Is it safe to sell & ship overseas?

[member368427]

I am relatively new to Selling, and just had an item that was sold (Buy It Now) to someone in Russia even though I had "ship to the United States" on the listing. This Buyer's address was in the cyrillic alphabet, and was requesting an invoice for the item. I phoned Ebay and they helped me cancel the sale, but I've been thinking about it, and wondering if it really is safe to sell items allover the world, what are the potential risks, how would I protect myself as a Seller, is it worth the extra trouble and what are the special handling needs required?

If anyone has any experience (good and/or bad) with this matter, please feel free to respond. Thanks.

[gagnon234]

Personally I've never had a bad experience. All my auctions say United States only. However, I'll have international bidders ask me if I would ship my item to their country. I check out the number of purchases they have made in the past, feedback, etc. and if I get good vibes :), I'll go to www.usps.com to figure out the shipping costs. Then email them the amt. I'll be charging to ship. Usually that separates the men from the boys, so to speak.  If the item has any weight to it, it can get pretty pricey to ship internationally. There are one of two forms to choose from at the post office . . . . my post office has them out on a table to pick up when shipping overseas. The smaller one is for smaller packages and the larger one for larger packages. If I remember correctly, the larger one is for over 4 lbs.

Sometimes like the incident you mentioned, an international buyer will just bid, win and then realize you don't ship to another country. You can request ebay to cancel the transaction through the different options next to your sold item (in My Ebay) and in the explanation say "Listing says I ship to USA only"  That will save you a phone call and ebay will reimburse your fees. 

All that being said, if by taking the chance of shipping overseas, I'd in anyway possibly suffer a financial loss (a big one), I wouldn't take the risk.  For the many I have shipped, if it had been lost or the buyer turned out to be squirrally, it would have been a minor loss.  

Check w/ the post office website mentioned above, to see which shipping services are trackable and which ones aren't. Of course, there is a MAJOR price difference between the two.

[blgrasmand]

If you want to loose money, sell outside of the US.  There favorite scam, is buy the item, you ship it, but it cannot be tracked outside of the US unless it's sent by certified mail (which no one can afford and the buyer then complaints about the shipping price).  The buyer receives the item but lodges a complaint to ebay that they didn't receive it, and although you can prove you mailed it, and it's trackable to the US border, ebay still holds you responsible.  You either refund the money, in which case you loose not only the item, but the money as well.  If you don't refund yourself, ebay takes it out of your account.  International buyers love to give you bad feedback, saying your shipping is to expensive.  This raises your percentages, and eventually you are listed as a below standard seller, evan though you have no other type of complaints, except these phony ones from international buyers.  Ebay will not help. It's taken me a year to try to recover from this type of transactions, with no help from ebay.  So beware, ebay is not your friend.  This is my last posting, since I've decided to list on other sites now and close my ebay store of amost 5 years.  Thought I'd let some of you know that BE CAREFUL.  Ebay is not your friend.

[janewt-1]

My experience has been a bit different.

I list almost everything with worldwide shipping & include the shipping costs (easy when you use the calculated shipping option).  About 30%-40% of my sales are outside the US and about 1 in 150 sales go bad.  I just apologize, refund, and move on since the extra profit on international sales more than covers my occasional loss.

If you want to reduce your risk and pay a little more, you can use U-pic or Shipsurance to insure untracked packages to most places in the world for about $1.00 per $100.00 value of the item.  I usually do that for items selling at over $200 since a loss of that size would sting a bit but I'm probably wasting my money even then.

[1bestdeal4uhappyme]

Yep, eBay is not a help for sellers in case someone from overseas says that they never recieved an item. Prepare for a loss! Now day policy- buyer aways right, no matter what, if buyer wrong- buyer still right and ebay will refund the money out of your account.

[mygarage*]

Hi, Ebay has resolved this for their sellers with their "Global Shipping Program". Next time you list something, make sure you click on this option and follow the instrunctions. Once your item sells to someone overseas, Ebay sends you an address where you ship the item to a location in the USA. Ebay then takes care of it for you, and ships the item overseas.  I now open my auctions to worldwide shipping, worry free, using their Global Shipping Program. It's great and I'm really happy with it.

[tdziemianowicz]

I sell inexpensive foreign coins (under $50), for which the market is global.

