Shipping Internationally

[tillyandpurple]

Back to selling on Ebay but really confused re shipping internationally.

I would like to ship priority but when I estimate the cost, it's a lot of money. I am looking at other, experienced sellers similar items and they are quoting priority mail for an average of $22-$25. I am getting nearly double these prices.

Any help would be appreciated, i don't want to use the global program as i only want to sell to a handful of countries.

thanks in advance.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

When you create a listing, you can select the countries to which you wish to ship and specify classes of mail and rates.  Or you can select Worldwide and exclude regions and countries.

Personally, I use fixed rates for First Class Mail (up to 4 lbs.) and Priority Mail to Canada and Worldwide (with exclusions).  I may specify a Priority Mail FRE or FRB for small items, rather than simply Priority Mail.  I determine how much I wish to charge based on average rates.  USPS published rates are handy:

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm

For example, I sell magazine ads, for which the mailing weight ranges between 5 and 8 oz.  My domestic rates are $3.50 FC and $7.00 PM. My First Class international rates are $9.75 to Canada and $14.00 Worldwide.  I sometimes add Priority Mail if the ad fits into an FRE (many are too large) -- for which I quote $24.00 to Canada and $34.00 elsewhere.  Naturally, I can fit more than a single carded and sleeved full-page ad into a suitable envelope.

I also sell dishes, Steiff toys and dolls, books and assorted miscellany.  Each type of product may be larger and heavier than a magazine ad and require different packaging -- but my pricing technique is the same.   It helps to keep in mind what countries are most likely to yield sales; for me, those would be Canada, UK, western Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, although I've had a couple of sales to Taiwan and South Korea.

Bottom line:  Keep it simple.  Remember that, if you offer domestic "free shipping" by inflating the selling price, you should adjust your international rates downward to compensate.

~~C~~