Ebay to offer soon a cheap and secure shipping option?

[Bored@Work]

This attempted tax fraud, esp. writing "gift" on the CN22 form is an invitation for local customs to check twice. Customs isn't as stupid as people think. I mean, really, is any customs in the world so stupid to believe there are coming so many "gifts" out of China?

In fact, I have a hard time convincing Chinese sellers to provide a correct declaration, instead of these attempted frauds. Local customs has the right to estimate a value if the declared value is not believable. And I can tell you, they know how to estimate. And it is never to the government's disadvantage when they start to estimate. To still get the item I have to pay the estimate and if I wish I can go through the trouble to officially protest the decision and maybe negotiate them 10% down 

As with shipping out of China it is a hassle for me as a buyer. Some stuff takes ages. Stuff advertised as air mail ends up in sea shipping containers. I can tell from the customs office location if it went via a harbor or an airport. Tracking is a joke, incomplete and sometimes weeks delayed. It is never clear who will be the final carrier, i,.e. what color the truck driving up the driveway will have, and how much courier extortion money (sorry, handling fee) they will ask for. Especially unpredictable is EMS China. They seem to do the final delivery with everything from pidgins, sling shots, global courier service companies, local courier companies, to local postal service. I have refused free EMS upgrades in the past to avoid having to deal with their caprices.

And don't get me started on Chinese packing "ingenuity". If I need a year's supply of bubble wrap, I'd buy some random items in China. I just have to throw the outer layer of the bubble wrap away, because it is "sealed" with a year's supply of tape. Is there an extreme shortage of cardboard boxes in China, or why is everything made into a bubble wrap American football?

Buying stuff from Hong Kong is a bit better. They seem to have a functional postal service and know how to get stuff on planes and boats. Unfortunately, some eBay sellers prefer to lie about the origin of there wares and state Hong Kong when in fact they are shipping out of mainland China.

Buying from the US works ok, although I avoid several robber baron carriers like UPS, because of the handling fee they ask for. USPS works, but even their air mail is sloooow. Fed Ex ocassional gets their knickers in a twist so I avoid them if there is a viable alternative, i.e. not UPS.

Buying from Canada is rather pleasant. So was buying from Japan (haven't bought something directly from Japan for some time now).

[SeanB]

USPS is tracked till it is handed over, then it is in a black hole tracking wise. It takes 3 days USPS air to any international destination, then it is no longer trackable, only listed as handed to 3rd party carrier. Can be 2 weeks for the delivery from that point. internally you have a tracking code, but that code is not entered on a web visible system and linked to a US tracking number. you only get it when delivered, then you can look at the history and see where it was delayed.

I always ask for the true value to be declared, as I generally get a postcard asking me to collect it from Customs office ( they are 1k from me, but used to be 200m down the road) so I also bring along the confirmation email with the price paid and the shipping costs, then they look up the tariff and I pay the rate on the item and not the shipping, plus the VAT and any Ad Valorum. Try to mess them and they will look up the highest applicable tariff and charge this on the full value because you tried to rook them. Often they will do it NC if you are honest and forthright, and they can find a no duty category for it.

[Rick]

USPS is tracked till it is handed over, then it is in a black hole tracking wise. It takes 3 days USPS air to any international destination, then it is no longer trackable, only listed as handed to 3rd party carrier. Can be 2 weeks for the delivery from that point. internally you have a tracking code, but that code is not entered on a web visible system and linked to a US tracking number. you only get it when delivered, then you can look at the history and see where it was delayed.

But you can see on the USPS website that the item was delivered, this is true for the priority mail.
Besides that you can prove with the local website that it is delivered. I am not sure if ebay accepts it as a proof but our local website shows the item all along its path. I have a few examples but I don't want to post them here, as this is a public page.
Both the local webpage: http://www1.ptt.gov.tr/tr/interaktif/kayitliposta-yd_yeniweb.php and the USPS show the same delivery time with the usual time difference.

