How do the sellers here feel about shipping overseas?

[rcgamer]

I was wondering how the sellers on the boards feel about shipping overseas. What percentage of your overseas sales have turned sour if any did?

I was wondering because I had a guy from Italy with 100% feedback and over 130 total feedback ask if I would ship a kind of high priced item to him. I told him I could only do it if he had a confirmed address with paypal. He didn't so I told him no. I did show him another auction of the same item from a seller who did sell overseas though. I really would like to have all those customers be able to buy from me but it just seems really risky to me. According to paypal customer service even if I had signature confirmation of delivery to a customer without a confirmed address they would still give their money back to them if they just said the item never came.

And that is another thing, Ebay says you should offer international shipping to broaden your customer base but yet their payment company won't do jack to protect you from overseas fraud really. I have been told that people across the pond won't have confirmed addresses for U.S. sellers so how am I supposed to be able to trust selling over seas?

[Mark30001]

I've shipped many times overseas (many to buyers with unconfirmed addresses on PayPal). It probably wasn't the smartest idea at the time, but I've had no problems whatsoever. I don't think I would like to ship overseas again in the near future.

[zektor]

I used to, but no longer do. Only because in most cases there is no real way of tracking the package after it leaves the USA. Without tracking proof, the buyer can easily claim he/she never received it and force a paypal chargeback....which of course means you loose your item AND the money. If it is a respected DP member overseas, yes...but I no longer sell overseas on ebay unfortunately.

[Mayhem]

Personally I'll sell anywhere as long as the buyer will pay for the shipping.

Anything remotely valuable I'll send tracked and insured however (did that recently with several R9 2600 carts).

[Sniderman]

I used to, but no longer do. Only because in most cases there is no real way of tracking the package after it leaves the USA. Without tracking proof, the buyer can easily claim he/she never received it and force a paypal chargeback....which of course means you loose your item AND the money. If it is a respected DP member overseas, yes...but I no longer sell overseas on ebay unfortunately.
Sadly, I'm solidly in this boat. Used to ship worldwide, but I've had one too many overseas (and Canadian) parcels go "missing." And without tracking or confirmation, I have to take their word for it and refund their money, no questions asked. Never had a US parcel go missing in 8+ years, as I ship everything with Delivery Confirmation. I've had at least 6 outside the US. *sigh*

[ryborg]

I was wondering how the sellers on the boards feel about shipping overseas. What percentage of your overseas sales have turned sour if any did?

I ship overseas for almost all items and a large majority end up just as well as domestic sales. I've shipped hundreds of items outside of the US in the last 9 years, and only 3-4 times have I ever gotten any complaint/Paypal chargeback.

The simple fact is that most mail is not lost or stolen, especially if there's some form of tracking. Not everyone is out to get you and steal your money. Only one of my overseas Paypal chargebacks was an actual scam. If a buyer has good feedback, it's unlikely they'll give you a problem.

Just last week, I shipped something to Senegal. Never done that before, but apparently it arrived okay. The address was obviously unconfirmed, but so are 99.9999% of all non-US/Canada addresses.

I sell on ebay to make money. Do what you like, but I'm not turning down proven extra profits because of a small percentage of scamsters. I also charge a nominal handling fee on all non-US/Canada transactions as personal insurance in case of loss. That way, the next time I get charged-back and helpless to fight, I'm covered.

A lot of people will tell you it's not worth it, but I'd seriously consider shipping to anywhere.

Fake Edit: I like how this topic has 5 Total Views and 5 Posts.
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[Darth Sensei]

I used to, but no longer do. Only because in most cases there is no real way of tracking the package after it leaves the USA. Without tracking proof, the buyer can easily claim he/she never received it and force a paypal chargeback....which of course means you loose your item AND the money. If it is a respected DP member overseas, yes...but I no longer sell overseas on ebay unfortunately.

Ditto. Paypal lets people get away with murder.

[FABombjoy]

I basically say that I'll ship anywhere, but if you pay with Paypal it has to be confirmed, insured, and fully valued on customs forms. If they pay with an international money order then I'll send it whereever, however. I wish Bidpay was still a money order service so I could make things easier.

I have int'l bidding disallowed by default, so I make sure they understand this before I add them to the approved bidders list. I don't mind sending internationally, it just isn't worth it to me to spend the next couple weeks worrying about whether it's going to arrive.

