eBay international Shipping Charges (Shipping global program)

JM251 · Feb 3, 2016

Geez, sorry, just now stumbled across this relocated thread.. 🤦 I re-listed the piece on eBay (got rid of global shipping program & buggy international bid restricting) to give all those who were vying for it a fair shake. 👍

Modest_Proposal · Feb 3, 2016

To be fair - watches are actually a pretty big hassle to ship internationally. The USPS, Fedex, UPS.... they all have their own restrictions. The USPS being the absolute worst.

Then sellers have to worry about international buyers fraud-ing them by saying that it didn't arrive or wasn't in the package. Harder to prove it when it's international. When one uses the global shipping programs, all they have to worry about is it arriving at the shipping center in Kansas or wherever it is. After that, it's Ebay's responsibility.

This is why it appeals to newer sellers.

Davidt · Feb 4, 2016

Ebay priority global shipping is just another way for them to make money. The charges they add significantly exceed the import/VAT duty that would actually be due on the final sale price of an item.
I'm in the UK and bought a watch from the US last year (adjusting my final bid down to take into account the ridiculous PGS charges). Somehow I still managed to win the auction, but it took 3 attempts at shipping and over 2 months for the watch to arrive. In the end the seller and I (who by this time were great friends due to the huge amount of correspondance we'd shared), cancelled the ebay sale, I sent the funds direct via paypal and he shipped the watch to me. By the time we'd concluded, GPS meant ebay lost out on all commision except paypal.

WatchVaultNYC · Feb 4, 2016

I don't use Ebay's Global Shipping program for the sole reason that I will not be able to insure my package end-to-end. Insurance ends when I get the package to Ebay's center, then who knows what happens when their staff unpack and repack my shipment (which they will, to reduce size). I would not put it past them to throw away the Omega boxes.

uvalaw2005 · Feb 4, 2016

I always avoid eBay's global shipping program, but as other posters have said, it's getting harder and harder to ship watches internationally from the U.S. USPS just raised prices almost across the board, but international was particularly hard hit. Add in the various services that specifically disallow shipment of watches, or limit insurance to a pretty modest cap, and it gets onerous fast.

glownyc · Feb 24, 2016

Wanted to add my experience on how much the GSP sucks. I bought an item from the UK to the US and while the shipping was high the total price was still ok so I went ahead with the purchase. They say you can track it the whole way, but they used some random logistics company the shipping updates had no real information. There must have been ten "updates" that just said "in transit". When it arrived to a facility one state over it took them three days to get it sent out from there. From there it took five days to get to me since they sent it via USPS parcel select which is one of cheapest and slowest services. Never again!

NT931 · Nov 24, 2017

another GSP horror story. The Doxa watch was supposed to ship from the US to Singapore, but when the package reached Kentucky as part of the GSP, the item was suddenly "undeliverable" with no explanation.

Seller kept his proceeds, I got refunded my shipping costs and the price I paid for the watch, but seller and I both feel we're never going to see the watch again. What exactly happened? We have no idea. Maybe the item was damaged, lost? Or possibly stolen and declared as 'undeliverable'.

GSP is rubbish.

GordonL · Jan 20, 2018

I wish I'd seen this thread earlier - maybe the mods could consider making this whole topic a "sticky"?

I'm in the UK waiting for a watch to be delivered from the USA via the shambles which is the Ebay Global Shipping Program. It was dispatched 23rd December and so far as I can tell, is still waiting to be processed in a Pitney Bowes distribution centre somewhere in the USA.
I "thought" that using this method would at least mean that the import taxes were paid up-front (I dont mind having to pay them), but I wish I'd just told the seller to stick it in a box and post it Air Mail. A vinyl 45 record I subsequently bought was posted from Florida on 11th January and arrived this morning.
When I contacted Ebay it was like communicating with a primary schoolchild - their only suggestion was to raise an "item not received" case. They seemed to have no idea (or interest in) how to use their own tracking number to find out where the parcel actually is. After much googling I figured that out for myself.
GSP will be a deal-breaker for me in future - never again. (And there's still the possibility that it will be unpacked/repacked by PBI and arrive in pieces.....)

Tubber · Jan 20, 2018

Avoid it like the plague. The charges are excessive and the service is crap. If I see anything listed using the GSP I just move on, whatever it is.

Davidt · Jan 20, 2018

EBay GSP is a disgrace. I've had to use it again since I last posted and again it was a complete and utter fυck up.

Never ever again. I'd rather cut off my own foot.

eBay international Shipping Charges (Shipping global program)

JM251

Modest_Proposal

Davidt

WatchVaultNYC

uvalaw2005

glownyc

NT931

GordonL

Tubber

Davidt

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