if youre an american seller on Ebay and you use the global shipping program (GSP) youre deterring many European buyers.
Most European collectors i know (including me) won`t even open your auction when browsing Ebay after reading the “Customs services and international tracking provided” which means you use GSP.
Why is GSP so BAD? let me explain
European seller lists a card for 200$
American seller lists a card for 150$ with GSP
For a European buyer it is better to pay the 200$. When i buy a card for 200$ from a European seller, the total price for the card is around 210$ shipped, if i buy it from the American for 150$, first that 150$ turns to 175$+ due to GSP shipping being around 25$ usually
and yes… even for just 1 card shipping is 25$ which is just crazy! and then that 175$ turns to a mininum of 215$ due to import fees so in the end you paid MORE to receive the card SLOWER
another bad thing about GSP is that at least in my country they have their own courier that delivers the packages to your house instead of the post office which means you have to be home to receive and sign for it, and these GSP packages are only delivered between 9 am and 3 pm… what normal working person is home during those hours? not me. Non GSP packages go to the post office and they can be picked up whenever you like.
“But why would i stop using GSP if my personal ethics stop me from marking down values or declare packages as a gift?”
imagine buying a 30$ card and paying 25$ shipping when another seller might have the same card with 4-10$ shipping cost.
The issue with international sales isn’t so much the cost or ethics concerns, it’s the logistics.
The shipping time and distance creates complications for many sellers, especially ‘hobby sellers’ who are in their late 20s and early 30s and don’t have the extra time to deal with returns and scams from thousands of miles and 3 postal systems away. It takes an eternity for the item to get there, it’s difficult to confirm that it arrived because you’re dealing with multiple tracking systems that don’t always communicate and update, packages are more likely to get lost in transit, and if a buyer wants a return there may be language barriers that prevent proper communication depending on where the buyer is located. Also, if the buyer wants a return, you have to wait ages for the item to be shipped back and hope it gets to you intact before you get a refund and are able to relist your item for sale.
I dealt with 2 returns and a lost package from overseas and that was it for me, I quickly signed up for GSP and haven’t looked back. For items over $300, I don’t even ship outside of the U.S. and Canada: that’s where the lion’s share of the market is anyways.
I’d love to do business with buyers in Europe, but the extra cost/risk isn’t worth the hassle for me.
@komari The crux of the problem is that the US is a big enough market in itself that people don’t care about the perceived slight increase in buyer pool by incorporating international shipping into their listings. The process of learning the best way to ship overseas is not worth it to the regular Joe as the market is big enough in the US that there is no need to think about international customers.
I don’t know which EU country you hail from but at least you can buy from other EU and UK (for now) tariff free and I assume with economical shipping, that widens your buying pool considerably. I am in a similar boat, arguably worse here in Australia where the local market is minimal and I rely almost entirely on international sellers when I buy cards.
The best way to understand is that the majority of US sellers don’t need us as they already have an adequate market where they can buy and sell seamlessly and at no loss of potential price. So our cries from across the pond are thoroughly drowned out and the only reason some will take the road of salvation is that they have truly golden hearts.
Well I’m a Canadian and I don’t like the GSP part of Ebay. I’ll look for other sellers in the states that don’t use the GSP with their auctions. That is a hugh factor in me buying cards. I’ve passed on many auctions. Just think how many other people have done the same. And yet that card sits for months on Ebay without any bites. I’m not going to pay $35 to have a $50 card sent to me. Out of the hundreds of deals I’ve made on Ebay, from people all over the world, only two have ever been a problem.
Before I used GSP, I had a “damaged item” or “did not receive” claim from international buyers nearly once a week.
After GSP, I have had no issues ever and my sales have not gone down at all.
I don’t see the advantage of sacrificing my rare seller protections because other people dislike their country’s import policies. Especially when my experience indicates that international buyers abuse eBay buyer protection at a disproportionate rate.
Yeah, the global shipping program is terrible for European buyers for several reasons. However, I can see the point in not bothering with international buyers when the US market already is so big. Especially if you are a smaller seller. Although, Pokemon cards are also extremely popular in many European countries, and many of us over here are getting deeper and deeper pockets. So some may underestimate the market potential? It is slightly painful to see many good deals on eBay everyday from people that either use the GSP or don’t sell internationally. I am personally residing in Norway and have never had any problems with buying from American/Canadian sellers tracked or untracked. But for more expensive cards there are few good options outside PWCC auctions. They are, by the way, generally able to get items to my address in 6-7 days, which is quite amazing. The world is smaller than you might think.
i would tell you to just buy the card locally then…but hold on, you cant! because there are none so you dont buy GSP auctions, not my problem and your personal choice. i dont care that your working and cant be home to receive the package. Remember, once upon a time there was no ebay so stop whinging about it and figure your own situation out, dont cry on here and try to make people feel bad because of your shitty situation. Does that make sense?
While I agree that the GSP sucks for buyers pretty much anywhere, I can understand why sellers use it. The problem is the ridiculous price that ebay charges for it.
The GSP offers me more exposure and hassle free sales. I sell several thousands of dollars through there annually.
Why would I not use it? So buyers can bitch and moan about declaring full value and not helping them evade taxes? So buyers can claim INAD or not received? Because that is what I frequently dealt with when shipping internationally direct. Well over a 10% defect rate when dealing directly with international buyers. So sorry to say but others ruined it for you.
