Question:
Hi, I’ve sold about 200 items on eBay, but so far I’ve required either shipping to the registered paypal or billpoint address and only accepted that as payment, and no international shipping. As we all know, times have been tough on eBay lately, and I’m looking to expand my customer base by 1) taking checks/money orders 2) shipping internationally. The proposed way to do this with minimal risk is to wait 10 days for checks to clear before mailing the item, and for international items only accepting checks/money orders and waiting for 10 days for them to clear. Am I leaving myself open for fraud here? Can I make it easier for my buyers? Is there some sort of international payment option I can accept that has 0 risk for me that’s instant for the buyer? Is it safe for me to wait 10 days for US checks to clear and then mail the item? and for International checks? Is there any real time difference I should wait for checks vs moneyorders? Thanks for any help for an international / check newbie Dan K — For sale: Refurbished Pen tablet PCs, The perfect addition to your wireless network. http://www.oPortal.com/
Response:
Hi, I’ve sold about 200 items on eBay, but so far I’ve required either shipping to the registered paypal or billpoint address and only accepted that as payment, and no international shipping. As we all know, times have been tough on eBay lately, and I’m looking to expand my customer base by 1) taking checks/money orders 2) shipping internationally. The proposed way to do this with minimal risk is to wait 10 days for checks to clear before mailing the item, and for international items only accepting checks/money orders and waiting for 10 days for them to clear.
International postage may take 10 days to get to you and then another 10 days to clear the check/money order ( which will atract a fee from your bank) For any international sale that I make, my terms are that payment be made by direct deposit to my bank. Its easy, all the buyer has to do is have your bank details and the amount in $US, the bank does the rest. I have bought and sold internationally with virtually no problems. So far I have only had one buyer that couldnt get to his bank over a period of 2 weeks and was accordingly a NPB (my only neg, in retaliation) Am I leaving myself open for fraud here? Can I make it easier for my buyers? Is there some sort of international payment option I can accept that has 0 risk for me that’s instant for the buyer? Is it safe for me to wait 10 days for US checks to clear and then mail the item? and for International checks? Is there any real time difference I should wait for checks vs moneyorders? Thanks for any help for an international / check newbie Dan K
– This seems to have reduced some guy’s spam.
Response:
Dan How to accept check, how to sell internationally
Just learn the ropes at the Post Office. Not difficult. Most international buyers are well aware of how to get dollars to you. And most of their instruments sail right through the bank. If you have a problem just ask the teller at the bank. They do these things everyday. Just a word of knowledge. Some international buyers are simply not able to bank etc as readily as you and I. 50 miles from the bank. Only able to get to town once a week. Only 1 phone line in town. Internet access only an hour a week. Some towns have no voice service. Just a data line shared by lots of folks. So you will need some patience and understanding. I do a lot of international sales and percentage wise they have worked out better than domestic sales. Take care Bob AZ
Response:
Thanks for the response Bob, I guess I’m mostly worried about fraud… having gotten more than 1 letter basically stating "I live in Indonesia, I want to buy your entire stock, ship it to this address, charge it to this card, please ship the fastest method possible, and write only $50 value on the customs form"… Pretty much word for word what eBay and Paypal say to avoid for fraud reasons… Paypal wont protect me if I ship internationally, and even goes so far as to say if I ship to certain countries I could have my account suspended?!? It all adds up to make me paranoid and suspicious about any foreign transactions. I’ve also had more than one rude international buyer who bid and won my auctions, and left me negative feedback because I wouldn’t ship to them, even though all of my auctions have stated US ONLY several places… kinda puts a bad taste in your mouth. Not to mention the daily "Do you ship to country X?" messages when it states in my auctions several places that it’s US ONLY… Needless to say I’m pretty paranoid about the whole deal, but I do want to broaden my customer base. Dan K — For sale: Refurbished Pen tablet PCs, The perfect addition to your wireless network. http://www.oPortal.com/
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Dan How to accept check, how to sell internationally Just learn the ropes at the Post Office. Not difficult. Most international buyers are well aware of how to get dollars to you. And most of their instruments sail right through the bank. If you have a problem just ask the teller at the bank. They do these things everyday. Just a word of knowledge. Some international buyers are simply not able to bank etc as readily as you and I. 50 miles from the bank. Only able to get to town once a week. Only 1 phone line in town. Internet access only an hour a week. Some towns have no voice service. Just a data line shared by lots of folks. So you will need some patience and understanding. I do a lot of international sales and percentage wise they have worked out better than domestic sales. Take care Bob AZ
