Countries you exclude from selling list

catmulogen

Hi. I've done lots of googling about this and read the threads about postage but still got a couple more questions - any help greatly appreciated
I've only previously bought and sold personal things on Ebay in the UK offering 'normal' postage. I'm now registering as a business seller and want to post further afield but wonder if there's anywhere, from experience, you would suggest not posting to(have got some ideas but wondered about others?). Also, do you use standard postal services or signed for etc (The amounts sold would be much less than £50).

soolin

The postage sticky thread is a good place to start for general info.

My own terms are that I usually ship worldwide except for Africa (all of it), Russia and Italy. All my items are less than £46 which is the current claim linit, and I use standard airmail- no tracking.

If I have items over £46 I tend to restrict them to the UK only as I do not wish to faff around with couriers.

catmulogen

Thanks for that info Soolin. Just what I needed. Big day of listing ahead of me

Crowqueen

The things I used to sell - stamps, postcards and paper ephemera, because of what I collected/had in my collection to sell they were mostly of international interest - needed the international market and had no problem when sent overseas (particularly great was getting a buyer from a far-flung country like Botswana or Belarus).

However the price of international shipping means my current Amazon book/DVD sales are UK only and I suspect there is only a limited interest from international buyers on eBay even though I have overseas postage listed. I get enough interest on Amazon for those restrictions to be OK, but I have had - out of three buyers in the last three months! - one buyer from Greece.

When I have something electronic to sell I block out overseas buyers altogether and sell UK only.

Generally the issues are with specific countries and specific items. Most items I am happy to sell overseas and I would only block if I had a particular problem.

Crowqueen

I should note I rarely if ever use tracked/recorded at home so see no advantage to using it overseas, particularly since international signed for costs £5 and charging for it would wipe out international interest with no additional benefits over standard airmail. Your competitors could move in and comfortably undercut you so if you are selling as a business you need to focus on what is profitable and accounting for the occasional loss (self-insurance on volume sales would also be something worth considering - add a few invisible pence to the cost of an item and put it into a fund for covering postal losses) rather than wrapping every sale in exorbitantly expensive 'insurance'.

Strapped

I've recently started excluding Malta becuase of a spate of items going missing. But apart from that I'd say the EU, Americas, Oz and Japan are "safe" markets if you're a nervous beginner. Remember to remind non-EU buyers that they are responsible for customs charges.

RFW

I've two selling accounts, one is small value items, below £10, the other is usually courier lots.

On the first I don't exclude anywhere and haven't had any great problems anywhere. We've not sent many to Italy, but haven't had a problem. In recent memory I haven't sold anything to anywhere in Africa so I'm not informed there.

I've had a couple of lost parcels to Australia which were a bit stinging.

For courier lots, I only send to some of Europe and Ireland, the costs to the customer are too high to bother sending anywhere else.

catmulogen

Thanks to you all for taking the time to share your advice. It's been a great help

ulsterbeef

Ill reply here anyway as I should have seen the PM sooner. I know its an old post but sure, old posts popping up are good to remind people

The thing is, as you might have seen in my posts previously regarding similar threads there are conmen out there who will con you out of a couple of pound and Ive experienced it. Someone conned me out out of £2-3 before and ive had others try to con me only Ive had tracking to prove it and then they reply with "Oh, damn you caught me out. I didnt see the parcel I signed for this morning" haha. Caught out conman

Ill explain the issues surrounding non recorded. First of all, there is no proof AT ALL that it was delivered if you sent it non recorded, you are relying on the buyer being honest. Recorded costs 90 or 95p more than standard so if you are sending an item of reasonable cost, I would use it.

The same can also be said for cash on collection. Even if you get them to sign something. It means nothing.

Tell me this, how many feedbacks have you seen where someone has left negative and said item didnt arrive and the seller replies lost in post? Dozens, if you go looking. When have you ever had a letter go missing from a bank, family friends, xmas cards etc... rarely? See where I am going...

Now, its not all bad. If you are a seller selling lots of items, you will be ok so long as they are low value. But if you are a small seller, youre DSRs will be hit badly if a buyer leaves negative feedback. You are allowed something like 2 negatives per 100 transactions to enable the 98% top rated seller status. Its up to you if you want to take the risk

As for countries that I dont or wont post to. Africa as mentioned. NEVER EVER. I post anywhere so long as they pay the postage. I get a lot of Germans and Dutch buying items. They dont seem to mind paying extra for recorded. Ive once posted to Brazil haha

Jen_Jen1985

ulsterbeef wrote: »

Ill explain the issues surrounding non recorded. First of all, there is no proof AT ALL that it was delivered if you sent it non recorded, you are relying on the buyer being honest. Recorded costs 90 or 95p more than standard so if you are sending an item of reasonable cost, I would use it.
Recorded doesnt always track though and gives no more insurance than proof of postage

The same can also be said for cash on collection. Even if you get them to sign something. It means nothing.
Why would they need to sign something for cash on collection? you have the money, they have the item they can't take the money back

Tell me this, how many feedbacks have you seen where someone has left negative and said item didnt arrive and the seller replies lost in post? Dozens, if you go looking. When have you ever had a letter go missing from a bank, family friends, xmas cards etc... rarely? See where I am going...
Ive had items go missing every now and again but almost once a week I get post for a house on a different street (once even for another town), if it wasn't for me taking these items to the correct address then they would have a high number of missing items. Ok so there are some dishonest buyer's out there but if you're gonna assume that every one is out to get you then you may as well stop selling.

Now, its not all bad. If you are a seller selling lots of items, you will be ok so long as they are low value. But if you are a small seller, youre DSRs will be hit badly if a buyer leaves negative feedback. You are allowed something like 2 negatives per 100 transactions to enable the 98% top rated seller status. Its up to you if you want to take the risk

As for countries that I dont or wont post to. Africa as mentioned. NEVER EVER. I post anywhere so long as they pay the postage. I get a lot of Germans and Dutch buying items. They dont seem to mind paying extra for recorded. Ive once posted to Brazil haha

I'm only a small private seller but I ship abroad and never had any problems. I also don't use any tracking, only ever tracked 1 item and that was a piece of jewellery that went for £50 to France. everything else I just get a certificate of posting for and in my 10 years on ebay I have never (touch wood) had an item I've sold go missing.

bitemebankers

I'm a private ebay seller but I've been doing this for a decade so have some experience.

I'll ship to North America, EU (except Italy), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. That's the vast majority of your potential buyers covered, with no unnecessary risks taken.