posted on December 18, 2004 09:43:11 AM new
Once upon a time, years ago we use to ship to foreign countries, then we had so many problems we stopped.
Recently, because of a new company which handles intermediary trades between U.S. sellers & Japan, we jumped back in the foreign market. The Japanese transactions through the US intermediary has been great! So, we added CA, and the UK _ WRONG MOVE!! So far, every order from Canada, or the UK has been a nightmare – customers who don’t wait for totals and pay the “flat rate” U.S. shipping fee – etc. etc.
I have explicate instructions on our auctions which we are willing to ship out side the U.S., on the how to’s and to wait for our invoice. No one has yet to comply. How others do this, and find it so easy, is beyond me.
During the holidays, I intend to take down and re-do every auction which advertises we will ship to Canada, the UK, or Australia. I don’t think we will miss these sales at all, and the hassle certainly won’t be missed.
So bye bye Canada, UK, and Australia. We will keep shipping to Japan via the US intermediary. I gladly leave my Canadian, UK, and Australian customers to those who have the time and patience to deal with such.
posted on December 18, 2004 09:52:02 AM new
Why don't you just include flat rate foriegn shipping costs? then they will automatically get invoiced that amount.
posted on December 18, 2004 09:56:18 AM new
Yeah, although I truly MISS my Japanese bidders, I had to DUMP my international scales sales because of the TERRIBLE treatment I received from CANADIAN & (believe it or not) the DUTCH, who (for me) were the ABSOLUTE worst bidders of anybody!
TOS?? Screw it! They be DUTCHMEN & they will tell YOU how much to charge for shipping & which methos you WILL use or they WILL leave you a NEG!
No matter that my vendor DOES NOT ship any other method than USPS GLOBAL EXPRESS MAIL & NO MATTER that it states THAT in my listings, & NO MATTER that I tell them to email BEFORE bidding for a SHIPPING FEE QUOTE -- NO MATTER, you sneaky USA sellers WILL DO IT MY WAY!
Hit the HIGHWAY, Dutch-Boy! Ya ruined it for all my non-USA folks!
NO MORE!
I restrict my sales to the CONUS ("lower" 48) and, with RALPHIE'S STORE, I have more orders than I can handle!
posted on December 18, 2004 09:57:27 AM newsthoemke I hadn't considered a "flat rate" for foreign countries - that is definitely an idea, and I appreciate your pointing out my oversight. I'll check and see if it looks like a reasonable possibility.
Thanks so much for your helpful input.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
posted on December 18, 2004 11:36:51 AM new
Never had a single hassle internationally. Not one. Sometimes larger items are a pain, but if it fits in a Global Priority box it's a piece of cake!
And the USPS and the receiving country have been fast again this year. Had an item get to the UK in four days. Great deal!
------ "Bend over backward for the customer. Don't bend forward."
posted on December 18, 2004 11:37:33 AM new
all intl bidders and customer welcome,except nigerian and indonesian.
Of my 9 years of selling on ebay,i have many overseas buyers,99 % of them wait for me to tell them how much is shipping.
For those who come to my store,they pay domestic shipping plus 10 dollars.
so far so good.
money is money,their money is just as good as ours.
but then,the DUTCH are really cheap!
-sig file -------Life is one big happy 'All You Can Eat' buffet .
posted on December 18, 2004 12:29:17 PM new
LOL ... we're being courted by a West African FRAUDSTER for him to buy some of our large items that are too large to ship to Africa (of course he says 'no problem'; we send great big $ to you, you send us the change, and my shipper will come pick it up) My husband said I should tell him to pick it up at the County Sheriff's Dept and that the shipper should call them 'Pig', because they really liked to be called by that name. LOL
posted on December 18, 2004 12:45:34 PM new
"...West African FRAUDSTER"
Yes, but you are going to get that kind of stuff regardless of what you say or do with your auctions. Most of these things are automated and don't even look at your terms.
My auction service is all set up with prices for shipping to the US and Canada, so that's all figured automatically when they check out. I *COULD* do the same with other international shipments, but prefer to handle them personally because there is so much variation.
--------------------------------------
Replay Media - The best source for board games, card games and miniatures on the web!
posted on December 18, 2004 01:14:49 PM new
other factors are what you sell and how much you make??
if it is a light item and the markup is good,i dont mind shipping to canada for the same fee as shipping domestic or even UK.
QUESTION for JWPC-
if they dont wait for your invoice with extra shipping and pay you via paypal,you can always send them another paypal invoice for addt shipping or just send the payment back .
-sig file -------Life is one big happy 'All You Can Eat' buffet .
posted on December 18, 2004 02:06:35 PM new
JWPC - I don't know about the Vendio set up but with MarketWorks I pre program in shipping costs to the a) US b) Local international (Canada) and c) International (everywhere else) As soon as the bidder fills out their address info the correct postage amount is automatically imported.
With the extremely depressed dollar which equates with higher buying power for europeans I would take a little more time and further explore the possibilities.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on December 18, 2004 05:27:09 PM new
never fails to amaze me, how many people miss the boat with international buyers, esp. with the USD (U. S. dollar) low and the CAD (Canadian dollar), etc. higher. have even successfully shipped to Indonesia, the man sent me the $ in good old American green backs.
stop getting your panties in a wad and being so freakin' provincial, sell internationally, extra $. which is the point of eBay and VD anyway, right?
i charge a flat (high) shipping rate to everyone. the U.S. sales are the bulk, more than make up for the occasional higher shipping to Japan, the Isle of Skye, Indonesia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, etc....are you getting my drift?
posted on December 18, 2004 05:40:01 PM new
Your drift is that selling INTERNATIONALLY has been EASY fer YOU -- how nice
For me-&-Ralphie, it has been a ROYAL PITA -- the hassles & all-around BS involved with furrinneers tain't worth the few extra sales for US...
EVERYTHING is far more complicated when I sell outside the good ole CONUS (UPS GROUND), including, but NOT limited to:
1) THEY donna READ!
2) RETURNS are an EXPENSIVE DISASTER!
3) ITALIAN CUSTOMS eats the goods!
4) They donna READ!
5) They want 6lbs items shipped overnight to ELBONIA for $1.33, & then P&M that the ONLY shipping option offered in the listing is USPS GLOBAL EXPRESS MAIL which costs $35.00 to ELBONIA
6) THEY DONNA READ!
What WORKS for YOU, works for YOU -- tis a DISASTER for poor ole RALPHIE'S ECCLECTIC GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS, HERBAL VIAGRA & VINYL SIDING
posted on December 20, 2004 12:33:03 PM new
iwpc,
what do you sell?
i have sold to many foreign buyers,no missing package and no broken package,the only complaint i have once-
WHY DONT YOU WAIT FOR ME TO COME BACK FROM VACATION AND COACH YOU WHAT TO SAY ON THE CUSTOMS FORM??????????????
-sig file -------Life is one big happy 'All You Can Eat' buffet .
posted on December 20, 2004 02:36:58 PM new
My foreign buyers have been consistently the best. Except for Canada. Everything in Canada is expensive, but they think postage should be dirt cheap for some reason.
