Getting the best from Global Shipping Programme

I've been using the GSP quite a lot recently, but it doesn't seem to work well - but I can't quite figure out why not. Buyers in other countries (Norway and the USA being two examples) simply aren't being offered the GSP option.

Are there specific things you have to do to make it work properly? Obviously you need to tick the box in the listing, but is there anything else you should do?

For example, should you add worldwide shipping prices (which presumably get ignored, as GSP takes precedence)? Or should you select the option that says you will ship worldwide, and the buyer should contact you for a price (which again will probably be overridden by GSP)?

The reason I ask is that I'm planning to sell stuff that is of little demand in the UK, but collectable in other countries (e.g. US and Canada) and I want to make sure that the items are listed to Ebay users in those countries. The fact that those users will be able to use GSP for shipping is a secondary consideration to the items being visible over there.

Any advice on getting the most from the feature will be much appreciated.
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Comments

  • If you really want to sell internationally, give an overseas buyer a normal postage rate on your listings.


    If you could see the amounts that eBay want to charge your overseas customers to use GSP you would be shocked.
  • fwor
    fwor Posts: 6,806
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    edited 18 March 2017 at 10:26PM
    If you could see the amounts that eBay want to charge your overseas customers to use GSP you would be shocked.

    I agree, some charges can be extreme, but sometimes GSP is cheaper than any other method. As a buyer rather than a seller, I recently bought some heavy items in the US (car parts, total weight around 20 kilos) and GSP was far, far cheaper for shipping back to the UK than I could get anywhere else - partly because the VAT/tax is pre-paid, so you don't pay a carrier's exorbitant "handling fee".

    As a seller, it can also be a really good deal for high-value items, because you only have to pay insurance for the UK leg of the shipping - the GSP does not surcharge on value (or if it does, it's the buyer's problem).

    So... not all bad. Anyone else with tips on how to make GSP work properly, as opposed to tips on not using it?
  • ailey
    ailey Posts: 3,184
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    I pulled out of GSP as I sold a small item to someone in Italy and it would only have cost me £3 odds to post it and the buyer was actually charged £13 odds so I reckoned that would put people off buying from anyone who uses GSP. I also see the inflated postage costs from the US so I've never bought from there because of this.

    At the time I pulled out of it, I had also watched a video from an American person based in Japan who sends items back to the US and he was so annoyed that his carefully wrapped items had been opened and repackaged badly for transit and thus arrived damaged on various occasions. I prefer to carefully wrap my items and hope the items stay well protected until they reach the buyer.
    "For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
  • fwor
    fwor Posts: 6,806
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    ailey wrote: »
    I sold a small item to someone in Italy and it would only have cost me £3 odds to post it and the buyer was actually charged £13 odds so I reckoned that would put people off buying from anyone who uses GSP.

    Funnily enough that was almost exactly my first experience - a record cartridge that I sent to Italy - and the buyer moaned (but did not leave -ve feedback) that it cost him the equivalent of £14.

    However... with GSP they get told what the shipping will be before they bid - if they don't like the cost they should not bid.

    I didn't realise that packages were opened and repackaged though - is that universal, or just occasional with the GSP?
  • ailey
    ailey Posts: 3,184
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    I just did a search there on YouTube just with EBay GSP and got various results but this is a link for the YouTube video I watched. I got it wrong as he was the actual buyer but interesting to listen to. If you're not sure about the link with the other letters at the end, it will be okay as I just copied it from the address bar on the actual video. If you prefer to search yourself on YouTube, if you look for a man with shelves behind him stacked with computer equipment, that should be the correct video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijmdVlQ36-w
    "For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
  • ailey
    ailey Posts: 3,184
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    Also found another one for you on the list if you key in EBay GSP and scroll down until you find:

    eBay Global Shipping Program (First Time Experience)

    Interesting to read the comments from people in the US and Canada and someone said that they try to encourage UK sellers not to use GSP because of the expensive postage etc. Worth reading. Hope you find it useful. :)


    This is the link if you are okay with it but you'll find it okay anyway with the above information:


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIpxDrsZBzM
    "For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
  • theonlywayisup
    theonlywayisup Posts: 16,031
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    In my experience the 'expensive GSP postage' is down to the seller. On the listing the seller needs to accurately set the weight and dimensions of the parcel as that is what the GSP postage is estimated on. If the detail isn't on the listing GSP makes a guesstimate and a very generous one at that.

    I use GSP and now that my listings are more accurate I am finding that I cannot beat the postage against my RM airmail prices.
  • mrcol1000
    mrcol1000 Posts: 4,787
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    Its also good for shutting down arguments about postage price when it is out of your hands.
  • Nesty
    Nesty Posts: 492
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    You can always tell when the buyer isn't happy about the final GSP quote, as they will just go slient. You will get no comms from them at all.

    I don't mind GSP, as I make on the postage sometimes. I rarely send anything recorded to the GSP address as after a few days the GSP tells you when it was delivered!

    It's a fuss free way of shipping abroad. However you will get like I said above a number of buyers going slient when they see their final GSP invoice!
  • COOLTRIKERCHICK
    COOLTRIKERCHICK Posts: 10,510
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    I offer free p&p on all my listings. I accepted a lower than normal best offer on something that was going to the US via gap. And after I accepted the offer they want the free postage to .I keep telling them that it's for UK only. And that the postage cost is nothing to do with me. 2 days in and they haven't paid. So I have put in to cancel the order. I can feel a neg coming on if I block them will it stop a potential neg??
    Work to live= not live to work
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