US sellers thinking about shipping to Canada and abroad once again

[vogeltron]

Has been about 5 years since I last shipped out of the United States for most items. Looking to ship to Canada and select countries in Europe. I was just curious how other US sellers view this. Shipping US Mail that is. I know First Class mail International is suppose to have tracking to some countries. I have heard it is crap.

I know in the past the Flat Rate Envelope Priority options use to not have any tracking. I have tried to read up on it as much as possible. I have heard it is non existent.

If anyone has any insight I would greatly appreciate it.

[BigCJ]

Its honestly still too much of a hassle for the most part.

They have that global shipping program. Which acts like domestic shipping and it can be tracked to the buyers door.

[rsot]

Your selected US tracking works fine for Canada +/- some shipping delay. International, not as great - quite slow

[vogeltron]

How is the supposed "First Class Mail International Tracking"? Especially to Canada. Any insight would be awesome.

[Hercules]

I don't ship overseas/Canada anymore. To many thieves. Even with expensive tracking. My sales are the same as when I stopped for some reason. Can't understand that though.

I don't sell high priced items either. I think it's the cheap thrill of shoplifting the internet.

[Sandy D]

I stopped shipping out of the US completely.

Total PITA.

Most are scammers wanting something for free.

I dont even ship to Hawaii or Alaska anymore as they cheapos want domestic like low price shipping when they know it is more expensive to ship to them and want me to foot the cost.

[rsot]

I still ship to US, Europe, South America, Russia - I am forced to avoid Africa and Asia for liability reasons

[vogeltron]

Originally Posted by Sandy D

I stopped shipping out of the US completely.

Total PITA.

Most are scammers wanting something for free.

I dont even ship to Hawaii or Alaska anymore as they cheapos want domestic like low price shipping when they know it is more expensive to ship to them and want me to foot the cost.

Thanks Sandy. I trust you more than anyone else. This is why I quit several years ago myself. With all the buyers who claimed they never received the items and all that. It just got to the point where fees kept going up and eBay changed their policies to the point I could no longer offset the losses. Not to mention I was always getting hounded about sending items as Gifts and everything else. As much as I would love to get the bump in sales it was always like 10-15% of what I sold. It has been a lot less headaches the past few years.

[Dmshark25]

I agree I ship to 48 states only , use priority mail so it arrives within 2 to 3 days and I do all free shipping , this cuts out all the scammers and negatives and low DSRs , there are plenty of buyers in the US no need to sell out of country for most products anyway

Unfortunately when you ship abroad scammers are just waiting there for all the new unaware buyers, driving up all the bids because no matter what they pay they no they will be getting refunded and able to keep the item as simple as waiting 3-4 weeks and filing a case for item not received

[MM78]

In the past Year I only shipped to Hawaii 1 time and I charged an extra $10 just for my troubles...luckily the buyer was buying something expensive and was willing to pay.

[vogeltron]

I am always hearing that USPS First Class Mail has Tracking now to more and more countries. I am guessing it won't hold up in PayPal cases etc? Or the tracking is spotty at best? Priority Mail was always too pricy for people abroad, the one reasonable thing I could ship in was Flat Rate Envelope but that had no tracking. So I kept getting F'd Over.

Just curious because I get messages all the time about people overseas wanting to buy items etc. Years ago I use to do it knowing I would get F'd over by a certain percentage of buyers. But with the fees and everything else it just finally got to the point it was no longer worth while.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

[rsot]

Tracking is available but 1) speed issue and 2) once package gets into other country, there could be issues with the local country postal service.

[Dmshark25]

Originally Posted by vogeltron

I am always hearing that USPS First Class Mail has Tracking now to more and more countries. I am guessing it won't hold up in PayPal cases etc? Or the tracking is spotty at best? Priority Mail was always too pricy for people abroad, the one reasonable thing I could ship in was Flat Rate Envelope but that had no tracking. So I kept getting F'd Over.



Just curious because I get messages all the time about people overseas wanting to buy items etc. Years ago I use to do it knowing I would get F'd over by a certain percentage of buyers. But with the fees and everything else it just finally got to the point it was no longer worth while.



Anyone else have a similar experience?

Yea same here on my first original account all my auctions were being won by Russian federation accounts and the price was always high, little did I know almost everyone 4-6 weeks later filed a did not receive case.

[rsot]

Why don't you exclude Russia as a country to ship to if you want to avoid that moving forward.

[Dmshark25]

I Exclude Everyone Now rsot. After that I began stealth and now I ship priority and ship only to the 48 states and set my buyer requirements the highest in every category, I don't even allow the same buyer to bid or buy more than 2 items I have that set to block them, and if it's a repeat customer they will just let me know and I can make the exception.

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by Dmshark25

I Exclude Everyone Now rsot. and if it's a repeat customer they will just let me know and I can make the exception.

Excellent to read.

Maintain total control as well as you possibly can.

Nice one

[vogeltron]

Well, have been forced to now offer shipping on a few items to Canada. They are region specific. Will be interesting to see how it plays out. For the most part items under $20 and will be shipping first class mail. Got my first sale today. Hoping the problems are minimal.

[rsot]

Should be ok vogeltron - hope it works out ok and your buyers have a decent eB feedback status

[vogeltron]

Yea, for the most part the items I offer to Canada are under $20. So I am hoping no problems with delivery or customs charging Duties, etc. Been years since I shipped there. But hoping everything goes relatively smooth.

[alim]

Not sure if this answers your question but i usually ship to US direct from overseas but recently started shipping limited stuff to canada and shipping it to US
Canadapost here is crappy but I found a few stores from craigslist and they basically use multiple shipping methods so you basically take parcels to them and theyll advice you whether ups,canadapost,fedex,dhl whichever is cheaper.

you might find these stores common in US as well
they charge like 60% lesser than ups or fedex directly and so i send shipments with tracking to us and its usually 3 to 4 business days and it comes with tracking.

[rsot]

Canada Post keeps rising the costs...very ugly towards the sellers`business model :(

[GreenBean]

It is not specific to Canada.

All of the postal services of the different countries have put a dent on sellers' business models.