Confused American

Agutka

Aaarrggghhh! I've just had a question about sommat else I am selling:

I live in New York, and I wanted to know what would be the shipping cost in dollars.

How should I know!! Do I even bother replying? These people are using a computer yes? And the internet, yes? Where you can find out exchange rates no? Someone said on these forums once that as long as your customer service is good, you can keep americans happy when dealing with them. It is so hard though...

sockospice

I've given up selling to the US. I may have a few less sales, but it's at least 80% less hassle.

cosmokramer2004

soolin wrote:

Start the dispute process on day 10, no later and under no circumstances opt for the mutual option. You must go for the full NPB to guarantee your fees back.

I always get my FVF back when carrying out a mutual agreement - although I think I always select "The Buyer no longer wants the item" as the reason.. don't know if that makes any difference. Does it affect the relisting?

It is usually always USA buyers who don't realise that R2 DVD's won't play on standard NTSC equipment who are the problem, but I like to forgive their ignorance and treat myself to a free +ve in such situations.

soolin

cosmokramer2004 wrote:

I always get my FVF back when carrying out a mutual agreement - although I think I always select "The Buyer no longer wants the item" as the reason.. don't know if that makes any difference. Does it affect the relisting?

The mutual can be spoilt easily by the buyer as ebay tend to confuse matters. If you go for a mutual then the buyer gets an email that basically asks whether or not the agree that they don't want the item. if they tick the box that says that actually they had wanted the item you lose your fees.

Anyway, I htink that going for a full NPB which gets a strike on the buyers account is good as it does tend to mean that they won't do it again to someone else. Also, don;t forget that if they don't respond to the dispute process they can no longer leave you feedback that shows in your feedback.

SOo

HOLsale

Milky_Mocha wrote:

Whenever I view a US listing the price is indicated in both pounds and dollars so it baffles me when American's get confused about currency. Or maybe they decide to simply choose the lower figure? I wonder what their geography lessons comprise of. What subjects are studied in American schools that would address this issue?

being an american ex-pat i can tell you that geography is NOT a common subject in the states

actually, you just don't really learn that much about other countries in general

if you take ancient history then you will but most kids are required to take modern history or american history

when i was growing up i decided how 'safe' a country was by how much i heard about it on the news. i figured scotland was ok because the only thing i'd heard about it all my years was about lockerbie and dunblane neither nice but pretty mild in comparison to all the crap we heard about other places...

sad but true :eek:

now you know why i've been in scotland for nearly 7 years and have NO intention of EVER living in the US again! (well, it's only one reason, there are so many!)

HOLsale

sockospice wrote:

I've given up selling to the US. I may have a few less sales, but it's at least 80% less hassle.

i still sell to the US but i have a decided advantage being an ex-pat at least i can BEGIN to think like they do (though i really try hard not to!)

i find i can explain to them in a way they'll understand how things work and apply just the right american style customer service touch in a 'nice-'em-to-death' fashion that keeps most of them in line

but i know what you mean!

i don't like german buyers but that's another long story

fubar_2

the only experience I have had with dealing from the USA is only purchases, and I would have to say i could not fault them (except one seller and that was sorted out in time) but they handled the transactions extremely well, in fact some went beyond what they needed to do to make things run smooth, maybe buyers are a different creed to the sellers over there.

just wish more would ship internationally

HOLsale

fubar wrote:

the only experience I have had with dealing from the USA is only purchases, and I would have to say i could not fault them (except one seller and that was sorted out in time) but they handled the transactions extremely well, in fact some went beyond what they needed to do to make things run smooth, maybe buyers are a different creed to the sellers over there.

just wish more would ship internationally

it's the strong customer service ethos over there believe you me, half of britains sales staff would be out of jobs in a flash if they were working in the states!

on the other hand their expectations are much higher than ours here so that may explain some of the differences (though don't discount pig ignorance and the kind of arrogance that an isolationist country tends to breed into someone)

if you want good customer service you will receive it from americans about 97% of the time so that's not bad... you do have to deal with their idiosyncracies but the good service plus the lower prices makes it worthwhile in most cases

golddustmedia

I normally send a "request for money" from within paypal that allows you to state a dollar value if you use the exchange rate from say the financial times. Or state in pounds sterling and it should be converted at her end.

Don't take any rubbish about "not understanding it was in pounds".

soolin

golddustmedia wrote:

I normally send a "request for money" from within paypal that allows you to state a dollar value if you use the exchange rate from say the financial times. Or state in pounds sterling and it should be converted at her end.

Don't take any rubbish about "not understanding it was in pounds".

Why worry about converting it for them. I insist on receiving paypal in UK sterling funds and it is very easy as all they do is click on 'pay' and it takes the money from them in US dollars and pays you in sterling.

Soo