eBay has launched a new scheme called the Global Shipping Programme.
It’s designed to help UK sellers reach buyers in other countries and ship internationally without any extra fuss.
Eligible sellers are now being automatically signed up to the scheme, but is it any good?
How it works
Eligible sellers (those with a rating of standard or above) will be notified of their automatic enrolment onto the Global Shipping Programme via email over the next six weeks.
From then on all eligible listings will be made available to buyers from selected EU and non-EU countries with international postage charges calculated automatically.
eBay will begin by showing listings in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Later in 2014, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, Russia and USA will be included in the programme.
Eligible listings must not weigh over 30kg, no single dimension can be longer than 120cm, PayPal must be included as an accepted payment method and the sale price excluding postage and packaging must be no more than £1,500, with the exception of posting to Russia where it must not be worth more than £800.
As a seller, you don't need to determine if your items are eligible for the Global Shipping Programme as this is done automatically.
If an international buyer wins an auction they pay the price of the item plus domestic postage and packaging to the seller and international postage and other associated charges to eBay.
Sellers only pay for postage costs to the UK Shipping Centre, where their parcel will be processed for international delivery. Once the item reaches the UK Shipping Centre, customs paperwork and import charges (where applicable) are taken care of and the item is sent to the international buyer via tracked international postage.
eBay says sellers can opt out of the programme at a listing, country or account level at any time.
Seller protection
Sellers using the Global Shipping Programme are protected in several ways.
You’ll qualify for an automatic five-star rating when you provide free domestic postage to the UK Shipping Centre.
The same goes for when you post and upload tracking information within one working day of receiving cleared payment, and the item is delivered to the UK Shipping Centre within three working days.
Sellers are also protected from negative or neutral feedback and ratings lower than five stars due to loss or damage to their item in international transit, or delayed delivery. In fact any negative or neutral feedback that can be attributed to the Global Shipping Programme from item handling during international transit will be removed.
Returns
Returns aren’t handled through the Global Shipping Programme. Instead private sellers will have to work together with their buyer to resolve the issue.
If your buyer changes their mind, you don’t have to accept a return. But if you do you’re only expected to refund the cost of the item and what you charged for domestic postage. eBay will take care of refunding the international postage charges for sending the parcel to them, if applicable.
If a buyer claims an item is not as described, they have the right to a refund and it can be processed according to the eBay Money Back Guarantee (or PayPal Buyer Protection when this does not apply) unless the seller issues a refund as above.
Verdict
The Global Shipping Programme is an interesting solution for those keen to open up their listing to more buyers, but not sure of how to cope with the admin and calculating the extra charges.
From the looks of it the scheme offers an easy way to reach millions more buyers with no extra effort on your part.
What’s more you get extra protection from negative feedback on delivery and postage and you can opt out if it doesn’t suit you.
However, you should bear in mind that although the service is free to use, if an international buyer wins a listing you will pay PayPal cross border fees on the money you receive. Also if an item is received by the UK Shipping Centre and is deemed undeliverable it won’t be returned to you.
But all in all the scheme could help you make more money on eBay, so it's worth giving a try.