Response:
Dan Question: How to accept check, how to sell internationally
I have sold in over 100 countries. Problems are rare. Most international buyers are more buyer savvy than you and I. Most have access to international money orders etc. (Collectively called "Instruments".) Some buyers you have to lead a bit. Just like in the USA. I always have one or two going. You just need to come across as helpful, friendly etc. The Boy Scout stuff. Mail does take some time to arraive. Some of the incinveniences are the cost of a broader customer base. The shipping costs to Australia are expensive. Try to do something to help them. It will be appreciated in additional sales. 75% of the US currency is circulating overseas. Greenbacks are the most plentiful currency in many countries. Particularly the Orient. BidPay is popular overseas. I get them about 50% of the time. Bob AZ
Response:
That’s excellent, the exact information I was looking for. Thanks, Dan K — For sale: Refurbished Pen tablet PCs, The perfect addition to your wireless network. http://www.oPortal.com/
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks for the response Bob, I guess I’m mostly worried about fraud… having gotten more than 1 letter basically stating "I live in Indonesia, I want to buy your entire stock, ship it to this address, charge it to this card, please ship the fastest method possible, and write only $50 value on the customs form"… Use your head.. Obviously, staying away from situations like the above is obvious. I’m in Canada, and 99% of my sales are "International" since they are mostly to the USA. I’ve never had any problems. Pretty much word for word what eBay and Paypal say to avoid for fraud reasons… Paypal wont protect me if I ship internationally, and even goes so far as to say if I ship to certain countries I could have my account suspended?!? It all adds up to make me paranoid and suspicious about any foreign transactions. I’ve also had more than one rude international buyer who bid and won my auctions, and left me negative feedback because I wouldn’t ship to them, even though all of my auctions have stated US ONLY several places… kinda puts a bad taste in your mouth. Not to mention the daily "Do you ship to country X?" messages when it states in my auctions several places that it’s US ONLY… You’ll get this unless you spell it out in huge red letters in your auction that you do *NOT* ship to anywhere other then the USA. You’d be surprised how many US sellers just leave that setting as the default, but will gladly ship internationally (Canada, at least) when asked. If you don’t make it clear, international users have learned that it’s allways worth asking. Those who refuse lose sales from International bidders who are willing to drive up prices, and those who *do* ship internationally get my money instead. Needless to say I’m pretty paranoid about the whole deal, but I do want to broaden my customer base. Do it wisely.. An easy first foray into "International" shipping is Canada. Not only is it very easy, but it’s a huge customer base that you are opening yourself up to, and if you make it clear in your auctions that you will gladly ship north of the border, you *will* attract more bids. All those sellers who refuse to ship internationally on the basis that it’s too much of a "Hassle" are either lazy, or have never done it before and think that "stacks" of paperwork is required. In reality, it’s really no big deal. If you have the time to fill out a 2X2" square sticker (About 5 seconds of your time) for the "paperwork", you can ship internationally – nothing else is required unless your item is worth more then $400 USD. As for payment, well, you allways take a risk no matter who you accept payment from. Limiting your first dive into international sales to Canada will limit your exposure, as for the most part people are fairly honest up here. If you want to 100% remove yourself from risk, you have the following options: – Take only cheques or money orders. The downfall is that they all take time to arrive in the mail, and with cheques they take time to clear. Any that bounce cost *you* money, so it’s still not 100% guarenteed, although once they do clear, your out of the woods completely. – Use a service like BidPay.com. Money orders are confirmed online, and you can ship as soon as you get the confirmation. The physical money order arrives later in the mail, and there is zero risk of chargeback or fraud once you have it in-hand. Downfalls? The buyer has to pay the fees, which will cost you sales. In general, since there will *allways* be other eBayers selling the exact same thing as you, buyers will migrate to the auctions where more simple forms of payment (BillPoint/PayPal) are accepted, and you will lose sales by limiting your payment options. As with anything on eBay, there is a certain risk involved in selling, but it’s generally something you have to accept. Just keep an eye on feedback levels of bidders (Cancel any questionable), try to avoid selling things that attract fraud and NPB’s like magnets, and if the sale smells "fishy" after the fact, take appropriate action. — Mark, Courtice, Ontario, Canada email. Merry Christmas!
