Global Shipping Program. Mistakes I made...

I can be stupid, and I really stepped in it on this one. Sharing things I learned, so you don't make the same foolish mistakes that I did.

eBay's Global Shipping Program overrides your settings to otherwise not sell internationally, at least to the countries included in the program.
I thought I had read the rules carefully, but I was stupid. I thought that the buyer would have a choice to use the program or not, because in the listing form, it asks you to set up optional shipping methods if the Global Shipping is not available for the item. Wrong! They can only buy through the program if you otherwise have blocked shipping to that country. It is REALLY expensive for the buyer. In this case $14+ in addition to my stated shipping fees to send a #10 envelope to Germany with a $4 item in it.

On one of my Room Keys listings I got a note asking for how much to ship to Germany. I forgot about the Global program. I'm used to getting such requests from folks who log into eBay USA to see listings not offered in their country. I state in my auction "No international shipping", but when I get these requests, I consider what country
and the feedback of the person. 1000+ feedback to Germany did not seem a bad risk for a $3.95 auction that could be sent in a #10 envelope. USPS said $2.xx and I wrote back to the guy $2.50 IF the envelope weighed 2 ounces, more if it weighed more. He'd only offered $2.00 for shipping, so I told him that the shipping was more than he wanted to pay: $2.50 to 3.75. Let me know if he was willing to pay more than $2 and I'll put the package together and give him an exact quote. Without further contact, he used Buy-it-Now, and sent me a note saying that PayPal charged him more for shipping than what I quoted, would I please refund the $12.00 overpayment! Whatever instructions / explanations eBay gives to the buyer about Global Shipping at checkout don't seem to be too clear to the buyer. 5 emails later, with screen shots of my PayPal transaction page for the deal, did he finally understand that I didn't get the "overpayment", eBay's global shipping did. We are in the process of cancelling the transaction.

Lessons learned:

No international shipping. If they ask: No,No 1000 times NO. Do not try to be helpful!

If eBay's Global shipping program has kicked in to allow them to bid, fine, (you only have to ship the item to Kentucky) but likely the buyer will not understand the program any better than my buyer and I did. Put a note in your listing that International Shipping through eBay's program will cost significantly more than the shipping fees you published in the auction listing.

Consider unchecking the Global Shipping program option on your listings to avoid upset buyers and cancelled transactions.