eBay

jacas-25 · ‎06-14-2018

I am a very small time seller and recently sold an item that I discovered on my own (buyer had not notified me) will be shipped to a freight forwarder. I have never dealt with this type of shipping before and am hoping others can better inform me on it. I have a few general questions that I had sent the buyer but he/she is very slow at responding.

1.) Do I ship the item as I would any other address in the US? Is everything else taken care of from his end?

2.) In the buyers notes, he specifies to request a commercial invoice. Would an ebay invoice suffice? From what I have gathered on the internet, it seems like the commercial invoice is something the freight forwarder would fill out.

3.) Is there any advice I may not know that I should when sending it on it's way?

Any help would be appreciated!

thallidguy · ‎06-14-2018

@jacas-25 wrote:
I am a very small time seller and recently sold an item that I discovered on my own (buyer had not notified me) will be shipped to a freight forwarder. I have never dealt with this type of shipping before and am hoping others can better inform me on it. I have a few general questions that I had sent the buyer but he/she is very slow at responding.

1.) Do I ship the item as I would any other address in the US? Is everything else taken care of from his end?

Yes. Your responsibility as the seller pretty much ends once it is safely delivered to the forwarder.

2.) In the buyers notes, he specifies to request a commercial invoice. Would an ebay invoice suffice? From what I have gathered on the internet, it seems like the commercial invoice is something the freight forwarder would fill out.

I believe that is correct. The forwarder is responsible for filling out the customs paperwork. If you include an eBay invoice that should work fine; I've been shipping to freight forwarders for 15 years, and that's what I do.

3.) Is there any advice I may not know that I should when sending it on it's way?

As long as you get the item safely to the forwarder, you are immune from Item Not Received disputes and Significantly Not As Described disputes under eBay seller protection. The principle is that eBay will not hold you responsible for damage that might have happened while in the forwarder's custody. You are still open to SNAD disputes filed through PayPal, but if the dispute is opened through PayPal, the buyer will have to pay for return shipping, not you.

Any help would be appreciated!

View Best Answer in original post

kensgiftshop · ‎06-14-2018

@jacas-25

Shipping to a freight forwarder is no different then shipping to another US address.

Sometimes the address might look a little different because it might have the buyers ID instead of their name.

As far as an invoice, I've never sent one with the package.

Have a great day.

thallidguy · ‎06-14-2018

@jacas-25 wrote:
I am a very small time seller and recently sold an item that I discovered on my own (buyer had not notified me) will be shipped to a freight forwarder. I have never dealt with this type of shipping before and am hoping others can better inform me on it. I have a few general questions that I had sent the buyer but he/she is very slow at responding.

1.) Do I ship the item as I would any other address in the US? Is everything else taken care of from his end?

Yes. Your responsibility as the seller pretty much ends once it is safely delivered to the forwarder.

2.) In the buyers notes, he specifies to request a commercial invoice. Would an ebay invoice suffice? From what I have gathered on the internet, it seems like the commercial invoice is something the freight forwarder would fill out.

I believe that is correct. The forwarder is responsible for filling out the customs paperwork. If you include an eBay invoice that should work fine; I've been shipping to freight forwarders for 15 years, and that's what I do.

3.) Is there any advice I may not know that I should when sending it on it's way?

As long as you get the item safely to the forwarder, you are immune from Item Not Received disputes and Significantly Not As Described disputes under eBay seller protection. The principle is that eBay will not hold you responsible for damage that might have happened while in the forwarder's custody. You are still open to SNAD disputes filed through PayPal, but if the dispute is opened through PayPal, the buyer will have to pay for return shipping, not you.

Any help would be appreciated!