Global Shipping Programme

[bluebellfressia]

Hi, I received an email this morning saying ..... We’ve opted you into the Global Shipping Programme.  It’s an easy way to reach millions more buyers with minimal change to the way you already sell on eBay.

I am a private seller, who sells mainly clothing.  I have only ever posted within the UK. 

I have been trying to read up about it.  I read this .....

What your buyers see
We’ll calculate the right postage cost for international buyers, depending on where they live, and this is what they’ll see on your listing. We’ll also calculate the estimated delivery time, including the time it takes for you to send the item to the UK Shipping Centre.

The buyer pays this postage fee to cover the cost of international tracked postage from the UK shipping centre. All you have to do is post the item to the Shipping Centre, and pay the cost of that postage – just like you would if you were posting to a UK buyer.

"All you have to do is post the item to the Shipping Centre, and pay the cost of that postage – just like you would if you were posting to a UK buyer"  

I do not pay the cost of the postage in the UK, the buyer does.  Am I reading this wrong?

Also are there any additional fees I should be made aware of or any other information?

Or maybe I should just opt out ....

I would appreciate any help. Thank you

[tressygirl]

Yep,  quite a few reports coming in,  of this odd , and for some unwanted message being received by sellers today.

You can stay in if you wish of course, this link explains the Global Shipping Programme:

ttps://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/global-shipping-programme?....

If not you can  opt out.  Go to your Site Preferences,  and there you can opt out of GSP.  You may need to change the font size,  to see the edit option !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ship/prf

@bluebellfressia 

[werew_16]

I got this email too and opted out immediately. I have no intention in getting caught up in international refunds.

[suelel1968]

@bluebellfressia the wording is odd about postage. You dont have to pay for it. Just post as normal and they do the rest. I think it's quite good, never had an issue. I am opted in, but rarely sell anthing this way. There is a small international fee but im not sure what rate is or who pays it these days. 

[ett1954]

Maybe this will help.  Under eBay's fees for private sellers (my bold):

If your registered address is in the UK, we charge an international fee of 3% if the delivery address for the item (entered by the buyer during checkout) is outside the UK.

This fee is calculated on the total amount of the sale and is automatically deducted from your sales proceeds. The total amount of the sale includes the item price, any handling charges, postage, and any applicable taxes.

[bluebellfressia]

I have just opted out. 

I am unsure about it all & as @werew_16 said above "They have no intention in getting caught up in international refunds"

As you say, you rarely sell anything this way.  I also don't want to be paying fees.

[soon-be-christmas_001595]

I received an email too. I haven't opted out but probably should. I could be wrong, but I feel it's more geared towards business sellers.

[bluebellfressia]

@soon-be-christmas_001595 

Yes, I wondered that too.

[gjalp]

If you don’t already send overseas, it will be another way for ebay to gain revenue due to the additional international transaction fee of 3% on the sale total. As a business I get hit with this a lot as I have a number of regular overseas customers. 

[micks-music-and-magazine-emporium]

I sell a few items internationally (mainly vinyl records) and have an international shipping fee set up on my listings. I got this email and immediately opted out as it would costs me more this way.
At the moment an international buyer pays me the shipping cost and i pay to send it at the post office, under GSP i would have to pay the domestic postage that i currently don't need to, and the buyer would still pay the international shipping cost, but to ebay instead of me, so it is adding an extra layer of cost, payable by me and with no benefit to the buyer.
Either way I still pay the international transaction fee, but that is sucked up in the listing price or postage cost I have set. 
Anything I send overseas is sent tracked so is still protected, but from what I see, through GSP the protection seems higher, and that is the only benefit that I can see. 

[suelel1968]

At the risk of sounding like an eBay sales person, the returns are all done by eBay and you only pay the same UK postage that you would pay in the UK. 

3% fees is a bit much when they are opting you in. Very cheeky! I understand from the text that @ett1954 posted that the 3% is on postage et al as well. Is that UK postage or International postage I wonder. As ever eBay raise more questions than answers in their help pages.

I have read complaints before about GSP but that is more to do with eBays ability to mess up rather than the system working as planned.

[ett1954]

I agree, there should be more clarity, especially regarding the potential fees that could be levied.  Tax additions are the biggest variable.

With many items to most countries no tax is levied however the EU (also Norway) attracts VAT and this varies between countries but can run as high as 27% (Hungary).  Some products (books, medical products, etc.) attract a reduced rate in many EU countries, but again this is variable.  More countries are introducing online sales taxes - Australia and New Zealand has a fixed 10% levy, the US varies by state between 0 and 10%; although the last time I checked only 3 states had the 0% rate.  These can boost the cost to the buyer; especially when the GSP shipping rate is added, which in turn inflates the fee charged.  For a business seller there is also the VAT on these fees to rake into account - I am not sure whether a private seller will have this, but I am sure eBay will pick this up as they do for any UK sales fees incurred through listing upgrades, promotions etc.

I use GSP as a business seller on selected items where the shipping is cheaper and to be fair I have had no issues using GSP.  It should be noted however that recently, as you point out, there has been issues.  GSP to the USA was suspended; and I suspect this is still the case as I have not had a GSP sale to the USA for several months.  As ever the communication on this from eBay is zilch; presumably announcing it would 'scare' investors.  There are also issues being reported that customers from abroad accessing via eBay.uk cannot view items to their location.  Information again is sketchy as there is no information coming through from eBay.

To summarise; my personal opinion is that GSP is a very useful tool but you need to go into it with your 'eyes wide open' which is where eBay needs to clarify exactly what this entails, especially to private sellers.  This auto-opting in seems like a desperation measure which I am sure most private sellers will not query ...... until their first sale which attracts fees as no doubt these boards will eventually testify.

[the.last.nazgul]

Its fine (although very expensive for the buyer) until the overseas buyer opens a return, then you are on your own.

[suelel1968]

@the.last.nazgul

Do you have personal experience of that? I have allowed myself to believe that the buyer raises a return as normal and the seller is only responsible for the Uk part of postage.