eBay Global shipping program

[tfburke3]

Wrong Tom, You can filter out any country you want. I filter everything but the USA on an auction type item. Just take the time to read as your posting a sale. Bob L

Thanks for info Bob
After some google research and a check of account preferences I see the country shipping exclusions.I only had southeast asia checked.
EBay ,like old bikes is a learning experience for me.
Tom

[Robert Luland]

Wrong Tom, You can filter out any country you want. I filter everything but the USA on an auction type item. Just take the time to read as your posting a sale. Bob L

After recently selling I have had international,Japan and Uk bidders when I checked Us shipping only.
Ebay does not filter out overseas bids so a bidder can ruin your auction at the last second.In my case I decided to take a chance based on good feedback and shipped cheapest USPS($60 to Japan) with no tracking besides customs. UPS quoted 488 to ship to Japan with tracking and signature verification.
Sale ended with USPS rate,so I shipped it,a JD luggage rack.
Since I checked US shipping when I created the listing I could not use the Global shipping after auction ending to non USA buyer.
After this learning experience I will list ebay Global shipping and specify in the text that USA shipping will go cheapest USPS .
Tom

[BoschZEV]

Sorry to hear about your friend BoschZEV. Motorcycles should be making all of us happy,.

Thanks very much for your sentiments. The situation with my friend has emphasized to me the importance of spending as much of my time as possible on things that bring me pleasure, and ignoring to the extent possible things that don't. Especially things over which I have essentially no control anyway. I find reading and writing about old motorcycles pleasurable, which is why I come to the AMCA site.

[tfburke3]

I have been using eBay to buy and sell parts for about 10 years and have enjoyed the relative ease of the experience. Over the years Ive bought many large and small items and I was well accustomed to the prices of air mail from all regions of the US.

In the early days of my ebaying, a seller reamed me on freight to make up for a poor auction price. After that experience I added the US post calculator to my favorites list, so that I could check how much the freight should be.
At the moment I am looking for xlr parts and have been noticing some sellers using the "eBay Global shipping program".
The cost of international shipping with this eBay global system is ridiculous and prohibitive.
I recently contacted a seller and said that I was interested in the parts but the cost of the eBay Global shipping program was rediculous. The seller agreed and changed the shipping to standard US Post air mail.
For example: one small box went from $47 (eBay global shipping program) down to $22 with US post air mail.

After recently selling I have had international,Japan and Uk bidders when I checked Us shipping only.
Ebay does not filter out overseas bids so a bidder can ruin your auction at the last second.In my case I decided to take a chance based on good feedback and shipped cheapest USPS($60 to Japan) with no tracking besides customs. UPS quoted 488 to ship to Japan with tracking and signature verification.
Sale ended with USPS rate,so I shipped it,a JD luggage rack.
Since I checked US shipping when I created the listing I could not use the Global shipping after auction ending to non USA buyer.
After this learning experience I will list ebay Global shipping and specify in the text that USA shipping will go cheapest USPS .
Tom

[exeric]

Sorry to hear about your friend BoschZEV. Motorcycles should be making all of us happy, so I'm going to make an effort to keep that at the forefront. Again, my thoughts and prayers for your friend.

[fillibuster]

I guess I didn't recognize one single motorcycle part in any of the posts on this thread!
But I recognized the authors of each post, and I'm interested in what they say. I'm sure we've handled worse from each other.
Our hobby has become increasingly international, the result of economic forces more powerful than politics. That's a snapshot relative to much more than motorcycles. ..... I'll spare you the war-and-peace..

[BoschZEV]

As always, you're never at a loss for a passive, aggressive comment.

I'm sorry, but sometimes these completely off-topic rants get to me. However, the first sentence of my response was a very direct "I'm afraid you have it wrong" which is hardly passive-aggressive. I then followed it with verifiable facts about shipping rates that directly supported my statement that "you have it wrong."

Not that it's an excuse, but I wrote my response after having just returned from visiting a long-time motorcycle friend who is now in hospice care for the final few weeks of his life. For me, reading and writing about motorcycles are pleasurable escapes from everyday life, which is why your post that was both wrong and had no connection with motorcycles got to me. I usually ignore off-topic posts, and I'll try harder to do so in the future.

[exeric]

As always, you're never at a loss for a passive, aggressive comment.

[BoschZEV]

I agree; but odd how Walmart can pack thousands of stores with billions of items shipped in from China and still undercut any American manufacturer. . . . Out of work, underemployed? Thank a politician.

