It looks like Ebay wants a piece of the action on international shipping. With my Canadian address, I usually verify that the shipper is using US Postal Service, or Royal Mail if shipping from Great Britain. The reason is simple… I almost NEVER had to pay customs, broker charges, or duty on inbound international parcels. I appreciate having control over which carrier to use. On the other hand, if the shipper uses UPS, Fed-Ex, or other couriers, they stand at my door with their hand out, wanting money for the above charges. Now, Fed Ex is even sneakier, sending a bill a week or two after delivering the parcel!!!!
Anyway, this is the latest communique from Ebay:
We are writing to let you know about updates to the eBay User Agreement. The updated User Agreement was posted on www.ebay.com on April 26, 2013. The updated User Agreement is effective immediately for new members, and on July 1, 2013, for current members.
Key updates to the eBay User Agreement: •Provisions regarding Global Shipping Program. We added provisions describing the Global Shipping Program, through which we may make your domestic U.S. listings available to international buyers. For items that are located in the United States and that you sell through the Global Shipping Program, you will simply ship the sold item to a parcel processing facility located in the United States, where a third party global technology and shipping provider will oversee the processing, customs clearance, and international shipment of the item to the buyer. Buyers will pre-pay all applicable shipping and import charges during checkout and will benefit from international tracking of the item from the parcel processing facility through delivery.
Unless you have previously opted into the Global Shipping Program or are a new user, we may make your eligible new and existing listings available to international buyers through the Global Shipping Program only after you have indicated a desire to take advantage of this program in the form of an electronic click-through acceptance of the User Agreement or otherwise. Your participation in the Global Shipping Program will be subject to additional terms and conditions, including an agreement with that provider for the provision of its services to you.
See Frequently Asked Questions for more information about this User Agreement update as it applies to the Global Shipping Program.
•Updates relating to eBay's process of amending the User Agreement and users' acknowledging acceptance of it. We updated the provision regarding the process by which the User Agreement may be amended and added a provision describing how a user may be asked to acknowledge acceptance of it.
As with previous updates, other changes have been made to keep the User Agreement up-to-date. We encourage you to review the updated User Agreement to familiarize yourself with the updates.
You don't need to take any further action to accept the updated eBay User Agreement. If you choose not to accept it, visit this help page for further direction.
Thank you for being a part of the eBay Community.
In other words, your personal control over which carrier to use is now at the discretion of an "independent" forwarder, undoubtedly guaranteeing extra bucks in EBay's pocket. Undoubtedly, going to cost you more… Presumably, this impacts American users too, if they purchase internationally as well. It's already hard enough to justify typical shipping charges laid on an Ebay purchase, without a layer of surcharge on top of it.
This really upsets me.
Anyway, this is the latest communique from Ebay:
We are writing to let you know about updates to the eBay User Agreement. The updated User Agreement was posted on www.ebay.com on April 26, 2013. The updated User Agreement is effective immediately for new members, and on July 1, 2013, for current members.
Key updates to the eBay User Agreement: •Provisions regarding Global Shipping Program. We added provisions describing the Global Shipping Program, through which we may make your domestic U.S. listings available to international buyers. For items that are located in the United States and that you sell through the Global Shipping Program, you will simply ship the sold item to a parcel processing facility located in the United States, where a third party global technology and shipping provider will oversee the processing, customs clearance, and international shipment of the item to the buyer. Buyers will pre-pay all applicable shipping and import charges during checkout and will benefit from international tracking of the item from the parcel processing facility through delivery.
Unless you have previously opted into the Global Shipping Program or are a new user, we may make your eligible new and existing listings available to international buyers through the Global Shipping Program only after you have indicated a desire to take advantage of this program in the form of an electronic click-through acceptance of the User Agreement or otherwise. Your participation in the Global Shipping Program will be subject to additional terms and conditions, including an agreement with that provider for the provision of its services to you.
See Frequently Asked Questions for more information about this User Agreement update as it applies to the Global Shipping Program.
•Updates relating to eBay's process of amending the User Agreement and users' acknowledging acceptance of it. We updated the provision regarding the process by which the User Agreement may be amended and added a provision describing how a user may be asked to acknowledge acceptance of it.
As with previous updates, other changes have been made to keep the User Agreement up-to-date. We encourage you to review the updated User Agreement to familiarize yourself with the updates.
You don't need to take any further action to accept the updated eBay User Agreement. If you choose not to accept it, visit this help page for further direction.
Thank you for being a part of the eBay Community.
In other words, your personal control over which carrier to use is now at the discretion of an "independent" forwarder, undoubtedly guaranteeing extra bucks in EBay's pocket. Undoubtedly, going to cost you more… Presumably, this impacts American users too, if they purchase internationally as well. It's already hard enough to justify typical shipping charges laid on an Ebay purchase, without a layer of surcharge on top of it.
This really upsets me.