eBay

shabbishopper · ‎02-03-2021

Hi, I have an item that is in progress on an auction format. Someone wants to know how much to ship to Italy. I found the Ebay calculator and entered my info and it came up with $26.00. I'm worried that I may have missed something like customs charges. I also have the shipping on the auction set to ship to US, not internationally. Can I make a change in mid stream and is there any other charge I should be aware of before advising them $26.00. This would be my first international shipment and want to make sure I'm not making any mistakes. Thanks so much, Laurie

martin2001 · ‎02-03-2021

Ebay has two shipping services that they manage:

Global Shipping Program and International Standard Delivery (I think that's how they call it). GSP includes customs fees and other taxes, ISD does not so the buyer has to pay them. Also the insurance coverage differs. For ISD, ebay covers only the first $100. If you need more insurance, you have to sign up with a 3rd party insure and insure thru them.

GSP and ISD do not go directly to the country of the buyer but to their Kentucky distribution center, where they are verified and mailed form there.

I don't know what calculations you did but the postage will be different if you use USPS instead of ebay. USPS does not offer insurance for 1st class. Use USPS calculator to calculate the 'click and ship' postage. EBay prices are slightly cheaper. You can also calculate the postage for USPS using ebay just make sure you are selecting correct service. So basically you need to decide who you will use to mail your order.

If you mail packages below 4 lbs via USPS definitely check pirateship.com

They import your orders from ebay and post back the tracking numbers. You can also purchase insurance for both domestic and int'l orders (read the exclusions). Their simple international rate is cheaper than ebay's (see

the table comparing pirate's and ebay's rates. Top shows the actual rates, bottom how much you save). To get these rates, you need to contact them and they will sign you up. You can insure the package, it costs $1,35 for each $100 of value.

lamber9347 · ‎02-03-2021

@shabbishopper wrote:
Hi, I have an item that is in progress on an auction format. Someone wants to know how much to ship to Italy. I found the Ebay calculator and entered my info and it came up with $26.00. I'm worried that I may have missed something like customs charges. I also have the shipping on the auction set to ship to US, not internationally. Can I make a change in mid stream and is there any other charge I should be aware of before advising them $26.00. This would be my first international shipment and want to make sure I'm not making any mistakes. Thanks so much, Laurie

Since you are a relatively new seller and not familiar with shipping Int'l, I would suggest you politely turn down the offer from Italy. There are several options for shipping Int'l but until you are more confident on the pricing you are doing yourself a disservice by accepting one now. No you can't make changes to an auction once bids are received.

I only ship Int'l using eBay's global shipping program. I've never had any issues, been using them from the start, and I do sell a fair amount to Int'l clients. You don't need to worry at all about customs charges using GSP. No point in short changing yourself. Best of luck to you....

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-03-2021

Some of your listings show that you use the global shipping program to ship so the buyer should be able to see the shipping cost on those listings. With global shipping, the buyer pays for any import fees up front and you ship the item to Kentucky and the gsp forwards it. I don't know why only some of your items show the gsp but I agree with the other poster that it is probably best not to ship directly to another country until you have sold here for a while.

To answer your questions...You could add Italy to the listing with a shipping cost unless there have already been bids. However, if they win you can send them an invoice and add the shipping to Italy at that time. When you do ship directly, any import fees due are paid by the buyer in their own country so that isn't something that you have to worry about. It is really important though that you make sure the price you quoted them is for a service with tracking. First class international does not have tracking to Italy so you would best to send your item with Priority International.

You can't add the gsp to an active listing.

glasser · ‎02-03-2021

It's pretty easy to estimate. You can go into your own listing and change your location to Italy and will give you an estimate. Change it back or every time you shop eBay it will think you want to ship to Italy 🙂 I am not 100% certain on this but you might be able to add a new service like international while the listing is live (you can't remove options).

Once you have estimate you can tell the buyer, should they win, not to pay until you send them an invoice with the new shipping amount. Have done this frequently.

You do not need to worry about taxes, customs payments. Buyer will handle on their end. You will have to fill out a customs form. If you use ebay labels it will be generated for you. (Global shipping and International Standard are slightly different but \just as easy).

FYI, I sell 50% or so international. It's a breeze and some good markets out there .