How Safe is it Selling to Buyers Located in France?

[neverwlnter]

I received a private message from a certain eBayer located in France.  It's about an item I listed and specified 'Will ship to United States' only -  and he's  offered to buy it at the listed 'Buy-It-Now' price plus international shipping which says he is willing to pay. 

I never shipped international before,  so I looked up FedEx for shipping estimates and it comes up to $285 International Economy with Signature - this is almost 50% of the item's price.  The potential buyer says he is okay with it. 

I can revise my auction to add France and shipping but I have some reservations though. How safe is this transaction?  He has 150+ positive feedbacks.  I cannot check if he has a confirmed/verified shipping address but I doubt if Paypal even does that in France.   Does FedEx have tracking in France?  Is it better to use eBay's  GSP???

I am concerned the address may be bogus and he calls FedEx to reroute the package and file 'Item Not Received' and I end up losing money and the item itself. Any perspective from veteran sellers would be much appreciated.  Thanks!

[chapeau-noir]

I had just noticed that Fed-Ex - absolutely I would not ship that way for anything internationally unless there's a specific reason - both UPS and Fed-Ex incur brokerage charges for customs handling as well as being far more expensive for shipping.

Also I don't think I would ship a $600 item first class international - LOL.

[luckythewinner]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

The doll is 23” and I think that the max for first class is 24”.  The package would likely be more than the max. 

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I have every confidence that the OP is creative enough to bend it at its jointed knees to gain a couple inches. 

[luckythewinner]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Also I don't think I would ship a $600 item first class international - LOL.

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I have shipped a dozen or more $300 vinyl albums to France by first class international with no issues whatsoever. 

If I were selling a $600 item overseas, there is no way I would put an additional $285 at risk when there is a reliable $24 option available. 

[1tuna]

................general reply........................

I sell plenty of stuff for $600,it all gets shipped by edelcon 1st class,if you ask me I will tell you that using USPS international priority is a big waste of money.Is priority supposed to be better than 1st class,you will never know just how fast edelcon service is if you are afraid of using it.Besides, edelcon is a newer product than ancient priority mail,why spend  big $$ when I can send a $600 watch for $13.05 to Europe with ebay shipping

[ozarkjoe]

I've sold a few low cost items to France and the rest of Europe without a hitch but I can offer one caveat.  My local coin dealer ships coins all over the world after they run an auction.  He said the only country with consistent problems is France.  It is not the people but the postal system where packages get opened and items stolen.  There is also a coin dealer here on eBay who has a list of nations that he won't sell to.  He also said that he was on the verge of stopping shipments to France if he has one more problem with sending items over there.

[therogue-trader]

You can get scammed anywhere, it's not eBay specific. I checked your feedback, you really don't have much at all which leads me to believe you just got rather unlucky. Also if I had to guess, tech stuff has a higher population of scammers than many other categories

@thread

Selling/buying online presumes some assumption of risk of being scammed.  Whether or not you're willing to accept the risk (however much it is, nobody is going to really agree on how much there is) is on you

[jack_bucks_ghost]

in my previous life, the company where i worked would sometimes need to send documents and/or packages to our unit in France...the biggest concern was whether or not there were active labor or other protest strikes happening in France that might affect timely delivery.  we got burned a few of times by the French inclination to "man the barricades"...packages always made it safely, but delivery times could occasionally be a bit erratic.

[chapeau-noir]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Also I don't think I would ship a $600 item first class international - LOL.

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I have shipped a dozen or more $300 vinyl albums to France by first class international with no issues whatsoever. 

If I were selling a $600 item overseas, there is no way I would put an additional $285 at risk when there is a reliable $24 option available. 

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The first time a package was lost and I was out the shekels for a several hundred dollar item, I changed my mind.  However, I've never paid $285 to ship anything.