Sellers that don't ship worldwide: It's time to change your mind !

[osborn_fr]

Hello, i live in France and i'm upset with these sellers on EBay...

Here are some informations for you to change your mind about worldwide shipping.

 

1) Foreigns collectors (i mean outside USA) are generally motivated collectors, who know that shipping will cost more and who pay quickly with Paypal or MO.

2) Worlwide shipping is safe as national shipping (and sometimes fastest: i got a package in 3 days last week !!!)

3) But the best reason: it's actually the good time for us (european collectors) to buy comics ! Euro currenccy is stronger than US Dollar (no offense there), and i think that i'm going to buy more and more comics on Ebay in the next days...

 

That's all for now, sorry for the anger...

 

 

[chromium]

It's not because 90% of the sellers on eBay have the clause 'will ship to the United States Only' that this means they won't do it.

This is a standard clause, buried on page #4 of the listing and most sellers don't even pay attention to it and it gets inserted automatically.

 

In my experience only one out of 50 sellers will not ship overseas if you ask them prior to the auction's ending,even if all 50 had the dreaded clause in their auction decription...

 

Convince them with :

 

a) your excellent feedback record

 

b) lots of info,prooving that you are aware that it will be more expensive and that you know how the US postal system works.

 

Ironically you are right, it is now quicker and cheaper to send 10 comics from LA to Mainland Europe than it is to send from LA to the East Coast....

[Illiterati-migration]

So what was it that pushed you over the edge here? What book were you trying to get??

 

 

[chromium]

Yes, that's the same feeling I got as well from reading his post

 

Somebody took away his once-in-a-lifetime-chance to bid on his holy grail or something

 

Don't worry David, for every seller that won't ship internationally there are 10 who will...

[Bugaboo-migration]

Sorry, but it's a coin toss for me on this one. Sometimes I will accept international bids for my items.....sometimes I won't......for various reasons. For me......and I'm speaking for me only.......I don't ship enough to know what it will cost to ship a specific item overseas. This means that I either have to put a stupid sounding high shipping price in my auction description......or make two trips to the stinking post office.....which I hate........one to get shipping costs so I can email them to the user......and one to ship the package. Plus........I just order a bunch of the free USPS Priority boxes off the post office website to ship all my stuff. That way, I can have the shipping supplies here at my house and it doesn't cost me anything. Well.......you can't use those for international shipping.........it's just a bigger hassle.....for me anyway......to ship internationally.

 

Also, I've had some problems with international bidders and extremely slow payment.......even from those with good feedback (the worst one though was from Canada .........but nobody on this board ).

 

A lot of the time, I might put something like........"I will only accept international bids if I am contacted for permission first"..........I figure if they can't be bothered to send me a quick email asking first......then I can't depend on them for quick payment. I know that some people wait and only view auctions ending in the next few hours.......so this isn't going to work for those people.......but hey, they could have looked at my auction for 6 days prior to that and chose not to do so.

 

I did have one guy win an auction of mine in which I had put "no international bidders"........after he emailed me, he said he lived in Germany now (his feedback profile said he was in the U.S.) However, he was able to pay me quickly with paypal out of a U.S. bank account, so I didn't mind in this case.

 

Anyway.......just thought I'd let you know why some of us restrict our auctions. Even if I have "NO INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS PLEASE" listed in my auction.........if someone overseas emails me and asks if it would be ok, I'll usually let them bid anyway. I figure if they at least bothered to read my auction rules and email me for permission......then I probably won't have any trouble with them. I'll usually just tell them they can bid but will need to pay exact shipping costs plus an additional $5 to $8 or so to cover my additional time to package and make a couple of trips to the post office.

 

Hope that info helps.

[Kevin Boyd]

Understandable.

 

Personally, if I see a US seller states that they will sell only to the United States then I skip on to the next item. I have no interest in e-mailing someone to see if they are willing to ship to Canada, and I don't want to have to deal with having the item shipped to a friend in the US for pick up at a later date.

 

I might miss out on something I'm interested in, but more importantly the seller has alienated a potential customer. If that seller considers you or I a "hassle" because we don't live in the US then even more of a reason not to want to do business with that person through e-bay.

 

Kev

[BachelorOfComix]

Well stated. Bottom line: sellers who do not ship internationally miss out on making more money in the form of bids & successful bids by international buyers.

 

Cheers,

 

Bachelor of Comics

[Guest]

I don't ship enough to know what it will cost to ship a specific item overseas. This means that I either have to put a stupid sounding high shipping price in my auction description......or make two trips to the stinking post office.....which I hate........one to get shipping costs so I can email them to the user......and one to ship the package.

