Selling outside the UK

Nadia

Hi. I have been selling on ebay for the past few months but have only ever sold within the UK. I am considering trying to sell outside the UK but wanted to ask about postage. Which service do sellers use to post abroad? Do you use airmail alone or with international signed for? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Thanks in advance.

P.S. I almost only sell clothes that my children have outgrown and an occasional book or cd so nothing too heavy.

Toon

I just use normal airmail and charge £6.99 per order worldwide. They can alo purchase insurance for £4.

Nadia

Toon wrote:

I just use normal airmail and charge £6.99 per order worldwide. They can alo purchase insurance for £4.

Thanks for your response Toon. What if a parcel goes missing and the buyer hasn't paid for insurance? Obviously if this happens within the UK you would refund the buyer and claim from royal mail. But if an overseas buyer claims the item hasn't been received and you can't prove delivery you can't ask for compensation and the buyer would win a paypal dispute. Does anyone have any experience regarding this issue?

~cleo~

Airmail is insured like first/second class upto £32 if you have a certificate of postage you can make a royal mail claim

This is what i have been advised by the PO as i send a lot of fairly low value items overseas and it is not worth it to my buyers to pay high airsure/int signed for rates of postage

bleugh

watch out for more expensive items and using paypal,

you can ONLY use AIRSURE delivery, otherwise you don't get a tracking number that paypal can use, and the buyer, if naughty could claim non-delivery

note, INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR only covers the parcel up to where it leaves our country, so it's not suitable for PAYPAL as it doesnt provide proof of delivery


in summary, ALWAYS charge insurance when paypal is used for expensive items, it's not for them, it's for you!

personally, i'm with cleo tho, i try not to bother doing airsure for lower value items

soolin

For cheaper items sent overseas I rely just on a COP as I do in the UK and actually the overseas rates, especially on items like clothes are very reasonable. Even books are quite cheap to send overseas as there is a printed paper rate as well.

Soo

Nadia

Thanks Cleo and Soolin. I'll probably try adding overseas delivery on a couple of listings and use airmail then. I don't think I'll be selling any high value items. Cheers.

Hintza

Last year I advertised and sold mainly to Europe and used Airsure without a problem (except when the riots were taking place in Paris...took over a month for some items). I have found European buyers great. Just ensure that you send Airsure for expensive items. Items that weigh over 2kg though might become prohibativly (sp?) expensive though so just be careful with weights.