Obviously, eBay makes money by consolidating shipments.

This was offered as a way to assure sellers that they didn't have to rely on the uncertainty of whether a foreign post office would deliver the goods on time. Stories of Italian Customs holding up small packages for months (during which time the buyer complained and got his refund) are legendary - which is what prompted so many sellers to specifically exclude Italy. Others exclude wider areas. I exclude all of South America.

EBay tried to con sellers into using the Global Shipping program at a time when eBay was also raising commission rates, adding commissions on shipping costs, and otherwise generally screwing their seller base. It is no surprise that experienced sellers decided not to accept eBay's hollow assurances that this would solve all our international shipping problems (while not disclosing rates, etc.). We were told to trust eBay at a time when we knew we couldn't trust eBay on anything else.