posted on March 27, 2002 07:42:53 AM
I have been selling on Ebay for over 3 years, shipping over 100 pkg/week. I have limited my business to US only, but am ready to start shipping overseas. Would love to hear input from those who do...do you ship mostly Global Priority or what? Problems? Benefits? Insurance? Handling fees? Worth the time/effort?? I just don't want to get myself in a situation I will regret!!
I do ship international and in my opinions the benefits are great! The main thing you will get out of this is increased sales and closing prices. By opening your market to more customers, your sales will increase. Pretty easy to understand. I find that about 10 percent of my winning bidders are international (and who knows how many international bidders are placing bids on my items and not winning!)
You will have to spend some time getting s/h quotes for your customers, but it is well worth it. It is also very easy to get quotes through the USPS website at:
ircalc.usps.gov
You also have to fill out customs forms, so you may want to charge a little extra handling than on your US packages for this service. I usually give my international customers a choice of USPS airmail or USPS surface mail and explain the difference in delivery time to them. Some are willing to wait the many weeks for surface mail, others pay up to 3x as much for the 4-7 day airmail service. Best to let them decide which method works best for them. It is my experience that insurance is often not available on international shipments.
Finally, you need to consider the payment options you will accept. Personally, I require my international customers to send payment by either check or money order in US funds. If they wish to pay by credit card, I send them to www.bidpay.com where they can purchase a money order for $5.00.
posted on March 27, 2002 08:57:20 AM
Selling outside the USA is a little more work, but the increase in sales makes it worthwhile.
Most of my additional sales are from Canada, and since they are videos or cds, I can use the "Air Letter Post" method of shipping which is actually inexpensive. There are weight and size limits. Perhaps the best way to get a feel for postal options is to spend a little time at usps.com trying out the weights you normally ship and checking options for countries such as Canada, Australia, UK and Germany which seem to be the most frequent ebay international buyers.
There is the Global Priority option which is sometimes useful, and you can get free envelopes and a cardboard box from usps for this class for free. However, it is more expensive than the Air Letter Post.
You can't get insurance on smaller shipments via these methods, so I generally state something like "my responsibility ends at the border." I had one package go missing, and did replace it out of my own pocket, since that was easy to do. On a collectible, that would be difficult. If the customer doesn't want the risk, items can be sent via insurable Air Parcel Post which is far more expensive.
As to payment, I accept Paypal, especially since sending international bidders to Bidpay where they get charged $5 is a disincentive to buying. Most of my international folks are Paypal customers, and have told me they only bid on auctions that take this service. Saving the few cents premium they charge for international credit cards seems to me to be typically penny wise and pound foolish. But each seller decides their own policies. (And each bidder reponds accordingly.)
Good luck with international - it is the only area of ebay that is growing at this point.
posted on March 27, 2002 04:08:05 PM
My international buyers are all very easy to work with. Just stay away from Romania and other fraud-rampant countries, as you have probably heard.
posted on March 27, 2002 06:49:07 PM
International was great for me, but lately, I stopped except for Canada...why? I have had to file non paying bidder notices, because, they do not want to pay the shipping rates. I gladly offered Global Priority or Airmail. Most of my items are glass and I do require Insurance, because I sell personal items and can not replace them if lost or damaged. If I sold one product, then I could satisfy a lost or broken item. I now only accept BidPay, as I don't feel I should have to pay extra to PayPal for International buyers. Again, if I was a large volumn seller, it might be different. Canadian Buyers are welcomed as I never have had a problem with them. Custom forms are easy and fast and takes just a minute of my time. I would love to open back up, but I am satisfied with the buyers I have.
posted on March 27, 2002 07:49:30 PM
I have a decent international business, and will continue to ship overseas. I've noticed that I have more misdirected or lost mail overseas, so I have started to require my international customers to take insurance, or I can not be blamed for the loss. Overall, it is worth it, can not imagine restricting sales to the US - Oh, and my deadbeat ratio is MUCH lower for international sales.
