Forum

Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

Hey everyone,

So I have a friend in a northern but still continental European country. We're going to partner and expand my operations there. I have a substantial enough body of Euro orders to warrant a base of operations. And he's a fresh user, its a perfect situation for me. We'll set it up legally using his company.

With this established, here is my query:

In the US a standard label costs about $2.60 for up to 8 ounces to all US states.

How does this work in Europe across different countries? Is there a standard shipping label that works for EU countries? If so/not, what is the lay of the land when it comes to shipping costs?

Maybe doing the wrong searches, but not finding not much info on this.

Thanks everyone

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

shipping between EU countries is not the same like shipping between states, each country has their own national postal services and they have different pricing.

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

Each country has their own postal services. While they all work together there is no uniform pricing structure.

Its also important to note that a country can be classed as European but be outside the single market which means buyers could face import charges if your items are being shipped from a non single market country.

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

The initial goal is to ship from within the single market. Otherwise, there is no benefit ordering from the EU based entity.

So if there is no uniform pricing structure, from a continental country to another such country in the common market, what is a typical range for, lets say, a 4 oz package from one country to another using EUs equivalent of First Class mail?

Secondly, is there an EU shipping tool like shipstation and prepaid postage, etc? A bit of searching yields very little.

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

I can tell you that from my country sending by national post office which is cheapest,4 oz cost around 3,5 euro to any country in Europe but if you want to send by ups ,dhl.fedex it in much more expencive.

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

That is really the sort of research you would need to spend a few hours doing. There are 32 countries in total that are part of the single market so comparing the cost of each countries would be time pretty well spent.

I would advise against using the UK as a base of operations though long term since we will be leaving the EU. We also have pretty high postal charges V some of the EU

Its also worth noting that we use grams here, not OZ. The size of the package also matters as its not based on just weight.

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

Thank you. I will not be using ups, etc unless specifically asked by a customer.

Most shipping will be by national postal service.

This is more than we pay in the US, but I suppose they are technically foreign countries.

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

No, definitely not the UK. The EU separation is part of it, but my partner is based somewhere else already. And you do have high postal costs, and the reliability is a concern... I saw that documentary about the RM, eek.

Size of the packages are small, generally. Perhaps a 5x7 inch envelope in most instances.

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

Thickness of the package is also pretty important

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

1 to 2" thick for 80% of them

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

Need to go to the national postal service of each country you want to try then and tap those details in and then compare the results

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

Ok, that's time consuming but so it is.

What about a tool like ShipStation for Europe?

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

It would be yes, but I am afraid no one is going to do that kinda of research for you and if you want the best answer then that is the type of research you would need to undertake

Re: Open a European Ebay - need some shipping 'lay of the land'
 

Thanks.

And my last inquiry, hopefully someone knows. Is there a European shipping tool like shipstation out there?