Anybody else here sell on Ebay and saw the new international shipping program?

[alloy]

I'm assuming I read this correctly, but ebay says if its a international buyer that has purchased an item and wants to return it, ebay will pay for the return and refund them. They keep the part and it doesn't cost me anything?

If this is true I think ebay is making a huge mistake. My transmission housings I sell are $400 each and when customers find out about this I can see a scam coming.

Anyone else have a take on this?



Ebay's email to me:

Dear alloy_specialties,

Over the next few weeks you will be automatically enrolled into eBay International Shipping, a new program designed to make the process of international selling and shipping more convenient and cost-effective.

eBay International Shipping retains all the elements of the eBay Global Shipping Program and eBay international standard delivery, and provides these additional features:

• eBay handles returns. If a buyer wishes to return an item, eBay will provide them with a return label and issue a refund, at no cost to you. The seller keeps the sale.
• No international selling fees. There are no international selling fees on items sent through the eBay international Shipping program.

Once enrolled, your new listings will automatically default to eBay International Shipping and any existing Global Shipping Program listings will be automatically updated.

 

[Bone Head]

One of the reasons I hate dealing with them. Every so often they throw a new term, condition or rule and then you wind up on the short end of the stick.

 

[alloy]

Well now that you mention that, take the change from paypal to "direct payments" they did.

When it was paypal the money went into my account immediately. Now it goes to my bank account after the buyers credit card clears. Takes about 3-4 days to get paid. Ok fine, I don't need the money that bad, but ebay "said" we will get more money because the fees will be less than payapl. I've not seen it any less than pypal was.

Now ebay is offering "instant payment" option for an additional 1.5% on top of the 3% they already charge for a total of 4.5%

Back in the day ebay wouldn't change a percentage on shipping fees, and you would see someone selling something for $10 and a $100 shipping fee. Ebay caught on to that pretty quickly and now they charge the fee on the sale and shipping, So to not get screwed on shipping cost on bigger items I sell I have to inflate the shipping cost 3%.

I HATE ebay with a blue passion, but lets face it last week I sold $800 worth of tail housings to a shop in Australia. They never wouldn't have found me i it weren't for ebay. I do have a web sight, but without paying google for my site to come up first in search results I don't get much traffic there.

So for me unfortunately ebay is a necessary evil.

 

[mmcmdl]

I'll be putting a ton of stuff on the bay , it beats burying it in the back yard . As long as it leaves the premises ...................

 

[great white]

I'm assuming I read this correctly, but ebay says if its a international buyer that has purchased an item and wants to return it, ebay will pay for the return and refund them. They keep the part and it doesn't cost me anything?

If this is true I think ebay is making a huge mistake. My transmission housings I sell are $400 each and when customers find out about this I can see a scam coming.

Anyone else have a take on this?



Ebay's email to me:

Dear alloy_specialties,

Over the next few weeks you will be automatically enrolled into eBay International Shipping, a new program designed to make the process of international selling and shipping more convenient and cost-effective.

eBay International Shipping retains all the elements of the eBay Global Shipping Program and eBay international standard delivery, and provides these additional features:

• eBay handles returns. If a buyer wishes to return an item, eBay will provide them with a return label and issue a refund, at no cost to you. The seller keeps the sale.
• No international selling fees. There are no international selling fees on items sent through the eBay international Shipping program.

Once enrolled, your new listings will automatically default to eBay International Shipping and any existing Global Shipping Program listings will be automatically updated.

Sounds kind of stupid on ebays part.

If they are going to refund the buyer the costs and not charge them back to you, how does anyone loose in that deal except ebay?

Doesn't sound like a profitable model to me.

Now, I don't sell on ebay but I do buy. For the most part, things usually go smoothly. the only time I've ever gotten ebay involved is when a seller sends something wrong or broken (or broken in shipping) and won't refund. I file a dispute, ebay adjudicates and I get my money back. The wrong/broken part usually just goes in file 13....

 

[JimDawson]

I'm assuming I read this correctly, but ebay says if its a international buyer that has purchased an item and wants to return it, ebay will pay for the return and refund them. They keep the part and it doesn't cost me anything?

• eBay handles returns. If a buyer wishes to return an item, eBay will provide them with a return label and issue a refund, at no cost to you. The seller keeps the sale.

'The seller keeps the sale.' That makes absolutely no sense.

Someway the seller is going to get screwed on this.

 

[alloy]

Yup not profitable at all.

I can see it now.

A seller has a buddy somewhere other than the USA. The guy list something expensive, his buddy buys it and he ships some worthless item and his buddy says he doesn't want it, ebay refunds and they both score, ebay loses.

I thought ebay had some smart people working for them. Apparently not.

'The seller keeps the sale.' That makes absolutely no sense.

Someway the seller is going to get screwed on this.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that can see the handwriting on the wall.

I'd hate to lose my international sales, but they start screwing us over I will only sell to a US destination.

 

[gerritv]

As an international buyer I don't buy items that ship through the Global Shipping program as I pay twice or more than what is reasonable. And for any other seller, if the fee is much greater than a USPS box, no sale.

I always find it interesting that I can order stuff from EU or Asia for lower shipping fees than from across our land border. I suspect most sellers can't be bothered finding a reasonable cost method, because they are available.

 

[Richard King 2]

I sell my scraping DVD and a book on eBay and I got sick of foreign buyers saying they never received their orders and eBay believed them and refunded the money. I could show I mailed them but there is no tracking once it leaves the USA. So I stopped selling out of the USA. I PUT in CAPITAL letters NO SALES OUTSIDE THE USA. I never sold many anyway so I think I lost money because of the ones who said they never got them and they pulled the money back out of Pay Pal or their new banking system. Also the eBay mailing system sucks. I'm stuck as eBay is the only way to sell for me. Better than nothing.

 

[great white]

As an international buyer I don't buy items that ship through the Global Shipping program as I pay twice or more than what is reasonable. And for any other seller, if the fee is much greater than a USPS box, no sale.

I always find it interesting that I can order stuff from EU or Asia for lower shipping fees than from across our land border. I suspect most sellers can't be bothered finding a reasonable cost method, because they are available.

That's a reasonable outlook, excpet when the only place I can find a particular item is on ebay. I buy lots of old parts for various machines and often, it seems ebay is the only place that has what I need. So I hold my nose and accept that pitney bowes is going to charge fees that go directly into their coffers.

I mean, when you buy something and pitney bowes charges you "import fees" on top of the shipping costs and it arrives via USPS who doesn't charge those fees, you know where the "overage" is going.

Sometimes, you're just stuck with making a deal with the devil.....