[evil_genius]

I got burned once on a boxed CDX, and now I only ship to the US.

[Vroomfunkel]

I'll generally ship anywhere, but if I have any suspicions about someone then I will insist that they pay via some other means than Paypal, and I will only ship after the payment clears. If they are genuine then there's no reason they shouldn't pay with a bank transfer or something. The way I see it, my feedback is evidence enough of my reliability - and if they want the item enough they won't mind paying another means.

As for sending high value items to Italy, I would be very wary. The Italian postal service is extremely notorious for 'losing' packages - and it's genuinely not the buyers on the whole, it's just a poor postal service with too many crooks in it.

However, if someone will pay me via bank transfer, or international postal order then I'll happily ship to anywhere - I just make them aware that I will only refund them if they pay for the appropriate level of insurance.

I've sold successfully to Peru, Russia, Turkey, China - all sorts of places. The only times I've been ripped off is by a couple of sellers in the UK and one buyer in France (well, attempted rip-off anyway - my Paypal account was empty, and when he wouldn't respond to any of my emails asking him to help me file a Royal Mail compensation claim I just abandoned the account)

[jajaja]

I used to, but no longer do. Only because in most cases there is no real way of tracking the package after it leaves the USA. Without tracking proof, the buyer can easily claim he/she never received it and force a paypal chargeback....which of course means you loose your item AND the money. If it is a respected DP member overseas, yes...but I no longer sell overseas on ebay unfortunately.

EMS/GEM got worldwide tracking.

I havnt sold much on Ebay, but as a buyer i can say that i've bought over 1500 items and none of them are from my own country. Out of these 1500 items there been like 5-6 things i never recieved. The worse countries (what i've heard) when it comes to lost packages are France, Spain and Italy.

About non-confirmed Paypal adress; its not possible to get a confirmed Paypal adress in many european countries.

EDIT: Fixed typo.

[Mayhem]

I believe the only European countries you can are the UK and Germany.

[jajaja]

Ye, something like that :)

[Nespit]

the dutch also i believe.

[insinion]

the dutch also i believe.

Yeah i have a confirmed paypal address! :)

[p_b]

I believe the only European countries you can are the UK and Germany.

Switzerland as well, as I apparently have one... or is this something different than a verified account?

[jajaja]

Switzerland as well, as I apparently have one... or is this something different than a verified account?

Verified account is something different, i got that myself. Not quite sure what it is tho hehe, but its not the same as verified/confirmed adress.

[VACRMH]

I ship all over, and haven't had a problem yet.

Here's a question, if someone raises a complaint about not getting the item with paypal, if your account is empty what can they do?

And post office receipts don't work for proof do they? :-/

[rcgamer]

I got burned once on a boxed CDX, and now I only ship to the US.

That is the item he was asking about as coincidence would have it. Though this one isn't boxed.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I've only gotten burned once, but that was with a buyer who claimed I sold him a bootleg copy of a game. I had no choice but to refund the $50. -_-

I've been lucky.

[anagrama]

I've found that it's almost exclusively US sellers that flatly refuse to ship overseas - while people from other countries often don't initially state it, they will do 95% of the time if you show that you're a genuine & reliable buyer (and make the effort of communicating in their own language).

[backguard]

first off, i mainly sell on ebay. personally, i prefer not to ship overseas. it isn't so much a concern with fraud, but that figuring out shipping rates is a real hassle, at least with the setup i have, and the added work and complexity just doesn't seem worth what would probably be a very slight increase in the final prices of my items.

[Vectorman0]

I feel like I am one of the few people in the US who will in most cases ship anywhere. I've become more caution over time, but I have yet to be burned. I had one close call with a guy who really wanted his item when a package I shipped EMS get held up at customs (Spanish or French I think) for two weeks.

For ebay, I will only ship EMS on more expensive items >$50, though I will ship airmail for smaller items. On forums though, when I have no doubt that the buyer is legit, I'll ship via any method.

[Vroomfunkel]

Here's a question, if someone raises a complaint about not getting the item with paypal, if your account is empty what can they do?

And post office receipts don't work for proof do they? :-/

Q1 - nothing, but Paypal will put your balance into negative and freeze the account if they find against you. you'll either have to clear the negative balance or open a new Paypal account, with a different credit card and a different bank account. if the amount of money concerned is high, they may threated debt collectors - although I've not heard of any situation where they actually followed through on that.

