Why are so many US Ebay sellers against shipping outside the US??

[MultiMat]

I would be interested to hear what the possible reasons why a lot of US Ebay sellers only ship to the US  . Is it the extra hassle? A lack of faith in overseas postal services?
I find it interesting that some sellers only ship to "lower 48 states" , why would they choose to do that?

I have gotten lucky a couple of times & with a bit cheek/charm talked sellers into letting me into the 'auction room'. Just now I got the no thanks/piss off when I asked about having a go at a Swiss Grip(US only bids allowed)  . My $ as good as anyones , what gives 

[EZ822]

Not only that but some sellers that do ship interational charge ridiculous rates. I have seen one particular seller who charges $35.00 to ship a $15.00 Vic Classic.

[Blackbeard]

For one thing you can't insure intl items. If you dont use global priority envelope, shipping is quite expensive. I have sold items to ebay bidders in other countries and have never had a problem, but I'm sure others have.

[stressmaster5000]

I stopped selling on eBay due to several reasons and dealing with international shipments was one of those reasons. Tracking past the US border is next to impossible unless you use expensive shipping. Well we all know what that means, $30 shipping for a $5 item.
I have had some extreme delay times due to customs and whatever else the other country does with the package, (usually translates into negative or neutral feedback since it must be my fault customs took so long), but have never had a package go missing.
I have had some come up missing here in the US and had to eat some pretty expensive shipping costs and replacement of items sold. No, they were not insured.
I am not really sure why someone would only ship to the lower 48 unless they are only using UPS or FedEX maybe. The US Postal Service charges the same rates to ship to Hawaii and Alaska as they do for any other state. I have shipped to Hawaii many times and had no problems or delays in shipments getting there.
Another hassle is the customs forms. If you print out a packaging slip from your computer you can only ship certain size packages since the slip is quite large. Then you must hand the package to a postal carrier or someone working inside the post office. You can not just drop international packages off at a pick up box. Now if you spend the time and go to the post office and fill out the forms there you can use a smaller size package since the form is smaller.
I am not against shipping internationally, but when it comes to selling and shipping lots of packages sometimes it is not worth the money to mess with all that.
I just made a nice trade with a MT.org member from Canada and was surprised by how speedily the shipments were delivered. But that was just ONE package. Try dealing with 10-20 a week and then you might join me in saying enough is enough.

[PyroJames]

Not only that but some sellers that do ship interational charge ridiculous rates. I have seen one particular seller who charges $35.00 to ship a $15.00 Vic Classic.

That's the biggest problem I've had with Ebayer sellers.  There's also the sellers that blatantly try to make extra money by marking up the shipping costs.  I've had a few sellers charge me $10-$15 for shipping (and tell me that they would upgrade shipping) and when I receive the item, the item is packed in a $1 bubble mailer and the postage cost is less than $4.  When you ask them about it, they act like you're the one trying to rip them off.


However, there are a lot of honest, good eBay sellers that know how to treat their customers right and I wholeheartedly applaud them.

[appletree_man]

Sorry to bump this but i'm annoyed at a seller on Ebay 
 
He's had an item on there a few times, keeps relisting it but it never sells.
It says on the listing "US bidders only", but I take a chance and ask if if I can buy it and will he ship to the UK. His reply "sure, if you have a US address I can ship to".

I think this is nothing more than pigheadedness. It's a very small flat lightweight item, worth 7 Dollars, and could fit in a standard small envelope, but no he steadfastly refuses to ship outside the US.
 
I'm not asking for anyone to act as a go-between for this, I don't want to give him the satisfaction of a sale  (ok, maybe that's pigheadedness on my part).
Anyway, rant over.

[Medic82]

In stead of going through a bunch of auctions that is only open to US bidders on ebay.com I visit ebay.no, every item that is listed has international shipping.

[J-sews]

The reason they don't ship outside the US is simply because its inconvenient for them to do so.

For a seller, the eBay software walks you through a sequence of easy steps: first the buyer sends payment (via PayPal) then a screen pops up where the buyer's address automatically pops up on a shipping label. From the convenience of their computer the seller can then print out the shipping label and attach it to the package. The cost of shipping is automatically deducted from the payment. The only thing the seller has to do for U.S. shipments is walk the outgoing packages out to their mailbox.

