Shipping to USA using Ebays Global Shipping Program from UK

I listed a few items on eBay today and all of them settings wise are set up to ship abroad via eBays global shipping program and USA is on the allowed shipping list (I am based in the UK).

The weird thing is a guy from the US messaged me asking if I ship there and how much it would cost, I said it should show that I ship via the GSP and the fees should be calculated on the eBay page. I checked after he messaged and there is no option to ship to the US on this specific item:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112997271547?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

However on my other listings the option is there. Is there some weird eBay algorithm that means if a item is over a certain value you cant ship to certain countries as I went through my other listings and only one other item i noticed had the same issue and it is a more expensive item again:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112997854691?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

As a test I cancelled the above item and relisted it as a cheaper auction and then it would allow me to ship to the USA via GSP?! But I didnt want to auction it at that price so i changed it back. Very strange! Has anyone else experienced this? I think the only way round it for me is to offer a alternate shipping method or change the listing to a auction.

I don’t know the answer, but I can confirm that from the US shipping for those items shows as:

“May not ship to United States - Read item description or contact seller for shipping options”

Also interesting is that when I click the “See other items” link, neither of those items are shown in your list of items for sale!

Seems like the cutoff is around $100 which is pretty low IMO. Hope this info helps in some way…

1 Like

Thanks, yes it’s helpful for me because at least it confirms what someone in the US sees on my listings. I didn’t know it might not even show them in my for sale items!

That’s very weird.

By the way, for items of lower value like that I would advise not using GSP. Do you get a lot of sales from International buyers? Just the Alakazam for example would cost me about $60 USD shipping to Canada. Some of your items the shipping is more expensive than the item cost. You can ship direct fully insured with signature for maybe 10 pounds? I don’t know shipping costs in UK.

1 Like

I have shipped a couple of times internationally, I will look into alternative postage options, $60 Usd is very expensive!

When Shipping to the US from the UK, I’ve found that I’ve managed to ship most,if not all of my high value stuff via the Global Shipping Programme. I would be surprised if an algorithm would be stopping you from sending high value (£100+) items abroad.

How did you create the listing? What I could suggest is to copy a listing that has the US option available, and see whether that works for you.

Yes it seems really weird, doesn’t logically make much sense to me, I used the quick listing tool.

I’ve decided to just ship internationally using royal mail tracked and signed for instead. I think it enables me to reach more sellers and offer more affordable postage compared to ebays GSP.

I totally agree with you when it comes to international shipping. Using RM’s own tracked and signed method is far less hassle than the GSP. I’ve had buyers complain about the price of shipping, when the seller has no influence whatsoever on what eBay is charging for.

I am in HK, I can see there is a shipping option for both items.

`Postage: ÂŁ14.00 Royal Mail International Tracked | See details
See details about international postage here.

Item location:
Guildford, United Kingdom

Posts to:
Worldwide See exclusions`

1 Like