eBay International Shipping

[cruzmiester]

Can anyone please explain to me what is the benefit of eBay's International Shipping program to a Canadian buyer ? 
1. eBay sellers pay for shipping 
2. eBay also charges the seller a commission on the the shipping 

3. eBay also charges the buyer a shipping fee 

I don't understand why this program is a benefit to me! 
In old days I could've asked the seller if they could send a purchase rush or even overnight in case i.e. a component to replace a broken part. 
Now a days the purchased price makes an excursion all over the USA to some eBay facility, which is then forwarded to the buyer? Isn't the USPS capable of sending packages across the border ?    
the carrier or transport companies they use is all over the place (they use many).
the tracking numbers are worthless sometimes it says my purchase is still at the facility and the delivery person is knocking at my door. But most of the time it just says it left the facility and no tracking of where the item is so the buyer can make plans to receive the package. 
what exactly am I paying for? it's certainly not a guarantee of quality of products, because I have one experience where I thought I was buying a USA made mini torch, instead I was sent a cheap Chinese made torch.
personally I think eBay's International Shipping program is a "pimping" job, but if there are any kind hearted people willing to take the time, I would really like to know what the heck am I getting for the shipping fees ebay charges byers? 

[robbie31415 · Accepted solution]

EIS has no real benefit to buyers outside of getting you access to sellers who don't want to deal with international shipping.

You can think of eBays shipping as an in-house freight forwarding service.

You can not use it with those same sellers who don't want to deal with international shipping by using a third party freight forwarder.

The program was designed to increase seller reach, one that was limited due to international hurdles.

[marnotom!]

Canadian eBay user here.

The problem with eBay's international forwarding services (eBay International Shipping and the US version of the Global Shipping Program previous to that) is that they're, well, international.  They were designed with far more countries in mind than just Canada.  Our country's physical proximity to the US coupled with the fact that trade barriers with the US have been whittled away since the end of the Second World War means that goods travel between our two countries far more easily than they do between the US and many other countries.  Some buyers actually prefer eBay's forwarding programs to direct shipments because they bypass their countries' problematic postal systems and customs offices.

Not all US sellers understand or appreciate that there's a difference between shipping to Canada and shipping to, say, Namibia.  Our population also isn't large enough to make a significant difference to most US sellers' sales, so most sellers aren't going to encounter sales to Canada that often and it's not really worth their while to create a special shipping arrangement to Canada that bypasses eIS.

I get the impression that when eIS was developed, it was intended to be less expensive and faster than it is, but Putin's invasion of Ukraine pushed up fuel costs and the price of pretty much everything that required transportation, so things got messed up with the implementation of eIS, particularly to Canada where items are shipped by ground rather than air as a cost-saving measure.  It's unfortunate, but it also is what it is.

Just to clear up the points that you make early in your post, eBay may base its Final Value Fees on the total transaction value, but that's just for domestic shipments.  For international shipments, whether the seller uses eIS or not, eBay will base the FVF on the seller's lowest domestic shipping charge and not an international shipping charge.  And, yes, eBay charges the buyer a shipping charge for eIS-handled shipments as the program is a forwarding system and the forwarder and the eIS ecosystem need to be paid, too.

[chevymontecarlo88]

Yes it may cost you more in shipping fees but with the new program rollout, the amount of items you are looking for may increase. (availability) YMMV

Many sellers that do not ship international (regardless of Canada which typically is no problem) may choose to opt in to this program as a seller because of the low risk returns. (Ebay handles returns - this will eventually end)

So it may not really help Canadian buyers at all but in theory the idea is to bring more items (sellers) to the world market. YMMV

[marnotom!]

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

Ebay handles returns - this will eventually end

---

Don't want to hijack the OP's thread here.  Is there another thread where this is being discussed, @chevymontecarlo88?  I don't see why eIS would not continue to handle remorse returns and certain types of NAD returns, particularly those involving damage in transit from the hub.  I do see on the updated terms and conditions for sellers that there are going to be certain and particular circumstances where eIS will not cover returns and will return the item to the seller (likely for a fee) instead.

[chevymontecarlo88]

They are not going to cover the costs forever. (absorbing costs so sellers do not have to take returns)  Do you think buyers are responsible for returns (refunds) using the EIS (currently)? Maybe i missed an update.

