e bay, international buyers. Help please.

jim453

I've recently put some stuff on e-bay to sell. I don't know if I've failed to check some kind of box or something but I'm getting a fair bit of interest from overseas buyers.

This is all well and good but I've heard a few stories of buyers failing to receive their goods (or saying they have) and there being some pay pal unpleasantness.

I don't really want to go through the hassle of sending something tracked and recorded to Australia (say) so should I just say I don't post overseas? On the other hand, I don't want to exclude bidders.

What do you reckon? Am I worrying about nothing?

OffTheBackAdam

Up to you.
If it sells for under £42 (IIRC), then if you get a Paypal non-receipt dispute, the Royal Snail will pay up on the proof of postage, over that, it needs sending by recorded post etc.
If the bidder's prepared to pay the fees for insured & tracked postage, be it Royal Snail's International Signed For, or whatever the likes of DHL will charge (for larger, heavier items) then sell it to them.
I do a lot of eBaying, mostly wargames stuff, not much goes astray and I sell a lot overseas.
It tends to be Spain where I have the most "missing" items.
If it's going to a non-EU country, make sure you put a custom's label on the back & fill it in.

daviesee

Even if you do tick the box, you will still get overseas interest.
Check your settings, then stand by your intuition and be strong.
Some are genuine, some are not.
You don't have to sell overseas if you have ticked that option.

tim_wand

Edit your listing. Put in red underlined in the description at the bottom. UK BIDDERS ONLY.

if you think thats a bit strong then change your "Buyer requirements" to filter bidders with low feedback/ Unpaid items or from Outside the EU out of being able to bid.

proto

I've shipped stacks of ebay sales around the world (nothing over £200) and never had a problem. Mostly to the States, but most of Europe, Taiwan, Japan and Australia too. Just take the usual precautions and you'll be fine, but do take care with shipping costs.

jim453

I've never sold anything on e-bay before. What are the 'usual' precautions you advise me to take? and what care should I be giving to shipping costs?

cooldad

Beware Nigerians

giantorangedale

Would'nt it make more sense to post this on the ebay forums.

bobtbuilder

Jim, why wouldn't you want to send something tracked to Australia (for example)?

It doesn't take any longer at the post office than sending something recorded delivery in the UK.

I've bought stuff from and sold stuff to all corners of the world (2,162 feedback - so at least this many items) with no problems other than one idiot from the UK.

bobtbuilder

jim453 wrote:

I've never sold anything on e-bay before. What are the 'usual' precautions you advise me to take? and what care should I be giving to shipping costs?

I always offer internation bidders 2 shipping alternatives. A basic and cheap untracked service and a signed for service. I always recommend the signed for service and advise buyers that using the untracked service is entirely at their own risk.

Gizmodo

You've got as much chance of someone in the UK trying to rip you off as anywhere else in the world.

1. Tick the box that says don't accept bids from people with negative feedback
2. When someone emails you and says I'll buy it from you outside of eBay, refuse
3. Post the item tracked and insured to the correct amount so that if they claim "I didn't receive it" you can claim the full amount back from the shipping company. Read Royal Mail international tracked item small print carefully as some services only track the item as far as the UK border - when it leaves the UK some services are no longer tracked
4. Insist on payment by PayPal or Cash on Collection (the later won't apply obviously)
5. If the highest bidder doesn't pay, send them several Invoices and then use 2nd chance offer which offers it to the 2nd highest bidder

Basically as long as you stay within eBay and PayPal, the worst that can happen is either the highest bidder doesn't pay up, in which case you claim the selling fees back from eBay and re-list the item, or they claim it didn't arrive in which case you refund them and claim your money from the shipping company.

If they say "it's the wrong colour" or something, you have to refund them, but not the shipping costs. Only give a refund when you have received the goods back or have claimed and been paid the money from the shipping company.

If you have problems there's plenty of help on eBay help pages and forum.
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/protecting.html

jim453

giantorangedale wrote:

Would'nt it make more sense to post this on the ebay forums.

I'm sure it would. Especially seeing as how every other thread on this particular forum is exclusively about cake .

Thanks for the help you moron.

Anyway, all items are sold (every one for considerably less than I had hoped) and some have gone to overseas bidders after all. So looks like I'm just going to have to suck it up and get down the post office.

Genuine thanks to all who managed to contribute with sensible advice. I appreciated it. I don't think I'll be e baying again any time soon. it's been a bit of a drain.

Kendal Black Drop

jim453 wrote:

giantorangedale wrote:

Would'nt it make more sense to post this on the ebay forums.

I'm sure it would. Especially seeing as how every other thread on this particular forum is exclusively about cake .

Thanks for the help you moron.

There's no need to call someone a moron just for making what seems to me to be a sensible suggestion.

jim453

I thought there was.

You went to the effort of posting something unhelpful. I happen to know from reading thousands of other posts on this very forum that many people on here are way more experienced at e-baying than me, having never sold anything (until now). So, in much the same way you might ask your mate down the pub something if you know he can help, I asked on here. I knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would be able to help. I also knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would like to help. That's how it works on here and in real life.

Read your post again.

Any way, I won't hold it against you (even if you care). I'm sure you're not actually a moron.

Kendal Black Drop

jim453 wrote:

You went to the effort of posting something unhelpful. I happen to know from reading thousands of other posts on this very forum that many people on here are way more experienced at e-baying than me, having never sold anything (until now). So, in much the same way you might ask your mate down the pub something if you know he can help, I asked on here. I knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would be able to help. I also knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would like to help. That's how it works on here and in real life.

Read your post again.

Any way, I won't hold it against you (even if you care). I'm sure you're not actually a moron.

It wasn't my post... but don't worry I won't hold it against you.

jim453

Kendal Black Drop wrote:

jim453 wrote:

You went to the effort of posting something unhelpful. I happen to know from reading thousands of other posts on this very forum that many people on here are way more experienced at e-baying than me, having never sold anything (until now). So, in much the same way you might ask your mate down the pub something if you know he can help, I asked on here. I knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would be able to help. I also knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would like to help. That's how it works on here and in real life.

Read your post again.

Any way, I won't hold it against you (even if you care). I'm sure you're not actually a moron.

It wasn't my post... but don't worry I won't hold it against you.

Thank you.

MattC59

jim453 wrote:

I thought there was.

Just as I thought that RTFM was a suitable answer

Anyway, make sure that you quote insurance as an option. That way, if the buyer says that his goods haven't arrived, or that the box was empty, but has declined insurance, then it's his fault.

giantorangedale

jim453 wrote:

I thought there was.

You went to the effort of posting something unhelpful. I happen to know from reading thousands of other posts on this very forum that many people on here are way more experienced at e-baying than me, having never sold anything (until now). So, in much the same way you might ask your mate down the pub something if you know he can help, I asked on here. I knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would be able to help. I also knew with one hundred percent certainty that someone would like to help. That's how it works on here and in real life.

Read your post again.

Any way, I won't hold it against you (even if you care). I'm sure you're not actually a moron.

So suggesting you use the ebay forums to help you answer a question about ebay makes me an unhelpful moron. Do you suppose only twenty percent of the people on ebay would be able to help you.Anyway you made me laugh,so thanks for that.Off to the butchers now to get my haircut.