eBay Global Shipping Program questions

[kenchu2000]

Hi, I have couple of questions about ebay's Global Shipping Program, hope some experts can give me some help.

 

Question 1: I have a buyer where the shipping address is Toronto, Canada.  He already made the purchase and submitted the payment, and the item will be shipped using ebay GSP.  How can I find out how much he actually paid for GSP?   In my invoice, I can only see what he paid me.

 

Question 2: I have a potential buyer whose shipping address is Taiwan.  Again, my item will be shipped international using GSP. The buyer wants to find out from me how much the final shipping cost would be.  How can I find that out?   Is there some kind of shipping calculator available specific for GSP?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[justafrog]

If you go to "My eBay", next to transaction #1 click "print shipping label" (you won't have to actually purchase postage during this process) and then click "print packing slip" from the label printing page, it will show you all the charges your buyer incurred.

 

The fellow in Taiwan should be able to see the ESTIMATED charges on the eBay page he's looking at, if he has his shipping address set to Taiwan. You can quote that ESTIMATE to him by going to your own item's page, and changing your location under shipping to Taiwan instead of the U.S. But if you do this, tell him this is EBAY'S ESTIMATE and neither he nor you will know the entire amount until he proceeds to checkout (and he can still change his mind at that point and not purchase if the estimate is off by too much.

 

There is no GSP shipping calculator I'm aware of, other than the one embedded in each listing that provides the estimate. The estimates are usually very close if not exact, in my experience.

[kenchu2000]

Thanks frog, you are the best!!! 

[jbacunn]

Any one else having problems adding global shipping program to your listings? I listed some items with the app and it says that the category is not eligible for GSP but it's Lego and we know that it is. I tried to revise the item in the app and on the PC and it will let me check the box but when I submit the revisions it does not add GSP to the listing. Other items are letting me add GSP for the same category. Doesn't make sense.  I sell a lot of items GSP. This is not good. 

[justafrog]

Not surprisingly, eBay has another glitchfest going on right now so that might be it. They do have restrictions on size/dimensions of packages, and I don't know whether those are different for different listing categories, so there's a possibility you might be running up against that if these are all "larger than normal" sets.

 

You could try ending the listings and putting them back up again using the PC instead and see if that helps.

[KShine]

Not surprisingly, eBay has another glitchfest going on right now so that might be it. They do have restrictions on size/dimensions of packages, and I don't know whether those are different for different listing categories, so there's a possibility you might be running up against that if these are all "larger than normal" sets.

 

You could try ending the listings and putting them back up again using the PC instead and see if that helps.

 

I suppose this could be another tool they might consider down the road (to limit the discounts) - requiring you to do something, that is also not allowed.

[Cetona]

I'm having the exact same issues adding GSP to my listings. Some larger sets and some not as large, so I don't think that is the issue.

[matt1147]

All my recent lego listings won't allow GSP - it says "not allowed for this category" - category is LEGO sets, as it always has been. So Ya, either there's a glitch or some change that they haven't told us about yet...

[jbacunn]

I'm having the exact same issues adding GSP to my listings. Some larger sets and some not as large, so I don't think that is the issue.

Agree. Most of my items are small and I am listing the dimensions and weights. I am going to call them. Pray for me. 

[asharerin]

From ebay's FAQ on the GSP:

 

"In addition to other remedies, included those described elsewhere within eBay

[KShine]

I am pretty sure that this is an ebay glitch - but one of the LEGO rules in order to be an official re-seller of their product is no International selling.

 

I know it is a stretch, but can you imagine that LEGO somehow disallowed it? 

[jbacunn]

 

From ebay's FAQ on the GSP:

 

"In addition to other remedies, included those described elsewhere within eBay

[justafrog]

I am pretty sure that this is an ebay glitch - but one of the LEGO rules in order to be an official re-seller of their product is no International selling.

 

I know it is a stretch, but can you imagine that LEGO somehow disallowed it? 

 

I can't imagine eBay would play ball with any such LEGO requirement. There is very limited recourse for a company (in this case TLG) when it comes to the resale of their products, provided those products were legally obtained.

 

Any agreements TLG makes with their authorized resellers is between them and those resellers - eBay won't enforce contracts in that way.

 

And the vast majority of eBay LEGO sellers aren't authorized by Lego, we fall under the protection of the first sale doctrine, and TLG has no legal power to stop us selling, and eBay will, as they do all their other sellers, back us on that provided a VERO claim from the rights holder(s) (TLG, Marvel, etc.) isn't made against us stating we're selling fakes.

[KShine]

I can't imagine eBay would play ball with any such LEGO requirement. There is very limited recourse for a company (in this case TLG) when it comes to the resale of their products, provided those products were legally obtained.

 

Any agreements TLG makes with their authorized resellers is between them and those resellers - eBay won't enforce contracts in that way.

 

And the vast majority of eBay LEGO sellers aren't authorized by Lego, we fall under the protection of the first sale doctrine, and TLG has no legal power to stop us selling, and eBay will, as they do all their other sellers, back us on that provided a VERO claim from the rights holder(s) (TLG, Marvel, etc.) isn't made against us stating we're selling fakes.

 

I don't really disagree - but with GSP, ebay is actually the ones shipping it.

 

Like I mentioned, I am pretty certain that it is just a glitch - but you never know (crazier things have happened).

Edited October 5, 2014 by KShine

[justafrog]

I don't really disagree - but with GSP, ebay is actually the ones shipping it.

 

They're not - Pitney Bowes is the shipper. But that would be like asking FedEx to enforce TLG's overseas sales policies - not gonna happen.

[jbacunn]

I can't imagine eBay would play ball with any such LEGO requirement. There is very limited recourse for a company (in this case TLG) when it comes to the resale of their products, provided those products were legally obtained.

 

Any agreements TLG makes with their authorized resellers is between them and those resellers - eBay won't enforce contracts in that way.

 

And the vast majority of eBay LEGO sellers aren't authorized by Lego, we fall under the protection of the first sale doctrine, and TLG has no legal power to stop us selling, and eBay will, as they do all their other sellers, back us on that provided a VERO claim from the rights holder(s) (TLG, Marvel, etc.) isn't made against us stating we're selling fakes.

Dang. Frog dropping some legal knowledge on us. 

[justafrog]

Dang. Frog dropping some legal knowledge on us. 

 

There have been some big whopping cases that reinforce the First Sale Doctrine in the world of bookselling, so I was raised on this part of the law.

[jbacunn]

I talked to them and they don't know why it's happening. They are going to investigate and call back. 

[macdroid]

I think there will be no more eBay GSP for Lego category, just the same as what happened with Amazon Global Shipping a couple of months ago. I think the GSP is way too expensive for some countries, for example the one I'm living now, so for me that is good news, as long as they don't ban every kind of International Shipping, but that is not gonna happen. Lego can agree with eBay to not offer THEIR international shipping program for Lego and I think that's what just happened.

[jbacunn]

Haven't heard back from ebay yet but I found a work around. On the app I revised the item, changed the item category to LEGO-Other and it allowed me to add GSP back to the item. Don't ask me why but it works. Not ideal but it's more important for me to have GPS than to have the item in the LEGO-Sets category where I would normally list most of my items.

[macdroid]

Haven't heard back from ebay yet but I found a work around. On the app I revised the item, changed the item category to LEGO-Other and it allowed me to add GSP back to the item. Don't ask me why but it works. Not ideal but it's more important for me to have GPS than to have the item in the LEGO-Sets category where I would normally list most of my items.

that means only sets are banned from ebay GSP, which makes sense if they did upon some kind of agreement with LEGO...

[justafrog]

I think there will be no more eBay GSP for Lego category, just the same as what happened with Amazon Global Shipping a couple of months ago. I think the GSP is way too expensive for some countries, for example the one I'm living now, so for me that is good news, as long as they don't ban every kind of International Shipping, but that is not gonna happen. Lego can agree with eBay to not offer THEIR international shipping program for Lego and I think that's what just happened.

 

This is wishful thinking because you don't like the program.

 

eBay might decide to discontinue a category in GSP, but not because of manufacturer's request. There is no legal reason eBay needs to do any such thing (like there was to cause eBay to implement their VERO program), and eBay will not cut their revenue because LEGO or Gucci or Maybelline doesn't like third party sellers shipping out of the U.S.

 

Amazon is in a different position: they have to play ball with LEGO because they are themselves a contracted seller with LEGO. eBay is not - they carry no merchandise of their own.

 

I reviewed the list of restricted categories again this morning, nothing in the Toys category is on it. This is a glitch, or (smaller possibility) eBay is limiting GSP shipments of LEGO, but that would be for their own reasons (risk, excessive claims, packaging problems, whatever) not because TLG asked them to or ordered them to.

[KShine]

This is wishful thinking because you don't like the program.

 

eBay might decide to discontinue a category in GSP, but not because of manufacturer's request. There is no legal reason eBay needs to do any such thing (like there was to cause eBay to implement their VERO program), and eBay will not cut their revenue because LEGO or Gucci or Maybelline doesn't like third party sellers shipping out of the U.S.

 

Amazon is in a different position: they have to play ball with LEGO because they are themselves a contracted seller with LEGO. eBay is not - they carry no merchandise of their own.

 

I reviewed the list of restricted categories again this morning, nothing in the Toys category is on it. This is a glitch, or (smaller possibility) eBay is limiting GSP shipments of LEGO, but that would be for their own reasons (risk, excessive claims, packaging problems, whatever) not because TLG asked them to or ordered them to.

 

This is an ebay policy/rule - eBay can do whatever they want, for whatever reason they want. It could be that they want to make nice (with LEGO), since they don't make a great effort to stop drop ship scams, or the great number of fakes sold through ebay.

 

Once again, I don't think this is happening (it is likely just a glitch) - but it can.

Edited October 5, 2014 by KShine

[justafrog]

This is an ebay policy/rule - eBay can do whatever they want, for whatever reason they want. It could be that they want to make nice (with LEGO), since they don't make a great effort to stop drop ship scams, or the great number of fakes sold through ebay.

 

Once again, I don't think this is happening (it is likely just a glitch) - but it can.

 

Historically, eBay doesn't do this. They don't care, and there's no reason they have to care - unlike Amazon, they aren't carrying TLG products themselves.

 

I understand that eBay can do whatever they want (within the law) on their site, but they don't move against their own self-interest. LEGO is hardly the only category rife with fakes and drop ship scams on eBay -- any time you have licensed or trademarked products, you have fakes; anytime you have ANYTHING you have triangulation (or as we dub them here "drop ship") scams.

 

LEGO isn't a special snowflake on eBay. There is simply no way that eBay's going to kowtow to what TLG would like to see unless they are forced to under the law, any more than they do any other manufacturer. Doesn't happen. Might as well say eBay's doing it because the unicorn princess asked them nicely.

 

Edited to add: And the fake problem isn't eBay - it's TLG and the trademark holders (Marvel, DC, etc.). eBay is in no position to determine whether an item is fake -- that's what the VERO program is for, for the license holders to dispute items they believe to be fake, and then the burden is on the seller to produce records in defense. If TLG is pestering LEGO about fakes, eBay is going to direct them straight to the VERO program.

[jbacunn]

I heard back from ebay on the issue. It's a known glitch they are working on. I was advised to end my listings and create new ones. Don't think I will do it now since I found the work around. That would be a good bit of work.