[Mechatrommer]

i transacted many items online. only once and i remember it like yesterday that i had to pay tax many years ago maybe due to some commercial value to the item. the tax was calculated nearly the cost of (declared item's price + shipping cost) why the hell the shipping cost got into the calculation anyway? and all declarations are as precise as my newly bought lindstrom Ex575 cutter. iirc its USPS and the shipping cost nearly = item's price. so i ended up paying quadruple the item's price, and the item was not cheap. very good business! from thereon i swear by "gift" chinese items and super cheap EMS service which USPS not better than (for my place) at fractions of the cost.

[Rick]

I edited the Tracking numbers as well as time and hours sorry.
The second part has no English version.
But the 1st pic shows it was delivered.

[Rick]

You can find the following info on the USPS website and ask for detailed information.

[ve7xen]

The problem with shipping internationally is that everyone complains about the price... then they complaint that there is no tracking information, then they complain that you didn't falsify the customs documents and lie about the value... then they complain that it's been 2 weeks and they haven't gotten it, so it must have been lost. 

It doesn't sound to me like there's any problem with shipping internationally, but that buyers have totally unreasonable expectations (since when is that new...). I'd never complain about any of these things, and certainly not ask for falsified customs documents. However, I refuse to buy any items where the seller insists on using UPS or FedEx, especially small value items. For large ticket items I might compromise and have them shipped to a receiver in the US by whatever means the seller wants to use, but there are plenty of items I just pass up because of the shipping requirements, and I've entirely given up on using UPS or FedEx to import items direclty unless the seller is offering 'express' service for free/cheap (which includes brokerage).

UPS is worse than eBay/PayPal (if that's possible) when it comes to raping customers with unreasonable fees and anti-consumer practices they can't avoid. FedEx not so much, but it's still much more costly.

No idea where the break even point is, but sellers are definitely losing opportunities by insisting on UPS/FedEx when USPS would do for 1/3 the price and 1/10th the hassle. You almost may as well not even offer international shipping if you're going to insist on UPS, because any international customers you do get are going to get screwed and be unhappy in the end.

I'd welcome this service from eBay if it makes life easier for sellers in the US shipping to Canada as long as the cost is reasonable. I don't mind paying the tax (I owe it, after all), even if most of the time Canada Post doesn't bother assessing it. If that's what I have to pay for a wider pool of potential broken gear to fix, I'm all for it. Prices for items coming out of Canada are on average considerably higher than the same gear in the US, and rarer as well.

PS. Once USPS hands off the package, you can track it on the Canada Post site with the same tracking number. I'd assume the same is true of the national post in other countries.

[McMonster]

Well, yeah. eBay has basically zero competition in the open market. They only compete a little with companies like Amazon but they still get away with a lot more than they should. How long until we see a genuine competitor to eBay?

More a curiosity, but eBay virtually doesn't exist here in Poland, it lost to local (well, owned by a South African concern now) competitor called Allegro, which also operates in some of the central and eastern European countries. There is a Polish eBay site but focused almost entirely on selling abroad with all the sellers I've checked (selling electronics components) functioning primarily on Allegro.

I doubt they'll ever try to compete on a wider scale with though, but this shows at least that it is possible to challenge eBay and win, so you can hope for a better future. I've actually never used eBay mostly because almost anything that's interesting and hard to get locally comes with insane shipping costs. In fact buying anything not available locally from abroad is a pain here as far as shipping costs, customs, taxes etc. are concerned. Except maybe for some stuff from China, but I've never needed to try this.

[Corporate666]

It's really hard to convince some US sellers who have no international shipping experience or have bad experience that USPS priority mail can be fully tracked and they are covered in case the parcel or box is lost. I wonder if it is a lack of good will, and they want to make money out of shipping or make the return of the product more difficult, but for us here USPS priority mail can be tracked all the way down to the addressee's home, especially the more expensive options which start at $39 ($39, $47, $60).

I've been selling on eBay for years... thousands of shipments per year.

