Where are the International Buyers?

[12345jamesstamps]

It's been a few weeks since I had a buyer from UK or Canada.

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this?

I had one International Buyer in weeks...from Poland...that's it.

It's nothing but domestic buyers weeks now.

I do get quite a bit of buyers every day.

But, to get 0 buyers now from other countries is not looking good.

I usually get about 10+ International buyers a week...UK especially.

Canada buyers...plus my 'repeat Canada buyers' has dried up weeks ago.

[ebooksdiva]

I had several eIS orders from the UK in the past couple of weeks...so they are out there.

[inhawaii]

I had a EIS (Canada) sale the other day.

I apologized for my President's behavior.

[12345jamesstamps]

OK...well...at least some sellers are getting sales...it's just been so quiet lately.

Thanks guys!

[chevymontecarlo88]

---

@inhawaii wrote:

I had a EIS (Canada) sale the other day.

I apologized for my President's behavior.

---

Got to give you credit for at least being able to say those words. 😀

@12345jamesstamps 

From what i heard from some on these boards, many in Canada are boycotting US sellers. 

[sin-n-dex]

---

@12345jamesstamps wrote:

It's been a few weeks since I had a buyer from UK or Canada.

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this?

I had one International Buyer in weeks...from Poland...that's it.

It's nothing but domestic buyers weeks now.

I do get quite a bit of buyers every day.

But, to get 0 buyers now from other countries is not looking good.

I usually get about 10+ International buyers a week...UK especially.

Canada buyers...plus my 'repeat Canada buyers' has dried up weeks ago.

---

My Canada buyers won't shop on this account anymore, they've all come over to eBay.ca to shop on my eBay Canada store. I did get some UK buyers now and again, but none for a few weeks. A month ago I had quite a few UK sales.

International this week has been one sale to South Korea, one to Australia and one to Hong Kong. That's on my US eBay store, so there are international buyers out there if you have stuff they want to buy.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

---

@inhawaii wrote:

I had a EIS (Canada) sale the other day.

I apologized for my President's behavior.

---

Got to give you credit for at least being able to say those words. 😀

@12345jamesstamps 

From what i heard from some on these boards, many in Canada are boycotting US sellers. 

---

My US buyers are sending me sympathetic words as well (the ones that still want to buy from me). Some say nothing but have repeatedly purchased from me in these past few months, a few items each time, one buyer buys 10 items at a time. It's good to have these sales.

I figured that Canadian sellers would be boycotting (from my last round of trade dollars in this account I had only US buyers, low bids, it wasn't good). I put them on eBay CA more recently and all my repeat buyers showed up there. They aren't even looking at eBay com or paying attention to anyone who's location is US. The few Canadians that are buying from this account know I'm also in Canada and that there's no tariffs on their orders.

When sending offers I've been telling my Canada and US buyers how I ship and that there's no tariffs on their orders, and that seems to have helped them buy.

On my Canada eBay account I've had two US buyer sales (which kind of surprised me), one was a new buyer in Alaska I've never sold to before, and the other is someone from this store who bids on my trade dollars. I'm sure they'll like their order coming without tariffs (with Stallion Express, the lack of tariffs is entirely possible).

C.

[chevymontecarlo88]

@sin-n-dex 

That is great. It sounds like much of the tariff mania was over played. Keep posting and doing whatever you are doing! 

[sin-n-dex]

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

@sin-n-dex 

That is great. It sounds like much of the tariff mania was over played. Keep posting and doing whatever you are doing! 

---

It's not really overplayed... if the package is a de minimis package (under $800) there's no tariffs. As long as Stallion Express can get my orders to USPS, they ship as domestic US orders. Canadian buyers have been inquiring to make sure I ship their order from within Canada, not sure if I'm supposed to, eBay says I can have multiple ship from locations as long as buyers get what they expect. I don't think any Canadian buyer will complain about not paying tariffs (if the order comes from the US there is 25% tariffs on any value coming into Canada).

As for the affects of tariffs... I need a furnace. I'm scared to think what that's going to cost with a 25% tariff. Even if we make them here, we import parts. A furnace in Canada was a $7-8K CAD investment, it's going to be like 10K now. Makes me think I should have bought it a few months ago but I didn't want to spend a day or two without heat in January when it's 20 below freezing. Also furnaces are most expensive in January and February because people's break down and need immediate replacements. I thought waiting until we dont need a furnace to buy one was a smart thing to do. (Mine is 4 years older than it's life expectancy and I've paid 2K in repairs on it over the past three years, time to buy a new one).

C.

[gurlcat]

I've noticed a drop in foreign buyers too (both EIS and freight-forwarded) ... but not just in the past few weeks, more like the past few months.  I miss them!!! 

[gurlcat]

Kind of a tangent, but I just realized I've never sold anything to the (MASSIVE) country of India.  Do they have an eBay platform?  Anybody reading this ever get orders from there?   I had already noticed (at least a year ago) that I'd never sold to anyone in South America but India is an even bigger head-scratcher, about 3 times as big!

 

[sin-n-dex]

---

@gurlcat wrote:

Kind of a tangent, but I just realized I've never sold anything to the (MASSIVE) country of India.  Do they have an eBay platform?  Anybody reading this ever get orders from there?   I had already noticed (at least a year ago) that I'd never sold to anyone in South America but India is an even bigger head-scratcher, about 3 times as big!

 

---

I don't ship to India or South America (except via freight forwarder).

India has lots of corrupt customs officials, so even if your buyers are honest (and some of my past Indian customers were honest, but there were still shipping problems), you run the risk of your stuff not getting there.

South America is kind of the same, but I've run across lots of dishonest buyers there as well (even a few with freight forwarders). Basically South America, Africa, Central Asia... all non-starters.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

---

@gurlcat wrote:

I've noticed a drop in foreign buyers too (both EIS and freight-forwarded) ... but not just in the past few weeks, more like the past few months.  I miss them!!! 

---

I think there's lots of dislike going on right now in the rest of the world (for many reasons, we don't have to go there).

I'm economically driven, so I sell to whoever gives me money and I never tell a customer their money's no good here (unless they've previously scammed me).

C.

[chevymontecarlo88]

@sin-n-dex 

You should call someone that can fix your furnace. We had the same problem a few years ago with one that is no longer in production. Took us a few weeks (hard to find parts) to find the repair person who could source what was needed to keep it going. It still is working fine with the occasional hiccup. Prices will go down soon and keep an eye on them. (seasonal)

[sin-n-dex]

---

@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

@sin-n-dex 

You should call someone that can fix your furnace. We had the same problem a few years ago with one that is no longer in production. Took us a few weeks (hard to find parts) to find the repair person who could source what was needed to keep it going. It still is working fine with the occasional hiccup. Prices will go down soon and keep an eye on them. (seasonal)

---

We have had it fixed many times, and had almost every replaceable part on it replaced. Apparently that big fire that happened last year was a gas explosion, I'd feel safer if I got a new furnace. (I was doing OK when thought it was wiring since my unit has been rewired with copper, but at the condo meeting last month they said it was a gas explosion and it took out everything between the cinderblock firewalls).

In Canada most people don't use electric heat because it's so expensive, so lots of people heat with natural gas, propane and oil, depending on where you live. When they repaired my furnace the last time they were checking for leaks everywhere. I am hesitant to believe them too much since they stand to benefit from selling me a new furnace, but my insurance company is concerned about it's age.

C.