Defunkd

[RyanB]

I usually set my auctions for the US only. I realize I'm potentially losing business. After reading on here about the people overseas not paying I'm kinda glad I haven't, but is it worth the risk?

[jimmyj]

Yes!

Because right now if I wanted to buy a t-shirt from you I wouldn't be able to. I'm in Canada.

Take the advice with the few countries that seem to be repeatedly giving sellers a tough time - black them out and ship everywhere else.

I don't see the logic in cutting out millions of potential customers because of a few bad apples.

Would you open up a brick and mortar store and turn away customers who didn't live in the neighbourhood?

[RyanB]

Yes, I suppose that's true.

I've gone and changed it. I'm excluding Asia for now though (cept Japan.)

[timetraveltees]

I wouldn't exclude Asia if I were you, I'd say at least 30% of my business comes from Malaysia & Thailand. While there are quite a few problem buyers from those countries, there are also tons of legit buyers that have tons of disposable income and buy thousands of shirts every month from various buyers. It's annoying to have so many zero feedback bidders and non-payers, but it'd be more annoying to lose out on thousands of dollars of sales each month, in my opinion.

Check out this thread for advice that I gave someone else about shipping international. It's all about using third party insurance to protect yourself, then you don't have to stress about not having tracking on your packages. I have probably ship upwards of 1000 packages overseas this year and have only had one or two come up missing, but you bake the insurance costs into your shipping price that you charge and you're not taking any risk or overpaying for shipping for your peace of mind.

ebay-advice-f18/what-should-package-doe ... t1045.html

[RyanB]

Thanks. I appreciate your help.

[stage1dave]

Old thread, but thought I'd add a couple random thoughts. I ship worldwide, & have only had 2 transactions bite me in the ass...

Heard about the shipping problems in SE asia, & both my issues were in that area; one in Singapore & one to Thailand. (please note that these experiences are with CanadaPost, from Canada...USPS may be somewhat different)

First thing I learned was to stay away from "tracked surface packages"...even the postal clerks advised against this, as the transit time is frequently 2 months (!) "small packet", untracked is the way to go...much cheaper & faster, frequently 12-15 days. (no insurance tho) I've never had one go missing, btw. Certainly had issues with the tracked packages because of timelines, 'tho Ebay's "terms of service" don't help here. "in transit" with a tracking number means nothing to a clerk in a cubicle in Omaha...or Scottsdale, when a buyer is bitching.

(won't even get into the BS that occurs once PP starts their "appeal" process)

During one episode, I contacted CP & was told that several (she didn't specify) SE Asian countries "lock out" foreign P/O's from real-time tracking, so you're stuck with "in transit" & "delivered" & nothing in between.

In conclusion, the only way to get some security in shipping to these countries is "tracked air mail" which is stupid expensive, but at least offers considerable peace of mind for both buyer & seller.

(It's worth mentioning that declared value must be stated on this shipping format, which hoops customers that want a low evaluation for their countries' customs authorities...not that this would ever occur...haha)

Never had a problem shipping to/from Europe; & absolutely none to/from the USA; btw.

[jimmyj]

agreed about surface tracked. ive had a package take 1.5 mths to the UK. but havent had one vanish yet. the only time I use that is when its too heavy for any other options...except shelling out $200+. CP makes shipping anything relatively heavy to any country other than Canada or US so expensive. The ridiculous part is its cheaper for me to ship two shirts to the US than 2 shirts in Canada...50 km away. In summary CP has always been a thorn in our side.

[PreserveVintage]

Shipping USPS First Class International, I've had two shipments in the past few months where the buyers are saying they didn't get it. One to China and one to Dubai.