eBay.com USA International shipping new system to be launched

[pocomocomputing]

eBay to Launch Brand New Export Program in the US

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m08/i23/s02 

Hmm, with the $20 import limit for Canadians, the new program would seem to force collection of duties and HST on items that would often get through without being collected.

So the new eBay program would seem be a PITA for Canadian buyers from the USA. 

It is an opt in to join. It is for USA and for other eBay sites in the future. 

How would this affect Canadian Sellers listing on eBay.com? From a Canadian seller to a Canadian buyer but it would look like an International shipment in the eBay listing and a Canadian Seller to a USA buyer looks like a domestic shipping. 

More interference in how to sell on eBay. More potential for mistakes by eBay. It seems to make selling more complicated than easier to me. 

Run by Pitney Bowes in the USA. dpmicro will love that ...

[recped]

Anyone here ever buy from LL Bean, Lands End, NewEgg or countless other US sellers who have been using programs like this for YEARS?

It works, it works well, it's cheaper for buyers, it's more profitable for sellers, it's faster than regular International mail.

All of the sellers I mentioned have TONS of very happy Canadian buyers.

Interesting sidenote....Amazon just announced an almost identical program.

[pjcdn2005]

Anyone here ever buy from LL Bean, Lands End, NewEgg or countless other US sellers who have been using programs like this for YEARS?

It works, it works well, it's cheaper for buyers, it's more profitable for sellers, it's faster than regular International mail.

Cheaper? I don't see that.

Neiman Marcus and a couple of other sites that I've used have a similar program. But for the most part, the sites that I buy from use first class or priority mail and do not have any type of brokerage program...those almost always work out less expensive.

Many of the sites I deal with also have free shipping so a $100 purchase  will often cost me $100, nothing more. On a larger order the chances of being charged gst and a brokerage fee does increase so a $300 order might end up costing an extra $8.50 for brokerage and $15.42 in gst so the total would end up being about $324.

LL Bean has "free" shipping but they charge an automatic 19% for duty and brokerage plus the appropriate tax. In Alberta, that $100 order would cost $124.95. A $300 order from LL Bean would cost $374.85.....adding on about 25% to the original price. 25% is typical  for most U.S. stores that use that sort of system. LL Bean does take the Free Trade Agreement into account so they do not charge duty on any made in U.S. items. But I have dealt with companies that charge the standard percentage regardless of where the item is made.

From my point of view, these type of pre-clearance programs affect me most when I am buying to resell and  doubt that any Canadian seller who regularly buys from the U.S. to sell will find a program like this to their benefit.

Interesting sidenote....Amazon just announced an almost identical program.

How is that different than what they've been doing already? Any time I have looked into ordering from Amazon.com I would have had to pay brokerage,duty and tax up front.

[pjcdn2005]

Just saw this..

Canada Post import processing fee rises to $9.95 from $8.50 so I guess my numbers are off by $1.45.

[recped]

Interesting sidenote....Amazon just announced an almost identical program.

How is that different than what they've been doing already? Any time I have looked into ordering from Amazon.com I would have had to pay brokerage,duty and tax up front.

The difference is that the new program from Amazon is for the third-party sellers.

[velcro_3web]

What is this?  I've never heard of this, and i'm not paying some stupid high extortion fees that we used to get on out parcels from the mail & then mailed in duties to the canadian govt.  What happened to free trade?

[westernstargifts]

It does seem like this is being implemented soon.

In the ebay.com USA online Sell Your Item form, there is a new Item Specific that is called "Country of Manufacture" with a drop down list of world countries (very confusing sort order I must say). It also says  underneath "Telling us the country of manufacture helps streamline customs clearance if the item is sold with the Global Shipping Program."

This appeared on Friday but I did not pay attention to it when I was creating a couple of new listings. All the rest were relists without revisions so I did not notice the new Item Specific. Now when I am relisting and revising a listing on ebay.com, I see the new Item Specific and that it says something about Global Shipping.

This is coming sooner than I expected based on the ecommerbytes article.

I ended all but about 200 listings from May to October and have been listing heavily since mid October.  That Item Specific was already in the .ca SYI page in October.  I'm not sure when it first appeared.  I didn't pay much attention as I didn't know what this new Global Shipping was all about.

[bilge21]

I was about to buy a keyboard I wanted from a US seller that had very reasonable shipping charges to Canada, until I saw this...

Import charges:To be provided at checkout

I emailed the seller asking about it and he stated he's not sure what that means, that he ships to a center in the US which then ships to me. Which means he's opted-in for the fulfillment center shipping.

Needless to say, he lost the sale because of that import charges line, as I would have NO clue how much more I would have to pay above the normal BIN and shipping charges.

I'm not going to commit to a sale unless I know ALL the charges up front and here, they are not all up front until you commit to buy.

I suspect US sellers may be wondering what happened to thier Canadian buyers.

[pjcdn2005]

I haven't tried this but I would think that once you click on buy it now, it would give you all of the other information before the order was finalized. Otherwise, I'm sure that many buyers would feel like you and not bother to buy at all.

Perhaps someone can confirm if it does or doesn't work like that?

[recped]

On the US Powerseller board I was just trying to explain to a US seller that the $9 + $3.74 duty/tax (plus the $3.75 shipping to Kentucky) was not a very good deal for a Canadian buyer of an item that sold for less than $5.

