JZ1276

So I listed an auction for a vintage Levi's jacket. This woman sends me a message asking me to change the listing to buy it now for a price she can afford because she wants the jacket & asked if I would ship express to Australia. Now, I had the listing set up so only people in the U.S. could bid & I would not ship worldwide. Anyway, I told her I could not do that but she ended up winning the auction anyway.I go to print out the address and noticed it was some weird Kentucky address:

Buyer's Name
Reference #OREUSA260899102AU
1850 Airport Exchange Blvd 200
Erlanger KY 41025

I assumed this was some sort of address where the package gets shipped somewhere in the US (Kentucky in this matter) & then transferred to Australia being that the last two letters on the second line of the address end in AU. Anyway, I ship the package, send the buyer a message telling her the package was shipped with Priority including the tracking number & the address I shipped to but was confused why she had initially asked me to ship to Australia. She responds telling me she had no idea what that address was, that it clearly states her Australia address on both ebay and Paypal and she has no relation to America or Kentucky and is demanding a refund. I looked all over both Ebay and Paypal & there is absolutely NO Australia address for this person, just the Kentucky address. Anyone have any idea of whats going on here??

Josh-da-man

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Shippin...qaq-p/22870083

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive.../td-p/17694637

JZ1276

Ok, thanks, so it is what I thought it was. So the oackage gets delivered to that KY address & from there shipped to AU? Are there any additional fees for the buyer to receive the package?

E Unit

I sell and go through that address all the time with EBay. All additional costs go to the buyer which is part of the payment. So when you get paid, the buyer already paid the additional costs as well. But that Kentucky address is EBay's main hub to send out their international shipments.

JZ1276

So even though I offered free shipping on this item, you're saying eBay charged more than what the buyer bought the item for to compensate for shipping?

Obi-Wanma

Yes. You (perhaps unknowingly, apparently a lot of people did) opted into EBay's global shipping program. With that program, you send to a US address and ebay forwards it to the appropriate global location. Ebay shows international buyers the international shipping cost.

cultshock

Oh yeah, she's gonna get raped with shipping, customs and duty fees.

When you list an item, you have to specifically choose no international shipping, otherwise I think ebay automatically has it set to their global shipping program, they're really trying to push it.

movieguru

Ebay's Global shipping is great. My sales increase significantly since I offered that service. The seller is only responsible for the item until it is received at the Kentucky address. After that, Ebay is responsible for the tracking and delivery of the item. If it gets lost during international shipping, the seller keeps their money, but Ebay has to refund the buyer.

This service costs a lot extra to the buyer. They have to pay for express shipping with tracking and all customs fees. I've sold many Stan Lee autographed items this way. If I sold one that was $500, the buyer would pay an additional $120-250 U.S. on top of that.

If you're curious what your item would cost going international under the program, log out of your account. Go back and open up the item page and then change the "shipping to" area to whatever country you want.

JZ1276

thanks everyone for the input

SterlingBen

I am also a fan of the new international shipping program.

Also pro tip: never ever contact a buyer or ask a buyer a question. Just ship it.

davidlynchfan

What happens if something is wrong with the item and the international buyer needs a return? Sounds like it could be a massive clustersex.

E Unit

I have on my listing no returns on international purchases. But here's the official EBay lingo on that:

What if the item is returned to me?

eBay or Pitney Bowes may elect to return to you at any U.S. address that you have on file with eBay any GSP Item that eBay or Pitney Bowes conclude is undeliverable and require reverse the PayPal payment that your Buyer made to you consisting of the GSP Item price and the amount (if any) charged by you to ship the GSP Item to the U.S. Shipping Center.

Are international returns supported through the Program?

With a few exceptions, international returns are not supported through the Program at this time. eBay may choose not to display the returns policy field of your GSP listings to international buyers unless you set your returns policy to no returns or exchanges. If you wish to accept international returns, you should describe your international returns policy in your listing description. The returns policy that you specify in your listing description of a GSP Item will apply to your Buyer's purchase of the GSP Item, unless your policy is inconsistent with local legal requirements in the country where your Buyer is located. You are responsible for complying with all laws and regulations about returns that may be applicable to the sale of GSP Items to international buyers.

