What problems selling to overseas buyers?

[kbuschmann]

Folks,

I have a bass for sale here on TB and have some offers from overseas buyers. What problems can I expect with regard to shipping, insurance, payment, etc.?

Thanks for your help.

[bmc]

They will send you an address, payment and help you effect a successful transition.

This is the norm.

[Vakmere]

No problems however you'll have some paperwork to complete at your UPS Store and lots of communication with the buyer having him understand his responsibilities on his end. Duty taxes and the like. Some want you to take the bass apart and ship separately to lower the shipping charges. I refused to do that. You are not responsible for damage that may result either, get him to buy insurance for it. All these fees on top of the selling price of the bass can add up. Make sure you dont take a loss. Makes me wonder why they dont just buy a bass over there. Cant be that hard to find one they're looking for.

[bolophonic]

I stopped selling anything to overseas buyers about 12 years ago. I sold some dude a record on ebay and his customs agency held it hostage for like, $200 in tariffs over a minor mistake in the paperwork. Right about that time, I also sold a record to a guy in Canada and had to deal with almost 3 weeks of angry emails before it arrived to him. I doubt a bass would be any easier to deal with. It is so much easier to sell domestically.

[lomo]

There is 1 issue. If you use Paypal and cannot provide signature proof of delivery, the buyer can claim nondelivery and get the money refunded and you have no recourse. In N. Am getting signature confirmation is no big deal, but IME it is variable elsewhere. I sell overseas but always insist that the payment be in advance, by money order, and underline that I cannot and will not be held resposible for anything that happens after I ship. Most people everywhere are honest. Some people everywhere are not.

[silverburst]

It depends on the country, I suppose. I have sold to Canada, Germany, Brazil, the UK, Australia, the Ukraine, New Zealand and Japan with no troubles. In some cases I have needed to remove the neck.

But it really goes the most smoothly if the buyer is experienced and knows what needs to happen on their end.

[Temcat]

Some people are afraid of false non-delivery claims. I don't understand however how a buyer can do that if the shipment is internationally trackable. If you are still afraid, you can ask the buyer to use a mail forwarding service that has physical presense in the US such as shipito.com. (I personally use ebaytoday.ru which has a storage facility in Massachusetts.)

And of course you as a seller should explicitly disclaim responsibility for problems during shipping, paying local taxes & duties, etc.

[jmattbassplaya]

Search for something like this in the OT forum. There was a decent debate going on there for a while until it became apparent some people like to force their ideas on others.

Passive aggressive jab, yay!

[hexbass]

I was selling a very expensive F bass and stipulated that there was to be no out of country sales, Canada excluded. A fellow from Singapore I believe, kept after me for the sale, so finally I entertained his offer. I also wanted a USPS M/O, cuz that's how I roll. Well it got involved He probably was an honest cat, but there were 3rd parties involved, and more time than I had to spend, so I emailed him, explained the sitch, and sold it to a guy who had my $$ very promptly, well the cat in Singapore lost his SH**t and gave me a bad rating on this forum, which kept me off of here for quite some time, it is still on my feedback. not very fair IMHO.

[richnota]

I've sold to a great guy in Canada. He is a "reputable" talk basser caused no problems (other than filling out a short customs claim form).

Its important you're able to get proof of delivery--this offers a bit of protection for you as the seller regarding paypal.

[pedroims]

It is not big deal, just be sure that the TB is a mature buyer and not a kid triying to buy stuff that he cant affoard, I have an amp for sale right now, a TBer requested a price shipped to Canada, I quoted USP, Fedex and USPS and gave him the best rate I could fine, guess what, he posted in my thread how expensive the shipping was, that he could buy a new one for that price bla bla bla another TBer from same country posted in the thread with the same crap ...not cool at all.

[cheezewiz]

I have sold items and shipped to:

Canada
England
Germany
Australia
Singapore

I have also sold a bass to a guy in Poland, but he had me ship it to a relative in the US.

I have had ZERO issues other than having to fill out a customs form, which took an extra 3 minutes out of my day.

I was VERY nervous about the Singapore sale. It was a TB sale, and the buyer was a new member/0 feedback.
I almost refused to sell to him based on this, but he sent the money via paypal, it cleared into my account, so I took the chance. It went through without a hitch and he turned out to be a great guy.

So all in all, I agree with what BMC posted.

