Why do so many listings say uk buyers only?

[toisa]

Im selling...and an on overseas bidder has asked if i would send to another european country. I dont really see a problem but wonder if there is a reason i don't know about?

Tia

I think you cant get proof of delivery so some unscrupulous buyers say the item hasn't arrived..

It just causes problems IME. Postage is more, loss, damage in post, higher return costs. There are plenty of scammers in the uk but for those abroad, they can cover their crimes more easily. Eg "tracking" only covers the item until it leaves the uk.

Also pita to post - size limits for airmail etc

Cost me a fortune to post a large heavy item abroad. Didn't research it properly. Much easier to stick to uk pricing.

Thank you all.

Blame Ebay, they put so many requirements on sellers that we end up becoming ultra-cautious. For low volume sellers especially, we only need a few bad transactions & we can be banned from selling altogether. Ironically, buyers may be the ones to lose out most. Item doesn't arrive = Seller loses. Cost of signed for airmail = prohibitive. Buyer doesn't like item = Seller risks neg unless seller pays for prohibitive cost of returned signed-for postage. It's just so risky.

Fwiw, I often get msgs from someone who asks if I'll post to their country. As long as they sound decent & feedback looks fine I change my settings so they can bid. That's because we've established a kind of personal relationship. I don't feel confident about random foreign buyer, though.

I also have completely prejudiced attitudes about which countries are good & which are bad bets to post to.

I only accept on request and state I am not responsible once item leaves UK

you cannot cover yourself properly with items leaving UK

but you are responsible to get the item to the buyer so saying you aren't once it leaves UK is kind of pointless really.

tbh, I probably only say yes if I think I can't get a UK buyer.
Seller is always responsible for everything, superbagpuss Until the 45 days or so are up and buyer can no longer open a dispute.

well then I'm lucky that I haven't been called on it

I guess no more shipping outside the UK for me

Please don't all stop sending overseas. I am a non-UK buyer, I've bought loads of stuff off e-bay and never had any problems. Clothes are so expensive here that I don't mind paying a bit more for postage.

But surely anything sent Royal Mail IS covered overseas- otherwise that would apply to all mail sent anywhere across the channel which can't be right?

You'll get a free cert of posting whatever the destination.

I've posted overseas quite a lot and it;s been fine.
The only reason I prefer not to is because it's hard to judge postage costs until the item is wrapped and taken to PO for weighing - unless you do the weighing at home and calculate etc using online info.

And I don't wrap items until they have been sold and money is in my account. So it just means a bit more faff. Because you have to get item weighed, work out P&P, notify buyer etc before you can post.

I think it might depend what you sell. Clothes are fairly easy to estimate postage overseas but oddly shaped, heavy or fragile items I would probably not want to send. With clothes most things go for around £5 to Europe and even Oz if light - a dress cost me £4.70 to Australia. If you charge £5 for lightish things, £8 for bit heavier you could always refund if you over estimate.

The main problem I think is the cost of signed for to Europe - £10.20 and that includes Ireland. That is a lot for an item of clothing which makes a seller a bit more open to problems, however, touch wood I have not found it too bad and I do post overseas.

Recently though I changed my settings to exclude certain countries due to reading about problems - Russia and S. America although my local post lady said Italy was bad.

A friend of mine sold quite a few items of children's clothing (all good brands, Next mainly) to different buyers in Eastern Europe, not all posted at once but over the course of a few weeks.

One by one, she got claims through either eBay or PayPal saying that the items had not arrived & that the buyer wanted a refund. The refunds were issued from her PayPal account & she was left with neither items nor money.

Apparently, it is somewhat of a scam. Not every Eastern European buyer obviously, but it happens enough to make me not want to take the risk.

I occasionally sell Gifts with purchase - Estee Lauder and always state UK buyers only. I still get for every listing 5-10 emails from Eastern European buyers. Like other PPS I very occasionally send abroad if there is a reasonable contact email or the item will imo sell better overseas. With changes to fees on P&P not sure what I will do now.

oh that's bad. Maybe it is worth blocking those countries. I think I might do that.

I have a business account I send all over the world with over 1500 items there is no more chance of things going missing abroad or claims/cases

I have checked my own figures

small clothing items where signed for internationally is an extra £5.30 perhaps stick to holland denmark germany and scandanavia nothing goes missing there their postal service is possibly better than ours so no need for signed for unless valuable

everything else send signed for if a claim that it has not arrived you have to wait 20/25 working days ( as opposed to 15 within UK) if not signed for you get your money back from RM

the weights go up in 250g increments so you need to weigh with packaging use kitchen scales if clothes and sending in mailing bag add 50g if in a box with bubble wrap add 250g

do not offer free overseas postage
wrap well ( ie if dropped from 5' onto concrete it will survive)

and if out of EU needs custom sticker value is sold for price do not mark as gifts and include a packing slip and a return address

overseas buyers often pay more and most are quite happy to pay the postage if any doubt send everything signed for

My buyer from Italy just left good feedback so no problem with that delivery :)

I post to EU and Australia/NZ, and put in the listing that I only send via Airsure or failing that International Signed For. Anything over £36 is insured. What usually happens is EU buyers bid but not as.much as UK buyers, so they help push the price up but it goes to the UK. Or there's only one bid. I think there must be no computer parts shops in mid Spain.

Clothes seem to attract scammers though. I don't bother selling them on Ebay.

They don't really want to be bothered with the hassle of you not accepting the postage cost. It's a bother to quote for this beforehand as it differs for each country. Sometimes I double check with sellers and have found them okay with sending abroad even though listing says uk only.

I used to send overseas.. But have had to stop. Figures of lost orders were at 20% overall (worst were Italy and Malta) and of course the problem with overseas is that as well as losing the order you list the extortionate postage you had paid. It just wasn't worth the effort.
International signed for only tracks until it leaves the UK (useless) and air sure is expensive and not available in lots of cases.

As a general rule, I don't post overseas but will do so occasionally if the foreign buyer contacts me to ask and they sound reasonable and live in a country with what I perceive as a decent postal service.

At the risk of sounding prejudiced, I say a blanket 'no' to anywhere in East Europe but will post fairly happily to Germany.

I once posted something to Brazil. Buyer contacted me after about 2 months to say that it didn't arrive. I thought FFS but refunded him. He then contacted me 2 weeks later and said item had now arrived and he resent the money back through PP. Which of course was very commendable of him and I'm sure many buyers wouldn't have bothered.

international signed for maybe obly tracked with number in UK but if buyer says it has not arrived they will check with receiving country for signature if no confirmation od f delivery you will get your money back if it was not signed for it is good it works it is not useless however you can't claim until 20 working days in europe and 25 days outside europe ie 4 and 5 weeks it is 3 weeks in uk anyhow

amanda

ps postage to the whole world is only in 3 categories

1. europe all EU and scandanavia all russia and turkey ukraine etd includes irish republic

2 rest of the world except australia new zealand and pacific islands

1. australia new zealand etc

with now approx 500 parcels sent abroad in past 2 years only 3 have gone missing 1, to china should have been signed for but RM forgot to attach sticker, 1 to australia and the other in USA small item not sent signed for

nothing signed for has ever gone missing apart from 1 item to lincoln