I mostly sell blu's, DVD's, and laserdiscs, so I haven't had an issue yet.

foxdvd

hope to get an update that everything worked out for you op

Troy Stiffler

Back when I sold on Ebay, I had a lot of complaints from customers about the their International Shipping Program. The weird complaint that I get, is that there's insane taxes attached. Ebay decides the Harmonized Tariffs.

To be honest, when I ship via USPS, and don't enter a Tariff #, I think destination customs tends to mark a really low-cost generic code. In example, if my customs form says "Ridgid 300 Pipe Threading Machine", I think they mark something generic like "Steel Bolts", just to pass it thru quickly. When it goes through Ebay's int'l program, they mark something much more specific, and it can get hit with a high fee. I never confirmed this. But something definitely happens. I've followed up with many international customers over the years, and would find out that there was little-to-no charges for a lot of shipments.

It's just another one of those things that Ebay tried to diversify into and failed. But they haven't shut it down yet.

In other news, Ebay confirmed a deal (but not a sale yet) on their Ebay Enterprise division for $925M. They paid $2.5B for it a couple years ago (kudos to the seller). I'm bringing this as an indication of their incompetence. Just because "they're Ebay" doesn't mean "they know what they're doing". Whether it's "ecommerce" or "shipping facilitation". Also, check their stock in the morning after the PayPal and Ebay split. Should be interesting. I'm really excited about it ... like tomorrow is Christmas morning (I have significant ulterior motives and am motivated by their failures). Their stock went up a few dollars today. In the morning, stockholders are going to be mad, disappointed, or delighted about the split values.

Why So Blu?

Paypal/Ebay split? Tell me more.

Troy Stiffler

First, I thought the stocks were being traded separately on Friday. I guess the "split" happened Friday evening. Turns out it's official on Monday morning. Two separate stock tickers.

Ebay is proportionally splitting the stocks Monday morning. Stocks went up, as investors are gambling that the two separate stocks will trade higher than the single Ebay stock. There was also a little uptick from the deal announcement that they sold Ebay Enterprise for $925M (even though they paid $2.5B).

Devin Wenig told investors that they're going to create structured catalog data. More importantly, he ''says'' that they're going to reach out to small businesses. He also ''says'' that they're going to give unparalleled access to API. But this is old rhetoric from a company that betray reliant businesses without a moment's notice. Reaching out to sellers? Reality check, Ebay: YOUR PRO SELLERS HATE YOU. The only reason small businesses use Ebay is because they do not know how to create a business outside of it (or don't have the financing to do so). Ebay never treated us like friends nor partners. We're revenue. We're hosts to their parasitic fees. When they want, they'll squash you, blacklist your identity, and then go to lunch and never think about you again. I know alllloootttt of people who had their lives destroyed over being arbitrarily blacklisted by Ebay. I turned my back on them before it was too late.

The split is very bad for Ebay, because their marketplace and other ventures have been failing for a long time, but propped up by PayPal's revenues. Ebay also owns a mound of other useless companies. Plenty of outlets have covered it. Google "Ebay", and then look at the "news" tab. It's pretty hot right now. More about it is here: http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-...-growth-2015-7 and http://qz.com/331734/the-ebay-you-gr...th-carl-icahn/ (Nice title, but Carl did the right thing.)

Ebay ignored small businesses for so long, because it was relying on PayPal and other ventures for revenue. Now that is collapsing, and they've alienated their base of ''used'' and ''surplus'' type sellers. So they're going to have to survive on that ''user base'' that is drying up. They did it to themselves, and deserve what is coming. They became too fat and dumb. 2500 layoffs. Nobody wants their stock (we'll find out next week). Managing $7B in debt. Liquidating subsidiaries. Toys R Us just dropped out. Stock is worth less than Yahoo! Yet the last CEO just took $23M on his way out (which was yesterday).

They ran their company into the ground. But the shockwave felt, is by all the small businesses that relied solely on Ebay for revenue/sales/marketing. Since I "got out" in time, I'm not in trouble. But there's a massive disruption happening within my competition (those who do rely on Ebay). And many won't survive.

Why So Blu?

Holy shite.

Troy Stiffler

You're all invited to hang out on my mega submarine (yachts, pft) if the next few years turn out the way I want it to.

Why So Blu?

I'll be ticket holder #1.