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The better half has never really wanted to ship internationally, and I have always shipped internationally (on my own, not through the ebay programs). At some point , a while back.I I decided to experiment with GSP, so put it on some listings. But in the early days of Covid, as some countries began to close their borders, I thought I had removed all my international shipping settings.
I guess not. I just sold my first item with GSP, to Australia. Not a high dollar item (a jumbo comb, of all things), I’m going to go ahead and send it (to Erlanger KY) and just hope for the best.
But I’m wondering what you guys are doing about international shipping?
I’ve seen some people on Facebook groups talking about increased international sales, especially as we enter the Holiday season, so I kind of hate to leave money on the table.
What say you, fellow Scavenger Elves?
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I have used GSP for several years now, including this entire year. I like it a lot. I don’t recall ever having any problems with those sales (though I’ve probably jinxed myself by saying that). As far as countries closing borders – I haven’t given that any thought. My job is to get the item to KY – the rest is not my problem, and so far ebay hasn’t tried to make it my problem.
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We experimented with eBay Send earlier this year and into the pandemic. After 4 or 5 packages getting lost, we stopped using it because we were responsible for the delivery. We’re now back to only GSP. We may lose out on some sales, but it’s less stressful.
The cheapest option for buyers is if you’re willing to ship First Class International. You take all the risk, but shipping is cheap for the buyer.
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A fellow eBayer is selling parts of an Art Deco dinner service; they got a couple of offers from someone in New Zealand, even though the items were marked pickup only. Would-be buyer got mardy (“I’m not living in a Third World Country you know”) when it was pointed out that the crockery would be difficult and expensive to post. GSP might have been good for that; “plates got broken after they left the GSP hub” <cough> 🙂
I did hear that once managed payments is fully in place, buyers will be able to pay with beads, cattle, and those stone coins they use on Yap.
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I too may be jinxing myself, but I have never had a problem with GSP. Like @sonia said. My job is to get the order to Kentucky, after that it’s not my problem. I have had a few items, damaged in transit or by customs and in each instance, GSP automatically refunded both myself and the buyer.
When a country closes its borders due to CO-VID (or any other reason) GSP stops offering service to that country.
The only real annoyance I have found is when a country is temporarily suspended from GSP your shipping policy is not automatically updated.
For example, for a time (may still be going on) GSP would not deliver to Brazil. Instead of pulling my listing from Ebay Brazil, the item was still available. A customer purchased the item and then kept asking me to send them the shipping charges. Once I figured out what was happening, I canceled the sale and used the “problem with customers address” option. This has happened 3 or 4 times during the last year, and I have never received a ding, against my Seller Level Metrics.
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And jinx myself I did! Just got a message from a GSP buyer in the UK about not being able to find the delivered package, despite there being a photo of where it was delivered to. They want me to call the shipping company called Hermes to help track this down. Uh – no. This shouldn’t turn into a serious problem for me; I just hope that it doesn’t result in some hassle that makes me need to call ebay, which I’ve never had to do before for GSP.
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Hermes is the cheap shipping option in the UK. I did see a delivery driver taking a photo of a house yesterday- so that’s what that was about. These Hermes drivers are like Uber- self-employed drivers with a car loaded with parcels.
Once it’s gone from the GSP hub it’s not the seller’s problem. I had a buyer from Finland grouching about something that hadn’t turned up, and I just couldn’t get ’em to understand that they should contact eBay, not me. Eventually it arrived,
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Not the seller’s problem, except that the buyer opened a case and my funds are now on hold while ebay reviews the case. Now I’m wondering if I should call ebay today or wait for them to review it. I’m leaning towards the latter, since it was marked by the carrier as delivered. Not really worried at this point – just a little nervous b/c of the uncertainty due to this being the first time I’m dealing with this situation.
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Yeah, the Finnish buyer opened a case, but the funds weren’t with-held. Hope it gets sorted- it’ll be pretty unlikely for the Hermes delivery person to leave the parcel on a doorstep, they either keep it and leave a card, or try a next-door neighbour. I take in parcels for mine. It may be that your customer lives in a multi-occupancy house and someone else in the house has it.
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Hope so – it’s just very strange, b/c the photo they gave her, which she sent me, shows the package inside a glass porch door on a floor that is very distinct b/c there’s a perfectly circular hole in it. Tracking says “delivered to your safe place” or something like that. And she has no idea where that place is, even from looking at the photo. I guess the place is so safe, nobody can find it! lol
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A friend has the ‘safe place’ arrangement- leave parcels in the porch. Delivery instructions are printed on the label to that effect. Which wouldn’t be the case with your parcel. I suppose she could ask Hermes to ask who ever delivered the parcel to go fetch it back.
If it’s by a wall, the circular hole’s probably where a cast iron downpipe from the guttering used to be. The building’s likely a semi-detached house or a bungalow.
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