Question about eBay International Shipping Program. "Free S/H" / Dimensions / Weight / etc.

[jd_coolstuff]

So I do a lot of "free shipping" on items and don't always bother entering all of the details of the weight and size right then and there because I'm good at eyeballing things and knowing the rough estimate of cost it will be for me and factoring that in. I also just wait til things are paid for and I'm ready to print my labels to then enter weight and size in case there's multiple items ordered, or I change up the size of box needed, etc.

How would I go about finally utilizing the international shipping service? I understand that I could still offer "free shipping" and I would not incur cost to ship to Kentucky to the eBay center but then the buyer is charged to have it shipped from there to them. But to let the buyer know ahead of time what that cost would be I would have to always ahead of time enter dimensions and weight for items for any I use this service on, correct?

And how does this all work on multiple item orders internationally? How would a buyer for sure know ahead of time the weight and size of the box? Particularly size can vary if multiple items get ordered.

I just want to be clear on this ahead of time because I don't for 1) want to get in trouble with eBay's shipping center for items showing up at slightly different size or weight than they maybe expect, 2) the buyer to think it's going to cost less than it ends up due to that.

I hope I worded this all well enough but this has been one of my biggest concerns about this that has prevented me from doing it yet. I want my items available to more people and with how eBay handles returns and issues through this program, it seems super easy but my process of just eyeballing things or putting in rough numbers and adjusting later has always worked well for me for having a quick process in listing (which is my least favorite part to do so I try to make it as simplified and quick yet accurate as I possibly can). Thank you!

[stainlessenginecovers]

Kentucky is no more (that was GLOBAL Shipping); 

It's NOW EIS and goes to LA Cal; Illinois and probably some 'more'

FREE SHIPPING simply means that 'shipping' portion is NOT included in the appropriate sites 'shipping cost' that a buyer will see.

You can see the shipping costs by going to ebay.ca (for Canada) or ebay.au (for Australia) for examples as THIS is where these buyers will see your items. 

So, if EIS is charging $30 and you charge $10, then the buyer in those countries will see $40 shipping (not counting the difference in monetary values between US Dollars and that country dollars)

If you ship for 'FREE', then buyer will only see $30. 

[jd_coolstuff]

Thank you for the reply and help!

Forgive me for any misunderstandings but so how does EIS know how much to charge them for shipping if I put FREE SHIPPING.  By my entered weights and measurements? So would I need to make sure I stop eyeballing those as often and enter them absolutely accurate and go back and verify everything that's already listed?

For example if I were to list a bunch of items with free shipping and I'm just mentally calculating that they look like items that would cost only $5 or $6 to ship so I'm not bothering with adjusting weights and sizes in the listing as it's free shipping anyways so not needed and they sell and that's exactly where shipping is at roughly (then handling/supplies covered by any excess) then I'm fine normally within the U.S.

But when it comes to the EIS if they receive it and they assume the cost the buyer saw was (for example) for weight 10 ounces and size 8x10x3 but I had to actually use a box that was 12x10x5 and it was 13 ounces...then they would have undercharged the buyer and essentially I'd be at fault due to my eyeballing providing not 100% accurate info for the program.

Just trying to get the best grasp of this program so I don't mess anything up once using it. I appreciate it!

[pjcdn2005]

They don’t require that information be entered. When it isn’t they would have to estimate but I don’t know exactly how they do that.  I haven’t heard of them charging anyone extra after an item has been shipped but  the international cost is probably be  more accurate if they do have the weight and depth.  As someone else suggested in another thread, you could register for EIS and not worry about current listings but start adding  the dimensions to new listings.

[lakefor94]

I just went thru the same deal with my Free Shipping items. Signed on with EIS today. 

The posters above provided solid information. 

Here is another thread from yesterday with a lot of information related to your questions.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/EIS-Questions/td-p/34230089

[lakefor94]

And how does this all work on multiple item orders internationally? How would a buyer for sure know ahead of time the weight and size of the box? Particularly size can vary if multiple items get ordered.

I think they have a system for combining orders but could not put my finger on the documentation. 

But to let the buyer know ahead of time what that cost would be I would have to always ahead of time enter dimensions and weight for items for any I use this service on, correct?

I thought the same but other sellers have said eBay can guesstimate the dims and weight, especially for the lightweight items.

I went ahead and entered weights and dims for the now 500 I have up for EIS. Most were very accurate because they were under a pound....