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So let me preface this by saying I’m not a FT seller on ebay. I hover around 200 listings at any one time and I’ve been doing this for 2 years.
When I started out in 2014, I had a moderate stream of global shipping program sales. I mean, never a tremendous amount, but a couple a month, to places like Australia and Germany and the UK and even Thailand once. It was always weird vintage items, which makes sense — stuff they can’t buy in their countries. In the case of Australia, I sold the occasional bread and butter item, which I understand is because in-country shipping rates are so high in Australia that they might as well buy from international sellers as the rates aren’t that different.
I just realized that I haven’t had A SINGLE Global Shipping Program sale in at least 6 months. My mix of items hasn’t changed. As far as I know, I had GSP turned on on all my listings. I just bulk edited to make sure.
Advice? Similar issues? What might be going on???
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I wouldn’t worry too much, you may just be having a dry spell. Are your items still selling here in the US? I’m similar to you, I have about 300 items in my store and have been selling for just shy of 3 years. My total monthly sales volume is typically between 60 and 100 items and I’d say I sell about 1 item through GSP every week or two.
I really appreciate the insight about Australia sales, I didn’t realize their local shipping rates were so high but I too noticed that I sell more bread and butter type stuff to that country. In fact I think my last two GSP sales were to Australia. A 5×9 100% cotton american flag to an Australian mining company and a late 90’s IBM thinkpad laptop to some guy in Melborne
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I know many buyers complain about the up front GSP costs. But I find that after factoring in custom and duty fees, tracking, and insurance, then the price is really the same. What many overseas buyer want is first cheap shipping and for you to take all the risk if something happens along way. GSP makes sure everyone is safe.
You can always take off GSP is you dont mind shipping on your own. Any lost packages is just the cost of doing business.
I think we’ve had less European buyers because the Euro has lost much of its value against the dollar. It’s almost 1:1 now:
https://www.google.com/search?q=euro+to+dollar&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS616US617&oq=euro&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.3114j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 -
I can’t really comment on the rate of sales, but as a Canadian, I might be able to offer another angle on GSP.
As a seller, I’m a fan. I’m close enough to the Canada/US border that I’m able to ship primarily using USPS, which gives me access to the GSP. It works fantastic as a seller. Get it to Kentucky safely, and you’re set.
As a buyer, I really, REALLY, dislike the GSP. The price of an item gets inflated by paying shipping to Kentucky, and then from there to Canada, and rolling import duties into my purchase. This adds additional costs that more often than not, I wouldn’t end up incurring otherwise.
I do a fair bit of my shopping online, and VERY rarely does anything I purchase get assessed a duty when it crosses the border. If it’s worth more than $200, and is shipped with a carrier other than USPS, it’ll likely get dinged. Under $200, or shipped with USPS, and it’s generally free-and-clear.
With the above said, when I’m buying on ebay, I opt for sellers that offer USPS First Class or Priority over sellers using the GSP, whenever possible. I get my items quicker, and generally, cheaper.
Just my $0.02
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I just had another Canadian potential buyer ask me to do 1st class intl on an item the other day. I went and revised the listing, messaged the buyer, and then crickets. To date I’ve never had a Canadian buyer follow through with purchase after asking to be exempt from GSP. I know it isn’t universal, but for me Canadian buyers are deadbeat buyers when attempting to do traditional international shipping.
On the flipside, I’ve had plenty happy Canadian buyers that have bought through GSP no questions asked. They pay full price and promptly leave glowing feedback. Every single one of them.
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I think buyers are generally flaky, so I’m not going to try and defend your deadbeat, but I know that I’ve personally never asked a seller to revise their shipping for me. I’ve just found another seller offering the same/similar item.
I can only speak from personal experience, but like I mentioned, I’ll often bypass a GSP seller, and find someone willing to ship via standard methods. There’s a chance that had your listing offered First Class initially, you would have made the sale. For every buyer that asks you to change, how many are like me, and just shop elsewhere?
I can’t complain about using GSP as a seller, because I’ve had great success selling through the program outside of North America, but it’s worth giving Canada a second thought for offering traditional shipping.
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I understand that GSP to Canada is a little nutty since we’re basically the same landmass with an artificial boundary. In our second store, we exempted Canada from GSP about six months ago. Weirdly, we didn’t get more sales from Canadian buyers. Maybe its the exchange rate right now.
It’s odd that Canada has these import duty rules but you say they don’t enforce them. Why would that be? Why would the government pass up on tax dollars everyday? I wish our IRS would do this for me!
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I started adding First Class International to many of my smaller item listings, and it’s gone pretty well so far. I definitely saw a slight uptick in international sales, but that could also just be due to the holidays.
One bad experience to Canada, though – a replacement remote for a JVC CD Player took six weeks to arrive. Buyer messaged me almost daily asking about it with increasingly angry sentiments in ALL CAPS. I called USPS and Canada Post. USPS very helpful. CP, not so much. I refunded the buyer even though he kept saying he just wanted his item, not the money. I don’t keep a shelf full of these, so that was really all I could do. Just heard from him this morning that he finally received it. He called it a “Christmas Miracle.” Indeed.
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If you’re willing to ship First Class International, then sales will come. But as you said, you have to deal with the overseas buyers who complain to you when things arent going perfectly.
I think international sales are down tis year because the value of the US dollar is so strong.
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