XXX Country Buyers Only

Jescissa, the rule is made to deter their own employes from stealing packages I assume. After I had this nice encounter with them I've read very carefully through their website and all I could find was this nebulous phrase:

It roughly translates as "for very valuable items we offer you to purchase an extra insurance till up to 2500 EUR at most. In this case the outer appearance of the package must not give any hint of the real value of the shipment inside."

Nice wording, isn't it? . So much better than "we expect you to under declare everything. always".

It's no big deal for shipments from other countries to us, because basically if you ship something from the UK and it gets lost it's most likely the UK post office who will have to pay the insurance to you. I'm sure they will try to get a big part of the money back if it got lost while in Germany, but that's another thing and I don't know how the postal systems collaborate with each other on this level. You will get your money back however, don't worry. This rule only applies for us who ship from Germany. And again, if the package is underdeclared and gets lost (with full insurance bought) we will also get our money back. However, we do have to show DHL some kind of proof of what was inside the package and how much it was really worth.

 

I never refuse to sell to specific region. I know it cost A LOT, but maybe someone would still think it's worth it. what if I'm the only one selling their dream doll? that kind of stuff happens to me all the time : find most perfect doll. get overexcited. realise the person won't ship to canada. NOOOOOOOOOOOO

it annoys me so much when someone from the US doesn't want to sell stuff to canada. it's even more stupid that often I'm closer to them than some places in the USA. exemple, california.
duuuuuuuuuuuude

 

Sometimes I do not think it is about being closer. In the US they will pick up all domestic packages at our door, we can print out all postage online, and we can drop off all domestic items off at the post office anytime of day or night. For Canada and any other country, we can print the postage off online, but we have to go to the post office during open hours and fill out customs forms and hand them to the postal worker at the office. Post office hours are during most peoples work hours so it is hard to get there. They will not pick the packages at the door and we cannot drop them off after hours. For someone who works, has kids, or has a hard time getting places (due to a disability or something), it can be much harder to ship outside of the country. I assume it is the same issues for people outside of the US as well. I do not think they are trying to be unfair, it is just hard for them so they choose to ship domestically only so they can assure they will get the items mailed in a timely fashion.

All that being said, I almost always ship internationally. The only times I have not was when I was in a car accident and when I was pregnant and had a hard time getting to the post office.

 

1. Have you ever refused to sell outside your own country? Outside your continent? Would you?

The only place I won't ship to is Italy, because I've heard one too many horror stories of things going missing. However, I've had several lovely people in Italy buy items from me, and have me ship to a proxy in Switzerland. And let me tell you, I'll ship to Switzerland any day of the week. One package disappeared for a few days- I emailed the Swiss post, and had a response (an ACTUAL response- not a computer generated one) within 4 hours. Other than that, as long as the person is willing to pay the shipping, I will happily sell to them.

2. What are some reasons people limit potential buyers geographically?

Potential for loss, unwillingness to fill out the extra paperwork, not knowing how. I personally now have to use a rural post office for most of my shipments because it's close to my work, and otherwise I have to wait until Saturday when I'm at my boyfriend's to get to a post office. The first time I shipped internationally from the rural post office, the poor postal worker had never actually had someone ship something internationally, so I had to be the one to tell them how to put it through. If I didn't already know the routine for international shipping, and that was my first time out of the country? I wouldn't want to go through it.

3. Do you think buyer education plays a part in the decision? I.e. do people prefer not to ship internationally to avoid angry buyers saying “You’re charging how much for shipping?” What about seller education? Are sellers preferring to stay in-country to avoid educating themselves about international customs requirements? Because they are un-informed or mis-informed about shipping options in their own country?

Yes. and yes. International postage wasn't a big deal a while ago for heads and small items, because the post office had the PERFECT sized box for shipping heads in, and it was a flat rate of $15 + insurance. I LOVED those things. Now they discontinued my best size, and the cheapest shipping option is $30+ and that's a flat rate. I once quoted someone that price and they got a bit..snippy. I felt terrible, but it wasn't my fault- that WAS the shipping price. Honestly? I never charge international customers the actual price for shipping small items anymore. Full doll? Yes. But if I'd selling just a head, or something small like that, I refuse to charge people the actual price that I pay for postage. I tell them something like $10-$15..and I cover the rest of the cost.

