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| Global Business Vice President Pranab Shah, center; Managing Director of China Postal Express Wang Biao, left; and CEO of eBay Greater China and APAC Cross-border-trade Jeff Liao at the signing ceremony in Shanghai. |
The Postal Service has entered into an international trilateral agreement with eBay Greater China & Southeast Asia (eBay GC), and China Post Express & Logistics Corporation. The collaborative service and marketing agreement creates a new, simplified shipping platform for international tracking and delivery of lightweight goods that U.S. consumers order from eBay sellers in China.
“This collaboration will increase convenience and improve delivery consistency for American consumers ordering small shipments from merchants in China, and holds great potential for increasing international package volumes for the Postal Service,” said Pranab Shah, managing director and vice president, Global Business. “We look forward to working with our business partners to build upon this agreement as we move forward.”
The agreement — signed last week in Shanghai — gives U.S. consumers delivery confirmation information online at usps.com. Sellers using eBay GC can track their shipments online at ebay.cn. China Post will dispatch these shipments to USPS International Service Centers as inbound foreign letter-post small packets. USPS then processes each package for domestic delivery using First-Class Mail service standards.
The shipping platform through eBay GC is expected to be popular for small items such as cell phone accessories and electronics. USPS, eBay GC and China Post Express & Logistics Corporation currently are testing the service and platform, particularly the service’s scanning requirements, which USPS officials say will be a critical part of the process.
The global alliance positions China Post and the Postal Service as eBay GC’s preferred shippers and delivery agents of choice. The China-based online retailer has developed a seamless shipping application that lets its sellers print online shipping labels, request pickups and track the status of shipments.
China Post’s alliance with the Postal Service includes development of co-branded, data-rich shipping labels integrated with barcode technology readable by both posts.
The new agreement is in keeping with strategies to increase revenue and meet demand in the global marketplace. The Postal Service action plan for the next decade, it describes a flexible, agile Postal Service that can adapt to America’s changing mailing habits and preferences.
