Hello, everyone!
I was approached by an Australian buyer who expressed interest in items from four of my listings. She requested that I create shipping bundles that do not exceed her duty-free threshold, AUD 1000 (or about USD 670). I was able to do that fairly easily, and she and I seem to be on the same page with respect to what the pricing of the two resulting lots will look like. What I’m having trouble doing, however, is giving her a shipping estimate for these two parcels.
My buyer understands that since I’ll be using the EIS program, there are two shipping legs to consider – the domestic leg from my location to the eBay hub in Chicago; and then the second leg from Chicago to Australia. I’ve told her that I’m happy to provide “free shipping” for the domestic portion of the journey, but I have no idea how to estimate what eBay will charge her for the international portion. Is there an online resource that can help with this?
I’ve used eBay’s shipping calculator before to provide domestic customers with quotes for custom orders, and I’ve found it to be very accurate. I was able to use it to obtain two USPS ballpark estimates for my prospective buyer’s two parcels going from Chicago to Australia, but of course, that tool assumes that *I* am the one doing the shipping and that USPS will be the sole courier – and in this particular case, it will be eBay who will be managing the shipping and selecting the courier once everything arrives in Chicago. I have no idea how far off the quotes I’ve obtained from that tool are from what my buyer will actually be charged. If I could provide my buyer with a firmer shipping quote, she may decide that it’s cheaper to ship everything in one parcel, even if she has to pay additional taxes/duties.
Before I create two new listings and go through all that entails (kill four active listings, take new photos, write descriptions, etc.) for a sale that may not move forward, I thought I’d see whether anyone here has faced a similar conundrum.
Thanks in advance, and Happy Holidays!
Kevin