4. Does a seller’s willingness to ship internationally (if stated) influence your decision to buy from them?

well, obviously if they won't ship internationally, I won't buy from them. Which is a shame sometimes. but I'm not going to force someone into something they aren't comfortable with just so I can have a doll item. But if they ship internationally, and I'm willing to pay the shipping, I buy.

 

I'll be honest, so far I haven't listed anything in the sales thread as having the option of shipping outside the US. I've only sold 2 items so far, so the issue hasn't come up yet, but I would be willing to ship outside of my country if someone from another country really wanted whatever I had for sale. I personally don't have any experience with international shipping yet, so it still has me a bit spooked, especially when it comes to the possibility of something getting lost. The last experience I was even close to with international shipping was from when my husband sold an old Mac laptop online, and it pretty obviously got stolen along the way (as in, he was mailed the shipping label that looked as if it had been removed from the box by being neatly cut with a box-cutter, and USPS said that was all that could be recovered of the package). My husband had to refund the buyer his money because of it, and all because of some jerkwad that decided they wanted something that wasn't theirs.

 

I'm from Canada as well (living literally right along the border of the US) so it's extremely frustrating to me when I find a nice item, and the seller won't ship here. Sometimes when a US seller says they won't ship internationally, I'll ask them if they're willing to ship to Canada, and most of the time they say yes. I figure that they might just not want to ship overseas. But I respect a seller's choice to ship only within their country, as I'm sure they have their own reasons. In Canada, shipping to the US is essentially the same as shipping within the country, but perhaps it's different over there.

Also, I've never had anything go missing - then again I only ever buy small/cheap items internationally. I'd never ask a seller to ship me something expensive across borders, unless I was willing to pay insurance on it.

 

1. Have you ever refused to sell outside your own country? Outside your continent? Would you?

Thus far no but I totally understand why some people will not ship outside their own country. I lived in Canada for many years and just moved to the USA. I sold some BJD items while living in Canada, I am shocked at the cost of shipping overseas from Canada. Xpress Post via Canada Post can cost hundreds of dollars if shipped to Australia and Asia. I felt bad and wanted to ship only to Canada and the USA. However, that feels politically wrong and so I agreed to ship world wide for people who are willing to pay for shipping. Canada Post is expensive. Fortunately, shipping from the USA is much cheaper and easier. So from now onwards, I will be very happy to ship outside the USA via USPS. It's not about discriminating whom we sell to but rather it's about protecting the buyer. Canada Post is unreasonable.

2. What are some reasons people limit potential buyers geographically?

I've already mentioned, it's the shipping cost and this depends on which country you are shipping from. Some countries have high shipping cost for outgoing parcels. I ended up giving shipping discounts when I was in Canada but no matter how much discount I can give, there is only this much I can do.

3. Do you think buyer education plays a part in the decision? I.e. do people prefer not to ship internationally to avoid angry buyers saying “You’re charging how much for shipping?” What about seller education? Are sellers preferring to stay in-country to avoid educating themselves about international customs requirements? Because they are un-informed or mis-informed about shipping options in their own country?

Buyer education is definitely helpful. I am myself unable to believe the cost of Xpress Post shipping from Canada Post.

4. Does a seller’s willingness to ship internationally (if stated) influence your decision to buy from them?

If sellers from outside the USA don't ship overseas, I won't be able to buy the items to begin with! If the items are in the USA where I am, I don't care if they ship international as long as I can get it. The decision on the part of the sellers regarding international shipping has no influence over my decision to purchase. It's nothing personal, most of the time, it's simply because it's too expensive or difficult to ship overseas.

