International Priority Shipping is a major eBay ripoff. USPS is much cheaper.

[lyndal1838]

International Priority Shipping is a USPS premium service that provides tracking, insurance and seller protection.

I presume you are referring to the USPS First Class mail being a lot cheaper...but it does not provide the same level of protection so many sellers will not use it.

[trulyspecialgoodies]

On the Australian site it's only proof of postage that's needed for seller protection NOT proof of delivery, so it makes me wonder why US sellers who ship to Australia aren't aware of this and don't use the cheaper postage option. They don't need tracking and insurance when sending to Australia - as long as they have 'proof of postage' they're covered.

It's my understanding that sellers have to abide by the rules of whichever site the items are purchased on - therefore Aussie sellers sending to the US must have tracking and insurance for 'proof of delivery' seller protection if the items are purchased on ebay.com but not vice versa if they're purchased on ebay.com.au.

I've always wondered though how sellers are supposed to know which site items are purchased on. Perhaps someone could enlighten me.

[lemmayj]

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@trulyspecialgoodies wrote:

On the Australian site it's only proof of postage that's needed for seller protection NOT proof of delivery, so it makes me wonder why US sellers who ship to Australia aren't aware of this and don't use the cheaper postage option. They don't need tracking and insurance when sending to Australia - as long as they have 'proof of postage' they're covered.

It's my understanding that sellers have to abide by the rules of whichever site the items are purchased on - therefore Aussie sellers sending to the US must have tracking and insurance for 'proof of delivery' seller protection if the items are purchased on ebay.com but not vice versa if they're purchased on ebay.com.au.

I've always wondered though how sellers are supposed to know which site items are purchased on. Perhaps someone could enlighten me.

---

This is a pet peeve of mine,  I've only found one sneaky method to locate the buyer's login location, and ebay CS have told me that they can't tell me.

So, here's the method, and it's a bit convoluted!   Firstly, it only works if you've sent an invoice to the buyer, and you receive a copy of that invoice. (So no good if a buyer pays before you've issued the invoice).  At the very bottom of the invoice, just below the link telling you how to protect yopurself from spoof emails, in tiny print, there should be something like the text below...

************************************************

eBay sent this email to you at seller_email about your account registered on www.ebay.XXX.

eBay will periodically send you required emails about the site and your transactions. Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.

Copyright © 2013 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc. eBay Inc. is located at 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125.

**************************************************

Now, the critical element is the ebay.XXX

if it's a ebay.com.au, it's ebay Australia, and you're good to go on proof of postage

ebay.com  it's ebay US and you need proof of delivery

ebay.com.sg    ebay Singapore and you just need proof of postage.

etc

ie the ebay.XXX identifies the user site of the buyer.

Now, this is just my personal experience from comparing buyer locations to invoice emails (and the item sold emails tell you nothing), but it's the only clue I've got aprt from the buyer address, which tells you very little (though a US buyer can probably be assumed to have logged in on the US site).

As far as a US seller is concerned,  a canny Australian buyer would log into ebay US before purchasing, so as to have ebay US buyer protection, so they can't assume that proof of postage is sufficient...

I personally think that ebay should provide this information, and have complained to ebay CS about it, but there doesn't appear to have been any changes made. It seems totally wrong that the paypal user agreement specifically excludes protection from ebay US and ebay UK buyer claims, but ebay won't tell us whether a particular buyer is eligible to make those claims.

OK, winge over.

[phorum_junkie*]

It does not depend on the site the seller is registered on it depends on the site a buyer purchases through. I have purchased items while in Australia from an Australian seller while I have been logged into the UK site and it has ended up with ebay protection rather than Paypal's.

[lemmayj]

Agreed, but while that line states that's the site that the seller is registered on, it actually refers to the login site of the buyer. I am guessing that this is because the invoice is automatically generated in the language of the buyer's login site, rather than the seller's site.

I can confirm that all my US buyers have had ebay.com there, while most of my Australian buyers have ebay.com.au, while some buyers from Singapore have ebay.com.sg (bought on ebay Singapore) and others ebay.com (bought on ebay US).

[stuartvw]

This is getting off subject.        

The fact seems to be that a lot of US sellers don't seem aware that they have a USPS option and choose  International Priority Shipping because it is either suggested or is the default (speculation only).

What I do know is:

1) USPS and Australia Post have never failed me.

2) It is a difficult process for a US seller to change from  International Priority Shipping to USPS after agreeing with a buyer to do so.

I had a tranascation like this and it had to be dne through Payapl invoicing directly and not Ebay. By making it so difficult Ebay are doing themselves a dis-service, I imagine, loosing seller's commission.

[davewil1964]

Welcome back. After more than 5 weeks I doubt many care if it went of topic.

[zanadoo_56]

From what I've experienced, sellers sometimes insist on IPS because of the extra protection, but when I bought 3 items from the US which coincidentally all ended up posted at the same time, the two USPS First Class parcels arrived in good time......whereas the more expensive IPS parcel didn't turn up until nearly two weeks later.

Nowadays it has to be a rare item indeed that I will buy where the only option is IPS.  I don't want to spend all that money for a slower service - it's too expensive IMO.  Still, when it comes to the GSP, I won't buy from any seller using that at all, no matter how much I like what's being sold.

[lyndal1838]

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@stuartvw wrote:

This is getting off subject.        

The fact seems to be that a lot of US sellers don't seem aware that they have a USPS option and choose  International Priority Shipping because it is either suggested or is the default (speculation only).

What I do know is:

1) USPS and Australia Post have never failed me.

2) It is a difficult process for a US seller to change from  International Priority Shipping to USPS after agreeing with a buyer to do so.

I had a tranascation like this and it had to be dne through Payapl invoicing directly and not Ebay. By making it so difficult Ebay are doing themselves a dis-service, I imagine, loosing seller's commission.

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Stuart, you do not seem to understand what you have been told.....International Priority Mail is a USPS service....it is a premium service that offers tracking and insurance to the standard required for seller protection.

It is also the service used by Pitney Bowes when they forward parcels from sellers who use the Global Shipping Program.

Many sellers will not use the much cheaper First Class Mail service because it does not offer any seller protection.