Postage costs from the EU to the UK are starting to creep up, but noticed some crazy ones.

Netherlands to UK one wants £27 postage another £18, another £13.

Spain to UK £20, France to UK £20. Sweden to UK £25.

It will be cheaper to get a flight and go and fetch it yourself soon.

The old postage rates debate again.
We are all looking for cheaper shipping rates, but it seems lately that these are going out the door and shippers are asking whatever they like for international shipping.
My beef is E Bays G S P for wich there dose not seem to be a uniform rate.
EG look at Mydukes post on a card the shipping on that one card via E Bays G S P to New Zealand was NZ$114.25 How can that be justified.
I am not getting the Titanic shipped to me just one card.
Have E Bay got their own shipping division or do they use the normal systems.
Also can any one explain how E Bay equates their G S P is it a % of the selling price,or is a shipping cost just plucked out of the air by the seller.
As it is very hard to find equitable G S P costs among sellers that use the system.
Or is it that sellers dont care and let E Bay do their shipping for them as it guarantees them no loss.

eBay's GSP is attractive to sellers because they just have to ship the item to a US address and be done with it. eBay take's on all the details from there.

eBay also collects some form of calculated duties and taxes, so the GSP price is supposed to be the delivered price to your door with all fees included. So, the total price is MORE than just a shipping fee.

As long at eBay holds sellers 100% liable for shipping overseas, GSP will continue to be an alternative for many sellers. Others just use the "US Only" option.

Ed

The eBay GSP is a particular thorn in my wallet. I questioned eBay why two cards from the same seller had different postage rates - same size, weight and address - and they obviously didn't read my question because the answer was that it depended where the goods were being sent from. It also irks me that some sellers apologise for the system knowing it costs more, but can't be bothered to uncheck the box and use USPS instead. Customs duty and value added tax in the UK is calculated on not only the cost of goods, but the cost of postage as well. Everything from the USA is liable for these charges with a value of $18 or more. Not every item gets charged, so it's a bit of a lottery, but with eBay taking the charge at source plus a fee for doing so, a buyer stands no chance.

The other big issue with GSP is that it is impossible to get combined shipping once items are purchased.

What I can not understand is how US$76.33 can be charged for one card via the E Bay GSP system.
Especially if the seller is only paying USPS postage
And as you say you can not combine shipping so E Bay are getting it all
I am sure there is someone from E Bay reading these Posts and they have not even got the guts to come on and explain their rip off system

They don't need to explain, they are the only show in town and they know it. I feel sorry for USA dealers like ED as i am sure he would love to sell me some cards but as he says ebay hold him totally liable for the package even if it gets delivered but the buyer says it did not.

Yes GSP is a total rip off to buyers and i would certainly never buy anything from a dealer who was using it but i can sympathise with why they do, i just can't understand why they use it for low value items which would have sold if not for the GSP.

And why am I not surprised.
Traveled all the way to the PO yesterday only to be told that the cost of postage and shipping had risen from 1 July.
They seem to do it at will now.

quote:

Originally posted by piko:

They seem to do it at will now.

Well don't go to Will.

GSP is a total disaster and I have never used it. And my business fluctuates from 70% to now over 90% foreign sales. But that still doesnt drive down the cost of a padded mailer going overseas to under $14. The minimum for anything with customs # tracking.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by piko:

They seem to do it at will now.

Well don't go to Will.

Hey now....

Ok got me there LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Graham:
The eBay GSP is a particular thorn in my wallet. I questioned eBay why two cards from the same seller had different postage rates - same size, weight and address - and they obviously didn't read my question because the answer was that it depended where the goods were being sent from. It also irks me that some sellers apologise for the system knowing it costs more, but can't be bothered to uncheck the box and use USPS instead. Customs duty and value added tax in the UK is calculated on not only the cost of goods, but the cost of postage as well. Everything from the USA is liable for these charges with a value of $18 or more. Not every item gets charged, so it's a bit of a lottery, but with eBay taking the charge at source plus a fee for doing so, a buyer stands no chance.

I recently came across a variant card I did not know of. It was on eBay with the seller showing a high price plus $4 USPS First Class Mail International / First Class Package International Service to the UK. Fortunately for me I already had the variant without realising it, in fact when I looked I have two. As I did not have the common version I did an eBay search and found that the same seller also had the common card listed at $1 but shipping was now $19.50 International Priority Shipping to United Kingdom via the Global Shipping Program.

Just hit a new low from a consignment seller on eBay. They have 49 cards up that I want. $0.99 each - $48.51 for the lot (as separate lots). I asked if I could buy them as a single lot. They said no because they use the GSP. They understand this can be expensive for International buyers, but that's how they do business. If I went for each card separately and paid the GSP premium, the grand total for postage alone would be $1197.56 - for items that cost less than $50.00. Someone's got their fingers in a very deep pie!

quote:

Originally posted by Graham:
Just hit a new low from a consignment seller on eBay. They have 49 cards up that I want. $0.99 each - $48.51 for the lot (as separate lots). I asked if I could buy them as a single lot. They said no because they use the GSP. They understand this can be expensive for International buyers, but that's how they do business. If I went for each card separately and paid the GSP premium, the grand total for postage alone would be $1197.56 - for items that cost less than $50.00. Someone's got their fingers in a very deep pie!

That seem stupid, seems like they could easily convert the 49 listings to a single listing for you, still do GSP with the single listing then everyone gets what they want. . .

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:


That seem stupid, seems like they could easily convert the 49 listings to a single listing for you, still do GSP with the single listing then everyone gets what they want. . .

I sell through GSP and do exactly that. You just create or convert an existing listing with all the cards combined together. Everyones a winner.

OK, this is a bit weird. Shipping to the USA from the UK through Royal Mail just changed in price as the USA is now in a new 'World Zone 3' all on its own. The strange part is how this affects prices. Letters sent Regular Airmail remain the same while Large Letters have actually gone down in price slightly. However, the shocker is if you want to send a parcel. I send two or three small parcels a week out to various international locations. They weigh in at around 120g. To Europe it's £5.35, to World Zone 1 it's £6.63, World Zone 2 is £7.18 and World Zone 3 is now £9.84 !! The USA used to be World Zone 1, so that's a 50% price hike

Thanks Kevin, the last price update was at the end of March, so something must have radically changed regarding the USA prices to justify a new World Zone!

New UK Rates listed here:-
https://www.royalmail.com/site...ces-01-july-2020.pdf

There has been a lot of press and TV coverage about government pressure on USPS to save money/make less of a loss and threats to take away funding .

I don't know the in's and out's but I suspect one result of this is USPS asking for more money from it's international partners like Royal Mail and they are passing this extra cost on to their customers . Would be interesting to know if other postal companies around the world have raised their prices to USA .