 

This seems to be the case for items placed in unattended collection boxes, but not for items collected by your mail carrier. I print domestic postage online and have my mail carrier pick up the packages from my building lobby, and regularly ship packages well over 13oz in this way without issue.

 

1. Have you ever refused to sell outside your own country? Outside your continent? Would you?

I generally try to be accommodating when selling, but shipping to foreign countries tends to give me pause. I am willing to do it, but the buyer must be willing to cover all the costs and pay for tracking/insurance. Otherwise it's just not worth it.

There are a few places I won't send items, though. I've had items go missing to Italy and Brazil, and the Paypal fight was a nightmare, so I simply won't ship to those countries anymore.


2. What are some reasons people limit potential buyers geographically?

A) Bad previous experiences.
B) Increased risk of a chargeback through Paypal, as tracking is sometimes harder to get and use for certain countries (I believe there are some countries you CAN'T get insurance and tracking for).
C) Hassle with forms
D) Dealing with pissy buyers who blame you for the shipping cost even though your hands are tied.
E) Disability. Some people have a very hard time getting to the PO, and you have to go there to ship internationally.
F) Language barriers. Misunderstanding are easy when you can't communicate properly.


3. Do you think buyer education plays a part in the decision? I.e. do people prefer not to ship internationally to avoid angry buyers saying “You’re charging how much for shipping?” What about seller education? Are sellers preferring to stay in-country to avoid educating themselves about international customs requirements? Because they are un-informed or mis-informed about shipping options in their own country?

I think some of it is due to buyer and seller laziness/ignorance and wanting to avoid hassle. Some of it is due to flat out ignorance/laziness/misinformation on the part of the postal service, too! I've had PO workers tell me I couldn't ship a package to X with tracking, and I've come in the next day to a different worker and had it ship with tracking without a problem! It's amazing how confusing and difficult the postal system can be.

I used to live in Germany at a US military base, and it's required that anything sent to an APO must have a customs form. A lot of people refused simply because they didn't want to fill out the form, and didn't want to learn. But some sellers were kind and let me walk them through it, and gained valuable information and a new customer base in the process. I was grateful for their effort, which is why I try to be open to shipping overseas.


4. Does a seller’s willingness to ship internationally (if stated) influence your decision to buy from them?

Only if they refuse to ship to my country (and I can't use a proxy). It's upsetting when I really want an item, but I understand why people aren't always super keen on taking the risk of sending their expensive item halfway across the world.

I think a lot of us understand this already. It's no longer a local economy, but a global one. We lived in Germany for 3 years, and I had to watch the exchange rate constantly to know when to withdraw € so that we could buy things off base or have money to pay our utilities.

Now that I'm back in the US, I still buy items from Japan all the time through a proxy, and I have to be mindful of what the ¥ is doing versus the $. And considering when I started that the ratio was 100:1, and now it's 79:1, it hurts. When my husband lived in Japan, it was 130:1. How I would have loved to buy dolls then!

Another problem I'm faced with is international buyers purchasing items from my favorite company's US branch, because it's so much cheaper due to the exchange rate. They tend to forgo the Japanese site, and instead find a proxy or a GO for an order from the US store, who will also underdeclare their item. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but a lot of these items are limited, and now most of the regular stock items are sold out (and have been for months) because of the increase in sales. It's selfish of me, but I'm upset at missing out on items that I want because the exchange rate makes it so appealing to people outside my country.

Edited to Add:

The other thing I wanted to bring up was customs fees. I feel a great deal of sympathy for those who live in countries that charge high customs fees on imported items. It really sucks to have to pay an extra $200 on a doll after already having spent so much.

The problem comes when you have a buyer that is hit with a customs fee and they get upset with you. Either they expected you to underdeclare the item, or they didn't realize that it could happen. I've known several people that have actually had an item returned to them because the buyer refused to pick it up and pay the fees. Paypal sided with the buyer, and though the seller eventually got the item back (it takes a lot longer on the return trip), they were out the cost of shipping and a significant amount of time and effort.

