Has anyone had any negative experiences accepting international bidders and shipping internationally on ebay? I'm listing some of my LF gear, and have had numerous requests to open it up to international bidders. I know what to avoid as far as the typical scams - and have made numerous int'l purchases w/ no problems - but this would the first time I've bothered to sell/ship internationally.
Rick, I once shipped a remote control helicopter to Japan, and the only thing I remember that was a pain was the customs stuff, make sure to explain fully what it is, customs can be very picky, other than that the other thing is predicting the time frame for delivery (at least to Japan) all in all it took about 3 weeks to arrive. I think ebay has some of protection where the money sits in an account until the buyer confirms delivery, I would have to ask the wife she is the ebay person of the house. I do know from a friend that for some reason shipping to certain parts of Canada is a royal pain because of customs. Sorry this probably isn't much help, good luck either way.
Posted by Scott Borger on June 17, 2008 at 4:14 PM
You lose alot (if not all) of the buyer protection if you sell internationally. When I sell camera stuff on ebay, I only accept payments from addresses that are in the US and are Paypal Confirmed addresses.
I sold some speakers to someone in Canada, thinking how bad can it be? It was a pain and I may as well have given them away after the outrageous shipping costs that I underestimated. There is a fair amount of paperwork as well. Personally, I won't sell outside of the US again, always with Paypal. Good luck.
Just sold a backpack to someone in Thailand. They ended up wanting to fight me on the shipping cost even though I quoted the cost prior to the end of the auction, additionally they asked if I could indicate it was a gift on the customs form. Every once in a while I will get a question asking if I will ship to country xyz, but moving forward it is just too much of a pain and a much greater risk.
Thanks for the quick responses! I listed the item as shipping to US only in order to avoid customs complexities; I'll be leaving it that way. Thanks again!
Rick, looks like you've already made your decision, and I think it's the right one. I have eBay "garage sales" a couple of times a year and have shipped internationally a few times years ago without problems. But any more there is just too much hocus pocus that goes on with international payments and shipping. Now, I just say "no", no matter how legitimate things might sound.
Wow, my experiences are totally different and fine! My attitude is that there's an advantage (at least for the time being) of shipping internationally.
Regarding shipping, I typically do my research with the item and the USPS calculator before I list the item. I've found that with selling camera equipment that weighs a few pounds, that the costs are pretty consistent - something like $70 to ship to Europe. And, I make certain to use the USPS shipping calculator within the ebay system so that I don't have to be responsible for the calculating costs. And, another tip is to slightly overestimate the weight of the package so that there aren't any negative surprises and maybe even a pleasant, positive surprise. Yes, I've had to pay a few dollars for shipping out of my pocket at times, but it hasn't ever amounted to much, and I feel that I've made up for it in the long run.
Now, my perspective is that the advantage of international sales and shipping on ebay is that with the weak dollar, you'll get potentially higher bids from overseas, which means that the final sale price will be higher, whether the purchaser is in the US or international. Over the past year, I think that about half of my total sales have been overseas, and in many of the cases, the final price was significantly higher than I expected to be paid, based on my watching the market of US sales. I recall that there was one lens that I sold that I was hoping that the final bid would be in the $700 to $800 range, and it went for $1200 to an overseas buyer! :)
Finally, regarding customs, etc., my attitude is that that's the responsibility of the buyer - if they want to purchase something that requires international shipping, etc., then they have to be willing to bear the "cost" of the additional time that is required with their own customs agency. And, I don't find the paperwork to be a burden, particularly when I feel that I've sold a piece of equipment for more than I would have received by selling only within the US.
I actually have a strategy that's working decently well for me on ebay. I find an item in which I specialize and make a low bid on it, particularly if it's listed only for sale in the US. If I win, great, because then I'll turn around and sell it on the international market and make a few bucks. No, I'm not getting rich this way, but I am slowly improving the quality of my repertoire of equipment through this method. And, I don't purchase equipment from overseas/Canada, etc., because of the high shipping expenses and hassles with customs/import duties and other fees.
I also will only accept PayPal for payment, so that I don't have to mess with other forms of payment (although, I have accepted international money orders, too - I just make certain that they clear the bank first).
But, that's my $0.02 worth, which, adjusted for inflation and the low value of the dollar against foreign currencies, isn't worth much.... ;)
I have sold tons of gear overseas. Everything from Belgium to China. I think my Mamiya 7 is someplace in Australlia right now. I usually tell the client that for int'l shipping they need to email me to get the price. I always use USPS for intl shipping and honestly have never had a problem. Even took a wire payment from western union from someone in Italy once and that went fine too.
I always open my stuff up int'l especially nowadays since their money is worth a lot more than ours.
Discussion
9 repliesThanks in advance for any insights!
I sold some speakers to someone in Canada, thinking how bad can it be? It was a pain and I may as well have given them away after the outrageous shipping costs that I underestimated. There is a fair amount of paperwork as well. Personally, I won't sell outside of the US again, always with Paypal. Good luck.
Regarding shipping, I typically do my research with the item and the USPS calculator before I list the item. I've found that with selling camera equipment that weighs a few pounds, that the costs are pretty consistent - something like $70 to ship to Europe. And, I make certain to use the USPS shipping calculator within the ebay system so that I don't have to be responsible for the calculating costs. And, another tip is to slightly overestimate the weight of the package so that there aren't any negative surprises and maybe even a pleasant, positive surprise. Yes, I've had to pay a few dollars for shipping out of my pocket at times, but it hasn't ever amounted to much, and I feel that I've made up for it in the long run.
Now, my perspective is that the advantage of international sales and shipping on ebay is that with the weak dollar, you'll get potentially higher bids from overseas, which means that the final sale price will be higher, whether the purchaser is in the US or international. Over the past year, I think that about half of my total sales have been overseas, and in many of the cases, the final price was significantly higher than I expected to be paid, based on my watching the market of US sales. I recall that there was one lens that I sold that I was hoping that the final bid would be in the $700 to $800 range, and it went for $1200 to an overseas buyer! :)
Finally, regarding customs, etc., my attitude is that that's the responsibility of the buyer - if they want to purchase something that requires international shipping, etc., then they have to be willing to bear the "cost" of the additional time that is required with their own customs agency. And, I don't find the paperwork to be a burden, particularly when I feel that I've sold a piece of equipment for more than I would have received by selling only within the US.
I actually have a strategy that's working decently well for me on ebay. I find an item in which I specialize and make a low bid on it, particularly if it's listed only for sale in the US. If I win, great, because then I'll turn around and sell it on the international market and make a few bucks. No, I'm not getting rich this way, but I am slowly improving the quality of my repertoire of equipment through this method. And, I don't purchase equipment from overseas/Canada, etc., because of the high shipping expenses and hassles with customs/import duties and other fees.
I also will only accept PayPal for payment, so that I don't have to mess with other forms of payment (although, I have accepted international money orders, too - I just make certain that they clear the bank first).
But, that's my $0.02 worth, which, adjusted for inflation and the low value of the dollar against foreign currencies, isn't worth much.... ;)
Tim!
I have sold tons of gear overseas. Everything from Belgium to China. I think my Mamiya 7 is someplace in Australlia right now. I usually tell the client that for int'l shipping they need to email me to get the price. I always use USPS for intl shipping and honestly have never had a problem. Even took a wire payment from western union from someone in Italy once and that went fine too.
I always open my stuff up int'l especially nowadays since their money is worth a lot more than ours.
RichieV