This is a complete guide to the eBay Global Shipping Program (GSP). In this post, we will show you everything you need to know about the global shipping program, and how you can use it to expand your business beyond your present country of residence.
The eBay global shipping program is an excellent avenue to make your products available to a global audience.
With this guide, you’ll learn about getting started on the program, the benefits of the program, and the guidelines behind the program, among other perks.
Let’s get started!
Article Overview’
What is eBay Global Shipping Program?
How Does the eBay Global Shipping Program Work?
Benefits of the eBay Global Shipping Program
Sellers are Protected from Negative or Neutral Feedback
There is Money Back Guarantee for Sellers
Sellers Receive Five-Star Ratings
Below Five Stars Will Not Affect your Seller Ratings
Cons of the eBay Global Shipping Program
It is Not Cost-Effective for Buyers
Sellers Have to Bear The Responsibility of Returns
eBay’s Global Shipping Program is Liable to Damage Items.
How to Customize International Shipping
Frequently Asked Questions about the eBay Global Shipping Program
Who can Join the eBay Global Shipping Program?
What happens if eBay GSP loses your package?
Where is the Global Shipping Center?
Are There Restricted Items in the Global Shipping Program?
Can a Seller Opt Out of the eBay Global Shipping Program?
How to Contact eBay Global Shipping?
What is eBay Global Shipping Program?
eBay Global Shipping Program is a service offered by eBay to its sellers to help them reach more countries and potential buyers.
It’s an easy-to-use program that lets sellers ship their products to one of eBay’s domestic shipping centers, and eBay will handle the shipping and logistics involved to deliver the package right to the buyer’s door.
Essentially, eBay are acting as your fulfilment center.
The global shipping program which was launched in 2012 gives sellers access to more than 60 million buyers across the world, and it’s a chance for them to expand their businesses beyond their local markets and reach international buyers.
How Does the eBay Global Shipping Program Work?
This is how to get started on eBay’s global shipping program
- Be a Seller and List your Items on eBay: The eBay GSP is not available to everybody. Only accredited sellers on eBay can access the program. A seller should have a listing of items they want to sell on eBay, and only these items can be sold on the global shipping program.
- Have a Seller Rating of Above Standard: Before you can access the eBay global shipping program, you must have a seller rating of Above Standard, Top Rated, or Top Rated Plus.
After fulfilling the seller requirements, this is how to start using the eBay global shipping program
- Go to ‘My Account‘
- Select ‘Site Preferences’
- Click ‘Use the Global Shipping Programme for new eligible listings’ to update your shipping settings.
To participate in the eBay Global Shipping Program, you must meet the requirements for international shipping.
- The item must be physically located in the US as shipping will take place from the United States. Hence, the GSP is only available to sellers who use a US supplier.
- The item must not be subject to export restrictions. To be certain about this, check out the international trading policy of eBay.
- Your listed item must not violate any of the terms of eBay’s user agreements.
It is important to understand the shipping policies of each of the destination countries. The eBay global shipping program allows sellers to ship to about 100 countries, and for each country, there are weight, length, and dimension restrictions for the shipped products.
Additionally, eBay has a maximum sale price for each country, which represents what sellers can charge for their items including shipping and handling. All this information is available in this article.
Benefits of the eBay Global Shipping Program
Apart from providing sellers with access to international buyers and taking the hassle out of shipping the item yourself – eBay GSP also provides certain benefits such as:
Sellers are Protected from Negative or Neutral Feedback
A negative or neutral review of your item as a result of the shipping or handling process will be removed.
There is Money Back Guarantee for Sellers
eBay has a money-back guarantee policy that provides protection for sellers as well as buyers. When the item is lost or damaged during international shipping, eBay will resolve the case in the seller’s favor.
They will ensure it doesn’t affect your seller rating.
To learn more about eBay’s money-back guarantee policy, click here.
Sellers Receive Five-Star Ratings
Sellers automatically receive five stars for shipping costs in their detailed seller rating when they offer free domestic shipping to the shipping center.
They also receive five star ratings for shipping time if they ship using the same business day or 1 day business day handling.