However, for foreign shipments, a customs form needs to be filled out (by hand). Then the form and the package have to be driven to the nearest post office. Most US post offices are busy places with chronic understaffing. A long wait in line and dealing with a cranky postal worker is usually the result.

So, it's really no surprise that some folks choose to ship to the US only. (I'm not one of them by the way)

Bob

[Neil]

Its a pain in the bum but I do understand the reasons, really.  For UK sellers we have to take everything to the post office anyway, so an international package adds very little hassle, one small customs form sticker to fill and slap on the package.  The rate of lost packages is much higher though, around one in ten international packages doesn't make it (very destination country dependent) where as in the UK the loss rate is vanishingly small.

[Chako]

Not only are they a cranky lot, they don't like to update tracking numbers at all either. I have found that most of the time, a tracking number is more then useless as it often says "package was delivered to postal outlet and is being processed" until I get it at my door.

Not to mention the long delays it takes for the package to cross the Canada/US border. I reckon it takes on average 2 to 2.5 weeks to get an International package from the US. Most of that time is probably spent in a queue awaiting fondling by a Canada border guard/revenue Canada agent.

I have yet to lose a shipment, even though I have figured a few have been lost in the system. They invariably do show up...late.

So I believe that is also part of the reason.

I do find CONUS only sellers very annoying. You don't see Canada only sellers, or at least, I haven't.

I agree with you Neil. Its the same for us also.

[Neil]

Well I've never lost a package to or from the US or Canada though I have had Canadian customs refuse a package entry.  They said the sender was not clearly identified on the package.  Here's the good part, they put the big sticker saying this over my name and address    So that was over £20 down the drain 

[max6166]

My own take is that many US sellers simply don't feel the need to go to the extra effort and risk because they have a large enough market within their borders.

In other words, they don't believe they will make enough extra money to make shipping internationally worth it.

I am involved with a fairly large eBay Power Seller and we find it extremely profitable to ship internationally. People overseas are often willing to pay much more than North Americans. We have been doing this for many years, and the only problems we have had were actually with US buyers. More money for us, I guess... 

[665ae]

Can someone explain how someone living in the US, that only wants to ship to the US, is a bad thing?

[max6166]

Can someone explain how someone living in the US, that only wants to ship to the US, is a bad thing?

It's not a "bad thing" in a moral sense, if that's what you mean. People can sell to whomever they like.

People in other countries simply wish that they could buy certain goods from US sellers. Similar to how disappointed many Americans were when they thought the SwissTool X would be European only.

What is a "bad thing" is when sellers charge an insane amount for shipping to other countries, since it is in violation of eBay rules.

[Chako]

It isn't a bad thing. It is annoying for everyone else who wants in on the action.

[appletree_man]

I also think it demonstrates a pretty insular view. We are in the Western world with a delivery system unparalleled with any other era. To not ship to another western country (ie: the UK, special relationship and all that  ) is sort of rude.

Anyway, regards MT.org, given the international nature of the site I believe it should be part of the rules that if a buyer is willing to meet all shipping costs (with tracking if required) then to advertise their item on here the seller must be prepared to ship overseas.

[Medic82]

My own take is that many US sellers simply don't feel the need to go to the extra effort and risk because they have a large enough market within their borders.

In other words, they don't believe they will make enough extra money to make shipping internationally worth it.

I am involved with a fairly large eBay Power Seller and we find it extremely profitable to ship internationally. People overseas are often willing to pay much more than North Americans. We have been doing this for many years, and the only problems we have had were actually with US buyers. More money for us, I guess...  

You are quite right there.

Take a Charge TTi. You can get a brand new one on eBay for 100$, lets say that the shipping to Norway is 15$ and are you lucky the seller will say that it is a gift or alter the price on the customs paper so you don’t need to pay tax and customs fees when entering the country. I have now paid 115$ for a brand new Charge TTi, if I where to buy the Charge in Norway it would have cost me 250$. I have now saved 135$ by buying the tool from a US based seller that have earned money of me. I might even be willing to give 120$ for the Charge if I where desperate enough and didn’t know better.

