Surprise Email from eBay

Getting a "your item sold" email from eBay isn't surprising in itself, especially when it's based on a "buy it now" 30 day listing which could happen at any time, BUT....

...it was surprising to see this $50 item had sold through the new Global Shipping program.  I didn't even know I was enrolled in that.

When I then tried to send an invoice eBay pops up a message that I can't do that for a global item. OK. That made me look at this carefully to see if it was a scam from this buyer who had ZERO FEEDBACK.  Nope, it's a genuine email from eBay and shows up as an item needing payment in my sold listings area.

SO, I went to the help section in eBay and read a few pages about the new global shipping program. I printed it out because there are several multi-step pages in there about how to opt-out of the global shipping, opt in, etc. There is even a section that says if you have exclusions built in to an item for sale that they an be overridden!

Needless to say it will be interesting to see how this plays out. I WAS able to look at the profile for the zero feedback buyer and one slim line shows he is in Australia.  I also sent him an email detailing some of what I have said here and asking him to respond. Since all eBay based email is kept by them it's just backup in case something goes wrong.

Meanwhile, AFTER he pays I ship the thing using eBay labels (which I always do anyway) and it goes to Kentucky where it is then taken over by the global shipper.  If this thing works right I might stay in the global program...we'll see. I have had bad luck in the past with two items to Canada so I have only sold to the USA for many years now. This might be the change date.

The eBay global shipping program is awesome if you ask me. One of the big problem with international shipping was the lack of tracking unless you paid $30 shipping fees, while 1st class was only $5. With global shipping you get delivery confirmation at no extra charge. The advantage of this is that the buyer cannot claim the package never arrived and demand their money back. With global shipping you now have access to a global market for the same cost as a domestic one.

Couple things. First off this is an awesome program. I never sold international before because I know foreign post offices often steal, things get lost oftentimes either in customers or in transit between US post office and foreign post office. What I like about this is you ship domestic and the rest is in ebays hands and all problems in there hands as weell.

One other thing I'd check on, I heard there was a problem with global shipping where all people were automatically opted in or it seemed like you were auctomatically opted in but weren't. Personally I think its a great program, I wish I could do it but my category of items I sell isn't allowed. Anyhow, I'd look into the program, terms and conditions and decide if you wanna do it or not and make sure you either aren't enrolled or are enrolled because I heard there was some glitch.

One last thing, if your doing buy it now you should check the box for "require payment immediately" There is no reason not to do this for a buy it now listing. For auctions you can't for buy it now you can and you should, no reason to allow a buyer to buy but not pay or buy and delay for a week in paying.

One last thing, if your doing buy it now you should check the box for "require payment immediately" There is no reason not to do this for a buy it now listing. For auctions you can't for buy it now you can and you should, no reason to allow a buyer to buy but not pay or buy and delay for a week in paying.

Prior to eBay having a shopping cart, the problem with this was if buyers wanted to buy more than one type of item from you. With the box checked they had to pay for each item as they bought them, instead of one grand payment. This also made it difficult to combine shipping if you offered it. The new shopping cart feature seems to eliminate this problem, but there are a lot of buyers that either aren't aware of the shopping cart feature, or they simply aren't willing to use it.

Prior to eBay having a shopping cart, the problem with this was if buyers wanted to buy more than one type of item from you. With the box checked they had to pay for each item as they bought them, instead of one grand payment. This also made it difficult to combine shipping if you offered it. The new shopping cart feature seems to eliminate this problem, but there are a lot of buyers that either aren't aware of the shopping cart feature, or they simply aren't willing to use it.

you bring up a great point. new shopping cart item is awesome however buyers dont know about it and even when i tell htem about it and tell them to use it as it makes things easier and more clear on both me and them they still continue to buy one item at a time. all my items are free shipping so doesn't really matter if they buy together or seperately. i also combine shipping even if someone buys items seperately. for a minute i was worried ebay/pp would rule against me in the case of a dispute however i talked to both of them and thats not the case. reason i thoguth this was i saw another ebayer say in their listing they will only combine if purchased together