I'm afraid you have it wrong. The cost to ship a standard 40 ft., 2400 cu.ft., container from China to the west coast is less than $1500. One cu.ft. easily holds more than 20 T-shirts so shipping from China adds no more than 3 cents each. Once they land they have to make it to stores the same way ones made in the U.S. would so the only way an American T-shirt manufacturer could compete on price is to produce them at no more than 3 cents each more than China does. Unfortunately, having visited many places in China various times over the past 25 years I can safely say that very few U.S. workers would be willing to work in anything like the conditions found in Chinese factories, and no one could survive here on the wages paid there.

The solution is simple, though, just impose a tariff on Chinese T-shirts to make the cost of imported ones the same as ones made in the U.S. But, wait, we hate Federal regulations so having the government involved is a problem. Plus, all U.S. manufacturers couldn't produce T-shirts at identical costs anyway, so any specific amount set for the tariff would benefit some U.S. manufacturers over others, i.e. the government would be "picking winners and losers," which we also hate. And, despite our ranting and raving about anything else, we hate paying more for T-shirts than Walmart charges and tariffs would increase that cost. Further, although there's a deficit in our balance of trade, we still export over $100B to China every year. Presumably, if we raised tariffs they would as well so some of the U.S. workers who currently make those exported goods would lose their jobs. But, maybe they would (eventually) gain their jobs back if we started making things here that we previously had purchased from China before we raised the tariffs. Except, now imports of T-shirts from India, Malaysia, Korea,... probably would increase to fill much or all of the gap left by no longer importing them from China. The solution to that is simple, though, we get the Federal government to slap increased tariffs on those countries...

Workable solutions to employment cannot be reduced to sound bites or slogans, or to demonizing individual politicians or entire countries. Unfortunately, though, we love our sound bites so that's what we're given and that's what we come to believe. However, frustrating as it is, it's not that simple. The reality is, everything in our society is interconnected in complex and not-always-obvious ways, and it takes more than slogans and sound bites to make this society function in the 21st century. But, hey, it's not so bad -- at least the T-shirts at Walmart are cheap...

[Robert Luland]

Tom, it wasn't greed but stupidity of E-Bay sellers. Sellers were putting items up for sale for $2 bucks with $300 buck shipping so they didn't have to pay on the sale item. E-Bay's answer was levy the shipping to stop the practice. Bob L

[Tom Wilcock]

Ebay, in their greed, recently (in the last year or so) added their fee percentage not only to the auction price but to the total INCLUDING SHIPPING. That should make them partially responsible for shipping. It is all about the money. Tom Wilcock

[wideglide38]

Hi Steve,
I agree whole heartedly! And I do believe the ebay customer service rep was quite put off when told them they were out of touch with reality and their policy was f’n crazy! eBay’s ONLY concern is making their 20+% for doing nothing. The sad thing is no one wants to take responsibility for their actions (e.g. eBay, US Postal, etc.)! It's beer-thirty here, Ride safe!
William

[Steve Little]

I have lifted this partial quote from wideglide38 response:
"An eBay Customer Service Rep once told me that as a seller, I am responsible for the item/package to its destination"

Hi William.
The following is not directed at you, but instead at this rediculous eBay policy, which the eBay customer service rep has quoted to you.

This is non sensible jargon used to distance eBay from ownership of a problem, which really isn't theirs.
If we take eBay's preposterous quote out of the conversation, then we can break the process down and discuss it with common sense.

The Seller, is not responsible for an article, while it is in transit with US Post, or any other shipping company.
US Post charges a fee to take the parcel from the Sellers hands, and deliver it to the Buyers hands, where ever that destination may be.
When the part is in the Buyers hands, the final process of the eBay transaction comes back into play. The Buyer should inspect the way the part is packaged, the date it was delivered to the Post Office, then inspect the part to determine the accuracy of the Sellers description. The Sellers performance is then written in eBay Feedback, as a review for other customers.

A Buyer complaining about slow postage to a Seller, or to eBay is misdirecting the vent.
Complain to the postage company.
If a Buyer wants the part fast, then pay for fast postage.
If the Buyer wants to know where the part is at every step of the way, then pay for tracking.
eBay should dump the Global shipping scheme and keep it simple.
Just give us a site to Buy and Sell parts.

[Robert Luland]

Bill, your sense is right on the money. China definitely underwrites the shipping. I just bought a rotary switch for $17.00 bucks with free shipping from Hong Kong. It will take two weeks. DHL it isn't. Bob L

[23JDCA 808]

I agree; but odd how Walmart can pack thousands of stores with billions of items shipped in from China and still undercut any American manufacturer.

My sense is that China is underwriting many MAILED items, and the U.S. post office has to honor the postal frank when it hits our shores.