Should I participate in Ebay’s Global Shipping Program

Among developing countries, USA has one of the lowest prices on technology products. It is a big market with a lot of competition and accordingly prices are lower. Also being a very big market, you may tend to find variations of products that are not easily available overseas. The cost of shipping overseas is prohibitive though, especially for small merchants who are shipping 1 or 2 items at a time. Large merchants, for them they can ship via container loads and freight cost is not that big of an issue for them, but for small merchants, the shipping cost makes their products expensive to the international clientele.

Lets say your item costs $100 and shipping is $120. To the customer, the total cost is $220. That makes your products very expensive to overseas customers.

Ebay understood this and so did Pitney Bowes. They joined hands and started a program called ‘Ebay’s Global Shipping Program’ and it has been a big boon for small merchants. We all know Pitney Bowes as the manufacturer of stamping machines and mail sorters but this has been a very smart move for both companies. The more Sellers sell on eBay, the more eBay makes in commissions.

Under the Ebay Global Shipping Program, merchants ship their products to a warehouse in Erlanger, Kentucky. They don’t need to do any complex paperwork. To the merchant it is a regular US destination shipment. Once Ebay receives the box, they do the paperwork and ship it to the destination country by air cargo. Ebay ships in bulk and passes on part of that saving to the merchant. Everybody wins.

So to the end user, instead of paying $220 in the earlier example, he may be paying only $20 to $30 in shipping. With no extra effort, all of a sudden your prices are more competitive. Bottom Line – increased sales and greater profitability.

I hope Amazon starts a similar program because that will really help small businesses grow their international business. For now, make sure you make good use of the Ebay Global Shipping Program. It’s an easy way to increase sales.

Good Luck!