Global Shipping Program USA to UK - Not working US seems to have been taken away this morning

[thetoyscavenger]

Hey all, 
This morning I've had several customers contact me from the US saying that even though they are watching my items, and could purchase them yesterday through the GSP they can no longer do this and all my other items that they are not watching are now no longer showing in the US. 

To check this I've had somebody I know in the US  check mine, and other UK sellers to see if its just me, but it seems its everybody! they can no longer purchase and the postage option is no longer showing.
Was the US Just turned off? or taken off the list?
Was there any news, or information on this? 
This is a big hit to sales as eBay is used for global sales for us.
I know the UK was taken off the international program in the US for toys a few months ago, but i wonder if this is simliar?

[castle1784]

I’m really reluctant to arrange shipping myself, it’s not even clear on eBay how much to charge and the option on type of post only gives you a tracked post, not tracked and signed for 😵‍💫

[retrobargains]

Yes you do have to be careful with using your own international shipping it wont be insured the same way as GSP and the customer will also usually have to pay any import fees/taxes on top, many parcel services has long list of restrictions and it can be difficult to claim anything back even if the item gets lost, speaking from experience

[castle1784]

Thank you for the information! I will wait for the (GSP) to be hopefully back before too long.
Kind regards
Carmen

[annaclarex]

I have given up waiting and cancelled the auctions after customer services in Ireland advised me there was no end date for this and to arrange alternative methods of payment and shipping! 

[the_hoff]

Hi Marco, can you please advise when this issue is going to get resolved?  We'd appreciate a solid timescale.  I've had a U.S buyer today asking me about shipping and I've basically had to tell them, sorry I can't ship to your country.  Ebay's last communication to business sellers re: the U.S trade situation recommended we use GSP, but this is now not available to us.  Can you also advise why there has been no official announcements about GSP to the U.S being switched off for UK sellers?

[jjambadger27]

This is a new low for eBay's general poor communication through announcements. Other people have posted that there are no issues with items they've sent to the US through non-GSP options clearing customs in the last few days. 

[marco@ebay]

Hi the_hoff, thanks for your reply.

I appreciate where you are coming from, and I understand why this would be relevant for you to know. However, we are still unable to confirm when will be GSP back as we haven't received further information on this. Once we find out more about this, we will be happy to let you know more.

Thank you,

Marco

[hemispheregifts]

Just had the same issue (16th May). Got in touch with support who said they had suspended into the US Global Shipping while they figure out the tariffs and make changes to the platform. No fix date.

Suggested I ship it myself which I dont want to do directly. So looks like it's off for now to the US.

[paulblueandwhite]

"Just had the same issue (16th May). Got in touch with support who said they had suspended into the US Global Shipping while they figure out the tariffs and make changes to the platform. No fix date."

Had same issue today, 18 May : contacted eBay CS and was told it's a technical issue and hopefully will be fixed within 3-5 days.  Will see.

[pauuk.35za36]

I have just realised this too (from a potential buyer) thank you ebay for letting us know! A few thoughts, it appears that tariffs are based on an items place of manufacture, so if we uk ebayers sell a Chinese manufactured product then the US customs will apply the Chinese tariff rate? I imagine that this is creating the issues. I noticed a week or so a go that the amount gsp was charging US buyers was insanely high for some items. 

[whitemercury]

Am I correct in thinking that at the moment US buyers are actually getting blocked from bidding if you're selling using GSP AND have opted to "Block buyers whose primary postage address is in a location to which I don’t post"? Or are US buyers still allowed to bid, but the seller will be expected to sort the shipping outside of GSP?

I've now got 3 different bidders showing with blocked bids in my Activity Log for "Buyers in countries to which I don't post". One of the bidders has contacted me and it turned out they're in Brazil but use a US PO Box, which I know GSP won't ship to. However, one of the other blocked bidders is in the US, so I didn't know if they were blocked because they're also using a PO Box, or whether it was simply because they have a US address. Hence why I wanted to confirm if US buyers are actually being blocked at the moment.

[harrisons_horse]

I removed GSP when I had a buyer wanting to return an item they broke and I had to pay the return, also the fee as well.  GSP use to be a good outlet in the past and I do miss a few sales, but there we go.

[pauuk.35za36]

Also whether US buyers are able to accept offers? Are we then able to send an invoice with the correct shipping if they do accept ? 

[valueaddedresource]

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@jjambadger27 wrote:

Why is there no official announcement about this on eBay? It's not good enough having it tucked away on the discussion board. 

---

@jjambadger27  eBay doesn't want to put out an official announcement about it because their stock price is currently doing very well largely on the back of the idea that, unlike other publicly traded ecommerce marketplace companies, they won't really be affected by the current US tariff situation.

CNBC and other business/financial media are not trolling through 100s of posts here to find a reply from an eBay staff member buried amongst the rest of the comments and those replies aren't going to surface in Google News or other places that a press release or more official announcement would either.

Doing it this way allows eBay to keep the impact of the tariffs on their business quiet and that's just how they want it. 🤫

[pauuk.35za36]

Strangely some of my listings still seem to be showing gsp shipping to the USA but only a small proportion of my items are visible on ebay.com. I really am getting tired of the constant issues on here now.

[gjalp]

US buyers can still buy outside of GSP. I don’t use GSP and even right now have a sale to the US awaiting dispatch. 

[gjalp]

Yes, I had an offer, accepted it and sent an invoice, I also offered and had it accepted and invoiced…to the US.

[jjambadger27]

I guess I should be aware by now that eBay don't do transparency. I mean, their last statement on tariffs was April 10 with no updates since despite stating that they would do so

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/global-sales/us-tariffs

[philp7757]

Not sure what's going on, but i've just had two US orders go through via GSP????

[marco@ebay]

Hi all, just a quick update on GSP.

Select GSP listings have begun to appear for US buyers, allowing some UK sellers to start seeing sales to the US. We will continue to work on ensuring that GSP service coverage is maximised, as customs requirements evolve. Until then, if you are not yet seeing GSP coverage for your item and wish to list items for US buyers, you can specify a shipping service to the US

Thank you,

Marco