Question To Ebay Sellers In The US Who Are Using The Global Shipping Program

I do live in Bangkok Thailand.
Yesterday I did win a small lot of Philippines stamps and I was the only bidder. Cost $3.25.
I did forget to look at the shipping condition before bidding, so I got a surprise invoice
$3.25 plus $32.75 for the shipping with the global shipping program.
Question, can the sellers in the US see the amounts the global shipping program does charge to customers?.
This program makes it impossible for overseas bidders to bid on any item below $250
Thanks for any explanation

The short answer is no.

The same appears to be true for U.S. buyer's buying outside the USA. The shipping charges I see from Europe or Asia are ridiculous and keep one from buying most of it. I wish there were a filter or "alarm" one could use so as not to accidentally bid on or buy these, because it is a shock to buy a $.99 item with a $38 or $56 or .... shipping charge that cannot be rationally explained.

I wouldn't go near the GSP, but I ask overseas bidders to enquire about postage costs before bidding. Wating until the invoice is written can be a recipe for disappointment.

I buy on e bay from India and japan and the fee is 7$ for registered tracked mail. Great service to.
E bay.com is ripping off American buyers.

If I were to ship one or a few stamps overseas from the US, if they weren't worth a lot of money, like the $3.25 mentioned, couldn't one just mail in a business envelope for the global stamp rate of $1.25. It would be like a business letter, only with some stamps inside. Just wondering...

PS to jossanders52: I lived in Thailand for 2 months in 1985, with weekend trips to Bangkok, Chang Mai, and Ko Samet. What a beautiful country it is!

In 2016-17 the UPU changed the Universal Postal Union regulations to disallow any merchandise from being sent as First Class mail, they define merchandise very broadly (basically anything other than a papers/documents). Merchandise has to be declared and is subject to applicable forms, duties, taxes, inspections, etc.
Don

Thanks for all the replies.
I do not know the motives for sellers joining the global shipping program, but for sure they do not do themselves a favor.
The greatly decrease the number of people who are willing to bid on their items and they will not get a good selling price.

"In 2016-17 the UPU changed the Universal Postal Union regulations to disallow any merchandise from being sent as First Class mail, they define merchandise very broadly (basically anything other than a papers/documents). Merchandise has to be declared and is subject to applicable forms, duties, taxes, inspections, etc."

Right.

Then there must be millions of people that sell stamps on ebay, Delcampe, Hipstamps, and others that have their web sites as well as those that sell post cards, collector cards, and photographs that break those rules on a daily basis.

Is that due to ignorance or civil disobedience? And if this is happening, how long do you think it will take for the countries of the UPU to begin stop their loss of income?

Lastly this community does not recommend 'breaking the rules'. You risk having your mailed item not being delivered and/or incurring more delays.

If folks do not like the rules of the UPU, then the correct thing to do is to pressure your local politicians to get your country to make the UPU change those rules.

The bottom line here is money and the transition of postal systems away from first class mail and towards parcel handling service. They understand that email has killed off First Class mail and that handling parcels is more competitive and more costly. And I assume that politicians also like to tax things since that is how they stay in power.

So while I agree that there are some who are breaking the rules they are doing so at the risk of their 'goods' of not getting through the international postal system. (Perhaps this is why we see so many complaints and whining about international mail slowness and non-delivery?)

More information on the 2016 UPU Congress "Integrated Product Plan" rules changes here (see page 17).
https://www.wik.org/fileadmin/Konfe...Campbell.pdf

It was also splashed across all the news back then
https://blog.stamps.com/2017/12/26/...ional-flats/

https://www.commerce-logistics.com/...ons%E2%80%9D

Don

Then how does ebay work it out with USPS to abrogate the restrictions on what you can send in 1st class mail - ie. ebay standard envelope for baseball/trading cards ?

I'm not sure that the IPC is yet in universal operation - I don't recall seeing such guidance on the Royal Mail website. One effect of the US's price increases for handling mail sent from overseas (plus, doubtless,Covid) has been that Royal Mail has moved the US into a new "World Zone 3" category from Zone 1.

Rich,
The UPU rules do not apply to domestic mail, only international. I think that ebay USA is running a 'private' mail service by funneling USA-to-international items into a single departure point here in the USA and then sending it bundled to various other countries which it also has made special agreements with.

GeoffHa,
United Kingdom is required to comply but to their credit they at least voted against IPC. From the Congress documents regarding implementation of the IPC

Don

Ignorance or civil disobedience?

Probably simple COMMON sense.

Are you going to send a single stamp or a block of stamps or a single card in parcel and pay 10 times the letter rate?

It is against the postal regulations. The question is, 'are you going to risk your item not being received'? (THAT is the common sense)

Of course you can break any laws you want and do as you wish. But you should not be telling others to do this in this community, let's move on.
Don

Just to clarify a point, if I were to gift some stamps to someone I could send them by letter but if sold the same stamps to them I would send them via parcel?