Which countries to block?

[weatherloach]

Hi

Any bad experiences from certain countries? I am clueless for Africa, Asia and the middle east.

Thanks

Weatherloach

[richard1rst]

I have shipped worldwide pretty much since I started here in '04. I have never put any restrictions on what countries I would ship to. I have had no more problems with any one country than I have had even with domestic U S shipping.

There are some countries right now that are on a USPS restricted shipping list and those countries are automatically listed in my listings by an eBay program without my input.

About 1/3rd of my sales come from international.

[zip-a-deedoodah]

It depends on what you are selling, but I don’t want to deal with returns from anywhere except the US.

[bimm_corp]

I block everywhere except the lower 48 states. Shipping elsewhere is just a buyer's invite to open an INR because of eBay's insanely-optimistic estimated delivery dates.

[downunder-61]

@weatherloach 

Just FYI

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Important-updates-to-shipping-to-Ukraine-and-Russia/ba-p...

as mentioned above

[katzrul15]

Italy (nothing ever makes it out of customs)

Russian Federation (even before all this)

India (their shipping restrictions are absurd)

Libya

Brazil

Before covid, we shipped regularly to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.  We about gave up on everything else.   Hong Kong and Singapore were also great.

Would not offer high-value items internationally, but that is just me.

[femmefan1946]

Mine have been for a long time:

Russia - because it is a kleptocracy.

Saudi Arabia- because.... where to start!

India- because of a poor postal system

Israel- because I have yet to have a successful transaction there, although others have had no problems.

In Africa, I only ship to RSA, Egypt, and Morocco. And the last is only because I used to work for a Moroccan woman who I quite liked.

[lepke1979]

I don't block any country unless eBay says I can't send the listing to Europe or something for some reason (was usually lotion I think). Used to do simple export rate for Canada and worldwide. But after nearly getting an INR to Italy a little over a year ago, I set worldwide to GSP and kept Canada as simple export. Stuff going there isn't usually too bad.

May switch it back for some categories, but it does make things a little easier. Particularly if the package takes its sweet time getting somewhere. But the shipping increase with GSP possibly makes shipping overly expensive. Not that I got a lot of international outside of Canada before switching to GSP. But since switching, I get a lot less.

[weatherloach]

 I sell around 20 items a week (We are growing monthly). I get about 2 international sales a month through the GSP. It has mostly been France, Canada, Australia, UK buyers. I had 2 (I understand the rules but I blocked both, " Changed my mind", " Ordered the wrong one") returns from Canada only.

I buy a lot on Ebay, I mess up once in a while and I kept everything. I cant do that to a seller.

France and Australia are very kind, funny at times and polite, I recommend them so far.  I had a potential buyer from south-America but item ended up not being compatible. I don't remember any other countries buying from me.

[dbfolks166mt]

     It depends a lot on what I am selling. Countries I always block include China, Russia and the rest of the FSU. I will neither buy or sell to those countries for a number of reasons including the number of scammers, counterfeit products, questionable customs processing (theft) and other questionable business practices. If buyers attempt to go through freight forwarders I cancel the transaction based on a problem with the buyers address. 

     For the rest of the world it's a case by case basis but I shy away from shipping fragile items anywhere overseas due to the potential for damage and the complexities of filing insurance claims. Some countries have import/custom regulations on some items so those have to be excluded when they come up. I no longer sell electronic devices but I would not ship those internationally due to the difference in the power grids and the reliability and dependability of those grids. Those items also seem to be a magnet for international as well as domestic scammers so I avoid that product area. 

     Everything I sell overseas goes through the eBay GSP. It lengthens the shipping time by a couple of days and increases the shipping cost to the buyer because of the two shipping legs but I like the benefits of using the program and the protection it provides. 

     No single answer here but hopefully some food for thought. 

[frodobagginskennedy]

I have shipped to Russia once years ago.  It was a car sun shield so no biggie if I lost it.  

Regularly to Canada and Australia, Japan pretty often, Israel about 3 times, China on occasion, Mexico once, Brazil years ago.   ETC>>>>>>>

Depends on what you are shipping and your tolerance for losing product/money.  IMHO shipping abroad is no more of a risk then shipping to the USA.  If a buyer is a dud they can be located anywhere.  

[inhawaii]

Majority of my "bad experiences" come from the US.

[dees_den]

Good advice I received when I started was to get at least 50 domestic sales under your belt before you sell globally.

[maxine*j]

It's because eBay is an international marketplace that I sell here.  Some countries can be more problematic than others, at times, but which ones they are varies through the years and as geopolitical events transpire.

I deal with people, as individuals, and people are people, most of them good and decent no matter the birthplace fate assigned them.

-

[katzrul15]

Agree, the people are usually great.  However, in some countries, the postal system/customs are not or are corrupt.

@weatherloach 

The advice UP thread to get a number of US transactions successful and in the rear-view mirror is excellent. 

And the GSP heavily restricts or limits certain areas/countries/items.  If they're not willing to risk much to certain regions, why should you??