Posting to international buyers on ebay

tulip12

Hi,
I have placed a few items for sale on ebay and have had a glut of requests for postage costs abroad, including Russia.
I have had a quick look for similar posts but can't seem to find any, so apologies if this has been raised before.
I have had the odd request before but always declined, but this seems silly if all is genuine.
What are the pitfalls/scams ? - All of the prospective buyers appear to have good feedback. And, what are the best forms of postal service to use ?
Many thanks

Mandles

I have a friend that happily posts large items to Russia but i never do international postage as i can't be bothered with the hassle. I got put off when an item i sent , and i know for a fact that they definately got , had entire amount, including postage refunded back to buyer. The problem is that if you do not get some sort of recorded / signed for service paypal will just give the money back to the buyer if they open dispute and signed for is too expensive for cheap items .

My buyer had 38 all positive feedback and was very dishonest!

cyberbob

If the item is worth less than £41 and you send standard airmail you are insured for that amount via Royal mail so you don't really need paypal protection. I send 50% of my items internationally (I only send items below £41). That'a about 50 items a month. I have had one international claim for non rceipt in the past year.

It's no more hassle than sending to the UK for below £41 items. There are a few countries I don't send to like Italy and Malta due to their very dodgy postal systems.

tulip12

Thank you both very much for your experiences.
My items will be less than £41 so might give it a go.
Thanks

soolin

Just make sure that you show thw two overseas postage costs clearly in the appropriate bits in the post and packing section it is really easy as the invoice picks up the correct postage rate depending on their country.

I sell to all of Europe (excluding Italy) plus North and South America Asia and Australia. Some weeks over 80% of my sales are overseas. I limit my sales overseas to items under £41 and send everything standard airmail.

[Deleted User]

only if buyer pays for the international signed for send via standard which in my experience is v. reliable

soolin

vinh1000 wrote: »

only if buyer pays for the international signed for send via standard which in my experience is v. reliable

I don't use any tracking at all, just standard airmail.

It is interesting though which countries seem to be buying in the UK at the moment. This week I've done nothing but post to the Russian federation yet I only got my first Russian buyer three weeks ago. It looks like the floodgates have opened.

I even sent to Alaska last week and stuff arrived in a little over a week.

mtc95

Sorry to piggy-back onto this thread but someone has just asked whether I would send to Cyprus. Does anyone have experience as to whether the postal service there is reliable or not?

Also, am I right in thinking that none of the Royal Mail international services offer a level of tracking that would satisfy Paypal if a "item not received" dispute was opened? I am hoping that the item will sell for more than £41 so maybe I could just pay for extra insurance in case of problems. The potential bidder has good feedback and has clearly bought from the UK before so is hopefully not a scammer.

soolin

mtc95 wrote: »

Sorry to piggy-back onto this thread but someone has just asked whether I would send to Cyprus. Does anyone have experience as to whether the postal service there is reliable or not?

Also, am I right in thinking that none of the Royal Mail international services offer a level of tracking that would satisfy Paypal if a "item not received" dispute was opened? I am hoping that the item will sell for more than £41 so maybe I could just pay for extra insurance in case of problems. The potential bidder has good feedback and has clearly bought from the UK before so is hopefully not a scammer.

I sell a few things to Cyprus, not had nay issues so far at all.

However there are no RM services that will guarantee tracking outside the UK, but if you do opt to use one of them remember you need to pay both the additional charge plus the extra £2.50 for additional insurance.

lindseykim13

soolin wrote: »

I don't use any tracking at all, just standard airmail.

It is interesting though which countries seem to be buying in the UK at the moment. This week I've done nothing but post to the Russian federation yet I only got my first Russian buyer three weeks ago. It looks like the floodgates have opened.

I even sent to Alaska last week and stuff arrived in a little over a week.

Snap- Russia came up for me a couple of weeks ago too and i've had a fair few more sales since then too. I wonder if they only just turned ebay on over there :rotfl:
Australia has been another popular one lately i think the buyers are mad some of the postage costs have been £15plus but they don't seem to mind! A few to Slovakia too which is a new one to me. I post everwhere even the dreaded italy. I have found the italian postal service to be painfully slow but they do get there in the end. I usually get the dreaded where is my item email but if you can string them out it's usually another week and they leave +fb

soolin

Australians have always been good buyers for me, but all the Eastern Europeans seem to be coming on line now. I've had countries I've barely even hear of in the past week.

Had another Russian Federation last night.