Buyer from outside of accepted countries wants to purchase item

[redterror117]

I've just started to get back into selling items on eBay again, and I have a user from Chile with no feedback who wants me to sell him items. To try and minimize some risk I've limited myself to selling within Canada, but the individual is quite adamant about wanting the item(s) (they had messaged me the same initial question on several of my listings). Because of their location, the only shipping option through Canada Post with tracking that will go to Chile is Xpresspost, which is somewhere between $60-80. Keep in mind that the items the buyer is interested in are about $3-5 each.

I told the seller how much it would cost, but they're still interested. I'm now concerned about potentially being scammed, considering how much would come out of pocket if I had to do a full refund. Should I be concerned or suspicious?

[dhbookds]

I would not ship...........to much of a risk........  for too little return, from what it sounds like.  They can find a reshipper in Canada probably.........

[mycarolinavintage]

If you decided up front to not ship out of the country, don't ship out of the country. If you feel the need to reply to the potential buyer, just be courteous about it and say No and don't worry about it. It's that simple. 

..............................................................

energy flows where attention goes

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

 I probably wouldn't be comfortable shipping trading cards to Chili and it seems a bit odd to me that they are willing to pay that much for shipping.  If they do decide to return and say that the item is not as described, you will be out the cost of return and original shipping so I would probably tell them that you're sorry but you are going to ship within Canada only. 

[duggmills]

Just what is it that's only worth three to five dollars that can only be found in Canada? And $60 to ship? 

Look at your risk to reward ratio.

(pssst,the right answer is to block the buyer)

[redterror117]

Digimon TCG singles. They're pretty cheap to ship normally, but because of some previous bad luck I've opted to only do tracked packages for higher cost items, or anything leaving the country. Canada Post has a tracked packet option, but it only works for about 30 countries (I believe excluding most of South America). Otherwise there's Xpresspost and Priority, which are on the crazy high end (I think Priority is $100+).

[castlemagicmemories]

Found this online:

Chile's Postal Service - Santiago Tourist

santiagotourist.com/chile-post/

Dec 22, 2012 - The Chilean postal service is called CorreosChile. While it is basically comprehensive and sufficient, it does leave a little to be desired. Postage times can be slow at times and are often inconsistent. A parcel from the U.S.A. arrived in less than two weeks; a friend of mine sent two postcards internationally (at ...

JMO, but if you don't ship internationally, just say sorry, no.  And BBL.

[jonathankirkland]

It's almost certainly a scam. They will probably find a way to claim INR and then you'll have to refund.

I would definitely block this person and not reply, and stick to your guns of only selling within your country.

[redterror117]

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I have sent a message to the user to inform them that due to the risks, I wouldn't be able to sell to them. If anything goes sour, I'd rather not risk losing that much money on a sale.

[hollysfinds]

I sell only within the U.S.

Once in awhile I'll get a message asking about shipping to a country that I don't ship to.

I politely message the buyer back, thank them for their interest,

& tell them that I'm very sorry, but that I don't sell outside of the U.S.

I also tell them that I hope that they can find another seller who ships internationally,

& who has the item that they want.

[drwho534]

I made the mistake of offering various 'options' to ship overseas by Canada Post (first mistake), of course the buyer chose the cheapest then the item did not arrive within two weeks so they posted a claim for a refund....luckily the item arrived before the claim was due. Saved by the bell and lesson learned ..... NEVER EVER ship anything overseas without tracking.  It's your only proof and defense against getting hit by ebay for a full refund.