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could someone explain eBay's Global Shipping program please

I was going to start doing a lot of international shipping, but now I don't know what to do. It looks like I have two choices: Don't use GSP and expect to get scammed out of money, or use GSP and risk rare/priceless items getting destroyed.

Is there a way to ship internationally from an ebay sale without getting scammed?
 
The only real option is an escrow service. Problem is finding one that deals in low volume, low value trades. Most escrow services are built around high value or high volume transactions.
 
I've used the GSP for quite a while and it has really helped sell my items. about 1/3 of my items went overseas. I never got scammed, save for one attempt from a US bidder. It was a motherboard I re-capped, he took a screwdriver to the memory sockets and tried to return it. He failed.

And that's why I always sell things "as-is" even if I'm 100% sure it works, it's also why I ship everything with insurance including signature (for anything over $100), and take excellent pictures.
 
I nearly always sell things as is. Ebay doesn't care. There was an instance where I sold a very rare item to someone on this board. Back then I was just starting out, wouldn't take *aypal, said only checks. Person hemmed and hawed. I sent the item, first and last time I used peanuts. Buyer claimed it arrived all bashed up. Wanted some money back, I initially agreed to pay, then I read his complaint, obviously lying about what I sent and even how I sent it (admittedly I shouldn't have used peanuts, but there really was a question in my mind about it arriving damaged. So I figured buyer was just pissed about having to send a check and wanted vindictive compensation. Buyer complained, seemingly ebay decided the item should be sent back. I flipped. But ... person never sent it back. And ... bought a number of other items from me though a family member's account. I literally never had a single problem with any other buyer, in hundreds of transaction, and even internationally (GSP wasn't around then).
 
Trixter said:
I was going to start doing a lot of international shipping, but now I don't know what to do. It looks like I have two choices: Don't use GSP and expect to get scammed out of money, or use GSP and risk rare/priceless items getting destroyed.

Is there a way to ship internationally from an eBay sale without getting scammed?
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well for Shipping to Australia, the best way is to fly me to your place in the USA (at buyers expense), hand me the goods, shout me a meal and conversation. Then drop me at an airport to carry them home to Oz (at your expense) in Aircraft Hand luggage.
Then I will contact the buyer and we can meet or use local couriers to get them to buyer

I could sure travelling Internationally.
 
As a buyer I've stayed away from somewhat large items sold via GSP because the cost (everything considered) explodes. And I've heard about repackaging issues, where properly packaged items have been re-packaged and then damaged during shipping.

On the other hand I bought an ISA card via GSP a while ago, the cost was reasonable, possibly even lower than if customs had been processed the "normal" way (due to the ultra-excessive customs handling charges by every courier in Norway). The card had been very well packed by the seller, and it had not been re-packaged by the shipper. Nothing extra to pay after it arrived. But as Per said, they ship via that 'other' local courier. Not much of a problem in this case, as there were no fees to pay. But I had to drive all the way to their office in an industrial harbor area to pick up the package.
 
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How exactly does a buyer know if something is part of the GSP? I generally just buy stuff and it gets here. I'm assuming it's the ones that have the extra charge added on and of course I generally avoid those, but don't really know how this works since I only buy stuff on Ebay.
 
Ole Juul said:
How exactly does a buyer know if something is part of the GSP? [..]
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I don't have a page in front of me at the moment, but IIRC it says something about 'global shippping program' on the page, where the cost&shipping is listed.
 
It also usually says something along the lines of "extra import fees will be added on checkout".
 
per said:
It also usually says something along the lines of "extra import fees will be added on checkout".
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Ok, those. I try to avoid them because that's a scam. That's the one I recently fell for, again. (sigh) The "import fees" are under the guise of paying duty, but in Canada there is no duty on electronics from USA, and it costs them nothing to get it past the border*. It is in fact just a way of getting both the shipper and the receiver to pay for the shipping. I would recommend that others don't buy from vendors using the GSP because otherwise this sort of thing isn't going to stop.

* In fact DHL couriers advertises that they don't charge any fees for importing because they claim it doesn't actually cost them anything.
 
I must admit many times i've seen "High" charges on sellers listings that use the GSP, Not sure whats going on there, Whether it's Ebah or the seller has set it up wrong ??, I stear clear of those, You certainly got to do your homework before hitting the Buy button, But sometimes it can work out a cheaper option going via the GSP as i recently found out, I suppose it differs somewhat between countries.
 
Ole Juul said:
Ok, those. I try to avoid them because that's a scam. That's the one I recently fell for, again. (sigh) The "import fees" are under the guise of paying duty, but in Canada there is no duty on electronics from USA, and it costs them nothing to get it past the border*. It is in fact just a way of getting both the shipper and the receiver to pay for the shipping. I would recommend that others don't buy from vendors using the GSP because otherwise this sort of thing isn't going to stop.

* In fact DHL couriers advertises that they don't charge any fees for importing because they claim it doesn't actually cost them anything.
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Note sure how it can be a scam, unless E-Bay are profiting. When you buy using the global shipping program part of the fees for shipping go to E-bay. It should say:-

"Shipping: $xx.xx International Priority Shipping to United Kingdom via the Global Shipping Program"

I bought a Microchannel XGA video card (which it turns out I don't need but these things happen) for $95.00 + Postage The import charges were an extra $24.82. As its an item from a trader outside the EU there should VAt of 20% which would be $19.00 so $6.00 surcharge. (actually I think the charged VAT on P&P which is wrong) Trouble is if I had had it shipped outside GSP there would have been a $15.00 charge from the UK Royal Mail. It alls sounds ok(ish) to me....
 
also, the seller does not get the money for the international shipping.

For example, i charge USPS flat rate shipping. IF it goes international, I get a modified address. Usually going to some warehouse in Kentucky. I still get the money to ship the package, but only to the warehouse. I can understand if some things get repacked wrong. Kentucky is not known for intellectuals or family trees that have branches. But thats beside the point.

for large items, id look at the US site. Sometimes sellers use calculated shipping, and that calculator can sometimes be stupid. When in doubt, ask the seller about shipping.
 
The GSP uses a fixed formula to predict import fees, and it does not take exceptions into account. That would not be a problem had they just refunded the difference, but that's not the case.

But if the item actually has import fees, then the prediction is usually pretty close.
 
per said:
The GSP uses a fixed formula to predict import fees, and it does not take exceptions into account. That would not be a problem had they just refunded the difference, but that's not the case.

But if the item actually has import fees, then the prediction is usually pretty close.
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Yes, no doubt the calculation of import fees is simple since it's just a lookup. For example, to Canada we have a whopping 18% on textiles, and 0% on electronics. I've only seen it when the "import fees" are an additional charge for shipping which the buyer has to pay, quite separately from the shipping charge paid on Ebay. That's why I'm using the rather strong term of "scam". It is simply an additional charge for something for which they've already been paid. I certainly agree that the GSP may be just fine if the buyer can avoid that double charge.
 
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