The eBay Global Shipping Program (GSP) helps eBay sellers ship to customers all over the world. Using the Global Shipping Program allows you to ship stress-free and at a lower cost to customers in 100 countries.
When you’re creating an eBay listing, you’ll have the option to select “Sell internationally with the Global Shipping Program”. You’ll find it under the International Postage section. When your listing is sold to someone in another country, eBay will send you three things:
You’ll post the parcel to the shipping centre using the label. Then eBay will handle the onward delivery to your customer.
When non-EU shoppers look at your listing, they’ll see the cost and estimated time for shipping to their location. They cover the cost of the international shipping, so all you have to pay is:
You don’t need to apply to use the Global Shipping Program. If you’re meeting the minimum service standards, you’ll be able to use it. It’ll be added as the default shipping option on all your eligible international listings.
The minimum service standard is based on factors that eBay consider important to your customers. It includes metrics like issue resolution and order fulfilment.
If you want to ship to customers in Germany, you’ll need to register with the Central Agency Packaging Register Authority. You’ll be given a LUCID number, which you’ll then need to submit to eBay.
Whether you can ship multiple items to the same customer using the Global Shipping Program depends on whether the items were sold in multiple transactions.
If you’ve sold multiple items in one transaction, they can be shipped in a single parcel. When a single customer places multiple orders, you should ship each order separately. Doing so makes it less likely that there will be issues at customs that cause your shipments to get held up at the border.
There are some restrictions on what you can ship with the Global Shipping Program. Items can’t be:
The price of the item (excluding postage) also limits where you can send it from the UK. This is also the eBay Global Shipping Program list of countries:
| Price Limit | Country of Destination |
|---|---|
| Up to £10,000 | Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway |
| Up to £5,000 | Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Jersey, Jordan, Kuwait, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States |
| Up to £3,000 | Chile |
| Up to £2,500 | Mexico |
| Up to £1000 | Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Turks & Caicos |
Alongside the list of things that can't sell on eBay, several product categories can’t be shipped with the Global Shipping Program. Some of them are obvious – if you sell intangible things like virtual currencies or web building services, there’s nothing to ship. The list includes:
The easiest way to know if a product category is supported is to list the item. If it’s not available to ship through GSP, the option won’t be available.
For shipments to EU countries, eBay acts as the “deemed supplier”. That means that they’re in charge of handling the VAT on the order. When a buyer in an EU country purchases goods from another country, eBay will charge them their local VAT rate on the sale. You don't need to worry about things like import VAT, as that's all taken care of for you.
GSP gives you access to more potential customers with less risk:
There are some potential issues to consider before charging ahead with the Global Shipping Program:
