posted on August 21, 2002 09:11:49 AM
International buyer wins a rare camera lens. On 9th. day after the end of auction he finally answers my 4th. email and tells me to write $20 as the value for this $350 transaction. No apology or explanation for the 9 day gap. Told him I felt too uncomfortable with the transaction to deal with him-my words were "I would prefer not to do business with you". Most,but not all, international deals go considerably better than this one.
posted on August 21, 2002 04:16:16 PM
He is probably one of the many who do not check their e-mail on a daily basis. So I'm not too sure I'd be concerned with the 9 day gap. As far as the $20.00 thing goes, he was trying to avoid customs charges which can be fairly large. When I have international customers ask me to undervalue the merchandise ( or worse yet, ask me to list it as a "gift" ) I simply explain to them that my P.O. knows me and they know I have no relatives or friends overseas and that all my packages are merchandise and that I seldom ship anything that inexpensive. Given that, I'm not about to lie on the customs form. Granted the USPS could care less what box I check - they know it is for overseas use - but it is a matter of integrity. I've never had an overseas customer balk at that.
posted on August 21, 2002 04:54:05 PM
Why not international sales? ... i accepted them for a lonnng time [few years back] ... more than half of them do NOT go easily/flawlessly thru, without a lot of extra work [or $ loss] on our part ... .... ... about a year ago, i started NOT accepting intl. bidders [only Canada] ... things were quite smooth for that long time .... very recently [because of a thread i read on here] i decided "the whole world should" be my shoppers. i'll get more bids!" ... well, it HAS created more time/effort than it is worth so far. ... i will soon go back to U.S.A./Canada only ... as we all know, just because we "read" certain amounts on usps.com does not mean that is what the postal clerk will think we should be charged.
posted on August 21, 2002 05:18:40 PM
syms, I've had Canadian customers ask to have the price under valued or to have the form made out as a gift. I just don't respond to that request and do the right thing and let them know when the item was shipped etc. I would never UPS to Canada because of the surcharges that are imposed.
I've never had a complaint - what can they say? seller refused to break law?
posted on August 21, 2002 06:38:34 PM
I'd say that apx 70% of my international sales go smoothly or with very minor bumps. I've found the other 30% to be a headache or worse.
posted on August 22, 2002 09:28:15 PMMost of us Canadians won't ask our American friends to lie on a Customs declaration
Wrong. In my experience, it is better than 75% of the Canadians asking for undervalued declarations. The odd thing is, this is the only country that I ever get this request from.
To aintrichyet, Not sure on your experience with other items shipped to other countries than Canada, but if you are going to drop a country, it should be Canada and not the rest of the world. JMHO
posted on August 23, 2002 08:00:44 AM
I stopped doing international business except for Canada several years ago. I had too many problems with international buyers. I feel it was mostly a language problem however I did have several international buyers who were downright rude and very cheap!!!
I do not find these problems with Canadian buyers. After all, Canada is normally referred to as US North and actually that is what she is. I have found Canadian buyers to be polite, honest and very understanding about pricing, shipping and the length of time necessary to receive their item. Canadians can buy my items all day long and I would be a happy camper!!!
posted on August 23, 2002 08:47:09 AM
Right on capolady
I figure about 95% of the 250 or so items I have purchased from eBay sellers during the past 8 months are from US sellers. I pay mostly with Canada Post Money Orders (and sometimes US cash), and I have never had a complaint from any sellers.
As a matter of fact, most US sellers like our money orders as they can be cashed at any USPS outlet with no service fees.
It should also be pointed out that the perceived delays expressed by some Canadians are usually caused by Canadian Customs searching packages that have been incorrectly and illegally marked "Gift".
We don't like giving the Feds 7% and the Province another 7 to 10%, but in most cases our landed cost is still cheaper than buying stuff here - we have to pay the exact same taxes when we buy an item locally.