I don’t think that many sellers understand that stuff is cheaper in the US than Norway and that there is a potential gold mine out there.

[665ae]

I also think it demonstrates a pretty insular view. We are in the Western world with a delivery system unparalleled with any other era. To not ship to another western country (ie: the UK, special relationship and all that  ) is sort of rude.

Anyway, regards MT.org, given the international nature of the site I believe it should be part of the rules that if a buyer is willing to meet all shipping costs (with tracking if required) then to advertise their item on here the seller must be prepared to ship overseas.

Ebay is a commercial auction site, not a political forum.  MT.O is a site about Multitools, not about politics (a fact I've been reminded of several times)  Neither site has anything to do with an insular viewpoint.  Nor does the capability of a countries delivery system determine where and how an item gets sent.

In every transaction there's a buyer and a seller.  The seller owns the item, the buyer wants the item.  As the physical owner of the item, the seller gets to dictate the terms of the deal, such as where he'll ship it, and how he'll ship it.  If the buyer doesn't like the terms of the deal, then he doesn't buy the item.  It's that simple.  If you don't like the terms of the sale, or don't qualify to buy the item, then that's the end of it.  If the seller doesn't want to ship to certain places (and significantly reduce the number of buyers and chances of selling) then that's their decision.  It's not their responsibility to make sure someone in another country can purchase an item cheaper than they can get in their own country. 

As for MT.O, the only detail of any transaction that MT.O requires is the naming of a price.  Other than that, all details are the responsibility of the parties involved in the deal.  Any further requirements for buying/selling would require Mods/Admins to become involved in the details of the transaction.  I for one, as a Moderator of this forum, would have an extremely hard time telling anyone that they are "required" to ship items to places they don't want to. 

On a related note, about a month ago, Magic Bus offered a Vic Safari Trooper for sale, and in his post it specifically says "UK buyers only."  Is he wrong?  I don't think so at all. 

[PyroJames]

Well said, Mikey.

Yes, it's disappointing to find a great deal or an incredible find on eBay only to discover that the seller won't ship internationally but that's the seller's decision.  As the other posters have mentioned, it could be a big hassle for the seller to ship internationally.  The seller is not being "rude" because he/she doesn't want to ship internationally but instead, may have a valid, understandable reason.  Most sellers wouldn't turn down new customers regardless of where they're from (money is money) unless they have strong reasons and I'm sure sellers who won't ship internationally have their reasons.

Some sellers however, are willing to make an exception if you contact them about it first so it doesn't hurt to ask.  If they still won't ship internationally, don't lose sleep over it and just shop elsewhere.

Aside from eBay, there are plenty of online websites and retailers that won't ship outside of the US (countycomm comes to mind).  Yes, this does indeed suck for people living outside of CONUS but just buy from another website/retailer.  No big deal.

[max6166]

As the physical owner of the item, the seller gets to dictate the terms of the deal, such as where he'll ship it, and how he'll ship it.  If the buyer doesn't like the terms of the deal, then he doesn't buy the item.  It's that simple.  If you don't like the terms of the sale, or don't qualify to buy the item, then that's the end of it.

I am in almost complete agreement with you in principle and regarding MT.O specifically, but sellers agree beforehand to abide by certain rules in order to sell on eBay. They are not entirely free to dictate their own terms.

The eBay rules do allow sellers to specify which countries may bid on their auctions. I think it is only natural for people here to be curious why such a disproportionate number of US sellers will not sell internationally, but those sellers are perfectly within their rights to do so.

On the other hand, eBay's rules do not allow sellers to charge an exorbitant shipping fee far above the actual cost of shipping simply because the buyer is from another country. That is specifically forbidden and sellers who do so should be reported to eBay.

It doesn't matter what the seller stated in the auction terms - their listing is in violation of the policies they agreed to comply with.

[PyroJames]

I don't use eBay as much as I used to but I've noticed that buyers can also rate sellers on certain details such as communication, shipping costs, shipping and delivery times and item description.  When I buy things on eBay, I'll look at those detailed ratings before I bid plus I'll rate the seller honestly when I receive my items.  There's been a couple of times when I had to give a bad rating on shipping cost because a seller marked up s&h on me but sent the item as cheaply as possible.