This is why I will not underdeclare the cost of an item when selling, because that would make buying insurance a futile gesture. If the doll goes missing, I need a way to reimburse my costs after refunding the buyer. This discourages a lot of international buyers, but it is necessary to protect myself as a seller.

 

Have you ever refused to sell outside your own country? Outside your continent? Would you?
No, I am shipping the items that I sell worldwide. But I do understand that there are people who only sell in their own country. I'll probably keep it that way until there is a bad trasaction. I am honest about the shipping costs though, since it can get out of hand quickly. I list standard shipping, but people have to question me about other options so I can see which is cheaper (since I'm able to ship from 2 countries)

What are some reasons people limit potential buyers geographically?
- sales/transactions that went wrong earlier
- the hassle of packing, securing the package, getting all the forms etc.
- not living close to a post office
- language problem

Do you think buyer education plays a part in the decision? I.e. do people prefer not to ship internationally to avoid angry buyers saying “You’re charging how much for shipping?” What about seller education?
I think it does and it can save buyers from surprises. If a seller is clear about "terms and conditions" there shouldn't be much of a problem. That's why I let buyers choose their shipping (see above). Seller education comes in handy as well, like many people said before some PO's have difficulties with shipping internationally.

Does a seller’s willingness to ship internationally (if stated) influence your decision to buy from them?
Yes, I am mostly looking for international buyers. Easy enough to explain since there aren't many sellers in my own region. I also look to the shipping options. If one does only offer EMS or any related service, big change I will decline. I have had so much problems with that in the past; like travelling 25km to get your package
They also do charge heavy fees on EMS packages around here. Custom fees are always somewhere between 13-25$ (and up) and then you have to add up the actual shipping costs from the seller.

 

1. Have you ever refused to sell outside your own country? Outside your continent? Would you?
I have, I prefered to only sell in my country, but lately I'm selling international. Still, when I have a buyer in my country and a buyer in another country, I would sell it to the one in my country.

2. What are some reasons people limit potential buyers geographically?
I think people don't dare to ship it far, I had the same. But I was also too lazy to actually look at the costs for selling it international.
And when the doll stays in the same country, you still see it on meetings and stuff.

3. Do you think buyer education plays a part in the decision? I.e. do people prefer not to ship internationally to avoid angry buyers saying “You’re charging how much for shipping?” What about seller education? Are sellers preferring to stay in-country to avoid educating themselves about international customs requirements? Because they are un-informed or mis-informed about shipping options in their own country?
When buyers are complaining about the high shippingcosts, I'll only reply with "Then buy it somewhere else." I don't avoid those kind of situations, I can't change the costs.
I used to avoid educating myself about custom requirements, but found out that here in the Netherlands it's really easy to ship something international. I did decide, however, that I always ship with trackingcode included. It gives me a feeling that the package is safe.

4. Does a seller’s willingness to ship internationally (if stated) influence your decision to buy from them?
Yes. I rather buy from someone that is willing to also ship internationally. It proves that the seller is prepared to put a little more effort into shipping something.
Also, I don't want to look for a seller that only ships to the Netherlands. We're a really small country, and not all dolls are here. ;P

 

I would not refuse to post an an item to another country, however postage outside of the UK is pretty exepnsive, so I would expect the buyer to be understanding of that and pay the price of postage plus a little more for packaging. I think it's a bit odd for some buyers to refuse to send things outside of their own countries, but can see where they are coming from as it is a little more hassle. However, as someone else mentioned, if the seller is willing to post to another country it can show that they are dedicated.

 

I ship everywhere as long as the buyer is willing to pay for the shipping. I have no problem with shipping outside the country^^ I admit that I prefer to ship within US because I know the shipping rates and how long it will take to arrive but when I ship to foreign countries I have to go twice to the post office, the first one is to make sure about the cost. Other than that, I will not deny someone the opportunity to buy something they like from me.

 

1. Have you ever refused to sell outside your own country? Outside your continent? Would you?

I have said I'd prefer not to ship outside my own country. However, even if I state that I prefer to ship within the United States, I will still consider international buyers if they ask and are willing to pay for the shipping.

