International buyer in a US only fleabay rant

[Johnboy72]

I'm sure this has been covered but frustrated. My ad said ship to US and someone from overseas bought it. Hope Ebay retracts it, I don't know if I should follow through as I've never shipped internationally. I've heard stories of some countries that have lost mail syndrome. What to do?

[arf]

My wife ships high dollar items all the time. Many times she has shipped to Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Israel with no problems. Most shippers say NO to Italy because they open international mail for customs inspection, and often the underpaid inspectors like what they see. Some countries charge additional fees to the buyer if they buy from foreigners, so you can mark the contents as a "gift" to save them the charges.

Rules of thumb:
Pack it to be bomb proof, and never, never mark something as fragile, it'll become a football.
Buy insurance for the full value plus the PITA factor if it is lost.
Double check that crazy Euro address. The USPS will ship based on the paperwork, not the box, and sometimes the address doesn't fit the customs form line for line.

The guy who bought your item knew that you wanted US only so insists that he cover any charges you feel are necessary.

[esaresky75]

You can set your selling preferences to exclude countries and locations therefore when a buyer is from say the second sand hill east of Egypt, ebay prevents him from purchasing your item. Here's the link on how to set it : http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/buyer-requirements.html

This won't help you for this transaction but it will for next time.

[klavy69]

cancel his bid. if your description stated you won't ship international then you don't have to. That might work once but figure out how to set it and you won't have that problem again. Or just refund his paypal payment stating the item was eaten by your dog or something...

Todd

[GAMMACRUSH]

Same thing happened to me on ebay. I just sent it and chalked it up as a learning experience. If it weighs less than 4lbs and you can customize the box to be under 36 inches length + width + height (perfect to ship a buggy) you can ship it for $27.50 via usps. Ebay automatically charged the buyer 35.00 for international shipping. Shipping international is not too bad. Don't forget to mark as "gift".

[GAMMACRUSH]

cancel his bid. if your description stated you won't ship international then you don't have to. That might work once but figure out how to set it and you won't have that problem again. Or just refund his paypal payment stating the item was eaten by your dog or something...

Todd

Eaten by a dog haha. I had something like that happen to me a long time ago. I was trying to buy an rc10, the guy said he ran it over with his lawnmower. I told him I still wanted it, he refused that's when I knew it was a lie. Sorry for the off topic post.

[Lonestar]

Start shipping int'l and be done with it

[fakiee]

In my opinion the auction said you don't ship international. Simple. Retract the Bid. If you want to offer International shipping then save it for your next ebay item NOT this one, then you you can lay down T&Cs, prices and insurance - none of which you have in the current auction.

If you do go ahead and ship, make sure you lay down the ground rules and ship insured only. Otherwise if they receive the item then claim not to and you don't have proof/tracking then you will be forced to refund via Paypal.

Hope this helps,
Andy

[askbob]

Same thing happened to me on ebay. I just sent it and chalked it up as a learning experience. If it weighs less than 4lbs and you can customize the box to be under 36 inches length + width + height (perfect to ship a buggy) you can ship it for $27.50 via usps. Ebay automatically charged the buyer 35.00 for international shipping. Shipping international is not too bad. Don't forget to mark as "gift".

Be aware that if your package weighs over 4 pounds(no matter what size), you HAVE to ship it Priority via USPS if international. Roughly twice the price of what it could be as first class. Found this out the hard way the other day...

[Johnboy72]

It's a speed control so thinking a small envelope will suffice. Also $100 insured automatically, looking like it'll cost me $38 to ship over there. I'll ship it to him as I don't feel like hassling with Ebay to retract the auction. Fingers crossed, the good thing is the guy has been communicating with me and I'll get all info before shipping.

[Coelacanth]

It's a speed control so thinking a small envelope will suffice. Also $100 insured automatically, looking like it'll cost me $38 to ship over there. I'll ship it to him as I don't feel like hassling with Ebay to retract the auction. Fingers crossed, the good thing is the guy has been communicating with me and I'll get all info before shipping.

If I understood correctly, you're in USA and shipping abroad--where? As others said, keep the package small (but well-protected) and if it's under 4 pounds, it should be quite cheap to ship. If it's an unboxed ESC, I'd surround it with a few layers of bubble-wrap, then fold some cardboard around it, then slip it in whatever bubble envelope it will fit in. If you were shipping this to Canada, it would probably cost less than $10.