General > General Technical Chat
Why is some ebay shipping so high?
Red Squirrel:
--- Quote from: Helix70 on February 20, 2020, 09:49:34 am ---
--- Quote from: james_s on February 20, 2020, 02:01:48 am ---I'm not opposed to doing so, I have just never really explored it. I'm not a high volume seller by any means, I'm just a hobbyist who occasionally decides to part with something to make room for something else.
I suspect it's largely a case of not knowing about it, or concern that the already high paypal fees will be higher. I suppose there's also an element of fear, it's a lot easier for someone in a far off land to claim the item is not as described, damaged, didn't arrive, etc and a lot harder for us to do anything about it. There are some countries I'd be a lot more comfortable shipping to than others. I know several people who got scammed selling high value items to certain parts of the world. There are also a few notorious broker type companies that purchase items for foreign buyers and part of their normal business practice is to select the cheapest postage option submit a not received or damaged claim on anything that is not shipped with airtight signature confirmation and insurance.
Also as someone else said, contact the seller, I know that personally if someone contacts me and sounds genuinely interested and doesn't seem scammy I'm typically willing to work with them. Just because I've listed it as US only doesn't mean I'm completely unwilling to send it abroad, I just don't want added hassle every time and have been burned by a few past incidents that I don't want to repeat.
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I didn't mean that specifically towards you, us Aussies get frustrated not being able to share in the bounty that is the US salvaged test gear market. Trying to understand so I can get better gear in the future without giving it to eBay or the government. 😀
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Even here in Canada it's hard to get stuff despite being glued to the US. I can share your frustration as it's probably even worse for you guys. Not just test gear but just stuff in general. Like even buying stuff new, computer parts, or whatever, our buying options are very limited compared to the states. It's annoying that we're basically treated like a 3rd world country.
andy2000:
I used to offer international shipping on virtually all of my items, but various reasons caused me to limit international shipping. First, the price of international shipping is a lot higher than it used to be. It's a lot higher than people in most other countries pay. Priority Mail costs me more than $30 to ship a small item! First class is cheaper, but it only works from small items and no insurance is offered, so that rules out expensive items.
Add to that some ebay and Paypal rule cahnges (ebay charges seller fees on the shipping cost, and Paypal no longer refunds fees if I give a refund). This means that if I sell a $20 with $30 shipping cost, I pay ebay and paypal fees on $50, plus I risk losing it all if there's a problem like slow customs, or a dishonest buyer. Paypal also inflates their fees on international sales (remember that paypal fees don't get refunded if the sale is canceled). It's simply not worth the extra fees and the added risk to sell an item that costs more to ship than the item is worth.
After a few bad experiences, I stopped all international sales for a while. Lately, I've started offering it for small, high value items that are unlikely to be returned.
There is a new shipping option that I recently noticed. It's called "ebay international standard delivery" and appears to be much cheaper than Priority mail. I haven't used it yet, but I do plan to give it a try for certain items. It would be worth asking about it since most sellers probably haven't noticed the option yet.
People make a big deal about customs forms, but they are easy. You can print international labels through ebay, and they fill in the customs form automatically. All you have to do is sign and date it. You don't have to wait in line at the post office, just drop it in the package box, or leave it in your own mail box.
The global shipping program is easy since all I do is ship it to a US address, and the buyer pays me my regular US shipping cost, so I don't pay fees on international shipping. I don't even have to do a customs form. I get the impression that it's rather expensive from the buyers end though. It also seems to be slow.
unknownparticle:
With ebay gsp, the seller actually doesn't know the package is an export sale, they just get a shipping address to the ebay gsp centre in Kentucky. Tjis I dsicovered when I bought a book from a US seller with shipping by ebay GSP, described as in new condition. When it arrived it was most definitely not as new, so I contacted the seller to complain. He replied no problem, just return it for a refund. I explained that as I am in the UK the return shipping would be very high so would he just discount the price and refund that amount. He replied by calling me a scammer as he'd sent it to a US address!! I explained about ebay gsp but he resolutely refused to believe me! So I opened a not as described case and went through the ebay system that way. Ultimately, ebay refunded me without having to return the book, but the seller still did not believe and sent messages with a tyrade of abuse!
When I first started using ebay back in 2002, shipping from the US was quite reasonable, even quite cheap, even by USPS. I had some really huge packages sent for never more than $50!! Then suddenly, maybe about 2005-07 shipping prices went through the roof, even a magazine is now between $15-20 to post, depending on the seller.
UPS and Fedex are far cheaper in the US than the UK, to a rediculous extent.
Even domestic shipping here in the UK can be extortionate. Some sellers use high shipping prices to increase their profit, or are too lazy to use lower price shippers and just use either Royal Mail, or Parcel Force, the two highest price services by far, because of convenience. Then if you suggest they could use a cheaper service some of them become quite beligerant, assholes!
lone wolf1:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on January 12, 2020, 04:08:06 pm ---Yep... I've found US sellers to have increased international shipping fees to atrocious levels lately... it's pretty sad for us outside of the US, although I can understand.
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Many years ago (early days of the internet) ordering from the US here in the UK was a common thing. Plenty of movies and products were not available in the UK and the postage was reasonable. Still got stung with import taxes.
I haven't purchased from the US for a long time because the postage/shipping charges are astronomical compared to what the use to be.
I wondered why it has increased so much for some time.
andy2000:
--- Quote from: unknownparticle on February 20, 2020, 04:02:39 pm ---With ebay gsp, the seller actually doesn't know the package is an export sale, they just get a shipping address to the ebay gsp centre in Kentucky. ...
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The seller was lying to you. It's obvious when it's a global shipping program shipment. First, it's on the order details, second, the address is obviously the global shipping center, and third, ebay emails updates to the seller every time is passes a hurdle. Oh, and sellers have to opt into the global shipping program.
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