deur1
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posted on July 19, 2005 11:50:29 AM new
I send letters to Germany several time a year but have never shipped sales to Germany .
My auctions say USA only but at least 10 packages a week go to Japan (real good customers), Canada, and Great Britain. I have shipped to Australia, New Zealand,and many others -no problems
The only country I have shipped to that I would NEVER ship to again is Italy ... they have the worst postal system on the planet. The Italians are wonderful folks, WOW great looking men, BUT their postal systems STINKS!
Could someone give me first hand experiences (good or bad) about selling, shipping to Germany?
Thanks in advance
_______________________________________________I will always keep in mind those that simply went to work on a Tuesday morning......
[ edited by deur1 on Jul 22, 2005 07:57 AM ]
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Roadsmith
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posted on July 19, 2005 12:39:06 PM new
In all this time, I don't think I've sold more than 3 or 4 items to Germany--but all the sales and shipping went through without a hitch. I wouldn't hesitate in future to sell and ship to Germans.
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birgittaw
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posted on July 19, 2005 12:47:34 PM new
Funny, must depend on what one sells. In all this time I too have only sold a handful of items to Germans -- also with no problems or hitches. If I recall, delivery was efficient and faster than most other countries. Would have gladly sell again to that country.
B/
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amber
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posted on July 19, 2005 12:52:21 PM new
I have sent to Germany 3 or 4 times, with no problems, except that surface rate packages did take a long time, but I found that to England and all of Europe.
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carolinetyler
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posted on July 19, 2005 01:03:08 PM new
Never had a problem with Germany - Italy was a problem though - it took 3 months to arrive via surface. One of the problem's I've noticed in any international shipping is to make sure you've printed the address correctly. Sometimes it's difficult to tell which is the street, the house #, the city, etc. Sometimes I double check via the web how to format the address, and that seems to help.
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stonecold613
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posted on July 19, 2005 01:21:30 PM new
it took 3 months to arrive via surface
That is why airmail is the only way to go. Never ever had a problem with Italy or Germany when shipping via air mail, and in many cases, cheaper than surface shipping.
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Alive in 2005
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Roadsmith
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posted on July 19, 2005 03:45:28 PM new
One caution: I form the number "7" the way most of us were taught in this country. Once I mailed a package to somewhere in Europe; it took forever to arrive because the "7" had been misread as a "9".
I've never learned to put that line through the stem of a "7" and still don't but I make sure the 7 is VERY distinct.
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birgittaw
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posted on July 19, 2005 03:55:34 PM new
Which is why it's a good idea to at least copy and paste the name and address into notepad and print it out for the label.
B/
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profe51
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posted on July 20, 2005 08:39:05 AM new
I sold off some Indian War militaria some time ago. There was a guy in Germany who bid like crazy on several items, then continued to claim he had sent payment. He's a dealer in Americana there. He got kicked off Ebay, and was back bidding under a different ID within a week. He has been through 3 or 4 ID's that I know of, and may be back again for all I know.German privacy laws make it really difficult to track these scumbags down, and I suspect they also make it easy for them to re-register. This guy still has one of my pictures up on his webpage, advertising an item for sale that he bid, won, and never owned because I never shipped it to him. I don't know what you'd receive if you ordered from him, but it wouldn't be the item in the picture. If you want to look at it, it's at
http://americanantiques.de/?id=2&ant=127
I don't sell much anymore, in fact I just ended my first auction in a long time, but I still specify no German bidders.
____________________________________________
Fue por lana y salió trasquilado...
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neglus
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posted on July 20, 2005 12:40:09 PM new
I have shipped many many postcards to Germany with no problems. Of course, comparing shipping postcards to just about anything else is apples and oranges. I am certain the German postal system is reliable. Most of my items arrive within a week and sometimes sooner than cards shipped to Iowa from Minnesota!
-------------------------------------
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
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agitprop
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posted on July 21, 2005 03:01:30 PM new
deur1,
Shipping to Germany isn't a problem but do be aware that parcels are often delay on arrival for inspection by Deutschland Customs so the appropriate 16% Mehrwertsteuer (sales tax) can be added to the total for collection on delivery. Sames goes for Austria.
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sparkz
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posted on July 21, 2005 03:48:45 PM new
I've only had 3 people in Germany win auctions from me. One was an American G.I. and it went to an APO. The other two were deadbeats.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
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deur1
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posted on July 21, 2005 07:54:12 PM new
Thanks everyone.
I do not like the fact that Euro eBayers feedback is not accessable.
The person agreed to the S/H but only wanted to use Paypal.
I would rather not do that, so we did not come to terms .
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birgittaw
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posted on July 21, 2005 07:58:09 PM new
Curious -- what do you mean by Euro buyers' feedback not being accessible? That it's not translated into English? Their feedback score is certainly visible and understandable.
B/
[ edited by birgittaw on Jul 21, 2005 07:59 PM ]
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deur1
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posted on July 21, 2005 11:51:37 PM new
curious -- what do you mean by Euro buyers' feedback not being accessible
Because of some European countries Privacy Laws their feedback is not visible ..Germany is one that has such a Privacy law
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birgittaw
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posted on July 22, 2005 06:52:16 AM new
I still don't understand. Just went to eBay Germany and while I see a few "private feedbacks" -- just like in the US -- the overwhelming number show feedback profiles identical to US eBayers.
B/
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deur1
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posted on July 22, 2005 07:56:04 AM new
B/
This person was not buying through eBay ...but said check their eBay feedback and it show the Privacy Act statement
They did have over 2000 feedback but do not know what the comments were or number of negs.
If I could have seen the feedback text I still would not accept Paypal from a new customer -International especially when it involved almost $1000 USD
Anyway, Germans are great folks, my parents were born there and I am a 1st generatiom American (no I never call myself German-American) so it was not me being overly concerned about Germans. All countries have their good, bad and ugly.
I also have no rift with Italians but their mail service must be manned by ninny imbeciles REALLY , it is terrible.
[ edited by deur1 on Jul 22, 2005 07:58 AM ]
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carolinetyler
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posted on July 22, 2005 08:23:22 AM new
I've run in to a few feedbacks that are in another language, and I've found a translation sight that I use - also used it to translate a question from a french user and my answer:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
[ edited by carolinetyler on Jul 22, 2005 08:30 AM ]
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deur1
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posted on July 22, 2005 09:22:33 AM new
I understand German enough to getthe basic understanding of what is being said.That is no problem ... the feedback does not show on some European accounts.
Anyway as I said -
I did not agree to take Paypal
Thanks everyone at least I now know for future reference the ins and outs of shipping sales to Germany
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