international shipping COST to europe/asia, through ebay's hub in glendale, IL SUDDENLY SLASHED!??

[smilelp]

so the last 2 or 3 packages i've sent to asia or europe, standard ebay sales, nothing special, are going first to ebay's (international?) shipping hub at:  110 INTERNATIONALE BLVD, GLENDALE HTS, IL

what's odd is that packages that should cost $100 to ship to far away places, ***are coming in at the rate to ship to GLENDALE HTS, IL!***

is this a mistake on ebay's part?  on my shipping software's part?  is this a new "lower the cost" initiative on the part of ebay??

it doesn't seem to make sense that very expensive packages are now being priced as if they were domestic packages going to glendale hts, IL

anyone else encountering this?  thoughts??  thx!

[smilelp]

OP again, ok thx for that info, trailblazer & rockstar

for 10 yrs, i always just estimated a cost for international shipping; never had to put weight or size info in.  it worked well

i may have, as you say, inadvertently opted in to this other system of int'l shipping, but i did not mean to!  i wonder what i did or how to get out of it!

thx all, very helpful!

[smilelp]

OP...

ok, i just looked and sure enough, i am OPTED IN for this new system, "ebay international shipping."

is OPT IN the default since they introduced this in mid may?  that would be pushy

that said, they make it sound great, w/them handling 95% of  it, and i can just calculate cost to IL for my items, less complicated than estimating int'l costs

so wouldn't every int'l seller OPT IN for this??  is there any downside?  thx again

[wastingtime101]

It was introduced several years ago, not mid-May. Ignore the May 15 date posted above as that has nothing at all to do with international shipping.

I can tell you what I do personally which is:

- I offer direct shipping to a small number of select countries.

- I offer eIS worldwide with no exclusions on 99% of my product.

Buyers are given the choice at checkout to choose either my direct ship option or eIS. That's the same as your current situation, except you are willing to ship direct to a much larger number of locations than I am.

[marnotom!]

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@smilelp wrote:

that said, they make it sound great, w/them handling 95% of  it, and i can just calculate cost to IL for my items, less complicated than estimating int'l costs. . .

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If you do decide to stick with eIS, @smilelp, one thing you may need to change about your listing practices is that you'll have to provide information on the item's packaged size and weight.  Without this information, the eIS calculator can't come to an accurate shipping rate and by the looks of things bases the rate on a category maximum.  Check out the first page or so from this thread from the Canadian discussion boards if you have a moment:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Ebay-international-shipping-has-lost-its-mind-RIP-Ebay/m-...

I will add that your eIS-calculated shipping prices for the most part seem to be grounded in reality, but your comic book shipping prices aren't all that consistent.

[smilelp]

if that's the case—that i have to start adding weight and dimensions—then i will OPT OUT.  a lot more work!

thx for that info!

[wastingtime101]

You don't have to @smilelp . But if you do add weight/dim it means buyers will see more accurate eIS rates. When you don't use weight/dim, eBay uses an average for the type of item to determine eIS rates. That does not affect you receiving appropriate ship costs.

The only down side to not entering wt/dim is the buyer may see an extra high eIS rate which means they'll chose your direct shipping option instead of eIS. It's definitely not a reason to opt out of eIS - especially if you get the occasional buyer (like today) that wants to use that service. eIS gives buyers an option to prepay duties in some cases which buyers may prefer. It's not going to hurt you to leave it as an option. I suggest leaving it alone. Seriously this is a non-issue. 😉

[marnotom!]

@smilelp, I tend to agree with @wastingtime101 that this may be a non-issue.  What I forgot to suggest to you before you wrenched eIS off your listings is that you take a look at some of your listings the way an international buyer would by changing your shipping location to that hypothetical buyer's country.  You can then compare the shipping rate you estimated with the shipping rate that eIS estimated and see if it makes sense to present your international buyers a choice.

[smilelp]

i wouldn't mind leaving myself OPTED IN, as you suggest Rockstar but how will i know whether to put $20 (cost to IL) or $100 (cost for me to ship to malaysia)?  i can't anticipate what the buyer will choose, right?  i feel like i'm not understanding something.  thx much for your input!

[marnotom!]

Take a look at this recently completed listing of yours, @smilelp, and change your shipping location, say, to Canada:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166662331541

[wastingtime101]

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@smilelp wrote:

i wouldn't mind leaving myself OPTED IN, as you suggest Rockstar but how will i know whether to put $20 (cost to IL) or $100 (cost for me to ship to malaysia)?  i can't anticipate what the buyer will choose, right?  i feel like i'm not understanding something.  thx much for your input!

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Do nothing different from your current process.

You put in the $100 cost previously for international? Keep doing that.

As I said above - if the buyer choose eIS instead of direct shipping, you will receive ship costs for the domestic shipment to the eIS hub (as if you sold the product to a buyer in IL) and eBay handles the international portion entirely.

Your flat ship costs will apply only when the buyer choose that direct shipping method (standard international). They are completely unrelated to eIS.

So go ahead and stay opted in and change nothing about the way you've been doing things. If you want to add weight/dim go-forward that would be a bonus, but as I said, not required.

P.S. Those stupid titles "rockstar", etc are assigned by eBay. Has something to do with level of participation on this forum (I've helped a lot of fellow buyers/sellers). See how your posts call you an Adventurer? My userid is above that dumb rockstar designation. 😉

[wastingtime101]

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@marnotom! wrote:

Take a look at this recently completed listing of yours, @smilelp, and change your shipping location, say, to Canada:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166662331541

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Yes, exactly. Let's use Malaysia since OP keeps referring to that country. This is what a buyer in Malaysia will see on that listing:

$46 is your flat rate ship cost for standard international shipping. If the buyer chooses that method, they will pay $46 directly to you. You will pay fees on the full amount. This is what you've been doing all along.

$28.58 is the buyer's ship cost if they choose eIS. In that situation, the buyer pays $28.58 and eBay will send $7.95 to you (that's your domestic flat ship cost to the eIS hub) and eBay keeps the balance for international shipping. You're charged fees only on the $7.95 you receive, not the entire $28.58.

Make sense?

[smilelp]

i experimented when i was still OPTED IN, w/other countries, including canada, and none of them were going to the IL location.  confusing

thx!

[wastingtime101]

See my screenshot above @smilelp - the second shipping choice eIS would ship to the IL location. You'd see it after the buyer made the purchase same as your order from today.

[smilelp]

but i wouldn't know how much to charge when i listed the item, right?  $20 or $100?

[wastingtime101]

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@smilelp wrote:

but i wouldn't know how much to charge when i listed the item, right?  $20 or $100?

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Wrong. 🙂

Charge the same thing you've been charging all along. Make no changes.