Let's talk about eBay's "eBay International Standard Delivery" service. Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Hey gang! Let's talk about eBay's "eBay International Standard Delivery" service. Do you give this service a thumbs up or thumbs down rating?

For a while now, I have noticed the option for eBay's in-house international mailing service when confronted with the page of postal/shipping options for overseas mail. For years I have been accustomed to just going the straight USPS "First Class Mail International" (or whatever they call outgoing "1st class" airmail these days) route, not wanting to involve any further middlemen in the process of getting item x to customer y. However, straight USPS international rates have really skyrocketed over the past few years (with this year's January 24 increase being no exception) and with the vast difference between eBay's in-house/middlemen shipping aggregating service price and straight USPS, I have finally succumbed (as recently as the past few weeks) to having all of my international sales on eBay go first to eBay's Redondo Beach facility before being sent off to my international customers out hither and yon across the globe.

For those of you sellers who have been using the "eBay International Standard Delivery" service, what, from your perspective, are the pros and cons of this service?

I'm still in the process of having items being received or being still in transit to Rendondo Beach, with no feedback yet from international customers who have ordered from me yet (I look forward to hearing what my customers have to say, if anything, after they receive their items.)

My only real fear with using eBay's in-house shipping service is that they will take a perfectly packed up record container that I have assembled (always high-quality, professional, superior rectangular shaped, corner-protecting corrugated cardboard record mailer with filler pads) and then tear it open and place the item into some other container of a flimsy and poorly buffered nature that will wind up banging, bashing and mauling the item in transit before it arrives to my customer.

Am I crazy in thinking that the above is a real possibility or cause for concern? Can I expect them to not molest and manhandle my packages before they send it off to Canada or the UK or Australia or anywhere else? For those of you in the know, what can I expect them to do or not do? Should I breath easy and come to find that this service is in fact a cost-saving godsend with no interference in the quality of my packaging?

Looking forward to what you cats have to say.

 

As to the question by you - "am I crazy" - well, yes, of course, you are crazy. However, if I were your customer, I would appreciate your craziness.

Now then - I am surprised that nobody (with real-world experience of this eBay international add-on) has yet replied.

Hey, y'all? Time to speak up, please.

 

Do you mean the "Global Shipping Program", or have they renamed it? If so, as I recall when they started it buyers complained that it sent their costs through the roof compared to seller-provided shipping. I've never used it - I have shipped internationally for decades and know how. When they first started it they forced one of my listings into it, and a package I could send for $25 or so at my PO would have ended up costing a European buyer $40+ for shipping. I'd also ask them what happens if an overseas customer wants to return the item.

 

"eBay International Standard Delivery" and the "Global Shipping Program" appear to be two different, though similar services. The former has packages sent to and departing from a facility in Rendondo Beach, California, and the later has packages sent to and departing from some facility in the state of Kentucky.

As for WHAT ADDITIONAL COSTS the buyer may or may not incur with the former service being used, that is what I would like to know.

On first glance, the money that I save using their "eISD" program is quite significant and, on the surface, reason for me to use that service (again, in house USPS international rates are going through the roof, making whatever cost saving that can be gained using a different, aggregating service an imperative.) HOWEVER, if there are hidden fees (that at this point I don't know about) that I will be due to incur after the fact OR if there are other fees that will be imposed upon my customers, thus making their purchase from me even more expensive than it would be if I had otherwise used straight direct USPS instead, THAT IS WHAT I NEED TO KNOW.

Again, if anyone here has regularly used and is familiar with the ins and outs of this "eISD" service, please inform me (and us) to whatever degree that you can.

 

One of the potential appeals of using eBay's in-house delivery aggregating service (or whatever it may be more appropriate to call) is that liability for the item actually arriving to the customer ends for me as soon as it is noted as being received at one of eBay's processing facilities (in either CA or KY.) That is how I presently understand it. My concern with packages arriving to British Dominion and other Western nations (or Russia, or Japan, or Mexico, for that matter) using normal international service is basically nil. But sending items to countries in South America is dicey at best (and plain knowable folly in the case of Brazil, which is legendary for it's postal delivery "dead ends" and other manners of theft hijinx and corruption), so using eBay's service, when potentially receiving an order from that continent seems to make plenty of sense.

