Step #6 Shipping Options: Is it dangerous to ship overseas?
Ever since I started on ebay I have shipped internationally. I view overseas sales as just another bidder, who may or may not have great command of the English language. The risk was greater back in 2000 than it is today.
I will ship to any country in the world that has postal delivery. Regarding payment, if your winning bidder can get to their local post office, buy a postal money order in US Dollars and then mail it to you, you can cash it at you local post office. Not everyone is aware of this being a possibility. Just make sure to tell your buyer to make it out in Dollars. Or, they can pay you with Paypal. As far as I know, as of writing this post, Paypal offers buyer protection on international sales paid via Paypal to confirmed addresses. This may change so please do not quote me on this. Clarification from Paypal is not easy to get regarding international sales. They are very vague in what they commit to so on your higher priced items you may wish to restrict selling internationally.
In all my time on ebay I have had one bad experience with an overseas bidder. A girl from Sweden or Switzerland or Germany left me negative feedback within 30 minutes of an auction ending. Made me mad, and frankly I don’t think you should be allowed to leave feedback so early in a transaction. Kinda silly when you think about it.
You must be aware though that once the package leaves the US, you are relying on the goodness of the postal service in the country that you are shipping to. Some countries, such as Greece or Lithuania, do seem to take a bit more time for the package to reach its destination. Warn your bidders prior to shipping to be patient. Bottom line, there is no way to track what is going on when it leaves our borders.
I once sold an Hermes agenda to a man in Switzerland. This was prior to Paypal being geared up to take international payments. He send $128 in cash in an envelope he cleverly marked, ‘Do not bend-photographs’. Well, someone (customs clerk maybe?) decided to peek in the envelope and mysteriously the envelope never arrived. Finally, after the poor man tried three times he finally emailed that he could no longer afford to try and pay for his item this way. I do not advocate your international bidders sending you cash in the mail. Whoever you are, it is hard to walk away from cash staring you in the face, especially if no one is looking over your shoulder.
Should you sell internationally? My vote is yes. If I sell 100 items maybe 4 of them will go overseas. It is just one more way to increase interest and pump up bids on your item. Now, please note one important precaution: if I am selling an item of considerable value, I often will NOT allow overseas bidders. This is because of the vagueness of Paypal regarding international transactions. I would not encourage international sales on what you would consider a high dollar item, and you must be the judge of that.
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¡Tenga un buen dÃa! (Go give the free translation service a try. I have had to use it before!)
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What experience have you had with the custom forms and other paperwork required for international shipments? How much hassle is the addtional work?
Hey Dave-For every package that goes overseas, you will need to attach a customs form declaring what you are shipping. There are two forms for customs that are used but only one per package is required (which one you need is determined by size). For smaller packages there is a CN-22 slip that is used. Larger packages require a CP-72 form that produces duplicate copies. At first, they may seem intimdating. But, just take your time and read. If in doubt, take it to your post office. Ask for help. They fill these out all the time. Don’t let this keep you from shipping overseas-once you fill them out a few times you know which areas on the forms need to be filled out. Thanks for the question Dave!
Hi, Tracy. I’ve been selling on eBay since 2003 and estimate I have shipped 1,500 packages internationally. Only one hasn’t made it.
I really encourage offering international shipping. Even if the customer doesn’t win your item, you significantly increase the bidding pool by including international customers.
Int’l customers seem less “picky” than Americans. They are generally happy to receive their items and I rarely have a complaint from them about anything.
Thanks for the post!