I regret not blocking all foreign buyers in November and December

[Jonas]

From late November through December, mail going to the foreign buyers often is slow. Every single one of them that didn't get the item in 3 days, refuses to wait for insurance to kick in and extorts free items, does credit card fraud, leaves negatives, and opens "not received" disputes without any communication.

eBay's really chased off all the good buyers and left the sadistic and the scammers.

[yaw1800]

i agree
international shipping fees are enough to throw me off, let alone the spamming of your mailbox of "where's my items!"

[TMiles]

I am right there with you!!!

[juno]

i hate when overseas people do that!!! i never ship international anymore because of that. they expect to haev their items in less than a week. it took 3 weeks to send a small package to the uk, and usps dont offer tracking number overseas so all they have to do is tell paypal they didnt recieve it and they get there money back

[Jonas]

Last year and years prior they ebay buyers would be all, "okay was insured, I'll wait the X days that insurance requires before filing a claim". This year due to eBay's changes, they basically try to extort the free item. I personally think most of them got the item and are just lying.

[yaw1800]

more recently i've been getting a lot of international potentential buyers, i just tell them they'd have to mail in a check / money order or go the western union route ... about six of them agreed to it

[NO ID]

ok - for selling to the uk you need to fill out some forms at the post office with the shipping info and the item description - now if the box is under 4 pounds you need to fill out the green form but if it more than 4 then you need to fill out the white form - the white form has a tracking number but it only tells you when it left the country and when it arrived to the other country and when it was delivered - great - the thing is you can fill out the white form regardless of how much your package weighs - this way you can provide paypal with tracking - yes its free tracking with the white form and it can be used for any country - thanks - my experience

[ovidiu]

I ship all international shipments via USPS Global Express only because of this. High shipping costs that can get you dinged on DSR's (and often does), but at least you know it got there reasonably fast.

[EbayFreak]

I stopped selling to other countries except for the states. Takes to long shipping is to high and your mail box is full with stupid people from Europe asking you after 4 days why they didn't received there item. But i have to say people from the states are good in it to, if i send my items with canada post it never show any updates even after it is delivered. So i can't really blame the people from the states. But since a couple months a just send everything out with signature conformation. Cost me 1,50 extra but i now i`m always good. Well worth the extra money. But i BANNED Europe, Asia and specially Africa.

[gurusgrafx]

I lost about 20 orders to the holidays last year. screwed up that account too. Its not fine tuned enough to work by the standards they've set yet. I hate to turn away people that really want an item but the risk is too high.

[NO ID]

I mostly sell overseas during the holidays. Never Christmas, but definitely Halloween. Double profits.

[oompaloompa]

I only ship abroad with a strict no returns/loss in post policy, saying that though never had probs

[Jonas]

oompaloompa, how do you pull that off on eBay?

I've stopped selling to foreign people some time ago because it's so much easier to get neg feedback off when it's someone in your own country and when it's foreign it's about 2000 hours of work.

[biglouis999]

I buy a lot of stuff from Americans who "dont ship international." I have it all sent to my shipper and they are none the wiser because its a street address. But then I am used to being patient with international transactions.

[oompaloompa]

Originally Posted by Jonas

oompaloompa, how do you pull that off on eBay?

I've stopped selling to foreign people some time ago because it's so much easier to get neg feedback off when it's someone in your own country and when it's foreign it's about 2000 hours of work.

different for me, I do mainly UK auctions on my UK ebays, occasionally I get a foreign buyer bid on it, I size up if I like the look of them, and if I dont I cancel transaction stating UK auction only.

speaking about Europe, I list on the actual foreign site, if you list in their language they dont scam you, however I am registered in their country, with their country address details, and even though I send from UK, nobody has ever mentioned it, Im always expecting them to!!

but always beware the zero feedback foreign buyer....

[biglouis999]

When I run my DSR reports I find its UK buyers who mark me down for dispatch times because they didnt get it the next day! Whereas its my international customers (90% of my stuff goes to USA) that are far more patient about longer shipping times.

Heres why.

