How do most of you that sell >20% of your items internationally handle shipping for items on ebay, where the combined purchase price can reach $150+ ?

I've had a few orders now (Singapore, Greece and Russia) where the items seem to disappear for a really long time (20-35 days) and the buyers are usually most interested in blaming me, not the cheap shipping rate/company that they paid. I know that customs can take a while, but the latest order has been MIA in destination country for 29 days now. 99% of my international shipments currently go USPS First Class International since there is nothing else that competes for price.

Is it better to reduce the quantity of sales and force expedited shipping for these orders, or will that not save on customs time?

Do the 3rd party insurance companies cover orders that aren't delivered within X amount of time? Which companies do you recommend?

 

 

Is there no ebay global shipping program in US? I find that the easiest and most stress free way to do international. 

1 hour ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

Is there no ebay global shipping program in US? I find that the easiest and most stress free way to do international. 

I use GSP for the sole reason that eBay take responsibility for shipping after it reaches the GSP centre. Postage is higher for the buyer but not much worse than sending a fully insured item that needs a signature. Sometimes you can see what they pay when the PayPal payment comes through. All it costs me is 2nd Class Signed For which is £3.90. I've used GSP for over 250 items so far and not one single complaint.

We do have GSP available here, but I don't believe it works on combined orders. Most of the sets that I sell are $8-30 each and frequently purchased with other sets of a similar price. 

If this isn't true, please let me know and I'll gladly just go with GSP.

5 hours ago, SageFly said:

We do have GSP available here, but I don't believe it works on combined orders. Most of the sets that I sell are $8-30 each and frequently purchased with other sets of a similar price. 

If this isn't true, please let me know and I'll gladly just go with GSP.

For combined orders, I just create one eBay listing for whatever the buyer wants.  Buyers so far have been happy with the reduction in shipping costs if they opt to buy from one listing rather than have separate GSP costs. 

I love GSP cos its cheaper for me to ship to GSP and for GSP to ship to buyer than it is for me to directly ship the item an international buyer.  GSP takes a bit longer and i dont need to sweat it out if a parcel disappears.