Six years after the UK voted to leave the EU, the transition is still causing significant problems for many eBay sellers hoping to sell their products in Europe.

While it is unlikely that selling into Europe will ever be as easy as before Brexit, there are solutions that aim to create a smoother experience for buyers and sellers. These solutions include eBay’s Global Shipping Programme.

What is eBay’s Global Shipping Programme?

eBay’s Global Shipping Programme takes care of all the costs, paperwork, and logistics associated with selling into Europe (and beyond) from the United Kingdom.

Sellers in the programme simply list their products as usual. eBay then automatically adds global shipping fees and import duties to listings and manages these additional costs.

When a sale is made, sellers ship their products to eBay’s UK Shipping Center using their usual postal service, and eBay takes care of everything else, including customs clearance and tracking. This means there are no extra charges when the items arrive at your buyer’s European delivery address. Essentially, it’s as easy as selling to a UK-based customer.

Additional Benefits of eBay’s Global Shipping Programme

eBay highlights many other benefits of joining the programme. These include:

Increase Sales: eBay internal data based on the performance of a sample of business sellers for a 3-month period before and after joining the Global Shipping Programme suggests that sellers could see an increase in sales of around 4%. While this might not make up for revenues lost following the Brexit transition, it’s a marginal gain you shouldn’t ignore in your eBay optimisation journey.
Greater Seller Protections: Once your products have arrived safely at the UK Shipping Centre, eBay will take full responsibility for any lost or damaged packages. If an item is damaged in the UK Shipping Centre or international transit, eBay will cover the loss or damage to the buyer, and the seller will keep the money from the sale. Sellers listing items with free postage will also receive an automatic 5-star rating for postage and packaging.
Speedy Delivery: eBay sellers using the Global Shipping Programme benefit from professional customs processing, which helps minimise customs delays. This means packages sent to customers in the EU generally arrive within 3-5 days (and 7-10 days for non-European destinations).