Most of my international buyers are collectors because I sell unique one off items. Collectors love the thrill of the chase and they are far more patient than casual buyers. They are also used to buying international and so they often have a numbers of purchases on the go. UK buyers are mostly casual one off purchases. They want something for a party or special event and leave it til the last minute. Then its your fault if it doesnt arrive. Of course I get USA buyers wanting a one off item for a prom or pageant and some of them dont even realise that they bought an item from the UK until I tell them.

But on the whole I find many USA buyers more patient over shipping times and they like the "free" shipping. I also find many more US buyers (apart from the off abrupt New Yorker) more friendly and courteous. They always say hi and thanks in their messages whereas Brits tend to write "where is my XXX?".

I run my business of stock messages that I just adapt to individual members.

[TigerLord]

I honestly don't understand why doesn't everyone offer free shipping, at least for their BIN items, and add it to their price. It's a ridiculously easy way of getting 5 stars in that category alone, and when you do, eBAY will even remind you to leave 5 stars for it when the buyer goes to leave feedback, and most likely, if you shipped it fast, he'll be a lot more inclined to give you 5 stars there as well. Can make a huge difference.

Also, as for international sales, I often get emails from AU buyers who want it but can't bid since they're blocked. I usually do off-site sales but still send an invoice through paypal - this way they still feel protected, but I don't have to fear a neg from some dumb impatient aussie buyer. I'm still open to disputes though, but so far, I've been lucky with australians! (knock on wood!)

I shipped one package to Germany once and it took 1+ month, whereas in Spain it took 5 days. Ridiculous.

[oompaloompa]

suppose on margin you pay that little bit more in fees, if the postage is built in to item price...

[biglouis999]

Yes you are going to pay more on FVF but you need to build that into your model! Of buyers know shipping is not "free" and included in the price. I find that my American buyers in particular love "inclusive" shipping because there are no nasty surprises at the end and they know exactly what they are going to pay.

The problem with the so called free shipping is that at present eBay gives you no way to offer the customer a small discount for multi part orders.

If they buy a bunch it items (many of mine are multi purchasers) I refund a few dollars via Paypal and they really appreciate it.

[Jonas]

Now with eBay's awful policy of letting buyers who paid with a merchant account get a forced refund from ebay and a double refund from their credit card, I just stopped doing foreign at all and I get lots of buyers asking me to except them and I explain eBay's policy as why.

Before it, I've never had a single foreign buyer do a "not received" dispute on their card, ever, even when they did one in eBay and left me negative feedback. Never. I've had foreign buyers get the item, leave me positive, and then do a "friendly fraud" claim that they didn't use their card with me (these were buyers with hundreds of feedback too).
I also only sold cheap items to foreign countries and didn't do tracking. If it did get lost, I'd just ship a replacement. This was all well and good before eBay's new policy.

Now it's just no foreign buyers ever again on eBay.

[carl0071]

I totally agree! I lost £90 last year because I sold a Nokia N95 phone to someone in Malaysia and they claimed they never got it so paypal refunded them from my pocket, but then 3 weeks later I saw the SAME phone for sale on his account in Malaysia I told PayPal and they basicly said there's no proof its the same phone, dispite the picture of the back of the phone (without the battery in) showed the same IMEI (Serial) number as the one I sold him!! Well, I called his bluff because I reported the phone as stolen to the police and explained the situation. I emailed him and told him it was now barred and reported as stolen. Here's the funny part........ He then revises the listing and advertises the phone as FAULTY because it doesn't make or recieve phone calls Just what would happen if a phone was reported stolen Paypal ALWAYS think that sellers are all potential con-artists and buyers are all little angels with halo's over thier heads!!!! we need to start our own auction site, by auction sellers! how about 'BidNbuy.com??? its not a registered web address yet.....

[charlesb]

Yeah, i got done by a guy from Lithuania.
Now don't quote me on this, but from what I can remember, I used Malaysian air mail which had always been reliable, but apparently they have no online tracking links with Lithuania mail.

Now in effect, the last message was ' arrived in singapore' and I had nothing to go on other than my word.

He said he never received my item, still after a month, and yet he never responded to any of my messages.

In the end, because I had to clear disputes in regards to a pay pal limitation, I had to refund the git.

So just be careful when delivering to Lithuania!!

Maybe it was just a one off, but just thought i'd warn people I had a problem.