eBay-A cautionary tale

[EurekaDave]

Be clear about those shipping charges -- especially international ones!!!
I just sold some bats on eBay. Within an hour, a canadien buyer was demanding that I ship them for free. He threatened legal action.
We've settled it--but do yourself a favor---
specify in your product description that overseas shipping is ACTUAL COST and nothing less.
Word to the wise...
Dave Silverbrand

[sammy]

It is just too much of a hassel to ship anything out of the USA. Plus it is hard to track or insure, and if you have neither of these, you are out of luck if a complaint is filed, real or false. I strickly sell and ship in the USA only.

[otismalibu]

I agree with Sammy Broken Signature Image.

I only ship to within the US. And when I do (I don't sell very often), I either print my own postage through Paypal w/o showing the amount paid or I purposely undercharge a couple of dollars on shipping.

If you list an item with $12 shipping and actual postage turns out to be $11, some tool will ding you with a neutral or negative.

And...
- always use DC
- seller is responsible for buying insurance

[David]

I ship internationally, but that's usually with stuff like photos. I agree it can be a pain in the rear (and expensive!) to ship a bat internationally.

For the record, I have had few to no troubles with international buyers (again mostly photos and the like), from Germany, France, England, etc. If you look at their eBay feedback you can see if they're established buyers of that type of material. If they have a rating of 600 and buy lots of photos, you know they're sincere buyers.

But, in general, I wouldn't savor shipping a baseball bat to Cananada.

[David]

One way to get back at a bad Canadian buyer is to make sure they're charged customs. Many Canadians ask do anything to avoid paying the custom charge, for example asking the buyer to state the value is $0.

[CollectGU]

I agree with Sammy Broken Signature Image.

classic....enjoyed that

[Lokee]

The new fee structure starts soon if it already hasn't. Ebay will take the final value fee INCLUDING shipping so it doesn't even make it worth while to ship international.

[Klattsy]

For what it's worth I am an international (Australia) buyer. Luckily we don't have any custom charges down here. It generally costs a bat to be shipped to me $38 postage sticker in one of those triangle USPS boxes. I have never lost an item in the mail, although I am waiting on a book to come from AbeBooks which is 2 weeks behind the rest...

Tracking is very expensive, but a signature for us to send out international is only an extra $3-$4 bucks. In fact I think insurance + signature would be cheaper than posting with tracking.

Lokee- I cannot believe that they would take into account shipping. I guess this will stop all those dodgy sellers selling electronics and the like for .99c + $50 shipping...You would think buyers should just be smart enough to steer clear of them, or report them if they think the shipping is to high.

It makes me sad that so many people aren't prepared to ship international, purely from a personal point of view, it limits my collecting big time. Having said that, I understand the risks involved to the seller.

Mark.

[TNTtoys]

For what it's worth I am an international (Australia) buyer. Luckily we don't have any custom charges down here.

Mark,

Not really the case. As you already know, I lived in Australia for a few years. In that time, I had a lot of packages sent to me from the states. One time (and one time only), one of my packages was held by Australia customs, and they demanded a hefty fee in order for it to be released to me. I believe that the sender declared that it was worth a fair bit... and I paid for it... This does not happen often based on my experience, but it does happen.

Nick

[trsent]

The new fee structure starts soon if it already hasn't. Ebay will take the final value fee INCLUDING shipping so it doesn't even make it worth while to ship international.

You are wrong on this comment, as eBay will not charge Final Value Fees on international shipping charges only on shipping to the USA for sellers from the states.