eBay International

[johnridley]

It's interesting that I seem to get so many people asking if I can ship internationally on my auctions. Seems like about 1 in 5 auctions for some reason makes Australians or Kiwis come out of the woodwork. I did actually sell something to an Aussie last year, but most of the time they ask how much shipping is and disappear when I tell them.

Not too surprising on this one I guess; I'm selling my old Nikon film scanner, which is probably worth about $150 at best these days, and shipping to New Zealand is $80 for the cheapest I could find. I guess it's a good thing that the auctions are attracting a wider audience, but with shipping so high I don't think they're likely to bid things up too much.

I was reluctant to even do the research at first, but after a couple of goes, I figured out that USPS.gov is AFAICT always cheapest internationally, so I just go and plug in the weight and country there and give them the cheapest result. With PayPal's print postage online thing, it's not too bad to send either, I just have to fill out the customs form at the post office.

Comments

[dave-ifversen.livejournal.com]

And you really don't want to send anything international any other way than USPS - all the other shippers charge outrageous "broker's fees" to move shipments through customs (in addition to the duty/VAT/taxes that the buyer has to pay when receiving their package). The biggest complaint on the ebay forums about selling/shipping internationally is that a lot of the buyers want you to mark the item as a "gift" so they don't have to pay import duties. Not only is this illegal, but it can get the item impounded/confiscated by customs.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Good to know, thanks.

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

One of the other nice things about USPS is that if a product is under four pounds it technically can be sent as a 'letter' to many countries. I send stuff this way to the UK all the time.