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EBAY FOREIGN SHIPPING ADVICE NEEDED

bimasta

bimasta

Addicted Member
I need advice from experienced ebay sellers and shippers to OVERSEAS.

I haven’t used Ebay in a while. Last time 3 years ago, a MC phono cartridge. Ebay took control of the shipping, sent it 2000 miles East, then 3000 miles back West, then 7,300 more miles to Hong Kong. 5000 needless miles.

I’m about to sell some things again. I don’t want to leave out foreign buyers: the items fetch good prices overseas — a high-end MC cartridge, JBL 077 tweeters, JBL LE85 horns. But shipping worries me. One item is only 3 lbs; one is 18lbs; the other 35lbs. Wide weight variation, and in size too.

I used to pack and ship on my own. I’ll still pack, but the new Ebay shipping confuses me.

Of course I want the best safety and the lowest cost and the easiest for me. Maybe I can’t have all 3. Appropriately insured of course. And what about customs? I prefer not to “customize” the declared value.

I hope the suggestions don’t boggle my mind with options and complexities.

Is there a simple “best way”?

Thanks!
 
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I don't think a seller is required to use the eBay global shipping - it's just an option. You can always work out direct shipping with your buyer. I don't know if the eBay shipping calculator will still calculate that, but you should be able to issue a PayPal invoice with whatever shipping charge you and the buyer agree upon.

I've heard that eBay charges foreign buyers a big markup for their Global Shipping option, but that they don't let US sellers see how much.
 
Dont know if this helps but living in NZ the shipping costs we see for EU and USA prices - even for little things - are exorbitant and it generally puts me off buying from that site.
 
The eBay shipping thing is clearly designed for convenience, not value. It's such a pity when I see something in the US at a great price, but the global shipping is so ridiculous I don't even consider it.

The few times I have contacted sellers to see if they can simply give me a price with normal USPS postage, they either don't reply or can't be bothered. I think it's made sellers very lazy and as such, they are missing out.

I always posted in listings, origin postcode, sizes and weights of the package so buyers could see exactly how much things costed to send. Not rocket science.
 
i have sent overseas and had the buyer organise the shipping . i had a box made to the correct size and i packaged it properly which the buyer paid for . the courier rung me up when he was close by and i went out to meet him .. no problems at all .
 
petehall347 said:
i have sent overseas and had the buyer organise the shipping . i had a box made to the correct size and i packaged it properly which the buyer paid for . the courier rung me up when he was close by and i went out to meet him .. no problems at all
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Sounds great — may I ask how many times you shipped that way and what the items were? Having a box made for it, and using a courier, sounds as though it was not an "average" thing, like mine: one small box with a cartridge; one midsize box with two tweeters, one largish box with two horn mids — all in normal boxes, going via normal carriers.
restorer-john said:
I always posted in listings, origin postcode, sizes and weights of the package so buyers could see exactly how much things costed to send. Not rocket science.
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That's how I used to do it John. That way each bidder can do his own figures, instead of me doing lots of them. But everything was easier years ago. How do I escape the "ebay uber alles" attitude now? How do I do it your way, when they seem to want to control the entire process?
bobschneider said:
I don't think a seller is required to use the eBay global shipping - it's just an option. You can always work out direct shipping with your buyer. I don't know if the eBay shipping calculator will still calculate that, but you should be able to issue a PayPal invoice with whatever shipping charge you and the buyer agree upon. I've heard that eBay charges foreign buyers a big markup for their Global Shipping option, but that they don't let US sellers see how much.
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I appreciate your input Bob, but the 4 phrases I've bolded remain questions to me. How do I actually do it the sensible way you suggest?
BinaryMike said:
I often ship outside the US via USPS Priority Mail International, independent of eBay's shipping system.
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That's how I used to do it. Maybe it's much simpler than I think, but last time I used ebay, they just seemed to take over. How do I avoid that?

