Sellers on eBay.com who wish to sell internationally without dealing with international shipping and customer service can use eBay’s Global Shipping Program, though the program is not without its critics (detailed in other articles). While foreign buyers have always been able to use third-party mail forwarding services to shop from U.S. sellers, sellers have little control over their use.
Now eBay is partnering with some of those firms to create membership programs in other countries as part of eBay-sanctioned programs designed to increase cross-border trade – a high priority for the company over the past several years.
In Chile, eBay partnered with eShopex; in Colombia, eBay partnered with Aeropost; and in Mexico, eBay partnered with Estafeta.
The Chilean program, called eBay 365, allows eBay customers in Chile to pay an annual fee to receive an unlimited number of packages (up to 3 kg) purchased from eBay sellers in the U.S. The program offers tracking on international shipments, as well as delivery protections should an item arrive damaged. The eBay 365 program, powered by eShopex, also offers a pay-as-you-go shipping plan (Plan 24/7) for discounted rates.
EcommerceBytes wrote about eShopex’s GlobalShopex program last year and described how U.S. merchants were using the program on their own online storefronts.
eBay’s Director of Geo-Expansion for Latin America Marco Ottonello described eBay’s programs in more detail on the company blog. “Our solutions make shipping easier, make products more trackable and give buyers access to more products,” he said. “It gives buyers access to sellers who previously only shipped domestically in the U.S.”
He said Chilean customers enrolled in the eBay-eShopex shipping programs, live since early April, are purchasing 50% more items and are purchasing more expensive items.
eBay also announced this week another global shipping program it would be opting U.S. sellers into, announced as part of its Fall Seller Release.
