eBay sellers may wish to check their settings on Friday to see if eBay has opted them into the Global Shipping Program. The company said in an announcement on Tuesday, “If you previously joined the Program, but your existing eligible listings were not automatically opted into the Program, they will be opted into the Program starting March 7, 2014.”
Some sellers don’t realize they opted into the program simply by accepting eBay’s new User Agreement – see eBay’s response to one such seller last month.
eBay has announced it has expanded its Global Shipping Program for sellers to two new countries – Switzerland and Norway – bringing the total to 44 countries in the program. However, for the first three months, only a limited number of listings will be available for sale to buyers in Norway. “Thereafter, we will make all eligible live and new listings from participating sellers available for sale to Norwegian buyers,” eBay said.
eBay’s Global Shipping Program is designed to make costs more transparent to international buyers and to make it easier for sellers to trade internationally. Items in the GSP program are available on eBay sites in many countries around the world; when an item sells, the seller sends the item to a warehouse of eBay’s third-party partner – Pitney Bowes – in the U.S., which then handles all the international shipping, customer support and returns.
As eBay explained, “Once your item arrives at the designated US shipping center, the Global Shipping Program takes care of ALL facets of international processing, including: Completion of customs forms; Remitting applicable import charges pre-paid by your buyer; and, Shipping the package to the buyer – with end-to-end international tracking. Your shipping-related Detailed Seller Ratings will be protected, and you are not responsible for loss or damage during international transit.”
Last month, eBay CEO John Donahoe told Wall Street analysts the company would be expanding the GSP beyond the U.S.
See more information about Tuesday’s announcement on the eBay Board.