 

Come on guys - www.usps.com - you can register thru the post office's site so that you can print out Priority Mail lables your self on either an ink-jet or a laser printer. Get a set of good but cheap scales from your local drug store and POOF - problem solved. Log on to your the post office web site, enter the shipping address, enter the weight, and it will tell you how much the shipping will be..... You don't even have to go to the post office to send the package, once the lable is printed you can give it to your post man when he delivers your mail the next day!

 

Presto - problems solved.

Jeremy

 

[Bugaboo-migration]

I have no interest in e-mailing someone to see if they are willing to ship to Canada

But this is exactly my point........if someone can't take 30 seconds to email me for something they really want and would pay quickly for......then why should I take the chance that they might not want it that bad and will drag payment out for 3 weeks. Me personally......I'd rather have $100 now than $120 in three weeks along with a headache. I'm not gman........I don't have to wring every penny out of eBays lifeless corpse when I sell an item. Nothing against Canadian or International bidders.......blame it on the deadbeats I've dealt with and the pain in the , stand in line all day, post office.

 

mcgowan30 said:

Come on guys - www.usps.com - you can register thru the post office's site so that you can print out Priority Mail lables your self on either an ink-jet or a laser printer. Get a set of good but cheap scales from your local drug store and POOF - problem solved. Log on to your the post office web site, enter the shipping address, enter the weight, and it will tell you how much the shipping will be..... You don't even have to go to the post office to send the package, once the lable is printed you can give it to your post man when he delivers your mail the next day!

 

Presto - problems solved.

A lot of the time, in my experience, international sellers want me to ship cheapest method, so this will not work. Plus.....as I said......even when I accept international bids, I still don't sell and ship enough to warrant this. And I don't know what Willie Wonka and the Chocalate Factory playland you live in.......but my post man shows up precisely and on the dot between 1p.m. and 5 p.m. daily. And since my mailbox is too small to leave outgoing packages in.....I'd have to wait around for up to 4 hours just to give him that package. I could do that......if someone wants to pay me a couple of hundred dollars to ship something.

 

Presto - Wrong Solution.

 

It's not like I've never done it guys. I've placed auctions accepting and not accepting international auctions. In my experience.......for me.....personally.......it's just not worth it sometimes unless I know up front how serious the bidder is.......for me........myself.......Especially on lower end items. On items that are valued a little more.....I'll usually accept U.S. and Canadian bids. And, on expensive items.....I'll usually accept all international bids as long as their feedback is good. I usually just base it on the individual item I'm selling.

[chromium]

........I just order a bunch of the free USPS Priority boxes off the post office website to ship all my stuff. That way, I can have the shipping supplies here at my house and it doesn't cost me anything. Well.......you can't use those for international shipping

 

You use a global priority envelop, it's free at the post office and costs $9.00 for up to 4 lbs. You can safely ship up to 12 comics in them. They take 4 days to arrive.

 

I'll usually just tell them they can bid but will need to pay exact shipping costs plus an additional $5 to $8 or so to cover my additional time to package and make a couple of trips to the post office.

 

$8.00 extra ? for info you can find a few clicks away ? Let's put that last sentence down to ignorance on your part and not greed... Since all info has now been provided, I'm sure you'll no longer ask for such a hefty surcharge...

 

And I don't know what Willie Wonka and the Chocalate Factory playland you live in.

Very demeaning and paternalistic statement... implying that everyone in the world except the place you happened to be born in, lives in some sort of second-rate country ? Surely you jest....

[greggy]

So...essentially you are saying that you are a lazy bum who won't make the effort to find out how much it would cost to ship an item outside of the US. Damn, if I knew your eBay ID, I would screw with your auctions!

[FlyingDonut]

Just use Global Priority Mail envelopes. $9 flat rate, can be picked up by your mailman without any hesitation - if under 1 pound (usually 4-5 comics and cardboard protection) you don't need a customs form, and the envelopes are free from the USPS. Couldn't be easier. Also, Global Priority Mail has got to be the greatest deal out there - $9 for 3 day shipping worldwide. Can't beat it.

 

The *biggest* pain in the arse is to Canada, because there's not a flat rate there, but even that's not worth bagging a sale over. In all my transactions on eBay I've only had ONE problem with an overseas/Canadian buyer, and that was some poor slappy who insisted on paying me in Canuck money. I had to let him know that the Suntrust bank in Virginia only takes REAL money, none of that funny pink stuff. So, I sent it back, he sent me REAL money and he got his book.

