frisco said:
Shipping outside the States can be a pain in the arse. Guys like Lighthound and 4sevens are all around great vendors !!! Cheers to them !!!
I have sold eBay things overseas and in more than half the time it becomes a Royal pain.
- The money exchange is a challenge... PayPal works for the most part....
I've never had an issue. You specify the currency for the items you're selling, then the buyer tells PayPal site what currency he wants to pay in and PayPal quotes them in whatever currency their account is native in. I always get my money in US currency regardless of where the item is going.
- Have to go to the post office.... Wait 10-45 minutes....fill out the forms.... Lie about the value.... Declare it as a gift.
I charge more handling fee on international shipments for this exact reason. If it actually takes more handling, it's reasonable to add more handling fee.
Customs people are well aware people lie on customs forms. In the United States, falsiying customs form is against federal law and if at all, you're the one who will be nabbed. Also, when the receiving country questions the contents and upon inspection, they feel the contents are clearly worth more than the declared value and doesn't seem like a gift, it only leads to delay.
- About a week later the e-mail's start coming in from the buyer telling you he has not received the package yet..... than daily angry e-mail's from worried buyer.
For this reason, I usually add a note for international buyers to ask for shipping cost BEFORE bidding. If someone decides to bid and win without contacting first, I will quote them the airmail cost.
If the buyer contact me, I give them the option and clearly tell them that sea mail will take 6-10 weeks.
- Than as a seller I get worried .....
- Than the buyer is asking you why you don't have a tracking number after they wanted it shipped the cheapest way.
I have to admit that International Shipping within the confines of CPF seems more doable, but still more effort than domestic sales.
Bottom line is..... If you think the seller is charging to much for shipping..... Don't buy it !!!! You just shouldn't expect everybody to go through the effort for you for free.
frisco
This is always a concern, although I have learned that if I'm selling high margin, low cost, volume goods and receive a claim after a specified period, I just refund the amount and write it off as a business expense. This does not happen very often. When it does happen, most are legitimate claims.
If I'm selling something of substantial value, I only ship it by nothing but registered mail or FedEx/UPS.
All good points. But I believe my original point is valid also.
Were only talking about the shipping costs. There are several other reasons why international sales are difficult. What countries do you ship to and which ones you don't? I have a friend in Barcelona Spain that says only about 75% of his mail from the States gets to him. Do you ship to Poland? What about Africa or the Middle East.... Mexico.... Cuba ???
I don't know the answers to those.... I'm just throwing it out there. I would just guess that there would be allot of lost packages that the company would have to deal with. Anyway you look at it.... it's not as easy and profitable as many make it out to be.
I don't ship out of the USA anymore because of what I have learned about it. I would be interested to see your summary of options.
No disrespect to anyone.... But from my past eBay international sales experience .... I noticed Europeans to be the most pushy and rude customers? Maybe my interpretation is wrong but it was quite noticeable. Maybe a culture thing?
frisco
If I have to ship to developing countries, I feel eh... but because I only accept PayPal from verified users, the number of questionable buyers are filtered considerably.
Should I ship within just the US? Canada + US? or internationally?
The answer is completely dependent on the characteristics of the merchandise.
For example, I will not ship textbooks anywhere but the US, because they're heavy, usually not of significant value and they cost a significant amount to ship outside the use due to the lack of Media Mail (or equivalent) for international shipments.
Electronic parts? International. Half of my customer base are outside the US.
Other consumer goods? International buyers are often willing to pay the money, but they find most US dealers do not ship outside the US. These customers go to eBay and buy from sellers who ship internationally. You lose these important buyers if you limit to US only.
