Comments on: The Campaign for Consumer Choice

By: John

John — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:46:33 +0000

Italy has to be the worst. I had a parcel turn up 87 days after posting (send RM International Signed For)!

UK = 9/10
Germany = 9.5/10
France = 6/10 (esp outside Paris)
Scandinavia = 9/10
Belgium / Lux = 9/10
Spain = 7/10
Portugal = 7/10
Italy = 5/10 (worse the further south you go)

I have taken the view only to block African countries (for obvious reasons), and not block e.g. Italy where competitors have done. Sales have increased in Italy for sure. I try to send via courier to Italy (it costs me about £16) – so I lose some revenue, but the customer is amazed when it turns up 5 days later (probably expecting it 2 weeks later!!)

By: Sue Bailey

Sue Bailey — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:47:39 +0000

They have 100% record here… of losing my parcels. *weeps*

By: northumbrian

northumbrian — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:00:19 +0000

post Italia takes some beating when it comes to terrible

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:16:40 +0000

The only country that has a terrible postal service in Europe is the UK.

As for different rate within Europe, don’t know where that one comes from, it’s either UK, Europe or Worldwide. Russia is a bit of an oddity eBay wise as it shows up twice in the countries you can block.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:59:52 +0000

Reply to Earl.
As Jimbo was hinting at, as far as I’m aware Royal Mail don’t charge a different rate for ANY Eastern European country. (Parcel force are rates are different,but that is probably also the case for different countries in Western Europe)

Unless you are getting confused by the Ebay way of thinking. They, for example officially regard Russia as being outside of Europe and therefore checkout will charge Russian buyers the Rest of World rate. But RM treat the whole of Russia as Europe rates

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:22:41 +0000

Which Eastern European Countries have a different Royal Mail postal rate?

The point I was trying to make is that the ability to block sellers does restrict trade within the EU and worldwide and may cause frustration to some overseas buyers.

I wasn’t actually making a judgment on whether this is a good thing or not.

By: Earl

Earl — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:09:14 +0000

These new Blocks are to allow sellers to be able to choose which countries they are willing to ship to, For example if you offer free shipping for European Customers, Royal mail for instance have different rates of shipping for Western and Eastern Europe, You might wish to Block Eastern European Country’s (as yor postage is going to be higher than the budgeted Western European postage) as Ebay does not take this into account.

Unfortunately also some Country’s have a terrible track record for postage so you might wish to not ship there to save items getting lost in the post.

A seller should be able to choose where they wish to ship to, restricting a sellers shipping options is a different matter altogether.

By: board_surfer

board_surfer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:06:20 +0000

well that has to be the most ludicrous thing I’ve read in a while.

By: David Allen

David Allen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:44:07 +0000

Most of the Ebay sellers were afraid NOT to sign Ebay’s petition in case they were banned by Ebay’s Gestapo.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:26:14 +0000

Paul the block is not item specific and can be implemented by any seller on any item. It limits the ability of some of our European neighbors to take advantage of some of the amazing deals that are available on eBay.co.uk. It also may cause frustration for European eBay users as they may be restricted from purchasing items that are not readily available in there own location.

Incidentally there are many items being sold on eBay.co.uk by overseas sellers, which should be blocked, as they do not comply with UK law.