Careful with Ebay's "Global Shipping Program"

[Kirauni]

I don't know if some of you actually buy many things abroad, but I thought I'd share this with you.

If you are like me and you live outside the US and love to buy TLK-Stuff at Ebay.com you've got to be careful.
If you live inside the US and sell things on Ebay internationally you also have to be careful.

Especially if you buy or sell something from Ebay inside the "Global Shipping Program".


At first it sounds tempting... you already pay shippment and tolls and taxes when you checkout and now when you finally get the item. Sometimes the shipping costs also appear cheaper. And if you are a seller you can sell your item internationally and you only have to ship it to a "man in the middle" in the US. Sounds good, doesn't it?
But as some people stated on the internet, this comes at a cost.

Go see for yourselves:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZwZgcoc_zw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLLrqz1Esj4
(At 5:51 it starts to get interesting, a seller's point of view)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xez2zeKrKaQ


Too bad, because it sounded like a great idea. It would have made things much easier.

[ThiagoPE]

I just don't know why some sellers can't ship directly to international customers, even if this cost more, at least the sellers could have more control in shipping. ...
It just sad hearing things like this. EBay was a source for me getting things from outside Brazil, but since things started to be lost, I reduced to zero my purchases there.

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[cleargreenwater]

I just don't know why some sellers can't ship directly to international customers, even if this cost more, at least the sellers could have more control in shipping. ...

Yeah, I would be uncomfortable sending it to a third-party person before mailing, that makes it so much longer and at least if I send it, I know how it gets handled before being mailed. A third-person you don't know if they're throwing it around or kicking it or what.

[nathalie]

Are these the auctions where they ask a ridiculous shipping price, and also add a custom price with the auction?

Because sometimes I see an auction, for like 1 pin, and it says "shipping 23 $" and then underneath it'll say "custom charges 17$" (just putting a number on it, but they are usually very high for my country).

Does it mean you have to also pay that 17 $ to the seller?

When I see something I want, and notice it's one of "those" auction, I just click it away and don't bother anymore.