Look at GSP items as an opportunity to buy items that otherwise wouldn’t be available to you. Say you want some super obscure card. I for one would rather be given a choice to buy or not buy a card then just have absolutely zero available to me on the market at any given time.
I can see where you’re coming from with that statement, but is it not a little bit entitled to expect all sellers to take on 90% more risk and hassle with shipping to make the experience of buying a non necessary item cheaper and easier for a stranger?
Personally I have no major issues with GSP, but if there are two identical, similarly-priced items available and one is on GSP and the other isn’t, I will almost always go for the non-GSP option. It feels like half the items I receive I never have to pay import duty on anyway, even when the value is correctly declared - I’d rather take that gamble than pay the import costs up front.
A larger gripe I have with buying items from the US is that sellers seem to always overcharge postage. I can ship a jumbo-sized card to the US in a large padded envelope for the equivalent of $1.89, meanwhile I struggle to pay less than $12 to receive regular-sized cards in regular small envelopes getting stuff sent here from the US.
I’m guessing the problem is more that the US has no centralised postal service which supports international shipping? In the UK I simply walk to my nearest Post Office to send an item anywhere in the world, tracked and signed for - but based on earlier posts in this thead I’m under the impression it’s not that easy to do the same in the US.
Assuming you’re American, isn’t this more your shitty situation if buyers are being deterred?
If you take the empathetic stance, you can see the OP never mentioned anything about GSP seller’s protection which leads me to believe they aren’t aware of it.
If we assume that there’s no additional protection offered by GSP, then the OP makes complete sense. Buy using GSP you are unnecessarily charging more upfront and making yourself less competitive. There’s really no good reason to use it. The OP is not really being entitled but is suggesting an alternative that they perceive is mutually beneficial for buyer and seller.
In reality though, the seller’s protection offered by GSP is unparalleled and I don’t fault sellers for using it (but I avoid it at all costs as a buyer).
Also, by the logic of your response here, it would be entitled for a buyer to request PayPal G&S as a form of payment since it would force the seller to take on 99% more risk than F&F payment. I think a certain level of consumer ‘entitlement’ is appropriate.
My simple solution is that I don’t sell internationally (unless it’s a big ticket item). I’m hoping they make it easier and cheaper eventually, but I doubt it.
No, if the item to be purchased is readily available locally, i would suggest buying it locally. I have a larger pool of people to buy from me here so lets say the increased risk of dealing with someone overseas is worth the extra at their end. But the situation in this post as a whole is that there isnt the product available except internationally. The op doesnt like that they are “inconvenienced” at the hands of some one they dont know and owes them absolutely nothing. But as their second post here is going to have a cry. Maybe they should have done a search through the forums to have their question answered beforehand? Thats again an inconvenience, so they waste time creating a duplicate thread.
Sure i live in america, but am not born so. People will always throw around the american biased argument because as they see it, it’s an inconvenience to them. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and deal.
EDIT: let me also say, i dont ship internationally and have never used GSP, because i have read the documentation and mainly dont want to subject myself any extra risk. Made a self educated decision based on the information available so…
Let me start by saying I don’t use GSP. I take the risk. But GSP is not the problem.
There are 2 main reasons why GSP exists:
Every country besides japan has inferior international tracking/shipping services.
Your country has import duties, The US does not.
The only reason you are charged anything at all is your country’s law(s). You can ship an item to me and add as many zeros as you want and I won’t get charged.
I get that gsp can incorrectly estimate charges. But that is a partial point which only exists because of the larger point: your country’s import laws.
Think of it this way, GSP could never be a thing shipping to the US. We don’t have import duties and we track every package.
Therefore, it isn’t GSP, it isn’t the seller; it’s your country’s laws first and foremost. Even though I personally don’t use GSP and take the risk, it’s not the sellers job to absorb the risk of your country’s inadequacies.
gps is good for sellers. the only thing on ebay thats in the seller favour rather then buyer. i use gps for all none uk sales because fuck taking extra risks. i dont buy anything that uses gsp tho because fuck extra payments.
The benefit that exists to buyers is having the opportunity to buy items that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. People always forget this. It can never hurt to have more potential buying options. If they are option that you choose not to buy, well they are still options that any other potential seller needs to compete with price wise so they can only be of benefit to you.
So you’re saying the US is not a country? J/k. I honestly think every seller can choose freely if they use the GSP or not. It gives them a lot of ease of mind and that’s awesome for them. As a European buyer myself I don’t actively avoid GSP auctions as they can still offer the best price and you know exactly how much you’ll be paying to the eurocent. You can just combine Gixen with some quick calculations to find a cutoff point for where the item with GSP becomes too expensive for you to purchase and then find another option. You’re never forced to buy with GSP so it’s really a non-issue for me.
I would rather make less money than let some scummy person walk away with a free card. So even if the extra sales would outweigh the few transactions I get scammed on it wouldn’t be worth it to me to not use GSP.
Instead of ignoring the seller try to reach out to them and establish a good relationship. Perhaps there is a different alternative they would offer you. I know it’s against eBay policy to ask for off site payment but it is an option a lot of sellers will do. Otherwise use this amazing website your on to find someone in the US to middleman it for you. Sorry the few bad apples out there that have to ruin it for everyone.
so you dont buy GSP auctions, not my problem and your personal choice. i dont care that your working and cant be home to receive the package. Remember, once upon a time there was no ebay so stop whinging about it and figure your own situation out, dont cry on here and try to make people feel bad because of your shitty situation. Does that make sense?