eBay's GSP - From a Foreign Buyer's Perspective
Aotearoa
Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭✭✭
I live in New Zealand. I'm wildly smitten with Draped Bust Large Cents. My primary sources are eBay and Heritage. We'll leave Heritage (with their shockingly high overseas shipping charges) for another day.
Now, let's use a couple of big-time eBay copper sellers as examples (they're real). One has an amazing inventory, tends to sell BIN (at high prices) and ships to NZ via the GSP @ ~$25. The other, with a lesser inventory, tends more towards auctions and ships directly using USPS First Class Mail International @ $10-12.
When I'm feeling particularly logical, I factor in the shipping costs the same way I factor in the BP on Heritage. When I'm not in that state of mind, I think, "no way I'm paying $25 to have a $200 coin shipped here when I know for a fact the actual cost is no more than half that". I can live with the $10-12 because, a) it's a smaller number and, more importantly in some ways, b) I know an inflated shipping price is not being used to pull more money out of me.
I rarely buy from the first seller and often buy from the second. Do I think the first seller is losing sleep over missing out on my business? Ha.
Smitten with DBLCs.
Comments
The first seller is a dummy. If $25 is being charged in his name why doesn't he just charge $25 himself and pocket the $13 extra , put it in a jar and when something goes missing pay himself out of the jar?
Because the $25 is to insure and shipped by the likes of DSL or FedEx. The 2nd seller is taking a big risk IMHO and it's just going 1st class mail! If I'm not mistaken it know costs around $14 to ship down under via USPS with no insurance.
You carefully package and ship your expensive coin to the knuckleheads at pitney bowes , they unpack it , fondle it , possibly lose or steal it or substitute something else in its place , then repackage it poorly and slowly send it to your buyer.
charge the extra money yourself and mail directly to the buyer what are you scared of?
Not at all! I have asked several of my buyers and they have all told me my package was inserted in to the shipping package untouched! Perhaps they look at a sellers reputation as to whether they need to inspect what is being shipped!
so what are they doing that you cant do? If your packaging is fine then the buyer is paying a huge fee so some third party can fill out a customs form and pay themselves handsomely for it.
The kicker for me is I get insurance much cheaper than I can purchase from the USPS! Also no issues of trying to collect on a lost package from the USPS. I had 1 buyer say he did not receive a shipment. Called ebay and was told the buyer needed to make a claim through ebay. Easy Peasy...but miraculously his package then showed up! There is an additional cost for the buyer on import taxes but the savings on insurance makes that seem minuscule! I have found examples where the overall shipping cost with insurance was less than 1/2 what I could insure and ship through the USPS(if insurance was even available).
I will not ship anything over $100 without insurance. I also will not ship anything directly to a country that the USPS can not provide tracking! So yes I have had a few purchases where the shipping cost more than the item. No complaints from buyers yet as they know the cost when they buy! I would say the Global Shipping program has increased my $ sales by at least 500% and doubled the number of sales I have! This is due to the fact I would not ship expensive items or to countries that I can not get tracking for. Would you ship a $2,000 coin to Malaysia? I did through the Global shipping program.
Unless GSP don’t ship intl. It is the responsibility of the intl buyer for these costs / risk.
The global shipping service cuts deep. But eBay requires it to protect us from ourselves and our friends overseas. Expensive is an understatement. They're (eBay) not just a venue, but a vicious watchdog, often interfering in everyone's business, as though..... Well forget it. I've said too much, already. If the package ends up in the same place, WHY the overcharge? Easy answer.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
They are shipping in bulk, so they get better rates for certain services/locations. In the other thread, I showed an example using Spain and Australia. Yes for Spain it would be cheaper to ship directly, but for Australia, it’s cheaper with the Global Shipping Program (especially for items that weigh above the first class mail threshold). Also, you get tracking all the way, which isn’t always available with shipping directly (or if it is, then it becomes more expensive).
If your saying the buyer is responsible for an item I sell internationally...you are wrong!
I would talk to seller A and ask if free shipping is available on your future orders. Coin dealers are very negotiable especially if you are buying coins in the $1,000+ range.
