Why do people on eBay not ship overseas?
I do not live overseas, but I was wondering if there was a particular reason why most eBay sellers, or other internet vendors, do not ship their products to foreign countries. I know some they do, like Canada, the U.K. or Australia (but more often not Australia). But I am also curious about places like the former USSR and African countries.
Is it just the hassle of figuring out the shipping for each individual country? Or are there other barriers to this that cause many people to avoid servicing these regions.
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I would imagine that aside from cost (which can be considerable in international shipping) there’s also the matter of customs declarations and potential duty to be paid. I would imagine that various countries have lists of “prohibited items”, too, that private shippers don’t want to mess with.
Then there will also be insurance and varying shipping terms, including “who has custody of the item”, and when does that occur?
like @WasCy said.
And also, there’s no legal route one can take to pursue civil or criminal charges against someone overseas who reneges on the deal.
Your only recourse would be to argue your case with eBay in hopes they could arbitrate some kind of solution or simply ban the jerk from the site. Good luck reaching their customer “service” department, though.
Every time I have shipped something to somewhere like Italy or Greece, I have ended up getting ripped off. Maybe it is a coincidence… but I decided it wasn’t worth selling to people other than in mainstream countries.
It’s tough to gauge how much sending an item will be. I’ve sent a DVD that I sold on eBay to Canada, and the shipping cost at the USPS was close to $14. I didn’t know how much the shipping would be, and I barely made a profit on the item.
Now, if I know that there is demand for an item overseas, I will usually offer shipping to that country, but at a huge premium. If they really want the item, they will be willing to fork up the cash, but if not, it’s no skin off my back.
For me, it’s the same as what @buckyboy28 said. I sell stuff on ebay when I don’t have need for it anymore. I don’t have a scale and I don’t want to make 2 trips to the post office, so it’s much easier to only ship to places in the US and have one flat rate.
I wondered this as well, but I guess I should be happy to buy some of the stuff there, even if i have to pay thrice the items worth in shipping sometimes…. (I mostly orders boardgames and such not available in Norway)
Its a pain in the ass. Plain and simple.
I sell my stuff in the EU… and bought yet several things in the US… but 2 times with delay because of european custom control… and then you wait and wait and pay more for the delivery… I think that is the cause people sell only national…
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