Response:
Thanks for the response Bob, I guess I’m mostly worried about fraud… having gotten more than 1 letter basically stating "I live in Indonesia, I want to buy your entire stock, ship it to this address, charge it to this card, please ship the fastest method possible, and write only $50 value on the customs form"…
Use your head.. Obviously, staying away from situations like the above is obvious. I’m in Canada, and 99% of my sales are "International" since they are mostly to the USA. I’ve never had any problems. Pretty much word for word what eBay and Paypal say to avoid for fraud reasons… Paypal wont protect me if I ship internationally, and even goes so far as to say if I ship to certain countries I could have my account suspended?!? It all adds up to make me paranoid and suspicious about any foreign transactions. I’ve also had more than one rude international buyer who bid and won my auctions, and left me negative feedback because I wouldn’t ship to them, even though all of my auctions have stated US ONLY several places… kinda puts a bad taste in your mouth. Not to mention the daily "Do you ship to country X?" messages when it states in my auctions several places that it’s US ONLY…
You’ll get this unless you spell it out in huge red letters in your auction that you do *NOT* ship to anywhere other then the USA. You’d be surprised how many US sellers just leave that setting as the default, but will gladly ship internationally (Canada, at least) when asked. If you don’t make it clear, international users have learned that it’s allways worth asking. Those who refuse lose sales from International bidders who are willing to drive up prices, and those who *do* ship internationally get my money instead. Needless to say I’m pretty paranoid about the whole deal, but I do want to broaden my customer base.
Do it wisely.. An easy first foray into "International" shipping is Canada. Not only is it very easy, but it’s a huge customer base that you are opening yourself up to, and if you make it clear in your auctions that you will gladly ship north of the border, you *will* attract more bids. All those sellers who refuse to ship internationally on the basis that it’s too much of a "Hassle" are either lazy, or have never done it before and think that "stacks" of paperwork is required. In reality, it’s really no big deal. If you have the time to fill out a 2X2" square sticker (About 5 seconds of your time) for the "paperwork", you can ship internationally – nothing else is required unless your item is worth more then $400 USD. As for payment, well, you allways take a risk no matter who you accept payment from. Limiting your first dive into international sales to Canada will limit your exposure, as for the most part people are fairly honest up here. If you want to 100% remove yourself from risk, you have the following options: – Take only cheques or money orders. The downfall is that they all take time to arrive in the mail, and with cheques they take time to clear. Any that bounce cost *you* money, so it’s still not 100% guarenteed, although once they do clear, your out of the woods completely. – Use a service like BidPay.com. Money orders are confirmed online, and you can ship as soon as you get the confirmation. The physical money order arrives later in the mail, and there is zero risk of chargeback or fraud once you have it in-hand. Downfalls? The buyer has to pay the fees, which will cost you sales. In general, since there will *allways* be other eBayers selling the exact same thing as you, buyers will migrate to the auctions where more simple forms of payment (BillPoint/PayPal) are accepted, and you will lose sales by limiting your payment options. As with anything on eBay, there is a certain risk involved in selling, but it’s generally something you have to accept. Just keep an eye on feedback levels of bidders (Cancel any questionable), try to avoid selling things that attract fraud and NPB’s like magnets, and if the sale smells "fishy" after the fact, take appropriate action. — Mark, Courtice, Ontario, Canada Merry Christmas!
If you like this post and would like to receive updates from this blog, please subscribe our feed.