When you upload tracking information within 1 day of receiving payment and deliver the package to the US shipping center within 4 business days, eBay will give you 5-star ratings on shipping time.
Below Five Stars Will Not Affect your Seller Ratings
If you receive less than five stars on shipping costs when you charge for domestic shipping, it won’t reflect in your overall seller performance standards.
Cons of the eBay Global Shipping Program
It is Not Cost-Effective for Buyers
eBay uses the same class for international shipping, which means buyers pay a premium fee for shipping because it does not take into account the type of item being shipped and its actual weight.
The customs fees are also fixed irrespective of the destination country, so this makes the GSP expensive for buyers as they would have to cover these costs.
This is especially true for lower-value items, which tend to be more expensive when shipped internationally than they are when shipped domestically.
Prices are Not Competitive
The average price of items listed on the global selling program is higher than those listed on other platforms, which means that sellers lose their competitive edge in pricing. The high handling and shipping costs make the overall price too high for most buyers to be interested in the items.
Sellers Have to Bear The Responsibility of Returns
On eBay, sellers have to bear the cost of return shipping—even if loss or damage occurred while in transit from the shipping center to your buyer.
The good news is that it may not affect your seller rating—but it does affect your wallet!
eBay’s Global Shipping Program is Liable to Damage Items.
One thing with eBay’s GSP is that every package is going to be opened and checked at the shipping center. The bad news is, if you’re a seller, that means your item could get damaged.
If a seller is selling something fragile or delicate, this can be a big issue.
To avoid this problem, you need to ensure that your items are in perfect condition before sending them off to the shipping center.
This means taking video footage of your items being unboxed and ensuring that they continue to look good after being repacked.
If an item is damaged when it arrives at the shipping center, there is money-back guarantee—so if you want this protection, make sure you keep video evidence of what your item looks like before sending it off.
Tracking Items in eBay GSP
Important facts sellers should know about tracking items in eBay’s global shipping program.
- Before you ship items to the shipping center, you should add a tracking number to help you keep track of the item.
- When you add a tracking number to the item, it becomes a global tracking number so that buyers can use this number to track the package until delivery.
- If you don’t use any of the shipping label from eBay, you should use the tracking number received from your preferred carrier and the reference number on the label.
- When the shipping center receives the items, it will add an international tracking number so that you and your buyers can track them.
Other information eBay sellers should note about tracking items
- In order to avoid confusion, send only the global tracking number if you send tracking information to the buyer through another system.
- If you create your own shipping label, include a reference number. Refer to the Order details page for the reference number, buyer’s name, and US shipping address.
How to Customize International Shipping
Your international shipping preferences can be customized on the global shipping program, such as the countries and shipping services you want to use.
Here are the steps to customize your GSP preferences.
- Select Site Preferences from My eBay > Account.
- In the Shipping Preferences section, click Show.
- Click Edit next to Offer Global Shipping Program.
- Check the box ‘Allow me to customize international shipping by country’ and submit.
- Choose the shipping services you wish to use for specific countries in the International shipping section of your listing. As well as eBay’s Global Shipping Program, you can add up to four additional international shipping options.
Frequently Asked Questions about the eBay Global Shipping Program
Is eBay GSP free for sellers?
Yes! there is no fee for using the eBay global shipping program. However, just like with other sellers, there are charges associated with listing items.
If you sell on the global shipping program, you must pay international fees for items shipped outside the US.
The international fee is 1.65% of the total amount of your sale and the amount is deducted from your sales. You may also incur additional charges based on the laws of your buyer’s country.
Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Poland, the UK, and China all have different fee regimes.
Check out the different international fees here.
Apart from the selling fees, sellers will also pay PayPal fees for international transactions.
Who can Join the eBay Global Shipping Program?
The conditions for joining the global shipping program have been clearly stated in this article. First, you must have a seller rating of Above Standard, Top Rated, or Top Rated Plus.
Then, only sellers who have suppliers in the US can join the eBay GSP because the listed items must be physically present in the US.
There is a minimum standard for sellers that must be met in order to get the above standard seller rating. And to get a top-rated rating, some of the requirements include
- You must have an active eBay seller account for at least 90 days.
