During last week’s eBay for Business podcast, a seller asked why most of the time, packages sent via eBay International Standard Delivery went to eBay’s processing center before being forwarded to the customer, but sometimes eBay directed the seller to send it directly to their customer’s address. The seller also wondered about seller protection for items that do not go through eBay’s shipping hub.
For example, the seller said, “I noticed that a recent sale for $11.09 cents went direct to Canada, but a sale to Canada after that for $29.99 went to Elk Grove. Is the value of the package the deciding factor or some other reason? Can I assume the same seller protections apply whether the package goes directly to Canada or to an eBay center?”
The co-host of the podcast Brian Burke responded, “We contacted the Shipping Team for clarification, and they informed us that when a seller selects International Standard Delivery as a shipping option for an international sale, eBay uses a logic based upon the price and the speed of all shipping options to determine if shipping to the International Standard Delivery hub is the better option or not.
“The better option determined by the algorithm is then displayed to the seller at the point of label purchase when they print the label for the transaction. And best of all, the same protections afforded by International standard delivery apply for all orders shipped through eBay International Standard Delivery. Even if the option we show for that label is regular international shipping.”
The other podcast host, Jim “Griff” Griffith, added that eBay takes into account the item value in addition to shipping cost and delivery speed. “So if it turns out that just shipping it across the border USPS is gonna be faster, then that’s the option that’ll be there. But it still is considered an eBay International Standard Delivery,” he said.
Sellers should not confuse the shipping service being discussed in the podcast with the marketplace’s other services. eBay offers three international shipping programs: the Global Shipping Program (GSP); eBay International Standard Delivery; and the new eBay International Standard (EIS).
I don’t use any of these eBay-involved shipping options, nor do I print labels online, so I may be mistaken, but at least in theory, isn’t the seller only required to get the item to the eBay facility in the U.S.? Meaning that if it gets there, but then never makes it to the buyer, eBay is responsible for the INR claim? If this is the case, then to put the burden on the seller to get it to an international buyer is most certainly not offering the same seller protection. I have not sold internationally for many years due to the amount of lost packages, paired with the fact that international insurance claims are even more difficult than domestic ones (and that’s saying a lot!). So, changing the requirement from a U.S. eBay seller needing to get the item to an eBay facility in the U.S. to needing to get it to the buyer in another country is most certainly NOT the same level of protection. If that was the understanding from the start, that’s one thing, but for the seller not to know how this will work until the almighty algorithm “decides” AFTER the sale takes place, is not any way to run this system. Just one more reason for me to sell domestically only and not to print postage online!