"International Selling on eBay Problems" Topic

I'm curious what problems anyone here in the states has had with international shipping on eBay. I am considering dropping the Global Shipping Program and restricting sales to the USA only.

I've had potential customers bemoan the high shipping rates that eBay charges through the Global Shipping Program. I just recently had a customer request a refund for an OOP Battelsystem pack. Claims it was crushed on the way over. I don't know how eBay repacks stuff at their shipping center in Kentucky or even if they do.

I rarely have issues selling to customers in the USA. Once I had a customer in NY email a month after the sale to say he never received the package only to email me a few hours later saying it had been at his house all along.

Anyone else experience similar or give up on selling to international customers? Thanks.

I haven't sold anything on eBay lately, so my experience may be out of date. That said, the only problem I ever had was with Canadian customs, who twice opened up packages I was sending. It shouldn't have been a problem, but when I sell painted figures I always try to pack them as tightly as possible so they don't move around and damage each other. But Canadian customs doesn't care about such niceties and just threw the stuff back in the box. Both times I goet negative feedback for having done a crappy packing job. But since I was dealing with Canadians I had no problem sorting it out with the buyers involved.

As a USA-based customer who buys internationally quite often, I have been far more frustrated dealing with Canadian sellers and postage charges than elsewhere. I have pretty much sworn off dealing with Canadians (good people but exorbitant postage). UK has become more expensive but not prohibitively so. Most UK sellers I have dealt with are very upfront about charges, so no issue there.

eBay Global Shipping is a scam that eBay is running. Get out of it. They prey on people who think that customs forms are too hard to do or people who are just too lazy to do them. Customs forms are easy.

USPS.com is a very good site that gives info on size and weight of packages. Just play around there and you'll figure out, more or less, how much to charge for international shipping.

I have the Global shipping cranked down to just Canada. As a previous poster has said, I do my own customs forms and print my own labels. A good digital scale is a must.I deal on Hot Wheel cars and have not had any problems.

When I do buy miniatures from overseas I frequent those with reasonable charges.

eBay Global Shipping is a scam that eBay is running

Agreed. I basically 'can't afford' to bid on any US auctions who use that service as ebay is convinced I need to pay a fortune to clear customs.

The reality is, as long as the seller puts that little green sticker on indicating contents, value and weight, it sails through CDN customs with no problems.

The reality is, as long as the seller puts that little green sticker on indicating contents, value and weight, it sails through CDN customs with no problems.

Not my experience – see above.

Global Shipping is a way of saying I don't want to sell to anyone abroard. All it will do is harm your DSRs and put off buyers. I won't consider buying anything using it unless it's an insane bargain as the markup taken by ebay and their partners plus guaranteed customs fees and charges is ridiculous.

Seriously citizens of USAnia don't use it. You can all fill out a customs form and send it through your reasonably priced and effective federal postal system. Make more money by selling internationally without the Global Shipping programmes.

As a Canadian, and a big ebay buyer, I only occasionally order from the USA – it has the highest shipping costs I see !

For that matter, its cheaper for me to order from Europe, than within my own country… :(

I've had well over 200 packages this last year, and only 2 have had customs issues, only 1 package was damaged, and none were lost (however some took months to arrive instead of days or weeks). End result, I got everything and didn't cost me any extra money (just time).

I pretty much won't even look at USA sellers with Global Shipping…

(now that all said, on the reverse, I have asked sellers who only sell within the US, to sell to Canada and most of them are willing as long as I pay the high cost…)

Thumbs ups!

Global shipping appears to be a pain in the ass. I generally don't sell outside of the US. Every once in awhile I will get a Canadian asking me to ship north of the border and I have always complied (they know they are going to have to pony up more for shipping). I shipped a lot of small items (military medals) all over the world (using first class mail) and I didn't have any problems.

That's it then, done with Global Shipping Program and selling internationally.

You DO NOT need to use the global shipping program to ship internationally, given the universal complaints here, it is obviously another poorly thought out ebay program.

I sell mostly cheap plastic army men on ebay, International shipping using either the ebay/paypal system is simple, you just need to edit the customs descritions down to fit on the form.

Don't sell anything international that will weigh more than four pounds, the limit for First Class International. Which should NOT be a problem for most of the things related to this hobby, break large lots into smaller chunks.

No, you won't save putting all that metal in one big box, just confuse the scanners and customs people.

I sell mostly 3-8 ounce plastic items and one item that comes out (Packed to ship) to 15 ounces International. No problems, shipping is more than the retail cost of the goods, but I get three or four sales a month.

For the last year or so, there has been an integrated automated system, customs and postage labels; The green tag is obsolete, you can still use them, but when you run out, that is it.

Print your mailing labels at home! You get a paypal discount, for 3-4 ounces first class mail to Canada, $6.22 USD, (window at the Post office, $7.45 USD?), Rest of the World, $7.99 USD (Window rate, $9.45 USD).

As a buyer, USPS "First-Class International" mail has always been reliable enough for my purchases from the USA.

Actually, Canada is usually cheaper to ship to than inside the US (well, it used to be). Never had any problems with stuff going overseas. Usually people buying know it is expensive to ship and takes a bit of time (I give them options on how fast and how much they spend).

Packages with value over $75.00 USD entering Canada are scrutinized by customs. Sometimes they go through without duty sometimes not. Under $75.00 USD it seems is just fine. When I sell on ebay I get a postage rate and charge that, making my own labels. I fill out the customs form myself. Easy peasy!

International postage rates from the UK have gone up and up. I ship around the world when I sell my books, but I do this by having printers around the world, who then ship the book from somewhere local.

However, I also sell some books that I only hold stock in the UK and I also sell toy soldiers. This obviously ship from the UK. From thousands of sales I can say, I have never had any problems with Americans or Canadians. Ever. Two packages did come back to me, but that was the post office, not the buyers. In Europe, Italy is notorious, and so are a few bad buyers in France,

I always fill in my own customs labels and I always split the lots up into less valuable packages.