Ebay seller in GB can't ship to USA?

I ran into something I've not seen before on eBay. Looking at some ancient Roman coins offered, I saw a warning notice from eBay indicating that the seller may not be able to ship lots to the USA. eBay advised to write prior to bidding. I did write, and the seller replied that he could not ship lots to addresses in the USA. The seller advised that if I knew someone in GB the seller could ship the lots to them (as a forwarding agent) and they could ship them on to me.

I started with eBay in 1998 yet have not run into this before. Anybody able to help me understand what the problem is? Is there a commercial workaround, or is there a legal problem?

 

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He probably doesn't want to be responsible for any missing coins.

 

Perhasp the coins are not allowed to be shipped to the States.
If someone selling you something and won't meet you at the table ......run Forest run....
The fact he wants a 3rd party is nuts to begin with....
There's a rat in the wood pile!

 

I am still trying to determine if the problem is that he CAN not or that he WILL not. Is there some kind of legal limitation on this for ancients in GB?

 

Googling tells me it might have to do with export licensing, but that may not be the seller's reasoning... http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2008/08/who-needs-export-licences.html

 

Here is sellers reply to my inquiry:

"I can guarantee postage to the UK but nut USA. Also I would need to fill
out export documents."

I should not be too surprised since his feedback rating is only 13. It takes time to learn the ropes.

 

Whatever the sellers reasons, please do not accept anything Paul Barford has to say. He is vehemently anti-collecting, and in many online discussions he has presented himself as if he might possibly be unstable or 'touched'.

 

I wouldn't ship out of the US for a while until I learned how many more bids you get from people in Europe. I still prefer to ship domestic because:

1) Some countries are extremely picky about customs checks. I have had packages of mine get stuck in customs so long that buyers tried to open claims against me.

2) I have had at least three international orders go "poof" after they go onto the plane to leave the US.

3) I have had problems with non-native English speakers who give me addresses that ebay won't let me ship to. In particular, one buyer in India lived in an apartment complex connected to a power station that had no address. His address was "Apartment XXX in XYZ power station next to the girl's college". Also had buyers in China and Russia give me addresses WAY over the character length limits of the address fields for USPS.

 

I have been frustrated over the years by sellers who will not ship to Canada. I have missed out on several nice coins because of this. Also, I wanted a signed copy of one of Wayne Sales' books. No luck, he won't ship to Canada. I even sent him an email asking him him if he might consider shipping the book to Canada. I had no response. Given this I no longer want the book.

I understand it can be a hassle to ship outside of the US but you are limiting your market if you do this.

These days I buy mostly from European dealers or auctions. I have never had one European dealer or auction house say they would not ship a coin or book to me. Often it is quite a bit cheaper for me to buy from Europe than the US anyway. In addition quite often the object from Europe reaches me much quicker than a parcel from the US.

 

Part of this problem is that postage rates in the US have quite dramatically increased over the last few years. One major change is that there is no longer an international 'book rate', so shipping an average weight book is often costlier than the value of the book itself. Even small parcels one or two ounces start at $15 and go higher from there. Its a sad situation.

 

@Pishpash in the UK had recommended to me a nice microscope for coins. The company could not ship it to me as I was in the US. Puzzled, so I bought another type in the US.

 

Sending books from the USA to other countries is breathtakingly expensive. A medium flat rate box goes for about $70 which is the minimum size for all except very small books. On top of that there are import duties that are often assessed. I'm always a little surprised when overseas customers want to order my books anyway.

 

Aside from the delays in obtaining export licenses, I have had good luck with shipments from all over Europe including the UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, and France. I can't blame the dealers for the license delay.
Last year I ordered a coin from Belgium. It arrived at the Providence, RI post office in three days. It then required an additional ten days to get from the post office to my home about 15 minutes away!

 

Sometimes there is little or no choice at all but to order the book from the US. For this reason I have paid expensive shipping charges. I just received a book from Charles Davis. It cost 39.00 USD to ship the book, not his fault. Still, I wanted it and could not find it from a European dealer so I bought it.

 

I've had many times the same problem, but the other way: U.S seller will not ship to Germany. Reason: 'too much hassle', customs, danger of getting lost.

I suspect it is nothing more than this in your case.

 

Agree. Most probably the seller just wishes to sell to his domestic market.

I too have encountered many cases where US based sellers will not ship to my country.

 

Risk, Risk & more Risk.
Happy to post to a 3rd party in the UK, no risk involved there.
All responsibilities removed once it lands with them, anything goes wrong after that its your problem.

 

You can't force a seller to ship to places where he has no confidence. You can also pay for extra for tracking etc but at times, it's just not worth it.

These days it's just too easy for buyers to claim "I did not receive it".

 

I live in the US and sell on eBay. After I had several coins go missing overseas and have to eat the cost, I now use eBay's third party shipping program. It's the only way I can protect myself from loss short of shipping everything international express. A lot of people in Europe get angry with me and accuse me a ripping them off when eBay charges them as much as $30 to ship a $15 coin, and yes, eBay does make a profit on this service (why offer it otherwise?), but eBay's profit is not as great as it may seem. As Ken Dorney noted, the shipping cost alone is $15. Then when you add in the cost of import duties and insurance, you'll find that the price is not too far out of line from what it would cost for me to legitimately ship the coin directly. And by "legitimately," I mean filling out the customs form correctly and honestly.

Seems a lot of overseas collectors expect US sellers to lie about the object and/or purchase price to avoid paying import duties. From my perspective, if you can afford to buy the coin, you can afford to pay whatever additional charges your country assesses. Do not expect me to be dishonest--there are already too many dishonest eBay sellers as it is. Some people may feel it's okay to be dishonest if it benefits them but not if it hurts them. I disagree.

I know many overseas collectors will not even consider buying a coin from a US seller who uses eBay's third party shipping system. To me, this seems like a more reasonable approach than encouraging dishonesty. Consider the cost of the coin and the shipping--which eBay makes clear in the listing--and if the total price is too high, move on. I regret the loss of their business, but I can understand why the shipping costs are off-putting, and I hold no grudge.

 

The latest thing is that some US sellers refuse to ship to DE because of our packaging law (Verpackungsgesetz, as of 1-1-19). They claim that they have to register - with LUCID, I suppose - because of the box they would use in order to ship a coin. It is indeed safer and easier to buy from European sources ...

Oh, and that Barford bashing may be common in the ACCG. But in this case I would rather question whether some info from 2008 is still up-to-date or not.

Christian