Dealing with international buyers - how can you protect yourself?

ctsoxfan

Looking for some opinions on this. As of late, more and more buyers from overseas are emailing me asking to bid on my auctions (even though I state "ship to US only" in my auctions). I find international shipping to be a major inconvenience for my schedule (you actually have to go to a post office - I do all my domestic shipping/postage online). More importantly, there seems to be no easy way to satisfy PayPal requirements of delivery confirmation when you ship overseas, and I am worried about someone paying me via PayPal, and then claiming they never got their item, even though I sent it. So far, I have been fortunate - and have had no problems with the transactions I've done. But, I've noticed some sellers won't take PayPal for these type of sales. So, now you have to wait up to two weeks for the international buyer to send you a money order? Opinions are appreciated!

pandrews

yep me too.. every time they email me and ask, i tell them no.. but even if you specify US only, they still bid.. damnit..

mtcards

My experience is that if they are the only bidder on an item, I will take the chance with it. I have had 3 international sales out of a thousand and haven't had any problems. On the other hand, sometimes buying from an international seller, especially with good feedback can result in a great buy since so many people are afraid to buy from them

packCollector

will only accept based on feedback and bidding history. if they are regular buyers of similar items that I sell and have 100% feedback then I will let them bid or make the sale otherwise , not a chance

jrdolan

I believe you can set in your seller's preferences whether to allow people outside the US to bid on your auctions.

acowa

I do a lot of trades with Canadiens and I just request that we use FEDEX for the deals. My deals are typically $500-$1000 so it's worth the peace of mind. It's convenient and has easy tracking. I would simply require it for shipping international deals.


Regards,


Alan

pandrews

<< <i>I believe you can set in your seller's preferences whether to allow people outside the US to bid on your auctions. >>



you can (i have), but it doesnt stop them from bidding.. evidently, they can still view your auctions and bid on them..

Gator

I will ship items outside of the US, but will not accept Pay Pal from international bidders.

ctsoxfan

Thanks for the comments so far - much appreciated. I don't want to shut out potential customers, but I don't want to get ripped either. Too bad there isn't a secure way of shipping something internationally without spending $20-$25 for FedEx or the like.

bowdowntome

I've had thousands of transactions, both buynig and selling, on ebay, and about 35-40% of those were to/from overseas. I've never had 1 problem with any of them. To date, the only problems I've had were from domestic buyers and sellers.

Ebayers outside the U.S., especially from European countries, seem to have a little more integrity when it comes to online dealing. At least that is what I've come to believe.

Most of the overseas purchases I've made, I've sent U.S. cash in a plain old envelope. Never had any problems with that either.

If you don't feel safe about Paypal, let them know that you will accept U.S. cash, which is pretty easy for most foreign buyers to get ahold of.