OT. shipping/selling ebay overseas

[captain ron]

Any of you guy have any advice on shipping and selling overseas. I have a couple people interested in buying some stuff I have on Ebay.
Germany,Canada and Australia. Yes No? Why, Why not ? Handling fees? Money? Shipping Inst. and who to use?

[Len Silva]

I find the Post Ofice Global Express Mail works for me, usually under 10 lbs. Not sure about heavier stuff.  You still have to fill out customs forms but you can do most of it online at USPS.com.  I charge $3.00 over actual shipping cost for packaging and handling on domestic shippments and $7.00 on overseas just because of the customs hassles.

Len

[Jeremy]

Do it. For European buyers such as me it's very frustrating how few sellers on US Ebay will ship abroad. I send stuff to America all the time, and I cannot imagine doing it the other way around is any more difficult. Also, I don't really know about buyers from other countries, but from a British perspective American stuff is extremely cheap, so your overseas bidders may well be willing to pay more in dollar terms than you would get from a domestic buyer. Be sure to check what payment method the potential buyer intends to use in advance - I'm no fan of Pay Pal, but they certainly are the easiest route. American bank transfers and cheques (checks) and money orders can be paid into British banks, but are expensive, so I expect the reverse is also true. I actually accept cash payments in dollars and euros, and find quite a few overseas buyers like that option despite the disadvantageous exchange rate I charge. Finally, remember the various on-line translation services such as Babelfish if you have a non-English-speaking buyer.

I suspect there are lots of overseas buyers surfing on Ebay.com, because the range of items available and the prices are so attractive compared to what's available on the various European Ebay sites - if you can show that you are willing make an effort at your end to accomodate overseas buyers you will be one of very few American sellers that do, and you will get bids as a result.

Jeremy

[HighTechRedneck]

I do the same as Len.  Except I also offer USPS Airmail as an option for those who don't want to pay the high price of Global Express Mail.  Also, if selling/shipping internationally, I require that they be a PayPal member even if accepting money orders.  That seems to help reduce fraud or deadbeat bidders.

Two things to look out for from international bidders.  First, beware if they contact you and offer to pay an unreasonably high amount to end the auction early and sell to them.  This is almost always a fraud.  Second, beware if they offer to pay by Western Union transfer.  I don't recall the details, but their is a way they can fraud you on that.  To find out the details on the Western Union scam, go to ebay's help section and do a search on "Western Union".

[Green-Hornet]

I have sold a lot of Austin Healey parts overseas Japan, Austrailia, even back to England. The USPS has the best rates from what I could find. Even for the heavy and oversized stuff. I try to get prices for surface shipping, the cheapest and slowest along with the airmail rate and let the customer decide. I have never had a problem doing it this way.

[tekebird]

I sell regularly to non US Ebayers world wide....both my personal and business ebay accounts.

I charge a small fee over actaul costs....usually round up to the nearest 5.00 or so

you can check rates at www.usps.com

payment, alot of non US ebayers will pay with cash.......most pay through paypal.

If they have good feedback it should be a non issue.

lighter smal stuff goes cheapest Air Letter Post......used to be small packet air.......same service differnt name.

I also offer ins as an option......I think it is the global EMS that includes insurance.......however I have never had anyone take me up on it........as then they have to pay taxes on the insured value.

Because I like to screw the tax man as much as "legally "possible I fill out my customs form in the buyers favor, both on description as well as value.....also mark as a gift and put no ebay paperwork in the box.

description.....Model gets taxed higher than toy for example

[Len Silva]

I should have mentioned that I ship glass items and prefer Global Express Mail because it is reasonably quick at a reasonable price.  I don't like to use surface because the longer it is in transit the greater chance of breakage.  Some folks take my "Fragile" labels as a challenge.

Len

[HighTechRedneck]

I should have mentioned that I ship glass items and prefer Global Express Mail because it is reasonably quick at a reasonable price.  I don't like to use surface because the longer it is in transit the greater chance of breakage.  Some folks take my "Fragile" labels as a challenge.

Len

Boy that's the truth.  It really does seem like marking a package "Fragile - Handle With Care" has the exact opposite effect.  I have nothing but respect for most postal carriers and UPS/FedEx/DHL delivery drivers, but they all seem to hire from the bottom of the barrell for their non-public back end operations.

[captain ron]

When I put fragile on my pa equipment when flying the lady said that what it meant to baggage handlers was drop from 3 ft instead of six

[Green-Hornet]

LOL Like my favorite line from "A Christmas Story"...."Fra-Gile! must be Italian"

[dooneb4]

for shipping small items to australia try burlington express

[wrench]

  I don't know on a regular base, I did one sold a hard drive to italia & went smooth, but still waiting a buy from Fance after 1 month for 2 magazines with "Les edition de Saxe"
So 50/50   Will have some hesitations next time.
                       wrench