[cheezewiz]

Originally Posted by Vakmere

No problems however you'll have some paperwork to complete at your UPS Store and lots of communication with the buyer having him understand his responsibilities on his end. Duty taxes and the like. Some want you to take the bass apart and ship separately to lower the shipping charges. I refused to do that. You are not responsible for damage that may result either, get him to buy insurance for it. All these fees on top of the selling price of the bass can add up. Make sure you dont take a loss. Makes me wonder why they dont just buy a bass over there. Cant be that hard to find one they're looking for.

In some countries, it is MUCH cheaper for a local to buy a bass in the US, have it shipped, and pay their own Country's taxes. Australia is a prime example.

[mwesth]

Originally Posted by Vakmere

Makes me wonder why they dont just buy a bass over there. Cant be that hard to find one they're looking for.

Instruments and gear are much cheaper in US...
Example: Mustang Bass@GC(US)=750$, Mustang Bass@4sound.dk (Denmark)= 1245$
That's why..

[Temcat]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

In some countries, it is MUCH cheaper for a local to buy a bass in the US, have it shipped, and pay their own Country's taxes. Australia is a prime example.

Russia is another one. And price is not the only factor - choice matters too, especially if you want something really specific.

[Longhair]

I have bought a lot of stuff from all over the world and this is what I do to make my life easier.

Ask for a tracking number. Most time, I am able to call my local postal service, give them the foreign tracking number and receive the new local tracking number.

Please label the shipping address exactly as follows:

(line 1) NAME
(line 2) Street Name & House Number
(line 3) Post code & City
(line 4) Country

If you notice, the address is not printed in the same format as it is in the USA.

Afterwards, I mark on my calander 1 business day before I am no longer able to make a claim on PayPal - usually 42 days. If does not arrive before then, I start the claim process. If the item arrives during the claim process, I cancel the claim.

[AphekGreg]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

In some countries, it is MUCH cheaper for a local to buy a bass in the US, have it shipped, and pay their own Country's taxes. Australia is a prime example.

That's right. It often costs a bit over half the Australian retail price to get stuff from the US. A big part of it is volume of sales. We're a fairly small country, so our distributors can't buy in large enough quantities to get a lower price.

The other issue with used gear, is that there is less of it around in the fist place, so much lower chance of finding what you're looking for.

[Kwesi]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

I have sold items and shipped to:

Canada
England
Germany
Australia
Singapore

I have also sold a bass to a guy in Poland, but he had me ship it to a relative in the US.

I have had ZERO issues other than having to fill out a customs form, which took an extra 3 minutes out of my day.

I was VERY nervous about the Singapore sale. It was a TB sale, and the buyer was a new member/0 feedback.
I almost refused to sell to him based on this, but he sent the money via paypal, it cleared into my account, so I took the chance. It went through without a hitch and he turned out to be a great guy.

So all in all, I agree with what BMC posted.

+1. I've sold to folks all over the world. Just make sure you use a good international service (I use DHL) and hang on to every scrap of paper related to the transaction.

[Downunderwonder]

Beware of out and out scammers. They use all sorts of ways to try to con you into sending them a bass with no actual payment being made. Western Union is a classic. Even fraudulent Paypal emails. You get them even operating domestically.

[blindrabbit]

First and foremost, try as best as you can to deal with honest and reputable people, be it "domestic" or "international". There are jerks without ethics all over the world, and they can cause you problems, whether they live down the street, in the next city, or in a country on the other side of the world. Checking things like feedback ratings or ebay history are always helpful, or call them at work...I think a classifieds sticky has lots of suggestions in it on these issues.

I honestly think that a lot of the responsibility for dealing with the additional work falls onto the buyer in these situations. I've had many transactions over the years buying or selling items with Americans (I'm in Canada), and I always make sure to provide them with as much information as possible as to what to expect and what might be different - in my opinion, buyers should make it as seamless as they can for the seller, to ensure that the seller wants to go through with the transaction. Help them find shipping quotes, or prep them on the paperwork to complete. Also, while the final price is always negotiated between two parties, I think the buyer should be ready to eat whatever additional costs there are with shipping or duty or packing. One way I've handled this one is to talk with sellers about what their price would be NOT including shipping, and then once we agree on that, I pay that amount plus whatever the best shipping price we can find is. It seems to work well, and keeps things transparent.

If you keep all of this in mind, I don't think there should be any more "problems" with international sales than ones within your own country. Or, maybe I've just always been really lucky!