You guys needs to explain me something.....

[saucisse]

I'm really pissed right now.... some US ebayers! Why are they affraid to ship to Canada...we're next door up north for God sake !!!!!!!!! Living in North America JUST LIKE YOU !!!! Do you guys think we're some kind of Aliens !??????

I asked a guy how much would be shipping to my place since ''no internationnal shipping was written anywhere, gave him my zip code....''Oh, sorry mate, I cannot ship to Canada!!!''

1 hour before the end of is auction, since no bids were in, the sucker emailed me saying: I mate, it's ok to ship to Canada''..... GO TO HELL was the answer

Sorry, I know...''thanks for sharing''....the waste gate had to blow off !!

[hkp]

I know all about it.. being in the UK.

i know its a much longer distance, but hell, EVERY post office ships internationally. Plus its the bloody UK, we're not Afganistan, we're meant to be the US's best buddies right?

[templeofspeed]

Anyone can sell on ebay... but when it comes to filling out a customs form that gots lotsa words...some poeple just can't deal with it.

Also you will find that there are some "Proud Americans" that just can't get over "all you damn foreigners"...and hate you because that's the way they were brought up. Same type of people that were probably schoolyard bullies.

Sad.

You can definitely tell the type just in their auction wording.

[Eau Rouge]

I don't blame him. There are a lot of issues I face in dealing with International shipping here. Hell, at this point, domestic shipping is ridiculous.

One of the problems is tracking. It's virtually impossible, and when it takes a long time to get through customs and the buyer complains, you as a seller have ZERO safety.

And that brings up the insurance issue. When the package changes hands at the borders, just about every party involved with the transportation of the package washes their hands of the responsibility of where it might be. It is an absolute nightmare to deal with the insurance claims on an international package, and it's almost always the seller's ass on the line.

Third, is the fact that the entire responsibility of the shipment and the value of it is solely in the hands of the seller. My wife sold some high end clothing on eBay to a woman in the UK, and she paid us instantly. Two months later, the package winds up on our front door marked "Shipment Unaccepted: Return To Sender." Since then, I have sent out almost a dozen e-mails and eBay messages with no response. eBay's reply to me when I asked what we should do was to "call the buyer in the UK." So now it's my responsibility to make phone calls to the other side of the world because she can't figure out how to filter junkmail or sign for a package. The number was not in service, either.


On top of everything else, the amount of forms and paperwork generated for packages going through customs is just plain stupid. It's simply a lot of extra work to sell something outside of the US right now. For a few less bucks, I'd rather not do it myself and take the risk of something going wrong. Too much for me to lose.

The fact is, the seller takes ALL of the risk, and stands to gain very little—if anything—in selling outside of this country at the moment. Most experienced sellers seem to be not interested in these risks any more.



I'll only ship to you guys that I know through this forum—not to just anyone on eBay.

[templeofspeed]

I will admit that I have not ever had a problem shipping internationally, but I'm sure there's always a first time.

You are right, the USPS has really screwed up it's system as far as affordable tracking on international shipping. It was nice when you got tracking included on your $9 global priority package through the customs form number. Not anymore though. Minimum cost is $25...

[mrlexan]

temple and Eau both pretty much hit it right on the head.

When I go the PO, I can't count how many times, people seem totally clueless. It is all educating yourself. My wife and I always have our sh&t together, and the people at the PO love us (now if I could only get them to move as faster as those in the Detroit area... must be the Southern way, not to mention the post offices can't support the rapid pace of growth here... another rant).

Also, there is almost ZERO protection for the seller/shipper. It seems these days that ebay and paypal, whom profit from the sellers are totally set up to protect the buyer (I do understand that without buyers, sellers can't sell and ebay won't make money either). Not saying I have a better solution, but.....

Another thing to consider, if you don't ship internationally (for that matter also don't accept paypal), I think you limit yourself on the end price. You might get a few dollars more if you let the wolves of the world pop a bid on it.

