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eBay Global Shipping Program

mnbvcxz said:
I quickly realised that I would never buy anything from the states, (I live in the UK), as shipping costs were astronomical, with this new scam, the cost appears reasonable if you miss the bit about import charges, these make the total shipping price astronomical again.
It is designed to catch out the unwary foreigner.
I have since watched a couple of youtube videos about this in which they say that the shipping company will strip out the excellent packaging that the seller may have used and repack the item with very little packing material to reduce weight and therefore the cost of shipping abroad, so not only is the buyer fooled by the apparently low shipping price, but they are almost guaranteed that the item will be damaged in transit.
I am almost tempted by a $1000 Hero 1 robot, but I am convinced that it will not reach me without being trashed.
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Not sure what it's like in the U.K, but in Australia, we don't pay import charges on goods less than $1000. I've bought heaps of stuff from the U.S, you pay a bit more for shipping but I don't mind paying for the stuff that I want. The local market here for VC stuff is very small.
 
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Further research shows that, many times, the Global Shipping service partner completely replaces the packing/packaging when shipping overseas, and they don't pack things in the same manner or quality as they were originally shipped. For common sturdy items, this is fine; for vintage collectible items, this royally blows. I'm now reconsidering offering the Global Shipping option because I don't want the buyer to get a damaged item that they have no recourse for (they can't go after me since I packed it properly when it left my house, and going after ebay is like shouting into the wind).
 
Trixter said:
Further research shows that, many times, the Global Shipping service partner completely replaces the packing/packaging when shipping overseas, and they don't pack things in the same manner or quality as they were originally shipped. For common sturdy items, this is fine; for vintage collectible items, this royally blows. I'm now reconsidering offering the Global Shipping option because I don't want the buyer to get a damaged item that they have no recourse for (they can't go after me since I packed it properly when it left my house, and going after ebay is like shouting into the wind).
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That's all I need to know. I'm always careful about my packing and if they do this then it's not worth it, no matter how much money the buyer or seller can save. The one thing that has pissed me off more than anything from sellers is when they want to save me a few dollars by not packing it properly. Yes, this has happened more than once.
 
My "favorite" shipment of all time was a PCjr monitor and case packed into the same box with no padding whatsoever. Most of the plastic was shattered.

I may charge a handling fee if I do decide to do international auctions myself. My time is worth money too.
 
Trixter said:
I may charge a handling fee if I do decide to do international auctions myself. My time is worth money too.
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If you print out the shipping label on your computer, all of the customs information is automatically entered for you. All the person at the post office or UPS Store has to do is scan in the bar code and it's ready to go. It's no more hassle than shipping a package within the USA.

The only real hassle is for people who don't know how to print out a shipping label on their computer, and they end up spending 15 minutes at the post office filling out the paper customs form by hand, and then waiting another 10 minutes while the USPS clerk types it into their computer. Those are probably the 20% of sellers that the Global Shipping Program is trying to attract by saying "No customs forms to fill out! We do it all for you!".
 
I was merely illustrating my point that the automation doesn't help me because there is a minimum wait time at my PO. It decreases the maximum time, sure, but the minimum time is a 1-hour wait in line.

vwestlife's reply was very helpful and direct. I was not bitching.
 
How is it that in Chicago there is only one PO near you. I'm in the suburbs and there are six of them within a 10 minute drive. Sometimes the smaller POs don't get that much traffic at the counter.
 
I live in Naperville which has one post office open on the weekends for a town of 142,000 people. (The other, smaller PO is only open 9-5 and I'm at work during that time). My workplace building has a PO inside it -- but I take public transportation and I'm not about to lug a 36"x24" box on the bus and train to get it to work.

I won't discuss this further; I have my answers about the global shipping program and international shipping automation options.
 
The USPS would be better-staffed and would be making a good profit right now if it wasn't for Congress's 2006 order that USPS must pre-pay their pension fund 75 years in advance within a 10 year window, at a cost of about $5.5 billion a year. That's why the USPS has been losing millions and has had to close post offices, lay off workers, and reduce hours (leading to those long lines you complain about) in order to stay in business, since they don't get any of our taxpayer dollars.

