eBay

dalysdaleles · ‎05-26-2019

Hello,

a indonesian buyer bought an used steering wheel from me (Lithuania). That was the first time for me sending something to Indonesia, so everything looked right. I send the parcel and after some time tracking showed that parcel is in Indonesia customs. This status never changed.

Buyer messaged me and told, that post office do not give him the parcel, because he needs to go to some other institutions and get serious licenses. A few weeks later it turned out, that it is almost impossible to get those licenses.

Finally I gave buyer a refund, because, I believe, he will not get the steering wheel.

How to prevent these situations from happening? Buyer told me that he never had problems with buying from china sites (like aliexpress).

Maybe someone had same situation as I and got solution?

Thanks

duncanvr · ‎05-26-2019

When I was in Indonesia last year I sent myself a thin book. I took six months to get to Australia via regular airmail. From my experience anything sent through Indonesian post can be held for weeks, months in a post office and not looked at. People I know there who send me stuff here only use courier service like EMS to be sure it is going to get here fairly quickly. So if sending to Indonesia I would imagine the same method would apply. Only use a fast courier service or you can get delays. The regular Indo post as well can hold things in a store room for as long as they want and more likely if item is placed in one of those rooms it will take a long time for one of their postal workers to look at it. So to answer your question only use courier method to Indonesia. Probably your buyer was being asked to pay a fee to get the parcel.

pauls-parts · ‎05-27-2019

I only sell out of the country using eBay's global shipping program. It is expensive to the buyer. But is guaranteed to get there. Since using it I have lost some international sales but I don't have to refund buyers when it gets tied up in customs. Also USPS does not insure items once the item leaves our borders.

duncanvr · ‎05-27-2019

The OP is in Lithuania I doubt he has GSP there.

ohnojoey · ‎05-27-2019

@pauls-parts wrote:
I only sell out of the country using eBay's global shipping program. It is expensive to the buyer. But is guaranteed to get there. Since using it I have lost some international sales but I don't have to refund buyers when it gets tied up in customs. Also USPS does not insure items once the item leaves our borders.

Have you ever sent car parts to Indonesia? I have read that these are very restrictive except to the highest diplomats, or the recipient needs special import licenses.

Several importers said something like "Please note importation of a car, motorcycle and any kind of parts, spare parts, etc are strictly prohibited."

I don't know but I'm curious if that is causing a problem, aside from the massive corruption in Indonesia.