countries you wont ship to

[blockhead]

i was wondering where you guys stand on this. i see a related thread but it's from 2012.

selling a lot of vinyl records and definitely need to sell internationally to get the full market value for these.

here is a list of some countries that from my preliminary research seems to be a good starting point for where NOT to ship to
brazil, italy, russia, ukraine, india

am i on the right track? am i forgetting someone?


also curious if there is a way to put in a FREE widget or link in my auction for "see my other listings" i know it's unrelated to topic but i cant find anything and figure you guys for sure would know

thanks

[solefoodbk]

Honestly, its pointless to ask this.

Your going to get tons of answers with people giving you 100% valid reasons why you shouldn't ship to country A and country B. If you take everyone's advice, you won't have many, if any countries left to ship too.

Best thing to do is just ship world wide and if you have alot of problems in a country stop shipping there. I've been shipping world wide for the past year and it's about 25% to 35% of my overall monthly sales. That's a huge chunk. I can see why some of those countries you listed are on there BUT we ALL sell different stuff and we ALL handle customers differently....if you see where I'm going.

I already know MM78 is going to post saying "don't ship internationally"....its only a matter of time.

[TGMT²]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

I already know MM78 is going to post saying "don't ship internationally"....its only a matter of time.

I'll chime in with the same answer.

But it really doesn't matter what we think, and it's not what the OP is asking.

If my business model warranted shipping outside the US, I would implement it.

[ilcarletto]

I can only say that IT postal service got major improvement since last 3 years.

I would ship (traceable) to Italy if I were you... big market here for vinyl records.

(99% of IT scammers only cares about phones and Apple stuff)

[Burger Box Man]

Don't ship to the continent of Africa. Too many lottery winners / long lost relatives with $150 trillion in their account

You've pretty much nailed the list of countries most people have issues with.

Certainly Italy is the big one most UK sellers avoid (sorry ilcarletto)

[oompaloompa]

got some islands in caribbean that took so long I got INR, but did arrive but too late to save the transaction....probably closer to you in USA though.

I mean mm is right, why ship internationally if you do not feel like it, if you are in a main market country already.

I have no problems shipping to europe or usa usually, far east is ok too.

literally nobody from africa buys from me, I wonder why? I make no exceptions on most auctions, cos I often forget to.....

[ilcarletto]

Originally Posted by just_smile

You've pretty much nailed the list of countries most people have issues with.

Certainly Italy is the big one most UK sellers avoid (sorry ilcarletto)

...ok.. you are right... sometime we have issues with mail delivery

[oompaloompa]

why is this for Italy? They are not a donkey, same development as neighbouring countries, they do not all live at the top of a hill, most in apartments in towns, it must be the postal service at fault?

How do you send a postcard, as hardly any postboxes apart from in centre of town? where are the post offices, never saw any??

I never had problems sending to Italy actually....

[ilcarletto]

Well, honestly I find our postal service extremely unfriendly if you go to the post office (trust me oompa.. they are located in every big or tiny small town) and have to send a parcel.

Most of the employees are really slow and dorky. Much better use private postal services or couriers.

Apart from this, I never had a parcel lost going out or coming in and traceability works (most of the times... not always)

[perfect30]

My experience is that the countries you list generally have a higher chance of getting lost. I do would like to add that mail gets lost to ANY country I ship to (whether it is lost or "lost").

There is not really a way to prevent such issues, the best you can do is make sure that you have a tracking number so in case there are problems you have proof and otherwise receive funds from the insurance.

[blockhead]

Originally Posted by ilcarletto

I can only say that IT postal service got major improvement since last 3 years.

I would ship (traceable) to Italy if I were you... big market here for vinyl records.

(99% of IT scammers only cares about phones and Apple stuff)

Thank you, this is very helpful info.

[MM78]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

I already know MM78 is going to post saying "don't ship internationally"....its only a matter of time.

I only ship outside the U.S.

[luckoftheirish93]

Originally Posted by Burger Box Man

Don't ship to the continent of Africa. Too many lottery winners / long lost relatives with $150 trillion in their account

lmao you right bro... they good people though they send me 2.2344 million if i send they handy and cheap release fee of 1000 pounds, i mean i had to pay it or the money would be destroyed lol anyway hopefully the money will come soon... i mean if you can't trust a random spam email who can you trust

[yankee]

I like Brazil, but other South American countries can be very slow. South Africa is good.

Russia and all Russia occupied countries are a no go for me. Belarus, Romania, Ukraine etc.. Super hot market and profitable prices but lots of custom theft the past five or so years.

I don't like shipping to China but if your labels come out perfect, can be very good and of course all English addresses.

France and Italy are spotty, especially with first class mail.

[dan_ebay]

Italy(scammers),Norway(customs don't let loads through),most of eastern europe (they're mostly poor, can't be trusted)

[ilcarletto]

Originally Posted by dan_ebay

Italy(scammers)

...all of us..? I did not know.

Originally Posted by dan_ebay

Norway(customs don't let loads through),most of eastern europe (they're mostly poor, can't be trusted)

If your banned country list is getting longer... you'll sell stuff to yourself at the end.

[Ebayorbust]

I don't sell outside of the EU.

I blocked Italian buyers about two years ago as 50% of orders were resulting in INR cases. The items were low value and so not worth sending tracked. It isn't a reflection on the Italian people (I'm married to one) but more reflection on the Italian postal service's inability to deliver mail in a timely fashion.

[dan_ebay]

Originally Posted by ilcarletto

...all of us..? I did not know.



If your banned country list is getting longer... you'll sell stuff to yourself at the end.

obviously not all, just enough for me to not want to sell there. 99% of my sales are to the uk anyway

[oompaloompa]

I used to think Italy was scammers, but realised it really was a slow postal service, having sent stuff to friends over there and it took ages, however I think once they DO get the item they probably do not say anything as the case/refund is done with.....

..weird someone mentioned france, it has always been fast and good service for me.

the russian and eastern europe I think can be theft in the postal service, because stuff is being received opened etc too....

[jak]

The Italian post as not improved in the past 3 years, if you send something to Italy it does not arrive and when it does they will still claim against you via paypal or ebay. So why bother to deal with them? I think the problem is with the Italian system itself and that they do not CARE about foreigners or if the item is lost or missing, therefore do not deal with them.

[Sooner]

I ship internationally but only to the countries ShipSaver.com will insure plus a few countries I refuse to ship to -- Italy, Germany, Brazil and France. I use Stamps.com to print my postage because I really like their history feature so I can track packages via their website.

ShipSaver.com's exclusion country list is --

"The following countries are NOT covered by this insurance! The following countries are NOT covered by this insurance! Shipments sent to Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Congo, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), Liberia, Mexico (Truck/rail shipments to and within other than as a connecting conveyance), Nigeria, North Korea, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela. Any location that would be in violation of any U.S. economic or trade sanctions including OFAC Restricted Countries. For shipments to Commonwealth of Independent States countries including Russia, (includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan) coverage ceases upon touchdown of the aircraft at the airport of destination or upon discharge from the overseas vessel at the destination discharge port. (This list is subject to change.)
Shipments sent to countries that are embargoed by the United States or United Nations as sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) are also not covered."

I list via Auctiva and always use my eB created exclusion list.

I insure any package via ShipSaver with a tracking number that begins with LJ because these packages are only tracked until they leave the US. Some of the countries that are assigned an LJ tracking number are Sweden, Ireland, Norway. Packages with a tracking number that begins with LZ is typically tracked through delivery, but not always.

As you can see, everyone has their own thoughts on shipping international. Do what feels right to you and what you can live with (i.e., shipping to countries where delivery is slow, etc.).