Advice needed by nervous seller - shipping to Lithuania

peaceandfreedom

Hi all

I posted a query recently about shipping to Taiwan. Well the item in question has now been won by a buyer in Lithuania. The buyer has been a member since 2008 and has feedback of 85.

Being quite new to selling on ebay, I am rather nervous about shipping to Lithuania - the item sold for £161. Before bidding the buyer emailed me to ask if I could ship to Lithuania (I said yes) and also could I ship it to his friend in Russia. I said I would only ship to the registered Paypal address. It is this question really that worries me now because it seems odd.

The buyer may be perfectly genuine. I want to be sure that I am covered by Paypal's seller protection before I ship the item (he hasn't paid for it yet). Am I right in thinking that I am covered as long as:

• I ship within 7 days of payment
• Paypal's email doesn't say I'm NOT covered
• I ship to the registered Paypal address
• Shipment is signed for with online proof of signature

I was planning to use DHL's servicepoint to send the item - I believe that this offers approved proof of delivery.

Feeling a bit out of my depth here to be honest but I really want to make sure I don't end up out of pocket.

George666

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Hi all

I posted a query recently about shipping to Taiwan. Well the item in question has now been won by a buyer in Lithuania. The buyer has been a member since 2008 and has feedback of 85.

Being quite new to selling on ebay, I am rather nervous about shipping to Lithuania - the item sold for £161. Before bidding the buyer emailed me to ask if I could ship to Lithuania (I said yes) and also could I ship it to his friend in Russia. I said I would only ship to the registered Paypal address. It is this question really that worries me now because it seems odd.

The buyer may be perfectly genuine. I want to be sure that I am covered by Paypal's seller protection before I ship the item (he hasn't paid for it yet). Am I right in thinking that I am covered as long as:

• I ship within 7 days of payment
• Paypal's email doesn't say I'm NOT covered
• I ship to the registered Paypal address
• Shipment is signed for with online proof of signature

I was planning to use DHL's servicepoint to send the item - I believe that this offers approved proof of delivery.

Feeling a bit out of my depth here to be honest but I really want to make sure I don't end up out of pocket.

Hi OP you are right you are only covered if you send the item to the address registered in paypal and there is a means of tracking the item online.
My advise do not send the item to any other address if it is not the registered address in paypal as you will not be covered.

mobile48

I have no experience of this so the following may or may not be useful.

In the PayPal agreement I spotted it says seller protection does not apply for claims filed directly with eBay. I guess this means that you must also check all ebay rules if you want to be completely safe. Perhaps one example is how do you protect yourself from a claim the item is counterfeit?

peaceandfreedom

mobile48 wrote: »

I have no experience of this so the following may or may not be useful.

In the PayPal agreement I spotted it says seller protection does not apply for claims filed directly with eBay. I guess this means that you must also check all ebay rules if you want to be completely safe. Perhaps one example is how do you protect yourself from a claim the item is counterfeit?

Yes, I'm not quite sure what that clause about claims filed directly with ebay might mean exactly. The item is quite unusual (it's not a mobile, electronics or anything 'designer') and comes with a certificate of authenticity - I don't think a counterfeit claim is likely.

What I am most nervous of is chargeback some time after the transaction has gone through - it seems to me that the seller is often left high and dry when this happens.

theonlywayisup

If you are nervous of a chargeback you must keep the certificate of posting from the courier company for 180 days. You are right and 'someone' is wrong when saying you need to prove 'tracking online' you need to prove the item is signed for and the signature needs to be visible with the tracking online as the item is over £150.

The address in paypal can be confirmed or unconfirmed, but HAS to say 'eligible' rather than not.

Crowqueen

If you are having problems with overseas buyers, then why not set your items to block bidders from countries to which you do not ship, and then list only UK postage? I'm assuming this buyer was up-front with her details and the discussion about only shipping to a Paypal-registered address is a tangent designed to make you think all foreigners are out to scam you.

I would ship to Lithuania no problems, for an item of that value maybe, maybe not given the lack of credible tracking, but for cheaper items, definitely. These countries aren't a collection of mud huts in the middle of a desert or forest - for the most part they are modern, fast-growing economies. Why should a UK buyer be any more genuine than someone in another country?

Sorry, I'll calm down, I have visited Lithuania several times and know the people and language fairly well, I just get annoyed when people think all foreigners on eBay are crooks. Then again, I can only dream about selling an item for £161.

macfly

??????????
The DHL service is a credible one, it provides what paypal require.
The request to send somewhere else may also be genuine, though you can't do it as you would leave yourself wide open - here or abroad. I've done this to send a gift, and the seller complied, but for a low value item.

peaceandfreedom

Crowqueen wrote: »

If you are having problems with overseas buyers, then why not set your items to block bidders from countries to which you do not ship, and then list only UK postage? I'm assuming this buyer was up-front with her details and the discussion about only shipping to a Paypal-registered address is a tangent designed to make you think all foreigners are out to scam you.

I would ship to Lithuania no problems, for an item of that value maybe, maybe not given the lack of credible tracking, but for cheaper items, definitely. These countries aren't a collection of mud huts in the middle of a desert or forest - for the most part they are modern, fast-growing economies. Why should a UK buyer be any more genuine than someone in another country?

Sorry, I'll calm down, I have visited Lithuania several times and know the people and language fairly well, I just get annoyed when people think all foreigners on eBay are crooks. Then again, I can only dream about selling an item for £161.

Hi - thanks for your response. I'm not having trouble with overseas buyers as such - I stated straight away that the buyer may be perfectly genuine. It was only the question about shipping to a different address that concerned me. Lithuania is a country on the unofficial 'be cautious' list, largely because it is linked with the Nigeria/mobile phone scam.

It was a good idea to sell overseas on this item because it is an unusual item and therefore had a very specific market. The more countries involved, the better.

I'm not 'dissing' Lithuania nor any country in particular. All I was checking here was that I am covered in case anything goes wrong with the transaction - to me, it's a lot of money and I don't want to risk losing it.

peaceandfreedom

macfly wrote: »

??????????
The DHL service is a credible one, it provides what paypal require.
The request to send somewhere else may also be genuine, though you can't do it as you would leave yourself wide open - here or abroad. I've done this to send a gift, and the seller complied, but for a low value item.

Yes, indeed I would expect DHL to be a credible service for tracking / signing on delivery. The sending to someone else also might be genuine as you say, but I wouldn't do it for such a sum.

Don't why this ebay business makes me so nervous - I guess I've been reading too many of the horror stories and ignoring the vast majority of transactions where things go swimmingly.

macfly

Nothing in your original post suggested you were anti johnny foreigner. No clue where someone got that idea. The buyer probably doesn't know the paypal rules on chargebacks and delivery.

peaceandfreedom

Well, my parcel arrived safely in Vilnius, Lithuania and the buyer is happy.

I sent it with DHL via parcel2go.com. When I phoned DHL direct, their total quote was over £94. :eek:

Parcel2go sent it for just over £35 - and it was the exact same DHL service. Can't quite get over the difference in price but I'm very pleased with parcel2go's service - the parcel was collected within 1 hour of booking it online.

So I'm now a slightly less nervous ebayer.