I wish more people were like you. The PO probably would be profitable if there were.
bob
PS: I self insure up to a grand....have for 15 years and the money I've saved will more than make up for a loss at this point. Part of doing business is making, not spending money. At first it's a nail biter as you watch every package with baited breath. But, then it becomes the norm.
Global rates are a factor of weight and value. If I list a 60 pound item, but put into ebay listing as weighing 2 pounds, then the buyer pays the 2 pound shipping weight.
Without knowing the original posters example, Dealer 1 may put the weight at 1 ounce (that of the coin) and dealer 2 puts the weight at 1 pound (coin in packaging). If the value is the same, one will show higher cost simply due to differences in weight.
I did get a call from ebay looking into a few overweight packages. I replied that it was the UNBOXED weight, and that with boxing and padding, it could easily double or more the weight. Also, I asked about how they refunded the buyer if the package was underweight. There is no mechanism for that.
I do know of 2 people who deliberately underweight their packages to make them more sellable to overseas buyers.
I have a good number of sellers I have purchased multiple coins from, but I do not actively seek out a specific sellers inventory because I would (me personally) find myself buying a nice coin from a seller I like rather than a coin I love from someone never tried. I do not collect niche coins per se, so I don't have to rely on a few sellers either. What may be better for the original poster is contacting the seller and ask if you could set up multiple purchases and combine the shipping. Almost like layaway, pay some outside of ebay to hold the item and wait till you have purchased enough to make it worth the expense. I do not know how many purchases you are talking about but if it's a few a month may be worthwhile to both of you. Just some thoughts.
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So you will ship a coin worth a Thousand Bucks overseas without insurance? Do you have a Bolder Holder for your cahunas?
I've often wondered what they do when the weight is not entered in the listing! I have sold many without this info! 1 was a British Proof Set that required me to ship priority mail due to the weight. Didn't hear anything but I would wager they lost money on that one! If I were to ship direct it would've cost me more in shipping than what I sold the set for!
I have shipped overseas and have never been burned on a coin. Yes, steel cahunas here boy! My coins when shipped, if valuable, do get packed such that there is no way anyone would know that they are/is something numismatic. No stupid manila padded envelopes and such. If you make it look like it's underwear nobody will touch it. Just my take.
bob
(underwear is just an EXAMPLE)
I have done exactly that with the second seller mentioned.
My example sellers are just that: examples. By my informal reckoning most US-based eBay seller won't ship to NZ at all. Simply not an option (I'll sometimes use a US friend's address in those cases). Most of the rest go with GSP. The easiest option, I suppose. Only a few seem truly keen to cater to buyers outside the US.
Smitten with DBLCs.
It's not really an overcharge. You can not ship USPS insured overseas for less than $30. It has to go priority to most countries to be insured. [Private insurance, of course, is a different matter.]
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
Ok everyone has their own way.
Here is what seriously irks me.
It is not so much the Global Shipping cost part. that I could probably live with.
It is that you can not, to my knowledge, separate the shipping from the Import fee charges!
And that is where they really get you.
Fact is that every country has a Value threshold from where they start charging their respective import charges.
Its the law that they can. But it is usually up to the customs person to enforce that law. And most countries have a policy that a collection must pay for itself. That means any charges collected must also pay for the officers time and paper work.
example: you buy a $ 50 coin which normally would sail right through any countries customs. Not worth their while.
GS will add $ 15+ shipping....plus import fees. would you still buy the coin? I would not.
**or as a seller would you think that it is ridicules? Or would you think it is fair as a buyer knows the cost?
** Now, Take Feebays Import fees. they take away the customs officers and replace them with electronic brokers. The info is all based on the purchase price and item purchased, transmitted from Ebay to PB. they in turn, again electronically, determine the final cost... correct or not. Very often NOT and controversial. Their SW will never consider that there may be other import codes legally covering the purchase. Often ZERO charges.
But PB wants to be paid.
Further: Does PB have the buyers PA to act on the buyers behalf with the respective countries Import authorities?
And: Does anyone here have any experience doing a return of the purchased goods when GS was used?
I know there are countries they require original documentation for a cross border return... and guess what? PB has the originals and they do not work for free!