It might be really simple, and if I sound confused, I am — but if some one can give me a 1-2-3 it'll be so helpful.
 
ex bbc speaker pretty large . it went to china no problems via a private airfield .. cant remember the model number now but i expect there are copied ones if it went as i suspected it might .
ups collected it ..
bimasta said:
Sounds great — may I ask how many times you shipped that way and what the items were? Having a box made for it, and using a courier, sounds as though it was not an "average" thing, like mine: one small box with a cartridge; one midsize box with two tweeters, one largish box with two horn mids — all in normal boxes, going via normal carriers.
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I keep things simple,I only sell within the continental United States.you can save yourself from considerable grief.
 
hugo454 said:
I keep things simple,I only sell within the continental United States.you can save yourself from considerable grief.
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I prefer it too Hugo. I just think (maybe wrongly) the vintage JBLs might be worth more abroad, enough to justify the hassle. There, they're rare.
 
Shipping electronics to certain countries is asking for trouble. Some countries prohibit electronics imports so when your item get there, it goes into limbo. Some countries take forever to clear customs so is a no go. Some countries protect the consumers to such a great degree that they enable fraud. The bidder gets his money and keeps your item. I could name the countries but I think it is better you do your research and figure out a way to prevent sales to these countries.
 
bimasta said:
I'll heed the warnings. US-only it will be. A load of my mind actually.
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In fairness, some very experienced members report excellent overseas results so there is a way. Maybe it's me but I'll take a lot less to be able to sleep at night. Nothing worse than a deal that goes bad for reasons beyond your control.
 
I think I may decide to no longer sell overseas, if something goes wrong it can be a very big hassle.

I state that I do not accept returns and in most cases that does not matter and the shipping to overseas countries is crazy.

I just dealt and I’m still dealing with this incident. I sold a Yamaha receiver and the buyer happened to live in Germany. This receiver is in perfect working condition. I got an alert that the buy wanted to return the receiver and he was claiming it didn’t work. In the area to provide detail he states “this item was made for the USA and works on 110 volts and in Germany we us 230 volts, I cannot use this”.

I try to tell the buyer that they need to use a step up transformer to use it and it’s not my responsibility for them to know it doesn’t work on their voltage. You buy from the US it’ll work in the US. The buyer escalated it to a claim. I call eBay (every time I call it’s like death) and after being on the phone with them they tell me they can’t help me and only eBay Germany can help me.

So know if there is an issue you have to wait for that countries eBay to contact you. They were going to have me pay the shipping fees back to me! I told the buyer to just keep it. They finally got back to me and told me I had to accept the return, but the buyer had to pay shipping fees back to me since it was their mistake. I’d have to refund original purchase price and shipping (only to Kentucky where the global shipping center is). Luckily to ship it back is so expensive the buyer hasn’t provided tracking yet so I don’t think they want to ship it back.

Anyways, through eBay at least, overseas shipping is turning out to be a hassle for me.

End rant,
Dan
 
Last item I shipped OS was a pioneer pl-51. While it was successful never again. My finger nails were gone and I didn’t sleep for almost 3 weeks. Just not worth it in the end. I make it very clear now I will not ship outside the U.S.A period.
 
As an overseas buyer, I have a different perspective.

I will NEVER use the EBay Global shipping option again. Pitney-Bowles will charge the buyer a ridiculously inflated customs charge - 5x to 10x the real charge.

USPS is pretty good depending on the buyer's national post office. I find it is easier here in the UAE to go to my post office at my convenience and pay the customs bill when I pick it up. The local agents for the big international shippers are none too flexible - no deliveries on Friday, my day off, for example. Plus I can make my case for any questions the UAE Customs people have face-to-face. I think I paid the equivalent of $5 USD for duty on my McIntosh MR77 tuner, for one example.

But it does pay for the seller to shop around. Note that one part of the US-China trade war is that the Chinese have been getting international shipping rates a tiny fraction of the set rates charge to US shippers.
 
Small items are no big sweat shipping overseas but big heavy items like speakers? Never, ever ever.
 
I’ll add my name to those who only ship domestically. I just don’t need the headaches.

But that doesn’t mean you are locked out of the international market. I had a guy in Japan buy an item and (according to Google street view) had me ship it to him at a tire store in Van Nuys. Someone there took care of the final leg. Probably a number of people providing that kind of service.
 
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