i got burnt on shipping charges today

cranejoshua

i made an ebay sale a couple of days ago for $135.00 i listed the shipping as $7.75 UPS i was clear that i wanted us bids only (for exactly this reason). the auction ended with buy it now, and it turned out to be someone in singapore. he asked me after it was over would i make an excpetion and still sell him the cards. he is established, and i didnt want to have to apply for fee credit and sell the cards all over again, so i agreed. i told him the same shipping charges would apply, and i would pay for anything extra. well, when i went to go mail the cards, and it was only 5 of them, the cheapest i could send it was 22.00 air mail and that was UNinsured. i couldnt even insure it unless i used UPS, which would have cost well over 50 dollars. i reluctantly paid for the air mail, which is not insured, and was three times the shipping cost i stated.

my question is, what options did i have there? is there a way to ship less expensively overseas? i am NEVER going to do this again unless the buyer pays for the entire cost of shipping. i would appreciate any comments or suggestions on this matter. thanks. josh

reddog

Next time when doing your listing, at the bottom of the form where it asks shipping destinations just click US only. People from overseas will not have access to your auction.

Drew7144

you should have wrote him back and said you are now paying for shipping charges. damn that is a lot of money. one reason why i only send in the greatest land ever U.S.A.

RockTheMic13

im selling something, and a person emailed me yesterday if they could bid. they are from europe, and that is all they said, but they do have 600+ feedback.
i said sure, but i told him that if he wins, before he sends the payment, i'm taking the package to the post office and getting the EXACT shipping cost, and that is what he'll pay, no exceptions.
he said fine, and he bid

jbugs

hey, i got kinda the opposite end of that. i bid on an auction for about 150 cards. the damn guy charged me $15 for shipping and it only cost him about $4 to send. i was pissed. I also payed $13 for about 1000 cards, and i never put 2 and 2 together, but the guy lives about 20 minutes away from me. it cost him about $3.50 to send(bulk rate, but thats still cheap). hell i coulda went and picked it up myself for less that $13. lol

cranejoshua

thanks for the thoughts guys. in theory, i have no problem selling outside of the U.S., but it just hasn't been practical for me. i'd appreciate anyone else's input. thanks.

BigE187211

I usually state in my auctions that overseas bidders will need to pay more for shipping, this covers you if there are any questionsb

cranejoshua

yeah the problem was that i told him i would cover any extra, having no idea it would have been so much. oh well, live and learn