I can tell you from first hand experience that shipping internationally is a huge hassle.  Priority Mail most certainly does not have full tracking, and the seller is not covered in the event the package is lost.  The only service which offers full tracking and insurance is Express Mail, and a flat rate envelope starts at $38USD, and an actual box/package starts around $60USD.

The problem with shipping internationally is that everyone complains about the price... then they complaint that there is no tracking information, then they complain that you didn't falsify the customs documents and lie about the value... then they complain that it's been 2 weeks and they haven't gotten it, so it must have been lost. 

For the seller, you are really hanging your ass out in the wind by shipping internationally.  If the buyer says they didn't get it, you're screwed.  You pretty much either offer them a refund, or they go to PayPal and get a refund anyway.  The only way to fight a refund is if you ship it Global Express Guaranteed which gets a signature from the receiver... and that service costs a lot more than even UPS/FedEx.

It's really difficult for sellers... they are in between a rock and a hard place.  This new eBay service looks really interesting!

This is true above $250 may be, because then you need the signature.
But so far I have ALWAYS been able to track my items (with priority mail), first on ebay and as soon as they arrived here, on the Turkish postal website.
I can even tell the date of the delivery with +/- 12 hours precision.  That may not be true for every country, but here it is.

It's not just above $250.  If you buy something from an eBay seller, than claim you did not receive it and file a PayPal dispute, the seller must provide a signature of receipt to eBay.  UPS and FedEx offer a signature (you can go online and see the actual signature).  The only US Postal service which offers that us Global Express Guaranteed, and for a 1lb package (for example) to Turkey costs about $100USD.  It's a real problem, because if the buyer claims they never got the package, but it says it was delivered - PayPal will give the buyer their money back. 

As for tracking, it depends on the receiving country - you are lucky that Turkish post seems to be pretty good and reliable!  Unfortunately, not every country is the same.  From my experience... Brazil is terrible.  It takes 4 to 6 weeks to arrive.  The Netherlands is bad too.  The UK can be bad... sometimes it takes 5 days, sometimes it takes 3 weeks.  As a seller, I know that almost every customer in Brazil will complain because I will ship and it will be weeks until they get it... and the tracking will only say "arrived in destination country".  They are sure it's lost and will demand I send a replacement... I try to placate them for a few weeks, then I get an email where they are very happy to report it arrived

It's just very difficult for a seller to ship internationally without causing yourself a lot of hassle with unhappy customers, lost-package claims, negative feedback, etc.  I hate to pay UPS/FedEx/DHL prices, but I love the service... I order on Monday in China, I have it in my hands on Wednesday   Crazy prices, but great service.  Express Mail flat rate is very good too - 3-5 days anywhere in the world, but $38USD for a flat rate envelope and about $60USD for 1lb packages.

[ve7xen]

It occurs to me that part of the problem seems to by PayPal's overly lenient refund policies. And look who it is swooping in to solve the problem...

Not to say there isn't a gap to be filled here, but it's a little stinky.

[Rick]

As for tracking, it depends on the receiving country - you are lucky that Turkish post seems to be pretty good and reliable! 

Yes they are. That's quite amazing. Even some 1st class mail is shown on that website as delivered. But not always because they assign a new number to the parcel on arrival.
Then tell me, how come sellers accept to ship my 2 multimeters by priority mail? They said they are covered. So obviously the signature is required beyond $250.

[richms]

Then bug USPS to get a usable international signature service then?

I order heaps from ebay, DX, price angels, tomtop and ali express. If its more than a few bucks worth it comes registerd, and I get a card in the PO Box to get it from the counter and have to sign for it. Same for EMS items, when the sellers will accept a PO Box address - some seem to think they can only EMS to a street address which I avoid for the usual reasons.

[Rick]

The usual reasons? What are they?

[richms]

Noone being home so a card is left that means I have to pick it up from an inconvenient location 30 mins away only open during hours when most people are at work, or else for a short time on saturday morning when I would rather be at a computer shop or something.