Increase in onward shippers

soolin

I've had a real increase in the number of c/o addresses going to onward shippers via trading estates/ flight companies etc - in fact over half my parcels today appear to be ending up overseas via estates in Hounslow and strangely Peterborough as well as London. I know some are going onto Russia as I have a few fairly regular buyers who ship items themselves- but it is certainly on the increase. 

I recognise some of the shippers - usually the ones who want a code on the packet to identify the ultimate recipient, but they are getting fewer and instead there seems to be a lot of smaller Independent shippers starting up- probably as a direct result of the ebay GSP.

A lot of my items have always attracted overseas buyers mainly Russia -but like many sellers I stopped shipping there many years ago, hence these shippers being used.

neverlikedpeas

I'm guessing the ebay seller takes the financial risk of the shipping company delivering the parcel safely? whereas under the GSP ebay take the financial risk once the parcel leaves their depot in Lichfield

Would proof of delivery at the onward shipper in the UK be enough to win a case?

se2020

neverlikedpeas said:

I'm guessing the ebay seller takes the financial risk of the shipping company delivering the parcel safely? whereas under the GSP ebay take the financial risk once the parcel leaves their depot in Lichfield

Would proof of delivery at the onward shipper in the UK be enough to win a case?

Yes, providing its the same address as they used at the ebay checkout.

The ebay gsp puts a unique code into each address.
These "forward shippers" seem to use a code that is allocated to a single buyer.
I had one recently when one buyer purchased 3 items from me over a period of a couple of weeks.
Each time the "code" in the address was the same.

I think these type of shippers may accept multipul parcels for one buyer and then forward them on as one big parcel once a month or something like that. 
Which would probably work out cheaper for the buyer than the gsp as no combined postage is available for the gsp.

It would also explain how the buyers can pay so promptly after winning an item if they already have a unique code number that they have saved as part of their address.
Otherwise they would have to book the parcel and get the number before changing their address and paying me but most of the stuff I have sold to addresses like that has been paid for instantly.

se2020

Ps,
The seller would win a INR if they have the tracking that shows delivery.

If the item gets damaged at any stage of the transit and the buyer decides to open a SNAD case then it's not good news for the seller but it's no worse than if you offered direct international postage.

Personally,  the only option I offer for international is via the gsp as I have had enough of people claiming non-delivery only 5 days after purchase!

Obviously these forward shipping address are a way of foreign buyers circumnavigating my blocks but I have not had any problems and at least they have all been normal mainland addresses.   
It's more annoying that ebay won't let me add the extra postage that the carriers charge to addresses in NI, Highlands of Scotland, The Isle of Wight and so on!...

soolin

se2020 said:

Ps,
The seller would win a INR if they have the tracking that shows delivery.

If the item gets damaged at any stage of the transit and the buyer decides to open a SNAD case then it's not good news for the seller but it's no worse than if you offered direct international postage.

Personally,  the only option I offer for international is via the gsp as I have had enough of people claiming non-delivery only 5 days after purchase!

Obviously these forward shipping address are a way of foreign buyers circumnavigating my blocks but I have not had any problems and at least they have all been normal mainland addresses.   
It's more annoying that ebay won't let me add the extra postage that the carriers charge to addresses in NI, Highlands of Scotland, The Isle of Wight and so on!...

As you say the seller is covered against an INR as long as they can show delivery to the UK address, so I’m covered with standard parcels.

a SNAD gets interesting as seller has a lot of protection, firstly goods are not covered if shipped onwards, so as long as you can show ebay that bit in their t and Cs then SNAD is closed. If you decide not to argue or can’t persuade ebay Into following their own T and Cs then the return window stays open and seller only has to issue a label to the shipping address , not the overseas address. So seller opts to supply label , buyer then has to get item back to shipper in the Uk and persuade the shipper to pack and return using that label- all in the 10 days or so that ebay allow, if they don’t then case is closed , label is cancelled and label funds returned to seller .

Therefore allowing a shipper (not that they can be weeded out via seller preferences anyway) is actually better for the seller than sending direct.