Q2 - no

[Orpent]

You have to remember tho that if you allow international bidders, if you sell rarer items at least, you should get higher end prices on many of your items, even if the winner happens to be in the same country as you.

Also, someone said that once the package leave the country, that you cant track it. At least in europe, most of the time you can use the USPS tracking number on the national postal office website and it will give you tracking from when the package arrive at customs and then until the receiver has signed for it. Just visist http://www.postoffice.com/, select the country and enter the tracking number (of course, sometimes it will only be available in the local language but im sure you can find someone on DP forums that can help you translate if needed).

Orpent

[16-bit]

FYI: Global Priority Mail is now trackable to Canada, which can be as cheap as $4.25 for flat rate small envelope.

[wrldstrman]

I will ship overseas but i tell the buyer once it leaves my hands i take no responsibility.. last 3 things i shipped out of the US

Spain took 3 months to arrive

France took 2 months

Austrilia took over 4 months

[ryborg]

I will ship overseas but i tell the buyer once it leaves my hands i take no responsibility

Unfortunately, this does not matter if they attempt a Paypal chargeback.


.. last 3 things i shipped out of the US

Spain took 3 months to arrive

France took 2 months

Austrilia took over 4 months

Damn, are you shipping stuff via Surface Mail (boat)? I ship items internationally via Airmail and it typically takes 7-10 days. Of course there are times when it takes over a month, but that is the exception rather than the rule. I *never* use Surface, because it takes months, and by then, the overseas buyer has more than enough time to file a chargeback. Rightfully so, too.

Airmail isn't that much more expensive and is much faster. The only time it's okay is when a very heavy item is shipped and both parties agree to be patient with the shipping.
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[bangtango]

I prefer to keep up on the shipping methods and shipping rates of the country I live in. I'd have the same outlook if I lived in England or Canada. I'll admit it was careless on my part but I have lost money at least once or twice miscalculating the shipping cost to a country I've never sent anything to before. Once or twice I've underestimated the shipping time for an order going to some remote country, I'll admit that. In those cases, the item did arrive and I got to "keep" my money but waiting for that feedback forever was agonizing. Simply put, I don't have a big enough operation to warrant spending the extra time needed to narrow down the best shipping methods (and the appropriate costs) for each country I might potentially receive bids from, not to mention delivery times and the rest of it.

I'd sell single items, or a couple of items, to a buyer outside of the US here on DP. However, anything that starts getting a little heavy (like items in my current sale thread), I prefer to keep inside of the US. As for Ebay, I stopped shipping internationally around a year ago. Unlike some power sellers who inhabit this forum, my Ebay profit margin is a little too small to take the chance on a buyer saying they "never received the item." After the second time that happened, I stopped selling outside the US.

Yeah, I do make a little money on Ebay, I'm not just "breaking even." However, I can't afford to take a bath or issue a refund on even 1 out of each 10 items I sell over Ebay. Nor do I relish the possibility of having to sell a high-priced item or two just to make up for losses I've taken on previous transactions. Believe me, I've read stories right here of people who had to post additional listings just to "get back" some of the money they've lost in Paypal disputes or for some other reason. Not my idea of "fun." That is like shipping items for free or, at worst, paying someone to thin out your collection while YOU ship it and I won't tolerate that if I can help it. I can guarantee you won't find me saying "Damn! I wasn't going to sell that lot of NES games but now I gotta cuz that guy from (insert country here) ripped me off and I need that money back."

I suppose I'll let all those other people burn up space in the title of their listings by writing "SHIP TO WORLD" because I don't.

Don't even get started on the occasional bullshit with compatibility. I plan on keeping US games (or movies) inside of the US where I know for a FACT they'll work. The last thing I need is a dispute filed because something is incompatible on a machine used inside of a buyer's country. I don't keep up on what is compatible in a given machine for each country. If a convertor is necessary to use an item in a certain country, how do I know the buyer even has one? Then you may have questions about voltage, depending on the item.

You'd have to get me pretty stoned to convince me to ship something like a huge box of NTSC Sega CD games to......let's say South Africa, send a message to the buyer saying "Have fun" then sit back on my rented sofa with a box of Cracker Jack and assume it will always go off without a hitch. That is a recipe for bankruptcy.