Question about global shipping program

[hayfield]

11 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

Import charges includes VAT, which is due, plus a commission for making the collection (I have been charged variously between 8€ and 15€ ( £ 6.50 - £13) for collections of equivalent value to the customs/tax authorities by other companies.  £9.20 does not seem excessive, although you might argue the postage costs are high.

 

Andy if the GPS is £9.20 then the buyer has also to pay the UK postal charges as well, it all adds up to quite a high sum

 

Two or three weeks ago I was asked to post an item to Slovenia and the buyer asked for it to be sent UK economy. He had a good feedback record and did not mind a bit of an extra wait. It was a small, light and inexpensive item. From memory it was a  large letter and it cost £3.25, not much more than I would have charged for 1st class UK and arrived within a week (better than Hermes domestic !!). I thought I would be covered by the Royal Mail Compensation scheme (proof of posting) if it went wrong. But worked like clockwork and the post office did not ask for customs

[Andy Hayter]

@hayfield

No.   There are two ebay charges for international buyers who buy from GPS registered sellers.

 

There are import costs (the £9.20 in this case) which is sales taxes (VAT) and any import duties (zero for model railways) plus a commission for handling these transactions.

 

Then there is the shipping costs (without looking back thirteen pounds something?) and this is the compete shipping cost.  Seller to GPS collection centre + GPS collection centre to GPS distribution centre + GPS distribution centre to the buyer.  

 

This will not be obvious to anyone who only buys from within the UK.

[daltonparva]

I sold a loco this week for £119.95, the US buyer paid £161 in total. I have also had enquiries as to why items costing £20 were incurring such high delivery charges. From a sellers point of view the GSP makes things very simple, from a buyers it makes things expensive. I now don't look for items other than "UK only" when purchasing as the postal charges from abroad are so high.

[hayfield]

25 minutes ago, daltonparva said:

I sold a loco this week for £119.95, the US buyer paid £161 in total. I have also had enquiries as to why items costing £20 were incurring such high delivery charges. From a sellers point of view the GSP makes things very simple, from a buyers it makes things expensive. I now don't look for items other than "UK only" when purchasing as the postal charges from abroad are so high.

 

 

As a buyer I buy very little from abroad except for very cheap Chinese motors where the shipping costs are heavily subsidised.

 

As far as postage is concerned I treat all items the same, I work out what the item is worth to me then subtract the postage costs, this leaves me my maximum bid except for international sales where I would reduce it further in case there are any import costs. This is my maximum bid. In the past I have found people avoid items with expensive postage. This has in the past resulted in some quite cheap buys  

[John M Upton]

Unfortunately, the aforementioned cheap Chinese subsidised shipping costs are now a major contributory factor to the eye watering rise in international postage for the rest of us as the various national postal organisations have bumped up their international postage to compensate as they were losing millions.

 

Effectively this has rendered international buying and selling of model railway goods almost extinct.  So much for better international trade...

[admiles]

16 hours ago, cessna152towser said:

I sold a job lot of five Hornby wagons this morning on eBay.uk to a German buyer.   Listed as country of manufacture unknown as they were a mix of four made in UK and one made in China.   Sale price to highest bidder was  26.08 plus 3.20 domestic postage but I see that the buyer has to pay 13.06 postage (presumably an add on for shipping by eBay from their English GSP base to Germany) plus 9.20 import charges which I assume relates to the Chinese product as items manufactured in UK should go into EU tariff free under the withdrawal agreement.   I am committed to GSP as I do not have the buyer's address in Germany so posted the items this afternoon.  My stepdaughter will be here on a short holiday from Germany next week and I am thinking it would have been far cheaper for the buyer if I could have sent the items back to Germany in her luggage so she could have posted them in Germany.    It seems sad that eBay GSP charges for the buyer are so high!

 

Both UK and Chinese origin products imported into Germany would attract VAT but not import duty as model trains are duty free.  Nothing to do with the withdrawal agreement, they're been duty free for years.  Other products will attract import duty.

 

Now to confuse the issue a wee bit you can import dutiable goods into Germany (and any EU member state) duty free if you can provide the correct preference documentation to prove it's origin or the shipper is registered with the "REX" scheme and has a "REX" authorization number.  A private seller won't be able to do either of these things easily.

 

Edit: above paragraph applies only to UK origin goods, not Chinese!

Edited February 23, 2022 by admiles

[Lurch]

18 hours ago, cessna152towser said:

Listed as country of manufacture unknown as they were a mix of four made in UK and one made in China.  

[...]

9.20 import charges which I assume relates to the Chinese product as items manufactured in UK should go into EU tariff free under the withdrawal agreement.  

 

Ebay don't manually review every listing and check where each item was manufactured if you don't know. If you put unknown then no-one knows.

[genixia]

As a US-based guy starting on a GWR layout, I am finding UK ebay next to useless now.  Shipping kills it with GSP.   £15 items with £40 of shipping.  Cheaper to buy new from Hattons.

 

[hayfield]

16 hours ago, genixia said:

As a US-based guy starting on a GWR layout, I am finding UK ebay next to useless now.  Shipping kills it with GSP.   £15 items with £40 of shipping.  Cheaper to buy new from Hattons.

 

 

I was asked by a buyer if I could ship using the Royal Mail's economy service, it turned out not much less than UK 1st class. But then I guess you would have to add customs duty, worth a try.

 

I shipped an electric motor which fitted into a large letter format to Slovenia and there was no need for a customs declaration 

[GWR-fan]

A couple of years ago a UK seller had small decals that I needed.  The GPS price to Australia for these GBP3.95 decals was GBP23.95.   When I messaged the seller re the shipping cost he stated that he actually had no idea what GPS was charging for his sales.  He edited the listing to RM postage and the cost was GBP1.95.