- Get your business to a $1,000 sales mark with at least 100 transactions with US buyers within a 12-month period.
- You are also expected to meet eBay’s requirements for transaction defect rate, late shipment rate and cases closed without seller resolution.
- You must comply with eBay’s selling practices policy.
What happens if eBay GSP loses your package?
The eBay Money Back Guarantee covers both buyers and sellers in case an item is lost or damaged after arriving at the Shipping Center. For the seller, it means you do not bear any return costs and it will not affect your seller performance standards.
Where is the Global Shipping Center?
The eBay US shipping center is located in Erlanger, Kentucky. eBay outsources its international shipping to Pitney Bowes, a logistics company to ship items from its GSP headquarters across the world.
Are There Restricted Items in the Global Shipping Program?
Yes! There are certain items that fall within the category of restricted and prohibited items in the GSP. Most of these restrictions are due to export limitations in different countries.
Items that can’t be shipped through the global shipping program include:
- Heavy equipment, heavy equipment attachments
- Businesses and websites
- Smart Watches
- Virtual Currency
- Fragrances
- Real Estate
- Prepaid Gaming Cards
- Video Media Accessories
- Gift Cards and Coupons
- Backyard Poultry Supplies
This list does not contain all of the prohibited or restricted items on eBay, there is a policy on prohibited or restricted items.
However, sellers on the global shipping program are responsible for checking if their transactions are legal in their buyer’s country.
Can a Seller Opt Out of the eBay Global Shipping Program?
Yes, you can opt-out of eBay’s global shipping program at any time you like. One of the benefits of the shipping program is that sellers have control over which items can be listed.
You can totally opt out of the program, and you can also opt some of your listings out of the program.
To opt of the program,
- Visit ‘Manage Shipping Preferences’
- Click on Edit beside the ‘Global Shipping Program’ option
- Click on ‘Opt Out’
Your request may take up to 72 hours to process.
Here is how to remove a single listing from the active listing on the Global Shipping Program.
In the Seller Hub, select ‘Active’ under the listing tab. Click on Edit, and from the dropdown menu, select Edit Selected. Click on Edit Selected Policy in the Add Shipping Details section.
On the Edit Shipping Policy dialogue box that pops up, click on the International Shipping section and uncheck the box beside the option that reads “Send it to the US Shipping Center.”
Save and confirm your changes and the listing will be removed by eBay.
If you want to remove all your active listings from the global shipping program, here is a step-by-step guide
- In the Seller Hub, click on ‘Active’ under the listing tab.
- From the Edit dropdown menu, click on ‘Edit All Listings’
- Check the box at the top left column to select all your listings.
- Click on Shipping policy on the Edit dropdown menu
- On the Shipping Policy dialogue box, select ‘Change to’ and select Edit beside the shipping policy name
- On the Shipping Policy dialogue box, uncheck the ticked boxes beside the option that reads “Send it to the US Shipping Center.”
- Save and submit your changes, and the changes will be confirmed on eBay.
Does eBay Offer ShipCover Insurance to Sellers in the GSP?
Yes and No! eBay does not offer ShipCover insurance for shipping to the domestic shipping center.
Instead, sellers can secure insurance from their preferred carrier to cover the goods during transit to the domestic shipping center.
For the international shipping part, the global shipping program offers coverage to goods through USPS Priority International Mail.
How to Contact eBay Global Shipping?
At the top of eBay’s website, click “Customer Support”, select “Contact eBay” and sign in if you’re not already signed in. Choose the topic that most closely matches your question or concern.
Click the “Call us” link if the information provided does not resolve your issue.
After clicking “Call Us”, you will see a phone number and a pin. The pin expires within 15 minutes hence, you should make the call within that timeframe so you can use the pin.
Conclusion
In this post, we have discussed extensively about the eBay global shipping program.
As you can see, the Global Shipping Program is a great way to expand your reach and make more sales. However, it’s not without its problems.
It’s important to know what you’re signing up for before you start using the program.
As an eBay seller, do you have active listings in the Global Shipping Program? Let us know in the comment section what your experience has been like.