For example, two orders from not too long ago that I have sent to Chile, just using normal USPS methods, have resulted in tracking numbers dead-ending in some postal/customs facility in Chile with no confirmation ever coming forth that the packages had ever reached their final destination. Customers have inquired to me as to what they should do and all I could do was provide them the tracking number and recommend that they deal with their local postal facility in person to try and seek aid and satisfaction.

Upon receiving an order from Chile on eBay a few weeks ago, I finally decided to give this "eISD" service a shot. MAYBE the shipping contractors that eBay use will provide more reliable service and delivery confirmation information and maybe actual transport and delivery will be more reliable (to such destinations in South America) itself. At this point, I do not know.

Just checked on my eBay page and the item I posted to a customer in Chile, which I originally handed off to my local post office on January 16, now, as of today, says "PACKAGE RECEIVED AT DHL ECOMMERCE DISTRIBUTION CENTER." The saga continues.

 

I haven't done it recently, but I think if you look at one of your listings, and under the shipping tag change to another country it will show you what they would have to pay.

 

Sheesh! Any eBay sellers at all here using this service?

 

Somebody just put up a simple price structure for one LP to London at USPS First Class International.....$24.50 for years and what these other ones run.

 

I use Global Shipping Program...no problems yet. I went with it after mailing an acetate to Russia and it took almost two months to arrive.

No more buyers asking me to declare low value for high dollar items for customs...no customs forms to fill out.


Just mail the el peas to Erlanger, KY...no muss...no fuss

I don't know if eBay repacks items or not....but of the five or six times I have used Global Shipping...I have had good feedback

 

I used the Global Shipping once by mistake for several items sold. As stated above, it appears your responsibility ends when the item reaches eBay’s distribution center. Certainly, the tracking does. But I kept getting messages from the buyers asking me where the items were, which, of course, I could not answer. I don’t use it for this reason, although it appears that all the items sent eventually made it to the buyers.

 

I have to wonder if the shipping time would have been no different at all if just going via straight USPS. During these, ahem..., times and matter of Covid, I have had international parcels going straight USPS that have taken that long to arrive as well.

Under normal circumstances, should delivery times between the two services be just about the same or would there be any reason to expect one service to be vastly quicker than the other?

 

I will NEVER sell on eBay again for the rest of my life. In my mind EBay is evil. I will buy there only. Now if I wanna sell a record or receiver.... whatever I’ll do offer up or donate the item. eBay will not make one red cent from me ever again. They are thieves, dregs of humanity.

 

I don't mind at all buyers asking for a low value to be declared on their items. I completely understand and sympathize with buyers in foreign, high tax territories wanting to avoid getting rooked for any more cheese than they already do.

Should I assume that the "eISD" and "GSP" eliminates the buyer's capacity to achieve such avoidance?

 

OK, I can certainly respect your stance. However (and with your ire at eBay duly noted), I'm looking with this thread to acquire and share the most practical knowledge, with both real and or perceived pros and cons noted, about eBay's seemingly economical shipping aggregating alternative to regular direct USPS international mail.

 

I'll have to wait for another new international order to hit my store but I believe, from my last recalled observance, that using eBay's "eISD" service would cost about $2.00 to $3.00 less (I just recently saved over $3.00 using "eISD" with a recent order sending an LP to an address in Australia.)

 

Let me put it to you this way... I lost hundreds of dollars recently selling through eBay. The “estimated” cost of shipping wasn’t even close. On average it cost me double or triple to ship compared to how much they showed. They don’t care if you have photos or are 100% rated.. as a seller if the buyer sends you back cardboard they take their side. Every single time from guitar pedals to PA gear they screwed me hard and don’t care. I’m done for life and will happily shout it from the roof tops or every thread on the topic. I hate them.

