US eBay sellers: Global Shipping Program

[ametropia]

I love that so many sellers have come to embrace eBay's Global Shipping Program , but it seems we still have quite a few people out there who might not know it exists. As someone who lives in Canada, nothing frustrates me more than finding something awesome only to be met with the "will not ship internationally" messages on eBay listings when it could have easily been made available to me with very little extra effort on the seller's part, OR when it *does* ship internationally but the seller has chosen to skip Global Shipping and I will now have to deal with potentially a lot more guesswork when the horn crosses the border.

eBay has set up this program to allow you to offer your items to multiple countries in the world, and you don't have to ship it internationally yourself. You ship it domestically within the US to the Global Shipping Center, and eBay takes over from there and sends it abroad. It significantly benefits the buyer as well as the seller -- sellers get a wider market, and buyers are a) able to have more choice in products and b) are able to have our Customs fees laid out up front and pre-paid, with no extra frustration with the courier when the item crosses the border.

If you live in the US and have never seen what this looks like from the point of view of an international buyer, let me show you:



(I used a random horn listing from the forum for this picture)

This is literally the only way I shop on eBay any longer, because living anywhere but the US and shopping online is a never-ending nightmare of import fees/taxes and it is just dead easy to deal with when it is all done up-front. It is pure happiness for me as a Canadian international buyer to see that the seller has opted to use the Global Shipping Program.

So please! Make a Canadian happy: use the Global Shipping Program.

[ametropia]

Also if this wasn't allowed here, I apologize, please feel free to move it to a better location. I thought it would be most relevant here though

[JP]

How does a U.S. based eBay seller easily determine shipping costs to other countries? Or what impact on shipping costs does using the Global Shipping Program have?

JP

[ametropia]

Because I'm not a US seller, I have very few avenues to truly find out how it all works first hand, but I would guess (being someone who does international shipping as part of her job) that the shipping costs are going to be based on the dimensions and weight of the package that you input somewhere. Then, the value of the product determines the import fees for the buyer, so in an auction situation this can go up and down depending on price.

Someone with experience as a seller in the Global Shipping Program might want to let us know more details

[ametropia]

bump, because this is still a huge thing, Americans not using the Global Shipping Program on eBay.

It's good for you AND us international buyers, gives you a bigger market to sell to, and gives us a bigger market to buy from.

eBay has set up this program to allow you to offer your items to multiple countries in the world, and you don't have to ship it internationally yourself.

You ship it domestically within the US to the Global Shipping Center, and eBay takes over from there and sends it abroad.

It significantly benefits the buyer as well as the seller -- sellers get a wider market, and buyers are a) able to have more choice in products and b) are able to have our Customs fees laid out up front and pre-paid, with no extra frustration with the courier when the item crosses the border.