In the end, you should just trust that there are more good honest people out there than bad/dishonest. I ship internationally and 99.9% of the time don't have a problem.

[saucisse]

Eau rouge, I really don't know how paper work is on US sides but when I ship something to the US, I have only a small flyer to fill saying the description and have to choose if I want insurance or not...most of all, the guy at the counter is pleased to tell me what to write if I'm not familiar with what needs to be written on the flyer....I'm telling you, don't know how it's down there but my average visite time to my local post office is like no more than 5 min.

I never had to deal with claiming something (knock on wood here) dough but I hear you.

I don't mind if the guy doen't want to ship to Canada when we're talking about expensive stuff but man, most of the ''sorry, no Canada shipping'' answers I get are for items under $50 items that fits into an envelope or so.

[Asso_man!]

I also know pretty much the problem being based in Europe (Brussels). I have bought tons and tons of stuff from US sellers and only got a problem once with what turned out to be a scammer. Otherwise, I never had any problem with something that didn't reach my hands. I must admit I've been pissed off many times with people that only want to ship to their country. Here in Belgium, it's as simple to ship nationally than internationally; almost the same procedure, though they raised their tarifs recently. As for protecting the buyer more than the seller, since Ebay is based on the principle that you pay for something that you won't have in your hands immediately, I think it's pretty fair to protect the buyer first, maybe an in between solution could be something like payment on arrival/receiving... I think there is NO perfect solution in fact, someone has to be responsible at one point... the story goes on

[templeofspeed]

I also keep all the USPS forms and labels "in stock" so I can have everything ready...to be stuck in line behind those who are not...

The PO loves me, too. They don't even ask me "Is there anything fragile, perishable, or liquid." anymore...

[hkp]

It must just be a sh1t experience for you guys in the US then. I know our mail service goes on strike all the time, but when they work, the service is great. We ship all round the world and tracking is normally available on most services.

Its true, by limiting your sales to your own domestic country (especially in the UK) you limit the final price.

Shame it's so difficult with USPS right now

[aconsola]

International shipping means going to the post office for every package.

Most domestic packages for smaller items can be sent from home. I put 3 padded envelopes in my mailbox this morning, just print postage online and put up the red flag up on the mailbox.

I agree with the others above, international is a chore and a risk, but I still offer it. Paypal takes a bigger bite for cross border transactions too, just to make it a bit more unapealing.

-Anthony

[mrlexan]

tom, I have posted before and done this for Robotnik, Asso_man, and maybe a few others, can't remember. If you want, have them ship to me (if the will ship to another address) and I will ship to you. You have to win the auction and work out the details of course, but I have no problem being a pass through. All I ask is that you cover all of my fees and possibly return the favor should something arise in the future.

Jay

[MelvinsArmy]

Your avitar is disturbing. I used to ship to Canada, but now I'm too freaked out by that image that I think that all Canadians are bald dudes with sausages around their necks smoking cigarettes on sticks, that I don't want nuttin to do wit dat place no mo. Sorry Canada, you're too freakin weird.

[mrlexan]

The only thing "weird", IMO, about Canada is..... OUT, ABOUT, PROCESS, etc. They seem to have trouble with pronouncing "O"s. LOL!

Just kidding neighbors. I lived 30 minutes from Windsor and a lot of Canadians worked at Roush (and still do) when I was there. Also spent lots of time in Mississgugaaisggisia (can't spell that one) at OTP for the SVT Lightning program.

[Asso_man!]

Your avitar is disturbing. I used to ship to Canada, but now I'm too freaked out by that image that I think that all Canadians are bald dudes with sausages around their necks smoking cigarettes on sticks, that I don't want nuttin to do wit dat place no mo. Sorry Canada, you're too freakin weird.

That is actually a pic of a very famous French guy (who died recently) who founded a non less famous "anarchist" newspaper (called Charlie Hebdo) with lots of sarcastic comic strips. His "scene" name was Professeur Choron, ship to Canada with no fear Melvin, be careful when doing the same to France