 

It comes down to service for your buyer - and I'm not going to bag a sale to make my life 10 minutes easier. I've got to go to the post office anyway to buy stamps, so what's the problem?

[Bugaboo-migration]

Guys.......dammit ........I'm not ignorant and I've shipped plenty to know what the hell I will and won't do based on the item I'm selling.

 

You use a global priority envelop, it's free at the post office and costs $9.00 for up to 4 lbs. You can safely ship up to 12 comics in them. They take 4 days to arrive.

I'm going to start unloading here in about one frigging second.

 

I sell more than just comics. And the only comics I do sell are CGC graded. I will not ship a cgc comic in an envelope......so unless their envelopes are made out of [!@#%^&^] titanium......I WON'T DO IT.

 

You don't know what I sell.....so don't make assumptions.

 

$8.00 extra ? for info you can find a few clicks away ? Let's put that last sentence down to ignorance on your part and not greed... Since all info has now been provided, I'm sure you'll no longer ask for such a hefty surcharge...

When I have to box things up in plain boxes to ship cheapest method requested by buyer, fill in their stupid u.s. postal paperwork, and stand in that frigging post office line twice........$5 to $8 doesn't even cover my time. It's not worth it to me and I don't sell enough comics (I sell more than just comics) to warrant going and buying a scale and waiting for the post man to pick up the package. I'll just put your statement down as ignorance for not knowing or listening to what I'm saying.

 

Very demeaning and paternalistic statement... implying that everyone in the world except the place you happened to be born in, lives in some sort of second-rate country ? Surely you jest....

Dammit Chromium.......are you just trying to be stupid today. Go back up and re-read why I made that statement.

 

 

[greggy]

Why are you hating on the Canucks? BTW, what do you mean about not having a flat rate to Canada?

 

P.S. Wait! Most of the pain in the customers that I have dealt with live in Canada!

 

[FlyingDonut]

When I have to box things up in plain boxes to ship cheapest method requested by buyer

 

Ah, but there's your problem, Mr. Bug! Don't do that. Give a flat rate ahead of time. I charge $15 flat rate for overseas shipping on CGC books. If it goes over I eat it. If it goes under, I figure the packaging and materials get covered. I'm usually right on the money. Again, its all about service to your customer. I think you're missing out on a significant market by bagging foreign buyers - you could always make them only pay by paypal, for example, so you wouldn't have to worry about payment.

[Bugaboo-migration]

Just use Global Priority Mail envelopes. $9 flat rate, can be picked up by your mailman without any hesitation - if under 1 pound (usually 4-5 comics and cardboard protection) you don't need a customs form, and the envelopes are free from the USPS. Couldn't be easier

I know you didn't reply to me......but it pertains to what I'm saying and I'm tired of repeatin myself......see my posts above.

 

In all my transactions on eBay I've only had ONE problem with an overseas/Canadian buyer, and that was some poor slappy who insisted on paying me in Canuck money

This is your experience.....and that's cool. Unfortunately.....this is not my experience.

[FlyingDonut]

US shipments have a "Flat Rate" envelope, which I just take and use for FREE from the USPS. Global Priority Mail shipments use a "Flat Rate" envelope, which I just take and use for FREE from the USPS.

 

There is no equivalent "Flat Rate" envelope for Canada - I can't use the US only "Flat Rate" envelope, because it is US only, and I don't think you want to pay $9.00 for shipping to Canada if it only costs $3.85. So I have to find other envelopes, which can be a pain.

[Bugaboo-migration]

So...essentially you are saying that you are a lazy bum who won't make the effort to find out how much it would cost to ship an item outside of the US. Damn, if I knew your eBay ID, I would screw with your auctions.

You damned right.......if bidders can't be "bothered" to take 30 seconds and email me before bidding on my auction...then I can't be bothered either.

 

And that's exactly why nobody in here knows my ebay ID.

[greggy]

Bug, you take a day off from posting and you are trying to come back with guns blazing! Won't happen here buddy!

 

Damn Hoosier!

[ArAich]

I sell more than just comics. And the only comics I do sell are CGC graded. I will not ship a cgc comic in an envelope......so unless their envelopes are made out of [!@#%^&^] titanium......I WON'T DO IT

 

Copy that Bug.

This is the only way that I will ship comics even if they aren't CGC'd. It comes down to piece of mind knowing that the package has a better chance of arriving safely this way. The USPS has a "bend it till it fits" philosophy on envelope packaging and handle priority boxes with more care....