UPS and FedEx aren't forced by Congress to pay the pensions of future workers who haven't even been born yet, which is why they're in better shape financially. However, if you don't mind the wait in line, the shipping costs at USPS are almost always cheaper, and sometimes significantly so, for the rural areas where UPS and FedEx rely upon the USPS to do the actual delivery -- because while the USPS is Congressionally mandated to deliver to every address and resident in the country, UPS and FedEx don't deliver where it's not profitable for them to run their trucks, so they farm out those areas to the USPS, and tack on an extra surchage to their shipping cost.
 
I don't care how long it takes... USPS > UPS Each and EVERY time!

UPS cannot find a house (mine) that has existed since 1937...
EXCEPT when they are delivering car parts... go figure. :confused:
:D
 
Stone said:
Looks like a lot more than one in your vicinity.
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Those are UPS stores or drop-off locations only with limited services (such as not accepting international delivery). You are also disregarding the map's scale; those are far away from each other and in different towns. Nor will I give you my exact location, as I don't wish this argument to continue.
 
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Trixter said:
Those are UPS stores or drop-off locations only with limited services (such as not accepting international delivery). You are also disregarding the map's scale; those are far away from each other and in different towns. Nor will I give you my exact location, as I don't wish this argument to continue.
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They are not UPS -- they are USPS. That's not even apples and oranges -- that's apples and flying saucers!

Six of the seven are within a three mile radius. Who cares what the town is called? Three miles = three miles, regardless of the local names in use there. You could find 150 - 200 POs in Los Angeles and some of them might be over 15 or 20 miles from some of the other ones and they would be still in the the same town. :)

While I haven't been to any of them in your neighborhood I have some doubts as to whether they will not accept international material. The Post Office I use most often is a financial branch or 'drop-off location only' as you put it. So far I've been able to send parcels to Europe (both Eastern and Western), South America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand from there.

Your arguement doesn't hold water, is most likely incorrect in its conception and is indefensible.
 
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Getting back to the topic, another problem with the Global Shipping Program is that there appears to be no way to track the package once Pitney Bowes ships it out of the USA. The eBay tracking info redirects you to http://www.trackyourparcel.eu/ which is a very generic and fishy looking web site (reminiscent of the web sites which claim to remove your phone or fax number from a calling list, when in fact they add any number you type in to their telemarketer/fax spam list). And as this thread on eBay's Community Help Boards says,

eBay member said:
With the Global Shipping Program there is no way to track the package (in Europe) once it has left the U.S and the new tracking # redirect you to the trackyourparcel.eu website which ask you to enter a mysterious "Order Reference # which neither the seller nor the buyer have. All you'll get is a repeated "combination not found" error. This is just another of the many flaws of the infamous GSP program which is actually terrible for International buyers. (Extremely expensive, double shipping charges, tracking issues, many extra undue customs charges,etc...). If you're a regular International seller I strongly advise you to opt out of the GSP as long as it is still possible (it is, but very complex and tedious, see other posts about how to opt out), or you will lose most of your International customers and will be very soon flooded by complaints and purchase cancellations.
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You can also request for the post office to pick up your packages to be shipped right at your door..Just look were you print your postage and look for schedule a pick up..
 
If you don't like going and waiting at the post office to ship packages, you can order different sized boxes to be delivered to your door free from the USPS sight .I get several different sizes.After I sell on Ebay..I buy and print all my postage for the USA and for International.You can either print the labl from the item you sold or you can go to Print shipping labels on the USPS sight.The custom forms are also there.Just tape all the forms on your box.Then if you look on that same page you can schedule a pick up from the postoffice for your packages to be picked up right at your home on the day you want it to be picked up.That saves anytime and hassles going to the post office..
 
Well, I'll tell you where not to get your small eBay parts. I placed an order for some IR phototransistors from an outfit in Thailand. It was shipped via Frankfurt :shock: It finally arrived today, more than a month later. By contrast, I'm used to 5-6 days from China.
 
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