£100 item to USA - ?best postage method

firesidemaid

hi all.

just when i think i am a prepared and experienced ebayer, i surprise myself (again lol);)

i have sold an item of jewellery for just under £100 to a US buyer.

i didn't have a clue that it would go for so much, otherwise:

a)i would have kept it to uk only, and
b)i would have quoted a decent postage amount:o

so, am happy to cover the extra postage, but just want to make sure i am the most covered for any unexpected claim.

so, international signed for OR airsure? or is there another or better option?

thanks once again all in advance xx

soolin

Personally I would be looking for a courier, I'm sure the courier gurus will log in and help you shortly.

thegirlintheattic

If the buyer is in agreement you can re-invoice with the new postage amount when you decide how you're going to send it. Found this out today

hermum

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

If the buyer is in agreement you can re-invoice with the new postage amount when you decide how you're going to send it. Found this out today

If the buyer isn't in agreement then you've hacked them off straight away.
A decent seller will do as the OP here has done & that's swallow the additional postage costs, there's a strong possibility that they'll still be up on what they'd expected to get.
If a seller asked me to pay more p&p because I had paid more for an item then they'd expected I would definitely refuse.

thegirlintheattic

I agree it's a risk but it's an option. You never know the buyer might suggest this if there were no international postage rates listed.

I received an e-mail today from a private seller that they had miscalculated postage and would I mind paying an extra amount to cover the cost of the larger parcel. Sure I could have turned around and said 'Sorry, listed at that postage that's all I'm going to pay' but instead I agreed because it was reasonable. Wasn't hacked off at all.

soolin

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

I agree it's a risk but it's an option. You never know the buyer might suggest this if there were no international postage rates listed.

I received an e-mail today from a private seller that they had miscalculated postage and would I mind paying an extra amount to cover the cost of the larger parcel. Sure I could have turned around and said 'Sorry, listed at that postage that's all I'm going to pay' but instead I agreed because it was reasonable. Wasn't hacked off at all.

You are in the minority and as a seller I would NEVER ask a buyer for more money.

As a seller why should a buyer pay to insure my item? I am not a reckless bidder, I bid carefully and base the price i bid on what I want to pay. Putting the postage up on me would seriously tee me off and even just asking would make me start feeling nervous about a seller Do I really want to trust my hard earned money to a seller that can't work out accurate postage?

Obviously_the_best

if it's a piece of jewellery I'd imagine it's probably be a small box (about 20x15x15 cm) and weigh a max of 200g. For that amount of insurance you'd be looking at a courier,
by my reckoning the cheapest including insurance will be https://www.gwizzcouriers.co.uk at £19.50 + £1.50 insurance

firesidemaid

thanks for all the replies - really appreciated.

do i take it that no-one thinks that any of the RM options are worth it?

the courier would double the RM cost and at £21 i will be £18+ out of pocket:eek:

but, i thought the item would only sell for £20+ and not £90+

think i might have to bite the bullet tho and learn from this.

With the couriers, do i still have to have a customs-type sticker? i always think that filling these in with 'jewellery' and '£100' says steal me;)

soolin

firesidemaid wrote: »

thanks for all the replies - really appreciated.

do i take it that no-one thinks that any of the RM options are worth it?

the courier would double the RM cost and at £21 i will be £18+ out of pocket:eek:

but, i thought the item would only sell for £20+ and not £90+

think i might have to bite the bullet tho and learn from this.

With the couriers, do i still have to have a customs-type sticker? i always think that filling these in with 'jewellery' and '£100' says steal me;)

The postage sticky explains why RM might be an issue. However if you send it tracked and pay for the additional insurance and it doesn't arrive you can always refund the buyer and claim your losses back from RM later.

Just make sure RM will insure jewellery for the correct value

Obviously_the_best

firesidemaid wrote: »

thanks for all the replies - really appreciated.

do i take it that no-one thinks that any of the RM options are worth it?

the courier would double the RM cost and at £21 i will be £18+ out of pocket:eek:

but, i thought the item would only sell for £20+ and not £90+

think i might have to bite the bullet tho and learn from this.

With the couriers, do i still have to have a customs-type sticker? i always think that filling these in with 'jewellery' and '£100' says steal me;)

Yes, they will supply you with all of the customs stuff for you to fill out, and RM is pointless because it doesn't track outside of the UK