What to do if selling to overseas buyer (Austria)?

[julythoughts]

Hi. Someone has asked if I will send to Austria and to quote for postage. Should I send just nornal post (the guy at my post office said a certificate of postage will not help if the item gets lost going overseas) or airsure or where you need to sign for it?. This would bump the price up dramatically and would probably put buyer off. I think it is always the seller's risk if the item goes missing on route.

airmail offers compensation up to £41
www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump2?mediaId=400036&catId=400033

I'd choose the service you feel comfortable with and quote it. It's up to the buyer whether they then want to go ahead.

i've sold a couple of items recently to overseas bidders which did annoy me as i specifically say in my listing that anyone outside of the UK needs to contact me first so that i can detail new P&P costs.

Anyway they didn't and won their items. I made sure it was Int'l Signed For which was expensive but i dont' have time to go into the whole flaff should it get lost enroute.
To be fair they didn't argue with me.

One buy was interested in buying an item and contacted me to get P&P cost and was annoyed when it was quite expensive but sods law dictates that something will happen and i'll spend ages trying to sort it out.

Depends on the buyer. If they are new or only have, say up to 5 positive feedback, then I would say I'm only posting to the UK. However, if they have a decent feedback score, I would be happy to post abroad without it being signed for.

You can also see what else they have bid on which will give you a feeling for whether its a trustworhty buyer.

Make sure you complete the customs forms, this is often where things get held up or lost