Shipping an expensive item to France

hyerin

A French bidder has just won my auction on Ebay and he wants to pay via Paypal. Being located in France, I assume that the buyer does not have a confirmed address. Should I take the risk, bearing in mind the buyer has 121 positive feedbacks, 1 negative and 1 neutral (99.1% positive)? Meanwhile, I've told him I can only accept International bank transfer for the transaction and I am still currently waiting for a reply.
Thank you!

soolin

Firstly, you do need to decide before you list for overseas buyers how you are going to deal with them if they win. You now have a valid winner so firstly you can't refuse to send without risking a neg, you also can't refuse a paypal payment unless it was not offered in the auction in the first place.

Asking now for a bank transfer is rather going to make you look scammerish, it is a favourite ploy of the scammer to entice buyers with paypal then refuse it after auction ends, so you might want to consider that as well when dealing with the buyer.

AS you say it is unlikely the buyer will have a confirmed address so you have no paypal seller protection, but you can still ship as long as you make sure you are covered against loss in the post by paying for an insured service giving you the level of cover you need. In fact regardless of how your buyer pays you need to insure your item in case it fails to arrive as even if paying by bank transfer you will need to give a refund if item is not received.

My own risk level for overseas sales is around the £34 limit as that means I can send everything standard airmail and still be covered fully against loss. I know others have different comfort levels, but these are usually decided when the auction is made available , rather than worrying after it is all over.

hyerin

Thank you for your reply. I'm an Ebay novice so it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be protected from any sale abroad despite intending to the send the package via Airsure (due to the tracking service). I'm still stuck as to what to do because the item went for close to the £200 mark and I’m not sure if it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I think I will have a clearer idea of what to do when I finally receive a reply from the buyer- I think I’ve scared him off!

soolin

£200 is definitely outside my comfort level for overseas and non confirmed addresses. :eek:

hyerin

Does anyone have experience with Google Checkout? I'm considering this as an alternative for the buyer. Will I be protected if I send the item via Airsure?

Thanks.

hyerin

Ignore the above post - the buyer pulled out of the sale, supposedly having "Paypal" problems.