Question for experienced sellers

Triangle

Hi guys, after some advice from experienced sellers please

I sold an item (a necklace) which went for £52. I was very clear on the advert that it was for UK bidders only and therefore offered no international postage rates.

Just went to send the payment invoice email - and you guessed it, the winning bidder is not in the UK! Their profile page states they are based in Germany.

What is the best thing to do? Find out how much postage would be to Germany then email them with a revised invoice? I can't help but be a bit annoyed especially as I was very clear on the advert! I have never posted abroad so any tips on how to keep the postage down would be great

Thanks

lovinituk

Many people don't read descriptions. The only way to stop overseas people bidding is to block all the countries you don't want to send to - this is done in your ebay settings and can be applied to all listings.

soolin

I think if you ar enew to ebay that you do see if buyer will accept a mutual cancellation on this one. Standard airmail will only cover losses up to £46, so you'll need to send ti airsure and with additional postage- and even then there is no guarantee that it will be signed for- I assume you were using special delivery within the UK?

There are some tips for new sellers here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1623183

lovinituk

Sending it standard Airmail (or standard post in the UK) would only mean the seller is £6 down if they had to make a claim. Not worth paying the extra for Airsure (or special delivery) just to cover another £6.

Triangle

Thanks for your replies

I have now changed my settings for future sales, thank you for that advice.

I have also requested a mutual cancellation.

Yes, the item postage was for special delivery due to item value.

RFW

Triangle wrote: »

Thanks for your replies

I have now changed my settings for future sales, thank you for that advice.

I have also requested a mutual cancellation.

Yes, the item postage was for special delivery due to item value.

If it's not too heavy a necklace I'd doubt that guaranteed postage would be much more to Germany than special within the UK, possibly only £5 more.

Crowqueen

I agree with RFW. Whatever you do, keep it amicable.

Blue_Tornados

IMO what i would do is weigh the item with all the packaging to get the correct weight, go onto the post office site and find the price finder tool, this will then give you a correct price for the item, then send the buyer an invoice with say £1 postage on top to cover any unseen costs...the buyer will probably pay with no hesitation, send parcel off and wait for the feedback...keep a proof of posting cert.

Crowqueen

Blue_Tornados wrote: »

IMO what i would do is weigh the item with all the packaging to get the correct weight, go onto the post office site and find the price finder tool, this will then give you a correct price for the item, then send the buyer an invoice with say £1 postage on top to cover any unseen costs...the buyer will probably pay with no hesitation, send parcel off and wait for the feedback...keep a proof of posting cert.

Not on this value of item, IMO.

Triangle

UPDATE:

I sent an email to buyer, detailing a cancellation request but obviously being very polite and understanding if they declined - and it was accepted within minutes

Many thanks for your help and lesson definately learnt for future selling i.e selling preferences to certain locations!

Now I just hope that the item will sell (again!)

T

Crowqueen

You may find that opening items up to the EU is not much extra effort for a bit more gain. All you need is to add a flat cost to your listings.

Even if there were other bids, your buyer pushed this item up to a price it might not have otherwise reached. A Greek buyer gave me an extra pound or two just the other day on an item I'd struggled to sell first time round. At the moment, with very few people bidding on my items, rejecting buyers because they seem like too much work is what they call an 'opportunity cost' - in a way, you turned down someone perfectly willing to pay to gamble on it fetching the same price next time round with more restrictive terms.

Obviously it's your choice, but given the circumstances, it's an odd one.