I just sold 2 common morgans to a buyer in canada. I have been burned before shipping internationally. Whats a good way to ship and charge him for shipping? I assume he will be paying by paypal, will I be protected? He does a lot of buying here in the states, but rarely leaves feedback and this scares me a little. What should I do?
Why do you sell internationally if you don't know how to ship? It's much easier to limit your ebay purchasers to the USA. What feedback he leaves on his purchases is irrelevant. As a seller, you want to know what other sellers say about him as a buyer.
Contact the USPS and Canadian Postal Service for information. No better place to hear it from than the horses mouth. Sorry I can't help more than that, but I'm sure you'll hear from others with first hand experience in this type of situation. PS. Why is it that when I read your posts I actually hear Howard Sterns voice in my head?
Sigh, being north of the border, it is annoying as heck when I see an eBay listing for a Canadian Coin, yet the seller does not ship to Canada... You can ship stuff through USPS, UPS and Fedex, with a signature required of the receiver (Heritage Auctions does it.... quite safely). We Canadians don't mind paying extra shipping fees to cover the costs. Com'on, cut your northern neighbours a little slack, it is not like you are shipping your coins to China or Italy...
Well technically in the 1700s you had the immediate chance to become part of the us so you could have never had to see that
Why was it a mistake? I have bought many coins over the years from sellers in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Great Britain and eastern Europe, etc. and I have never had a problem with receiving the coins that I bought. I have, however, had some problems with sellers shipping to me domestically. Should I not buy from a domestic seller anymore because I got burned by a domestic seller years ago? Of course not, lol. It gets to me sometimes when sellers from the mainland U.S. refuse to ship to Alaska, Hawaii or internationally when sellers from every other region on earth don't have a problem shipping to the U.S. This is not specifically directed towards you Howard, but speaking about some sellers in general it is quite frankly rather arrogant for a seller to automatically refuse to ship to a stable country such as Canada. How would you like it if a seller in Lakeshore, Ontario had a coin you really wanted but refused to ship it to you because you lived over the border in neighboring Detroit? It probably wouldn't make you feel very good. I would take this situation as a learning experience in an effort to become a more well-rounded and open-minded seller. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by shipping to this buyer in Canada and other international buyers in the future as well.
It's because the us is of the most interest to international sellers, e buy the majority of things, while Alaska or Hawaii dolnt buy nearly as many items as the whole us does
I think the problem lies with not knowing what the shipping costs will actually be prior to taking the item to the post office. Domestic post, no problem, you can figure it out on line. Is there an on line source that can help with international shipping and not the surprise that is sometimes experienced at the postal window?
The problem is that Ive been burned by international buyers claiming they didnt receive coins. Purchasing insurance, or tracking can be expensive international. I dont want this buyer to dispute charges with his bank 3 months from now and have paypal not back me up. This is a common international scam and unless you purchase the lofty insurance, your not protected. Is there a cheap way to protect myself as a seller? I have no problems shipping international, as long as Im protected.
You missed the point. You're talking inbound shipments to the US. OP is talking outbound to Canada. There is nothing for you to do as a buyer and receiving packages in the US. There is more to do when shipping to Canada. For starters a small flat rate box (which is what I use for 90% of my Ebay sales) requires a customs declaration to be filled out, plus that box will not get a signature in Canada. Therefore no proof of delivery! Plus my post office requires I deliver my customs declaration package to the PO or hand it to my mailman. Not nearly as easy as slapping a label on that flat rate package and sticking it in the mailbox. Have you ever shipped to Canada? It doesn't sound like it.
No, I have not shipped to Canada or any other country for that matter. I have, however, mailed cash payments for coins to other countries and the payment was received without a problem. This was back before ebay mandated the use of Paypal for most every transaction and you actually had to mail your payment to sellers. As a side note it was a lot more fun buying on ebay back then (circa 1999) and there was something to be said with the personal communication from the sellers. Anyway, I discussed things from a buyers perspective as that is where most of experiences lies. It stands to reason that if I've received every packaged sent to me from another country that the system, by and large, works for most sellers as well.
I also joined Ebay in1999, and it was more fun then. Like you, initially I was only a buyer. Now, thousands of transactions later it is 50-50 buy/sell. To the OP: You need to either self insure, which I do for $500 or less to Canada. If not, and you need confirmation you will need to use the more expensive companies of UPS or FedEx, that can obtain signatures. I use FedEx. I've never used it but I think USPS can get you a signature using their Express Mail ($29.95). That is another problem of shipping to Canada, letting the buyer know that a signature for a small package can run into alot of money. The buyer may take out that high shipping charge on you, when handing out your seller rating for S/H.