[Quarryscapes]

15 hours ago, GWR-fan said:

A couple of years ago a UK seller had small decals that I needed.  The GPS price to Australia for these GBP3.95 decals was GBP23.95.   When I messaged the seller re the shipping cost he stated that he actually had no idea what GPS was charging for his sales.  He edited the listing to RM postage and the cost was GBP1.95.

 

Indeed sellers aren't privy to that information, all the seller gets in payment is the domestic postage rate to send it to the GSP hub, it's not stated anywhere to the seller what they will charge the buyer to whatever country. 

[brynna79]

On 26/02/2022 at 11:33, Quarryscapes said:

 

Indeed sellers aren't privy to that information, all the seller gets in payment is the domestic postage rate to send it to the GSP hub, it's not stated anywhere to the seller what they will charge the buyer to whatever country. 

I've noticed that the full price paid does appear as a notification at the top of your phone, if the app is installed. Often, I've seen it account for 30-50% of the sold price of the loco. Crazy... GSP stopped my US purchases as well, as it added that much as well. 

[Colin_McLeod]

On 23/02/2022 at 11:12, daltonparva said:

I now don't look for items other than "UK only" when purchasing as the postal charges from abroad are so high.

 

I agree.  GPS charges make importing very expensive.

 

In my case, I look for "EU only" but it's the same principle.

[Michael Hodgson]

This works in such a way as to discourage international trade, whether importing or exporting. 

 

It would be a smart move for a government to apply legislation to penalise multinationals whose exploitative pricing policies are having a negative impact on our balance of trade.  At a national level the scale of the problem probably isn't large enough for them to take any notice and devote parliamnetary time to it though. 

 

Having said that, from an environmental point of view, international shipping probably ought to be discouraged generally to reduce carbon emissions.

[cessna152towser]

I recently auctioned a Hornby Hull and Barnsley style van with eyes printed on one end, from the former Hornby Thomas range but in wrong box, which went for 9.50 plus 3.35 postage.    I received 10.76 from eBay representing the sale price plus postage less their fees.  The buyer was based in USA and I see that eBay Global Shipping Programme charged him 33.65 for postage, customs etc, making a total of 46.50 which he would have paid to eBay in dollar equivalent, more than four times the amount which I as the seller received from eBay.  I am guessing the buyer was REALLY KEEN to win this auction.   Generally though, as @Michael Hodgson said a few months ago, the GSP charges work to discourage international trading.

[jjb1970]

A lot of sellers still offer shipping outside of the GSP. My issue with EBay is less about the GSP (for my location the GSP charges aren't that bad for things like locomotives) and more that I find prices on EBay are often quite high.

 

International shipping is interesting as I get free shipping with GST added to Singapore using Amazon SG Prime, no doubt there will be some sort of margin to cover it as well as the obvious fact that Prime is a pay service but for stuff from Japan it actually does seem to be pretty much free compared to buying from Japanese model shops. However, while Japanese model items (including the stuff Kato makes for Europe and America) is really competitive on Amazon SG, models from Europe and America can be a bit silly. I buy models from Ali Express, their free shipping service is reliable but very slow, however the upgrade to express shipping to Singapore is very cheap.

[BrakeCoach]

The ludicrous shipping prices all across Ebay is why I started using Hattons and other retailers more. Even if they have limited options, I still get VAT deducted and they will combine orders (especially hattons' trunk system) and ship it altogether for a reasonable price.

 

Seriously, why does it take maximum 50 pounds to ship a 2-axle wagon on ebay?

Edited November 11, 2023 by BrakeCoach

[cessna152towser]

I had an odd experience with Global Shipping recently.   I had sold some 00 scale coaches to a buyer in Germany and sent them 48 hour tracked to the Global Shipping centre in Staffordshire.  Post Office tracking confirmed delivery, however after a week eBay tracking still showing as "Item not yet received by first mile carrier or hub".    The post office proof of delivery was a photo of a trolley load of parcels from which I could not identify the parcel which I had sent.   I contacted eBay and a very helpful assistant confirmed that as the Post Office had confirmed delivery to GSP, I would not be held liable in event of an item not received claim as GSP insurance was factored into GSP fees and would cover any loss.  The assistant promised to contact Global Shipping to look for the item and e-mailed to me a transcript of our discussion.  The item was subsequently found at GSP and forwarded and I have now been notified that final delivery to the buyer in Germany took place today.

[John M Upton]

Those of us who avoid the GSP like the plague, may wish to check your account settings again.  I opted out of GSP some time back and specify specifically UK buyers only, however when I sold something last week I discovered it was going to the GSP clearing warehouse for forwarding to Australia! 

 

On checking my settings, it seems I have been opted back into the GSP again without notice and so I have had to opt out again.

 

The item cost a fiver, the GSP postage must have been five times that...

[Sjcm]

I have some items to sell in the new year which would probably attract more interest  abroad and not on GSP so I had a look on royal mail. Sending a loco sized item to America would cost me  19.85. so I have to gamble 20 pounds on the uk/usa post service (and from what I've seen the USA post makes Evri look good), fill in the forms correctly and hope I don't get a customs guy having a bad day. Just not worth the risk frankly compared to GSP who are responsible for the gambling bit and would take the hit. Now I did risk it before Brexit but there were such horror stories knocking around at that time that I just didnt/don't want the hassle.  Has it settled down? Probably. Unfortunately various governments have cut their own throats on this one