Why do sellers use the expensive E Bay GSP? shipping.
When they have the inexpensive Tracked PWE option for cheaper cards. As I am an international buyer this system has stopped me from buying a lot of cards that i wanted to purchase.
I have sometimes asked sellers to use another system but Hell No I might miss out. ( There is too much E Bay rigmarole to chase a missing $1 or $2 card )
On what a $1 or $2 card, I do buy low value cards and over time except for covid (and NZ Post was the culprit )have never had any hassles or lost a purchase.
The E Bay GSP has stopped my buying completely.
Mabey this a good thing as I am actually saving money LOL
Is there another sysyem out there somewere that I do not know about.

Here in the USA, we can send single cards via international 1st class for $1.65, but there is no tracking available. Same with 1st class international large envelope. I use that $1.65 all the time off of Ebay.

If you don't upload tracking on a card sale on Ebay, then sellers get docked for "Tracking uploaded on time and validated". This hurts a sellers ability to be a top rated or power seller.

I checked package rates for the USPS, and the cheapest package rate for us to mail anything out of the country is $17.85 for group 1 and as high as $22.50 for group 9. That's for 1-8 ounces.

I have used USPS rates to help international buyers when they ask. It depends, but sometimes the USPS rates are cheaper than the GSP rates. I tell the buyer I will adjust postage, or give a discount on the items and just upload tracking from the USPS package.

Only issue with this is there are only 20 countries listed that get international tracking from sender to recipient. New Zealand is one of those countries that get tracking all the way.

But for single cards, being a top rated seller, I have to keep my "Tracking uploaded on time and validated" at 95% or higher. So I can understand why sellers of single cards, who are top rated, only use GSP.

The ESE (Ebay Standard Envelope) that you can use to ship single cards, that tracking number is no good outside of the USA. Pretty sure it can't be tracked outside the USA. The barcode that is sprayed at the bottom of the letter for tracking is actually the zip + 4 + 2 for USA addresses. There are 11 numbers in that barcode, 5 for the zip code, 4 for the + 4 (which tells machinery what street in the zip code the letter is going to, then the + 2 (which tells machinery which house on the street the letter is to be delivered too).

So pretty sure this can't be adapted to international addresses since each country addresses stuff differently.

Ok got it at last so E Bay PWE with tracking is only available in the USA not International.
Wich is were I went wrong I was under the impression that it was international only.
Here in NZ tracking is at a horrendous price have not done any for a few years but quiet a while ago it was NZ $36 approx $18 US for a standard envelope to be sent international shipping, plus the shipping cost.
Since then shipping costs have increased so probably a lot higher now
Thank You

This a new moan about E Bay GSP
I am at present dealing with a seller who uses E Bay GSP and privarte shipping all through E Bay.
GSP from him takes Approx 30 days cost $20 plus
Private shipping takes approx 10 to 14 days up to $4 shipping sometimes less but no tracking so far I have not lost anything always well packed .
Wich in my opinion says that E Bay with their tracking and guarantee is only another money grab . They must have a contract for cheap bulk shipping with US Post.
What dose international tracking from USA actually cost ?

Your right that it takes longer to get something using the GSP. When you ship with the USPS, your package goes from your location, to a distribution center, then to a customs center before leaving the country. Takes 3-5 days before your package leaves the country.

With GSP, the package goes from your location to a distribution center then to a GSP center. There, it can sit for up to 10 days (I've had that happen to me before), before GSP ships your package out of the country. So GSP is much, much slower than USPS.

USPS First Class International Packages start at $17.95 and go up in price depending on country and weight. Only 20 countries can get tracking from the USA to delivery in the country it is going too.

These are the 20 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland.

For some reason, you can get tracking for 60 countries using the E-USPS DELCON INTL service.
That's just a fancy name for Electronic Delivery Confirmation.

If you use Priority Mail International, you can get tracking to over 180 countries, but starts at $42.95.

Sellers use GSP because once the package you sent gets to the GSP center, the sellers responsibility is done. If the package never gets delivered, the sellers doesn't refund the buyer, Ebay does. For the seller, this is the safest way to ship internationally. If sellers ship with the USPS and the package is lost, then the seller is responsible for the refund.

Sending just a few cards, we can send via First Class International. There is no tracking and starts at just $1.65.

Hope these answer some of your questions.

Thanks Chilly55
Here I was thinking that we were getting ripped off.

But compared to $42 GSP seems to be cheaper have to get my reasoning more in line.

The prices seemed high for snail mail though.
Suppose i will have to update my thinking but over the last 20 years shipping costs have increased dramatically and we have not received many benefits from this.

Ok i am an oldie and can still remember when we had 2 mail deliveries a day at no extra cost.
But then there was very little International mail