His attitude, "not my problem, they are lucky they can even buy from me".

I suggested he might not like the negative feedback or shipping charge dsr ding that might be in his future. All I got was a snarky reply.

Perhaps someone can confirm if it does or doesn't work like that?

I think you do get a chance to review but I'm not 100% sure. From what I've seen so far a lot of sellers are using this program and don't have a clue how it works or if it's a good decision or not.

There are another whole pack of clueless sellers who use Auctiva, they got opted in automatically and don't even know it.

[pjcdn2005]

On the US Powerseller board I was just trying to explain to a US seller that the $9 + $3.74 duty/tax (plus the $3.75 shipping to Kentucky) was not a very good deal for a Canadian buyer of an item that sold for less than $5.

Definitely not a good deal. But actually, I thought that the cost would be even higher than and that they would use only tracked shipping.

There are another whole pack of clueless sellers who use Auctiva, they got opted in automatically and don't even know it.

Heyyy what's wrong with Auctiva? I started with them when they were free and it's just easier to continue on with them for $10/month.

I don't understand though how anyone could get opted in automatically. That does sound a tad clueless.

[pierrelebel]

Looking at it from eBay's perspective:

A Closer Look at eBay's New Global Shipping Program
By Ina Steiner
EcommerceBytes.com
December 11, 2012

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m12/i11/s01 

[recped]

Looking at it from eBay's perspective:

Yeah the perspective of someone who sounds to me like they have never sold or shipped anything!

[i*m-still-here]

His attitude, "not my problem, they are lucky they can even buy from me".

That's the attitude that some US sellers have.

It would be better for us if those problem sellers just blocked us.

I've been buying more than ever and haven't noticed a change other than sellers refusing to fill in shipping charges they previously agreed to.

They come around eventually but it's truly been a PITA.

[pierrelebel]

"the perspective of someone who sounds to me like they have never sold or shipped anything"

Your point is valid.  These policies and programs often originate from well-meaning managers in San Jose.  However, while these folks showcase nicely framed MBAs from prestigious universities on their office wall, they have little - if any - real experience selling or buying internationally.

[westernstargifts]

So if they make it default eventually for Canada will we have to send all of our items to the U.S. or will they have a place in Canada that will distribute them (not likely)?  Will it be only international orders that we send to them?

I can't see it being faster to ship international orders (non U.S.) to a destination in the U.S. first as that usually takes longer than shipping it overseas through Canada Post.  I also can't see it being cheaper either for small and light packet items.

If orders go through the sorting centre first before being shipped to destinations in the U.S. the 'delivery time' will be longer.  They might protect our DSR's but, if the buyer sees the longer delivery time they might not make a purchase from a Canadian, particularly at this time of year.

[i*m-still-here]

Kinda makes you wonder....... or me at least......... if this really did come about just hypothetically........

Would that mean that Canadian shoppers would stop shopping on ebay, or would it mean that they'd start buying Canadian?

[recped]

These policies and programs often originate from well-meaning managers in San Jose.

Yes the ones that have been sold on the idea by some brainiacs at Pitney-Bowes.

The problem is not the concept, it's a well established system with a number of large (and some not quite so large) operators servicing this market.

When it's appropriate to use it makes much more sense to go direct than to go though two intermediaries (eBay & PB) who add absolutely nothing of value to the equation. 

[westernstargifts]

I am the only one in my family who buys on eBay.  Only one of my friends has ever bought anything here.  Whenever I mention it to anyone they say they have never tried it because they are afraid of being scammed.

Even DH has only ever bought 1 thing on eBay.  I can't depend on Canadians to make any money here.  I just checked Omniture and views and store views are down half or more from last year.  I won't have to worry about global shipping if they don't give us more exposure on .com.

Which reminds me.  eBay sent me a survey yesterday in regards to my selling experience on eBay.  I haven't responded yet because I want to make sure I don't miss anything that I want to tell them. 

[recped]

So if they make it default eventually for Canada will we have to send all of our items to the U.S. or will they have a place in Canada that will distribute them (not likely)?  Will it be only international orders that we send to them?

I highly doubt this program will ever be offered to Canadian sellers (who ship from Canada) even though it would be simple enough as the services already exist.

I'm skeptical that the GSP would ever be made mandatory in the US but then I didn't see FVF's on shipping happening either!

The way I see it, eBay saw that many other large US online sites offer this type of shipping (duty/tax included/prepaid) and thought "Hey! we should do that" & "we can get a cut of the action".

To eBay's credit I would think that a great deal of the reason for the GSP program is that eBay can see the Billions in lost sales because of many US sellers refusal to get involved in International sales. Right now today more than 50% of eBay's profit comes from overseas operations, they know where the money is. In that department it's probably working to an extent, there are sellers now offering limited International through GSP that did not previously. The downside is you also have sellers with $10 widgets using GSP, that is not going to end well I'm afraid.

[recped]

I just checked Omniture and views and store views are down half or more from last year.  I won't have to worry about global shipping if they don't give us more exposure on .com.

You really are in a brutally crowded category. Have you tried shaking things up in terms of what you are offering. staying  within the the same broad range of course.

I remember looking at your listings a long time ago, just had quick look now and it seemed "familiar".

Please note: comments coming from a person who does not own a single piece of jewellery. :^O

Is Omniture working again? I heard there were serious issues a few months ago. Even if your views data isn't accurate the end of the day tally tells the story.