QUESTION ABOUT DEALING WITH INTERNATIONAL EBAYERS

CoinManiac527

I thought this would be the best place to ask. I sold a platinum coin for around 400 dollars on eBay. I said in the auction that I would only ship within the US. To my surprise, when the auction closed, the winner lived in Japan.

Now I'm very annoyed and don't know what to do. Has anyone ever dealt with something like this? Since I don't accept PayPal, how can he send money to me in US dollars?

Please explain in detail!!

Thanks

gr8gabbo

Yes....your buyer can send an international money order. might take a little longer to get here, but you may have a repeat buyer. I have sold to japanese buyers & they have always been decent enough. that is not too say you won't find a bad apple. I accept pay-pal but I am not a coin dealer per se, so my cost to accept the payment is worth not waiting for it. I would say give it a shot & ask your buyer to mail ASAP. I recently changed my auctions to say I accept international buyers. I was getting too many requests from them to ignore. The shipping takes a little getting used to. there are large weight level price jumps to japan (1 ounce difference = $8).....but coins are light enough. Get a shipping quote & ask any questions you have at the post office.......good luck and look for more opinions on this subject. Gabbo

RNCHSN

Make sure your bank isn't going to charge you to cash an international money order. My bank charges $5.50 so I specify in my auctions that all checks and money orders HAVE to be drawn on a US bank. If this is the case, ask him to pay the fees too. The post office will cash a Canada Poste MO if it is in US dollars. Maybe they'd cash a Japanese postal MO as well. You could always ask for a cash payment. Japanese banks might be able to get him some, and he can insure his payment, or send it registered.

BamaCollector

Better late than never, eh? I'm an ex-banker and thought I'd offer this into the mix: All international buyers have access to the Dollar and you can specify that all your auction payments be made in USD which forces the buyer to shoulder conversion rate differences along with premiums charged to convert, say, yen to USD, and all you have to do is cash the Official Check as you would any other negotiable instrument. Of course, you'd also want to specify that payment not only be in the form of USD but also with an official instrument such as what a bank would issue....i.e. a Cashiers Check, Official Check, etc. I have done a lot of purchasing as well as selling, in foreign markets and when the dollar is strong, as it is most of the time, the minor headaches involved with packaging and shipping overseas is well worth it. Over the years, I've purchase a good amount of gold bullion on the foreign market and on average, have paid up to 25% less than the same item here in the states would go for. The USPS has always been helpful to me when I've shipped overseas and once you get used to it, it's no more of a hassle than shipping a 5 lb package from New York to Los Angeles is.

CarlWohlforth

Shipping is more expensive too. I had a customer (also a forum member) from Japan buy a coin. It was no problem.

I find it very interesting to learn of coin collectors in other countries. It is more hassle but worth it IMO.