2. What are some reasons people limit potential buyers geographically?

- For me a lot of it boils down to time. I have a very limited amount of time where I can go to the post office and sometimes I cannot make it while the counter is still open. If the counter isn't open, I can't ship a doll because of customs forms. Then that person is waiting for me to be able to make it to the post office on top of waiting for their doll to travel to them.
- In addition, there have been issues with items getting lost in transit. It doesn't seem to happen as often within the US for me. As such, I generally only like to use EMS for expensive dolls, but that is very expensive.
- I don't like dealing with under-declaring package value/marking things as a gift/what customs fees the person will pay. That can get hairy, because I really don't like to undervalue a parcel.
- The forms don't intimidate me, but I do worry when sometimes the clerks don't even seem to know much about shipping items to certain countries.

3. Do you think buyer education plays a part in the decision? I.e. do people prefer not to ship internationally to avoid angry buyers saying “You’re charging how much for shipping?” What about seller education? Are sellers preferring to stay in-country to avoid educating themselves about international customs requirements? Because they are un-informed or mis-informed about shipping options in their own country?

I have had several situations where people have not provided all the required information to get the doll to them. I've had people from certain countries get upset at me for the time it took for an item to arrive when they were unwilling to pay for faster shipping. Sometimes it is just too frustrating, though I know that can be unfair to others.
I wouldn't say I am entirely ignorant on the matter of international shipping, either. I know EMS requests a phone number, I know Italy has an extra code, I try to look up the proper way to address an international package for a given country. If I don't know something, I ask or try to look it up.

4. Does a seller’s willingness to ship internationally (if stated) influence your decision to buy from them?

Well, if they don't ship to me, I don't buy from them.

 

1. Have you ever refused to sell outside your own country? Outside your continent? Would you? Initially, no I did not. Though I've been considering it for future sales because I've had people try to talk me down on my sales price because shipping to their country is high. It's not my fault shipping is high. I'm not profiting from shipping. I shouldn't take a lose on my sale because someone doesn't want to pay the shipping.

I've had this happen numerous times, and it gets tedious. I'd rather just wait a bit longer to find a buyer within my own country than to deal with all the haggling. Haggling is fine if you do it upfront, but it really becomes a bother when a buyer suddenly wants to haggle after you quote them the appropriate shipping cost. That's rude.

2. What are some reasons people limit potential buyers geographically? These are situational. It can take more time to get the appropriate documents in order, it can require more responsibility on the sellers part... I personally think it's really up to the seller to decide what they're comfortable with and that's their own business.

3. Do you think buyer education plays a part in the decision? I.e. do people prefer not to ship internationally to avoid angry buyers saying “You’re charging how much for shipping?” What about seller education? Are sellers preferring to stay in-country to avoid educating themselves about international customs requirements? Because they are un-informed or mis-informed about shipping options in their own country? Educating yourself doesn't seem like an issue to me, as that goes both way. A simple Google search can "educate" a person. It comes down to respect and understanding the terms of sale. Most problems I've personally had stem from a lack of respect, not from misunderstandings.

4. Does a seller’s willingness to ship internationally (if stated) influence your decision to buy from them? Honestly, I try to look for sellers within my own country. If I do buy internationally I buy knowing that I am to pay shipping. Simple.

 

1:I've sold shipped things to everywhere. I do not believe I would ever reject someone who wishes to buy from me. Shipping

2: it's a risk but it's their responsibility and I clearly state it.

3: I also clearly state shipping with tracking will be a lot more since their out of country and give them proof. And when I ship an item I take pictures of the recet as proof. And if they over paid I give them back what ever they over paid. Simple as that.

4: No. I understand that it's their choice. As a buyer we cannot force sellers to ship to us. We just have to find something else.

 

If I found something I REALLY wanted, I'd contact the seller and try to work something out. Most people are probably worried about things getting lost or they're unsure of what they should charge for shipping. But by cutting out other countries, they're cutting down on their own chances of selling, I say.