Global Shipping Programme Enabled but Buyers Abroad Cannot Purchase – Urgent Issue Costing Sales

[bartsbrandedbargain]

Hi eBay team,

I’m writing to report a serious issue that’s severely affecting my ability to sell internationally.

Despite being fully opted into the Global Shipping Programme (GSP) and having it enabled on all my listings (see attached screenshot), international buyers are getting the following error during checkout:

"Unfortunately, this seller won't send to your location. Please update your delivery address or contact the seller to get a delivery option."

I’ve personally tested delivery addresses in Australia, the USA, and several EU countries, and the result is always the same — checkout is blocked with this error.

This is clearly not a configuration mistake:

• My listings show that GSP is enabled

• I have no excluded shipping regions in my preferences

• The items (books) are GSP-eligible and well within all price, size, and weight thresholds

• Buyer requirements are not blocking anyone

Yet buyers abroad can’t complete their orders, and I’m now seeing international sales drop by over 90% as a result. This is costing me both money and reputation as buyers assume I’ve restricted access when I haven’t.

This needs urgent investigation by the tech team. It seems to be a backend issue where GSP eligibility is not properly applying at checkout, even though it's correctly configured on the listing.

Can someone at eBay please:

• Confirm whether this is a known technical issue affecting GSP?

• Escalate this so it can be fixed across my account?

• Let me know if any recent GSP changes have caused incompatibility with books or specific destination countries?

This is a major issue, and unless resolved quickly, it’s going to force me to look at selling platforms that can reliably support international customers.

[style_wise]

Hi, you've sent this to fellow eBay Sellers. To reach eBay Technical Team:

Seller Hub > ? icon > Let Us Know > Report a Technical Problem

I'm sending a late reply because other Sellers are still experiencing similar problems.

[vintage6341]

I'm having same problem lost a sales to Germany and Cyprus this morning 

[millionsoftoys]

Same issues aswell, it appears like they might be doing an update as countries are coming back into the list on listings one by one.

[dave@ebay]

Hi All,

There is a known issue with GSP to Germany that looks to have started over the weekend. It possible that the issue is also affecting other countries. 

I can see above that Australia and Cyprus seem to be affected too, I'll make the tech team aware that it seems to be happening with other regions too. 

In the meantime I'll keep an eye on this thread and add any new examples that are reported.

You should be able to post to the US with the Global Shipping Programme but you will need to add the country the item was manufactured in the item specifics for it to show correctly.

We also just shared a guide with more information on the process that you should find helpful.

Thanks,

Dave

[millionsoftoys]

Hello, Thanks for the update.

Currently I have issues with USA, Australia, France, Canada and Germany. Sales on auctions to these countries have not had a GSP invoices are showing in awaiting payment without any postage.

Customers have been in touch as they cannot checkout as no postage is showing for them at the checkout and have been asked to contact seller.

Reading the update you posted it may be down to the country of origin not being completed.

[tabletoprescue]

Thank you. I have just come off a 30 minute call with Ebay customer service regarding the same issue. I have had messages from buyers in Germany, Spain, Canada and New Zealand who want to buy from us in the UK. I believe we have been added to the ticket.

[soulson_3243]

We're experiencing the same issue with our listings. 

Item: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/177116127806 has all GSP options correct including country of origin but is not available to international buyer from ANY country.

Item: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/177205153275 was available worldwide until I edited the listing to change pricing. It is not unavailable in GSP even after returning to original pricing.

We've had multiple customers message requesting shipping quotes and are losing sales.

[tuftyjn]

Reported a similar problem today, if you sell via auction I would suggest either ending your items or start prices that you are happy to sell for as your buyer pool will have been massively reduced. I think also today was when USA changes kicked in regarding having country of manufacture on the listing, so even though sellers have updated their listings, I think GSP is just not keeping up. With constant changing in US tarriffs I am not sure those responsible for GSP price setting (or their algorythms) can keep up. I have losts sales to both Germany and the US today so you are not alone.

[hand12765]

Also having the same issue. Can,t post outside of the UK 

They do not seem to be doing much to sort this out as its been a number of months since. I may be forced to move to a diffrent selling platform as a lot of my sales are over seas. 

[allthings50s]

Having the same issues, sometimes overseas buyers can buy, other times not. GSP always enabled, two long phone calls to eBay regards the issue & still not fixed, nor any further updates from them. Pretty frustrating for myself & for buyers.

[nowell9000]

I am having same problem now, can ship to everywhere except USA. Obviously intentional 

[hand12765]

When are they going to sort this out I have lost hundreds of pounds in sales as I can not ship. 

[loopy007]

I've has this problem ongoing for a few months, so far I've lost over £2000 is sales in March and half of April to Italy, Spain, Australia, USA and Puerto Rico.

When I edit the listing GPS is enabled and when checking the listing (from a UK and Spanish ebay account) GPS is no available.  I'm now playing around uploading an excel template with only one item, it appear to be linked with Simple Delivery (which is *bleep*) and/or changeing the item price. I can't get the bottom of it. Has anyone found a fix as about 10% of my ebay customers are overseas.

[lincolnshiremarine]

Hi,

I’ve just noticed we’re now experiencing the same issue.

All the correct information has been entered, and global shipping is enabled.

However, whether I choose “List Similar” from an item that already has global shipping working, or create a new listing, it still only shows as UK.

Best wishes 

[lincolnshiremarine]

Good afternoon Dave

Is there any update on the global shipping issue?  We are now affected as well.

It does not seem to matter whether I select “list a similar item” (even when that item has global shipping enabled) or create a new listing. The global shipping option is enabled and all required information—such as manufacturer details and country of origin—has been completed, but the listing still only shows as UK.

Could you please advise when you have an update?  Sellers are being impacted by this, and in the current economic climate, we cannot afford for this issue to continue.

Best wishes 

[loopy007]

Hi lincolnshiremarine,

I was getting nowhere trying to find out why the listings were not visible to overseas eBay users, or they could not purchase using the GSP. Using an excel upload file I tried changing all the possible options. I did find on some excel templates  to enable it you must use “1” and not “True” as some eBay posts say. I also noticed that the selling price took some minutes to update from my selling price to the ‘my price plus the 7% to £20 then 4% + 10p eBay buyer protection fee price.

In the end I contacted eBay customer help via text chat (as their phones lines were a 40 minute wait!). The eBay person was confused and said the items were GSP enabled so I had to show here the listing wasn’t and an older listing for a similar product was. She had no answer. After about 20 minutes of back and forward the listing suddenly was showing GSP was available. The eBay helper did nothing so I can only assume if GSP takes 20 to 30 minutes to become active. However, that doesn’t explain the constant list of messages I get from overseas eBay users saying “I want to buy this item but my country isn’t listed. In the last 40 days from Italy, Spain, Australia, USA, Puerto Rico and Lithuania all of which were main cities (not remote locations which the eBay advisor said GSP can sometimes exclude). I really don’t understand when eBay users in these countries can see the listings but can not use GSP to buy the item. As all my problems started when ebay imposed ‘Simple Delivery’ (which I hate as it caused me so many problems uploading batches using eBay excel template) so I think there might be a link between the two.

Hope this helps anyone

Brian – loopy007