe you entered the wrong weight? I have.

If you use the new program TOO BAD - YOU CAN NOT CANCEL IT !

Now I KNOW I will never use it again.

[southern*sweet*tea]

IF I were to use this program, I'd only use it to ship to countries without e-Delcon.  Otherwise I stick to shipping on my own to e-Delcon countries.  I don't need a third party to mess things up for me, I can do that just fine on my own lol

[martin2001]

stamps.com has a similar program I used it a lot for the 'flat' packages before I discovered pirate.com (I mail only lighter packages up to 4 lbs). You send the package to a distribution center in New Jersey (in Rutherford) with a domestic label. That label is uplodaded to ebay. When they receive it in NJ, they printout the int'l label and paste it on the parcel, over the domestic label. This tracking number does not get uploaded to ebay.

So first, when the package reached NJ center, it showed as delivered. I got lot of messages from users saying they have not received anything and it showed delivered. The international tracking number was nowehere to be found in the stamps.com software. It was only printed in the bottom corner of the domestic label, so I always took a photo and reposnded to the buyer explaining to them how it works and gave them the new tracking number.

The packages definitely took longer to deliver but not as long as your estimated time. It took usually 2-3 days to get to that NJ center but then one does not have control over when they actually print out the label and mail it.

Another concern is, that the international addresses as often complicated, like to China, or UK with many lines and sometimes they do not print well so one does not have control over what is actually printed, a line may be omitted (I had one case like that to CHina and the parcel was returned because their printed did not print all lines). Also, for example, I always protect the address with transparent tape so it survives the journey. They don't do such a thing and the label may easily get damaged.

Overall, none of the packages were lost, the delivery was a little bit longer + I did not like the int'l tracking not being uploaded automatically.

At one point I tried a different approach. After the domestic tracking showed on ebay as accepted, I then replaced the domestic number with the international number.

If there is little difference between ebay and USPS priority, I would absolutely use USPS.
I don't mail heavy packages so the pirate simple export rate (up to 4 lbs) gives one lot of savings.

[penguins_dont_fly]

@richard1rst 

Question for you ...

On the help page, it states

Your final value fee is assessed on the final price paid by the buyer, like a typical international order on eBay.

Except ... that's not how FVF on a direct-ship international order works 😞

International Shipping FVF is based on the cheapest domestic option in the listing.

So my question is ... what did the FVF on this order look like?

[buyselljack2016]

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@glyph01 wrote:
Another new intl shipping program or is it just a new intl shipping center besides the KY one?

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Sellers in MP can not use the GSP.   Most sellers will be inducted into MP (or stop selling) by 2021.

This is an alternative to GSP, or direct shipping.

Your seller "announcements" will help you, or go here:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/eBay-Send-International-St...

[richard1rst]

@penguins_dont_fly 

This sale only happened Saturday so I am not sure I know what the FVF is. I accessed my account and I can nor find any way to look up any specific sale. If it is there I don't see but if you can direct me I will try again.,

HOWEVER this was a multi item order through the cart with a "request total" so there was only one shipping method shown. And because these were all free ship domestic items I automatically discount the international shipping so that the "buried" shipping costs and the amount charged was proper. In this case I charged the buyer $24.50 so I assume that is what the FVF will be based on.

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@richard1rst wrote:

@penguins_dont_fly 

This sale only happened Saturday so I am not sure I know what the FVF is. I accessed my account and I can nor find any way to look up any specific sale. If it is there I don't see but if you can direct me I will try again.,

HOWEVER this was a multi item order through the cart with a "request total" so there was only one shipping method shown. And because these were all free ship domestic items I automatically discount the international shipping so that the "buried" shipping costs and the amount charged was proper. In this case I charged the buyer $24.50 so I assume that is what the FVF will be based on.

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If you go to:

My eBay>>Account>>Seller Account

Scroll down and click on "All Account Activity"

It should show you all of the fees incurred since your last invoice.

On a regular direct-ship international order that had free domestic shipping ... there would be zero FVF on shipping (lowest domestic option)

If there is an FVF on shipping when using this new service ... then the $6 you saved on shipping is now reduced by $2.40 😞

[richard1rst]

@penguins_dont_fly 

Thanks for that. First I got a message that I had too many transaction to itemize but there was a single line search.

The basic sale was $110.00 plus the $24.50 in shipping. The total FVF was $10.08 (I have a store so my rate is .0915). On that basis 27.50 x 4 x .0915 = 10.08 so it appears that there was NO FVF on the shipping.