I started out shipping first class package (around $6.50), but now I ship items under $10 value in a first class envelope that costs $1.35 (under 1 oz), and charge my buyers enough to cover this plus the Ebay fee.  That low shipping rate gets international buyers, because it's as low as shipping INSIDE of many countries.

I will never use the Ebay global shipping program.

I haven't been burned yet, and have shipped to countries that most sellers wouldn't touch:  Russia, Malaysia, Colombia, Italy.  

Maybe I'm just lucky and eventually the odds will catch up with me., but I would encourage you to examine your risk tolerance, and go for it.

As for the Cyrillic alphabet, remember that as soon as the item arrives in Russia, it has to be delivered by someone who probably can;t read our alphabet.  So, yes, if the Ebay address comes up in Cyrillic, that's what you should use. 

[arnagetechnologyuk]

It is, but you need to upgrade your packaging and make it more robust for the international carriers - http://www.parcelhub.co.uk/ebay-international-shipping-tips-really-work/

[deconmusic]

"arnagetechnologyuk" just messaged me asking to ship my item overseas. When i google the question of if it is safe to ship ebay overseas, HIS answer comes up!!! crazy.... BUT: Ebay sides with the buyer. If they claim they never receive it than the seller is out of luck and Ebay will refund the buyer their money and you will never see your item agiain.  BE CAREFUL. Sometimes it just isn't worth it to ship overseas. In this case, I don't feel comfortable so I will not ship. 

[ladycurrencygal4u]

It is safe sometimes, but if something happens, eBay does a extremely poor Job t keeping the Seller Safe, I recently sold a 1858 $3 note to Hungary, eBay let me purchase sipping label with Tracking to that Country, just to find out, that their Post does not keep tracking Data for North America, so Customer Too advantage, Lied, eBay saw I shipped Item, but didnt show Delivered due to not Tracking Data for the US in Hungary, so eBay decided to close case on Buyers Favor and I lost $80 and got a bad point on my Account for me doing the right thing and getting screwed, go Figure/ I stopped selling overseas for that particular reason, eBay thinks more of the Buyer than the Sellers. the Customer Servvice when I called seemed to be out of the Country. could not even understand that good over the phone and the Person that answered my call did not bother to help me at all. his decision was final towards the Buyer. Buyer had 3 negative marks for the same issue and I do not. and ebay still decided n his Favor. its really bad selling over seas. I advise not to do it unless you want trouble eventually. Seller Protection does a Poor Job towards Sellers.

[ladycurrencygal4u]

This is very True, eBay does a Poor job at keeping US Sellers safe, Please be aware as I have just had a very bad experience and got screwed with all Evidence against the Buyer. they care more that Tracking says Delivered and not in Transit or anything like that. I do not sell over seas anymore because of this Huge Problem.

[ladycurrencygal4u]

yes, someone in Hungary was allowed to steal from me in plain sight.

[versenumber2]

I will never use the Ebay global shipping program.

I haven't been burned yet, and have shipped to countries that most sellers wouldn't touch:  Russia, Malaysia, Colombia, Italy.  

Can you explain these two statements?

[modswirl]

I was scammed by an International buyer in Italy, I will never ship overseas again, said he never received and filed a paypal claim

Small parcel tracking was not offered so he used that against me.

Scored himself a free item. 

Paypal decided in his favor, so they are as useless as could be in protecting sellers

It was a lesson learned

[tdziemianowicz]

---

@versenumber2 wrote:

I will never use the Ebay global shipping program.

I haven't been burned yet, and have shipped to countries that most sellers wouldn't touch:  Russia, Malaysia, Colombia, Italy.  

Can you explain these two statements?

---

Sure.

1. I can ship a $5 or $10 coin to most countries for $1.35 in a plain white envelope and cover my shipping costs.  Via the ebay shipping program it would cost much more, and I would never get the sale.  I want the largest possible market for my merchandise. Ebay shipping program maximizes seller security, not market appeal.

2.  I have lost only one international shipment.  A $10 item.  I am willing to accept that given the offsetting problem-free international sales.

But I am selling stuff out of my basement that essentially has zero cost of goods. 

You need to look at your own situation.  If you are buying and flipping stuff, this may not be the right strategy for you.