Many years ago they really screwed me for $22,000. It was totally their fault, admitted it and still waited for me to have a lawyer send them letters until they refunded me. It cost me dearly. They tried to give me “credit” to buy instead of refund me. They did not make me whole. I was stuck with late fees, cancelled credit cards and all kinds of shenanigans. They made checks bounce and even got my mortgage payment to bounce. I hate them. They are screw ups.

 

If I understand you correctly (and help me out here), your issue is that, in the past, eBay would set some sort of automated ceiling on what you could charge for postage (and packaging costs) for certain types of items... a set ceiling that was obviously far lower than what your actual real world shipping cost were. Do I have that about right?

I remember those years past when eBay set such a ceiling for shipping costs for LPs, which wound up having me basically footing the costs for my shipping supplies. I didn't like that all, but at some point they did away with those automated shipping ceiling rates and I have been setting my shipping rates as I see fit for each individual item, with no interference at all from eBay, which has been good and agreeable for me.

 

There are two tracking numbers...the first to eBay shipping center...then another to final destination. A buyer asks me where item is located...I refer 'em to tracking .

 

On GSP I think it does..ebay goes by FV for item...not familiar with eISD.

 

Aside from being asked to conspire in what is in our country a Federal crime (lying on government forms you sign your name to), how do you expect to (if necessary) collect your $500 insurance claim on a package you stated was worth $25?

 

OK, that makes sense (eBay setting the customs rate based upon the "final value" of the sale..., that sucks for the people living over in VATland.)

"eBay International Standard Delivery" is a service that, at this point, I assume is basically, for all intents and purposes, just about the same as eBay's "Global Shipping Program" (note to anybody who knows: if I am wrong about this, please set me straight with facts demonstrating otherwise.)

Here is what I have noticed as to what factors direct me to either "eISD" or "GSP":

If I sell an item that I have NO DECLARED international shipping cost to potential overseas customers (because the item is heavy and I can't be bothered to suss out and create a chart for what those real shipping costs would be), eBay directs that shipping to "GSP," which only charges me the domestic rate of shipping that item to their Kentucky facility.

If I sell an item that has declared international rates, set by myself in my listings, it gives me the option of using straight USPS "First Class..." or eBay's "eISD" service. Since the new actual USPS international rates basically now exceed what I have posted as rates in my listings, which are now closer to the rates "eISD" charge, I have been now sending orders to customers using "eISD."

 

I don't mind being asked questions from my international buyers. I am always open to questions...

As for any worries about collecting on any sort of insurance related claim (for damage or what not) I have never once had to engage with such process and headache in over three decades of mailing out items hither and yon across the globe.

Whenever it comes a time that I eat the cost of a sale because a parcel goes "missing" during transit, my attitude is simply "charge it to the game" and then just keep on truckin'.

 

Well it’s not fixed or an issue from the past... it just happened last month. I sold several processors and amps. I literally lost money selling them. I would have been better off putting $700 worth of gear in the trash.

 

That's my philosophy also.. If I had a brick and mortar store...I would/might have shrinkage, damage to merch and other issues.

I specialize in rare psych, prog and private label...and most of my buyers are honest and happy to get a deal on a grail they have been looking for for awhile.

 

I used the eBay service once, to ship some candy bars to Canada. It seemed to work fine...

Mostly, I use the International Shipping program on eBay, which means I am entirely uninvolved with the shipping process, other than getting the item to Global Shipping Program reshipping center.

Why? Because the Global Shipping Program takes responsibility once the item reaches their reshipping center for loss and damage in transport. My understanding is that the eBay program does not similarly indemnify you. If a package is lost or damaged, they step in.

I recently had someone claim damage of a promo VHS tape in transit. They wanted a price reduction. Probably a scam. But I didn't have to deal with it. I told them it was damaged in transport, and it was out of my hands. They could send a damage claim through the eBay system and GSP would take over. Over and done.

I believe the Global Shipping Program is more expensive for the buyer, but I'll live with that.