[monster-deals]

---

@cruzmiester wrote:

Can anyone please explain to me what is the benefit of eBay's International Shipping program to a Canadian buyer ? 

---

By incentivising US based sellers to offer items internationally that they would otherwise not.

[chevymontecarlo88]

---

@marnotom! wrote:

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

Ebay handles returns - this will eventually end

---

Don't want to hijack the OP's thread here.  Is there another thread where this is being discussed, @chevymontecarlo88?  I don't see why eIS would not continue to handle remorse returns and certain types of NAD returns, particularly those involving damage in transit from the hub.  I do see on the updated terms and conditions for sellers that there are going to be certain and particular circumstances where eIS will not cover returns and will return the item to the seller (likely for a fee) instead.

---

I think i understand what you are talking about. In the US, for sellers using the EIS there is an incentive to use the program where once it is sent to the EIS, the sellers will not have to take returns on the items. This will not last of course but it is an incentive for some to use EIS.

To put it in context for what the OP has asked from a Canadian buyers standpoint, it will possibly give them more options on what they are looking for.

[robbie31415]

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

They are not going to cover the costs forever. (absorbing costs so sellers do not have to take returns)  Do you think buyers are responsible for returns (refunds) using the EIS (currently)? Maybe i missed an update.

---

Not necessarily true.

By removing protections for EIS returns this will get a lot of sellers to turn off EIS.

Ebay is trying to expand reach of lot of domestic only sellers.

This gets eBay a bunch more transactions for FVF/ad fees/shipping fees.

EBay might have the numbers having as many prople on EIS is worth it to eat the returns.

[worldcoinauctions]

The benefit to you of EIS is that you can buy from me. That's about it. I had entirely quit shipping overseas (OK, internationally) about a decade ago due to "lost" packages and infinite customs delays in some countries (Italy!), I only ship internationally now because I'm not responsible for the package after it gets to the shipping center. I'm sure it would be cheaper the other way, but unless there was reliable trustworthy international tracking I would not do it.

[pjcdn2005]

@marnotom! 

Which particular section are you referring to? There is a section that explains an item may be sent back from the hub to the seller if for some reason it can't be shipped to the buyer or if the item is already damaged etc but I don't see anything new regarding buyer returns. That particular section is referring to items that have never left the hub.

[chevymontecarlo88]

---

@robbie31415 wrote:

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

They are not going to cover the costs forever. (absorbing costs so sellers do not have to take returns)  Do you think buyers are responsible for returns (refunds) using the EIS (currently)? Maybe i missed an update.

---

Not necessarily true.

By removing protections for EIS returns this will get a lot of sellers to turn off EIS.

Ebay is trying to expand reach of lot of domestic only sellers.

This gets eBay a bunch more transactions for FVF/ad fees/shipping fees.

EBay might have the numbers having as many prople on EIS is worth it to eat the returns.

---

Anything is possible but to say Ebay will eat fees (these particular fees) forever might be a little of a stretch. Its a smart promotion to entice sellers to dip there feet in the international waters. The question is not will it go away but when will it go away.

Anyways the point was to give the OP a reason why it may benefit a Canadian buyer to purchase from someone using EIS.

[martin2001]

ebay is not eating any returns...the sellers are.

[marnotom!]

---

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

@marnotom! 

Which particular section are you referring to? There is a section that explains an item may be sent back from the hub to the seller if for some reason it can't be shipped to the buyer or if the item is already damaged etc but I don't see anything new regarding buyer returns. That particular section is referring to items that have never left the hub.

---

Yeah, I may be a bit heat-stupid right now, @pjcdn2005.  I did a search on the terms and conditions page for the term “return” and going through the results it seemed to me that the T&C are now more explicit about the circumstances where sellers will not be covered by eIS’s “return protection” and they also mention the possibility of the item being returned to the seller, something that I don’t think was in the original eIS T&C but was in the eISD T&C.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The advantage to a Canadian buyer is that they get a larger selection of goods to choose from.

Sellers are not charged a FVF on the international part of the shipping.

Sellers are charged a FVF on HST/GST

The second country I stopped shipping to was Canada. The very first was Italy, I stopped shipping to Canada because I got too many where's my stuff emails because Canada post was not consistent in its delivery times.

Sellers only see returns on items which fail inspection at the shipping hub. This means that sellers who write crap descriptions with "optimistic conditions) are held accountable.