payments from usa and also sending good there

bwatt00

i have just recently sold a few things to buyers in the usa and they dont use paypal,i was wondering as they dont use it or dont want to what are my options and an easy wasy and quick way of being paid and not for me to get any fees,i am puzzled as to what to request,i have asked paypal but one buyer is not using it,also i am looking for the best deals around for sending items to the usa which are say around 7kg in weight,who do you recommend and whats the best around but also cheap so i can pass the saving to the buyer.

Benji

With regard topayment - they can get a Pound Sterling money order and post it to you (it will cost them) OR you can look at auctionchex.co.uk who will accept their dollar cheque and pay you in £s.

So far as shipping is concerned, you will have to look for quotes on sites like parcel2go.com.

Also, if it is a medium-high value item, does your buyer know they will have to pay US import duty and possibly their states Purchase Tax?

Benji

bwatt00 wrote:

whats the best around but also cheap

The two don't always go hand in hand

monkeyspanner

Try parcelflight but its going to be expensive to send 7kg make sure you get the packed dimensions right as this will affect the charge. Auction cheque is also ok for Dollar cheques but watch out for the standard transaction charge and a really bad exchange rate. I've also received payment by western union which works fine but costs the sender.

nightswimmer

bwatt00 wrote:

i have just recently sold a few things to buyers in the usa and they dont use paypal,i was wondering as they dont use it or dont want to what are my options and an easy wasy and quick way of being paid and not for me to get any fees

Because I do a lot of on-line shopping myself, I often get international buyers who don't want to use PayPal to pay me in Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk gift certificates.

soolin

Don't forget if you stated paypal only for overseas then you are entitled to stick to that. If you did offer other payment methods you must have had an idea what you wanted if you offered them

I refuse to use anything other than paypal for overseas buyers as I've had countless problems of buyers not understanding that dollars are not the same as sterling..I've had dollar cheques sent with the dollar sign crossed through and the words 'please pay in British pounds' inked in (oh how the banks laugh at that one), I've had money orders that state clearly on the top that they are not negotiable outside the US.

I don't have endless time to waste on ebay, I sell my items, get paid and ship hopefully within 24 hours. Waiting 2 weeks for a cheque to crawl across the water and then have to be returned at the same time as the buyer asking me where their item is just isn't for me.

Soo

tiamaria

On a similar note to the above query, I've just sold something to someone in the USA, it weighs about 540g and is fragile but well packed. Can I send this safely by Airmail?

The payment options I offered at the time were Paypal, Postal Order or Banker's Draft or personal cheque.

As its only my 2nd foreign transaction(the 1st was problematic), are there any problems I may encounter and need to look out for?

TIA

soolin

tiamaria wrote:

As its only my 2nd foreign transaction(the 1st was problematic), are there any problems I may encounter and need to look out for?

TIA

The obvious one is that they send you a cheque drawn against a US bank which will cost a fortune to pay through a UK bank. Personally when sending the invoice I would just add a reminder that the auction was in UK sterling and that they must therefore pay you in sterling.

I know it sounds obvious, but you would be surprised how many US buyers think they can send a dollar cheque with 'sterling' written across it and be OK. Or even those who don't realise that sterling is different to dollars.