A buyer from Germany was high bidder on one of my eBay auctions, what to do now...

rlawsha

A buyer from Germany was the high bidder on one of my eBay auctions. It clearly stated at the bottom of my listing (in the shipping area) that sales were to US, North America only. What do I do now? I don't want to risk a negative feedback. The second highest bidder was close and in the US so I would like the second chance offer to go to him. Any advice would be appreciated. If it was something cheap like a Kennedy half I wouldn't worry about it but this item is a little over $100.

cosmicdebris

Tell the high bidder auction clearly states shipping to US only and sorry. Then sell it to the second highest bidder through eBay's second chance thingy.

JadeRareCoin

rlawsha, I would complete the deal with the guy in Germany. It will probably cost you $5-$10 to mail the coin, but you can ask him to pay for the shipping, since he did not read your terms about US bidders only.

Ya know, this really is a small world and Germany is not that far away.

Tonekiller

We have never had any issues when selling to EU countries. Try it.

TBT

1956Quarter

Retract the bid.

K6AZ

Some people overseas have friends here that get their items and send them along. Try to be nice to the bidder. Most of these guys will send you US cash registered. For an item of this value, send international registered and have them pay the cost, should be around $12.

Don't start out on a negative note, just say something like it was an US only auction, but as long as he pays for the registered shipping you will complete the transaction with him. I've never had a bad international buyer, so I think if he went to the trouble to bid on your item he will probably do what he needs to do to complete the transaction.

razorface1027

Give the 2nd place bidder the option, after of course, you email the fellow in Germany stating what is clearly expressed in your item description. If he's okay with that, you should indeed acquire the FVF from him because of his deficiency in reading comprehension. If the 2nd bidder elects to purchase the item, you can avoid the preceeding. Furthermore, him leaving negative feedback would be ludicrous. Then again, some are ignorant. Good luck!

rlawsha

I may give it a day and see what the high bidder has to say.

Goldfinger

I've had this situation twice before - once to Germany, once to the UK. In both cases, the coin was around $100, and in both cases I honored the high bid and had no problems.

Just e-mail the bidder and request postage for Global Priority Mail, which is very reliable and secure.

-Jay

K6AZ

Well I see why this guy bid on it. Those are actually pretty expensive and he got a bargain. There are no restrictions on shipping these to Europe.

Go to the USPS website and calculate the shipping. Your bidder will need to understand you can not insure it, the maxium you can insure an item to Germany is $40. You will need to fill out a customs form, 2976 from the post office. Be sure to fill it out correctly, and do not falsify it. Be sure your bidder knows that you will be using the customs form, and he should already know he is going to have to pay duty on it. Still, even with duties and shipping, he is going to come out ahead.

tonyhar

I have often seen items I would like to bid on that state 'US only' , I honour their rules and donot bid.
On the odd occasion were the item is very important to me I have emailed the seller and asked them to relax their rule and in all occasions they have done so and a successful transaction takes place.

K6AZ

That's what I do. I don't mind shipping to Europe, but I don't want to ship to the far east and some other places. I've sent many items to Europe and Australia without a problem.

Isle of Man? What's going to be on the Cat Crown this year?

CarlWohlforth

I haven't had any problems. I ask for payment in US dollars and that the winning bidder pay extra for shipping and insurance and accept any risk if insurance is not available. Europe and Canada are very easy places to do business with in my opinion.

tjkillian

I ship to Germany all the time. Shipping to the EU should not be a problem at all. I'd go ahead and ship it. It is not like it is going to the middle east or something. The Europeans are the good guys too!

Tom

cacheman

I have experienced nothing but integrity from German buyers AND sellers. As mentioned above, have them pay the additional shipping costs. You are limiting yourself to many potential bidders and should really consider dealing internationally. Just be cautious about selling to South America and Asia

HalfCents

The bidder might have an address in the US for shipping purposes. Check with him (or her) first. If not, Global Priority Mail (USPS) is NOT insured, but really reliable and costs $5 or $6 to Germany.

I have Japanese buyers pull this on me all the time when I say "US Bidders Only". And they rarely ask permission to bid first. They just bid within 5 seconds of closing, knowing that you can't retract or cancel thier bid before it ends. Most times I go ahead and deal with them, but ONLY if they pay in $US and ONLY via PayPal or Western Union Auction Payments. Haven't had much problem so far.

Tom

eureka

Ditto on Cacheman's statement. Germany has a thriving coin collecting base. I buy and sell outside the U.S. all the time, and take comfort in the fact that I'm recouping any monies spent outside of the U.S. by bringing monies in.
The only western european country I'm overly cautious of is Italy. They have notoriously slow mail, and it's not uncommon for mail to get "lost".

route66

I ship books to Europe all the time and never have a problem. Just ask him to pay by paypal or he can just send cash [US] in an envelope. Believe it or not, they do it all the time. My books are $15-35.00. Charge the regular shipping charge by Global air. I just shipped 15 books to Greece today. Sold them for $160.00 and he paid $80.00 shipping by surface. They are used to the high shipping charges. Check on insurance, tho.

ms70

Go through with the deal-

Charge him all the fees + handling since you have to stand around & fill out the international forms-

Put him on your blocked bidders list.

route66

I would never put any bidder on my blocked bidder list who paid their bills. International buyers are a great source of income and shouldn't be ignored. Maybe coins are different, but I doubt it. Filling out the form takes less than a minute. JMHO Steve

nankraut

I like K6AZ's suggestion the best.