Shipping costs and the ability to choose a country
Summary: The discussion concerned shipping costs and the ability to choose a country when shopping. The participants exchanged observations on various aspects of this issue, but the details of the conversation were not included. The topic appears to be important to everyone involved, which suggests continued interest in further developing it.
Hello.
I would like to ask on behalf of a colleague who sells through eBay.
It is a company that sells to all countries.
The problem comes with shipping costs, e.g. to all kinds of islands (e.g. Majorca or the Canary Islands).
These islands belong to countries that are specified in the shipping costs (e.g. setting a price of 12 euros for shipping to Spain). However, sometimes a customer from Spain buys something to the Canary Islands, where the shipping cost is much higher than to mainland Spain. In the eBay shipping options there are NO islands listed - so you cannot choose between the mainland and the islands. It is similar with the Greek, Italian, and French islands or Cyprus - eBay treats them as European countries (as Europe), and even if you manage to set a price for the country, the price will be uniform, so either every customer will pay a much higher price (because you have to account for shipping costs to the islands), or the seller will set a normal price (as for the mainland) and will have to cover the extra shipping costs to the islands.
After the sale, can the seller ask the customer for an additional payment toward shipping costs, e.g. to the islands?
(could they, for example, add a note in the listing that for customers from the islands an additional shipping fee will be possible?)
is this compliant with eBay? How to solve this?
Or maybe it can actually be set somehow in eBay?
luk-was_84
OP2 years agoBut what’s the point of giving the weight and dimensions of the parcel I’m sending, if, for example, I can only set one shipping cost to Spain (even when I set it just for Spain itself). A customer buys from the Canary Islands and it turns out I have to pay extra for shipping more than the cost of the product itself.
Just like written in the posts above - Malta is a European country that I don’t want to exclude, and shipping there is on average 80% higher than shipping to Italy (mainland). And the country MALTA - isn’t in the list of countries on Ebay (in ebay there is no option to set a price for Malta different from the rest of Europe). Malta is included in Ebay as a European country, and that’s it...
When selling goods to a customer in Malta, I either have to cover the loss myself or I have to cancel the order to avoid costs, but after canceling I lose customers and income, and I don’t know whether I could get a negative review from the customer for canceling their order. I probably can’t exclude Malta under Polish law, because European countries can’t be excluded from sales (if I’m already selling abroad).
Price lists received from courier companies always cover countries and regions on the mainland and on the islands. Those on the islands are, for obvious reasons, very high (logistics costs - plane or ship).
And now, as a seller, even if I want to "average out" prices for the mainland and the islands, I significantly increase shipping costs for parcels to the mainland (so that they cover the shipping costs to the islands), which, however, scares off customers (especially those buying from the mainland).
Such rules are like a lottery for sellers.... I’ll sell goods for a set amount... but I’ll ship them for amount X, and either I’ll make a profit on it or I’ll lose money.
luk-was_84
OP3 years agoOk thanks for the reply - but unfortunately this does not solve the shipping cost problems to some countries (addresses)
marek101
·3 years agoI don't have this problem because I offer free shipping (buyers like it when shipping is free) but I can suggest creating your own shipping cost table. That's possible on eBay.com, but I don't know whether eBay.pl offers it. In some cases it offers (also on eBay.com) the so-called calculated shipping, where I enter the package dimensions and weight, and the buyer, based on that, is able to choose the shipping method that suits them. Check whether on the eBay where you sell there is an option to set that up.
guangxi_hone
·3 years agoExpand the menu under the continent and you’ll be able to choose countries individually. You can’t select parts of a country like, for example, islands or overseas territories or military units.
After the auction ends, it is against eBay rules to demand any additional payment.
luk-was_84
OP3 years agothanks for the reply
You wrote:
But what if the auction is still ongoing and the customer bought the product - meaning, say, we have 20 offers for a given product? (and the customer bought, say, 1 piece?)
Can you then ask the customer to pay extra for shipping costs?
If so, how do you do it in line with eBay rules so you don’t run into problems with eBay later?
As for the countries, they are listed and already set as much as possible - but not all of them (for example, CYPRUS is not there).
So how do you deal with shipping costs for shipments to the Canary Islands, Sardinia, Madeira, the Azores, Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Sicily, Corsica, the aforementioned Cyprus, and all the Greek islands, of which there are quite a few. As you can see, the problem concerns a large number of locations - there are a dozen or so islands in Europe alone.
Carriers (couriers, as well as the post office) have separate shipping rates for the islands, often up to 80% higher than for the mainland. eBay should consider expanding the country (region) selection options when it comes to shipping. At the moment, sellers either have to lose money (pay extra) on shipping to such "areas", or give up selling to customers from the aforementioned locations, which is not really in line with eBay rules (because you cannot exclude sales to countries when it comes to Europe).
Is there any sensible solution to this situation? Where should this be reported?
guangxi_hone
·3 years agoAfter concluding a purchase agreement (winning an auction or buying it now), it is against eBay rules to demand any additional payment.