Why no Central or South American buyers???

[gurlcat]

I can't recall ever selling to anyone in the Western Hemisphere south of the U.S. border other than Puerto Rico.  Not saying it's never happened but I sure can't recall a single time.  Anybody here do good business anywhere there?  Also what could explain this overall dearth in sales to such a huge portion of the globe?  Even poor countries have a wealth gradient in the populous, and some C/S American countries aren't even poor overall.  

[richard1rst]

I have made sales to Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Chile, probably a few I've missed. OK - not many - but some.

Bear in mind that many of the sales went to a freight forwarder in Doral Florida that services South America. So you might actually be getting them, just not realizing it.

Then there are the Xenophobes who refuse to sell to  South America viewing it as a rabbit hole. So maybe after being declined so many times they go to another site.

[yuzuha]

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@richard1rst wrote:

Bear in mind that many of the sales went to a freight forwarder in Doral Florida that services South America. So you might actually be getting them, just not realizing it.

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Yep, I just had one of these a couple of weeks ago.

But it's also very important to understand the differences in general financial levels when it comes to areas like that. My friend's wife is Brazilian and he went down there to visit her family not that long ago. He said he was SHOCKED at just how much he could buy with only $100 US dollars there.

[gurlcat]

I've had only one sale go to a Florida FF, but the buyer's account was in Japan.  For the life of me I don't know why they didn't use a West Coast FF.  

By the way, now that I think of it I could have included the whole continent of AFRICA to this thread.  -Never had a buyer from there either, nor heard of any.  And I mean not even the countries with some wealth, like South Africa or Egypt.  

[buyselljack2016]

I don't ship directly North, South, East, or West of the border but have had 2 eIS sales to the South and one to Australia since that kicked in, and some FF sales prior.

[wastingtime101]

Three different buddies of mine that sell motors parts & accessories tell me business booms to those locations.

I get sales from those regions, but it's in moderation because my categories are in lesser demand to those regions. I sell a much higher volume to Europe.

[cardxcraft]

Most countries in South America have horrible postal services. 

The Universal Postal Union ranks postal service by country from 1 to 173, with 1 being the best and 173 being the worst.  Based on these facts, I would state sellers unwilling to ship to South America has more to do with countries atrocious postal system and less to do with xenophobia. 

I left out Bolivia because they really don't have a viable postal system.  In 2018, Empresa de Correos de Bolivia was dissolved and liquidated due to insolvency; as a result, they're not even ranked, but most likely would be 173, if ranking status is ever attained.  

44th – Brazil

66th – Colombia

72nd – Chile

78th – El Salvador

99th – Peru

101st – Argentina

114th – Honduras

123rd – Paraguay

125th – Uruguay

127th – Ecuador

151st – Venezuela

163rd – Nicaragua

[gurlcat]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

I don't ship directly North, South, East, or West of the border but have had 2 eIS sales to the South and one to Australia since that kicked in, and some FF sales prior.

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I get Australians pretty often.  

[gurlcat]

Yeah I have a fuzzy memory about some countries still having (well-maintained) older model cars, so they need parts pretty often and have to order from U.S. sellers. 

[wastingtime101]

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@gurlcat wrote:

Yeah I have a fuzzy memory about some countries still having (well-maintained) older model cars, so they need parts pretty often and have to order from U.S. sellers. 

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Due to embargoes, Cuba is full of cars from the 1950s. Many of their car parts have been replaced with washing machine motors, refrigerator parts, and more just to keep them running. They were forced to come up with creative solutions. I know that's not what you're thinking of specifically, but it's interesting to learn about if you ever get bored and want to do a search.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I think one main reason is they have their own version of ebay (and have had it for years): Mercado Libre. ebay had a minority ownership stake in the company for many years, but I think sold that some years back.

 

[dirk12955]

I finally blocked all of South America due to constant "I didn't get it" messages.  

1/2 my sales go to the UK,  Australia, Canada.     

[gurlcat]

AH THANK YOU.  -That is the kind of thing I was wondering, if they had their own eBay or something like it.