Greetings all,

I have been doing alot of selling on ebay recently. I dont ship overseas unless the person has REALLY high feedback, and I read through them. Most I just deny though. I get alot of requests for LIMA, PERU, and Brazil. I have only shipped to Brazil once. It came out fine, but I dont ship high dollar items there. Peru I just flat out deny.

Any one here dealt with people in these areas and get scammed before?

 

Why the hate?

 

I am ususally not one for memes but,

 

For the way I see it, there's not really a point to NOT shipping to various places.

Buyer wants it, buyers pays for it, buyer pays for shipping, ebay pretty much forces you to ship registered with tracking, it's off your hands, end of the story.

Trust me, people in countries\places with very strict custom duties [Italy, Africa, Brazil maybe] know what they're doing. It's not like it's their first time ever importing something.

Recently I had to special order via email something from a toystore [online, always] and make a special case because they don't ship to Greece. I have absolutely no clue why they don't generally ship here, but my pages of feedback here, ebay, relatives within Europe, HLJ, BBTS, RK and more have around 300 packages sent my way with no mix ups on none of them.

So no, somebody in Peru\Brazil can scam you just as easily as somebody in the next state. Truth be told, your question is kind of offensive to buyers from these places.

 

It's not just that simple. I used to ship internationally. I had a LOT of buyers flat out refuse to pay because the shipping quote was too high. Because Paypal requires tracking, the shipping options are expensive. Dealing with international bidders, shipping costs, customs, etc. isn't worth the hassle.

 

I'm just saying that bad things can happen to anybody, be it on the US or Europe.

Yes, if a shipping cost outweighs the benefits of buying from abroad, I back down from a deal [really, who wouldn't?], but you're listing things that should not be your worries.

Somebody in these forums [who I bear no ill will, honestly] once quoted me a 42 USD shipping quote for an 8 USD animated deluxe. Of course I back off that deal, but it's not the guy's fault. If I'm purchasing an 190 USD collectible, you think a 30-40 USD quote [depends on size, but I'm comparing values] is unreasonable?

And I once again must point out that people in countries with strict import laws know exactly what they're getting into when they order stuff. It's not alien to them, and the fact that we're ordering from abroad all the time is a testament to how even when imported halfway across the world, it's CHEAPER than walking down to a store and getting it.

 

I can tell you right now, do not ever buy anything from Brazil and expect to have it shipped to the US. Mercado Libre has MANY sellers that receive bank transfers for items from US sellers and they never ship the item.


Bank transfers are NOT a safe way to pay at all. No matter what your bank says, there is no guarantee you will receive the money back.

I wouldn't recommend shipping to South America, most shipping agencies there just aren't that reliable. If you live in South America and you want items, just get a US transfer address. That way anyone in the US can ship to that address, and then it is automatically forwarded to South America.

 

Also, the other countries like to apply tariffs and customs fees and the buyer gets mad at you for not knowing the customs protocol for items in Slovenia.

Had it happen when I mailed a JP Thrasher T-rex to Slovenia, guy tried to leave me negative feedback when he probably knew he would have to pay some kind of fee on his end.

You can't know the fees for every customs broker in every country.

 

Brazil and Italy are the two countries that I do not ship to. It is not hate. What people fail to realize is that sellers are highly susceptible to scammers due to eBay policies. It is protecting our selves. Sadly those two countries have a high rate of problems in eBay claims.

 

EXACTLY...anyone selling on ebay knows there is the chance of chargeback due to "lost" items, and no recourse due to to nuetered neg ability for sellers. Shipping overseas is untrackable unless you go registered which is super expensive. Add in potential customs fees and you have a recipe for frustration. I use the ebay back international shipping, and they only ship to a handfull of countries. Guess why that is....

 

I try not ship overseas but I get people who bid even though I stated I only do within USA. All I do is give them a super high ship and they decline and I move on

 

I don't mean to come off like a know it all, but you can block them when you set up the auction.

 

Well, I would like to state the point of view of a Brazilian buyer, so you guys don't think Brazil only have horrible buyers. I am a Brazilian buyer and I have bought many transformers from Ebay and webstores with great success. The Brazilian mail service never lost an international shipment for me, even when I used mail service with no tracking number (I already had, however, problems with USPS first class mail because of USPS...). Nevertheless, I do would like to highlight some points:

1-) Yes, our customs sucks. A lot. They are slow and when they decide to charge us, they charge us 60% on the sale price PLUS shipping. So, yes, sometimes we have to take the risk and use something like USPS first class mail, because priority mail will almost certainly call the attention of customs (and the shipping prices nowadays are expensive). We are not risk lovers, but we are not super rich either. However, I have noticed that USPS first class mail has been erratic lately (and because of USPS), so for things coming from USA I would suggest priority mail... No problems with mail service from England, France, Japan or China so far.

2-) Brazil is a huge and unequal country. It is one thing to ship something to big cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It is other thing to ship something to some small city lost in the middle of Amazon forest.

3-) Normally, it takes around 30 days to have something from abroad to arrive in Sao Paulo. Occasionally, it may take more than 45 days and Paypal only gives you 45 days from the payment day to use their buyer protection (yes, sellers and buyers should pay attention to this if pre-orders are paid in advance). So, what I do when I don't know the seller or the seller doesn't have good communication is to wait until the 44th day. Only then I open a case in Paypal, but not because I think the seller was dishonest, but because then Paypal will give me 20 extra days to solve the dispute. These are rare events and normally the package arrive during the extra 20 days period (and so I just close the case). In all my years as a collector buying abroad, I only had one Paypal dispute going all the way until the end, and this case was because a seller from Asia had sent me a fake product and was not willing to solve the problem (nothing related with shipping).

Therefore, I really get sad when I see sellers refusing to sell to Brazil. It is one thing when they say that they will only use a mail service with tracking number (that's fair). It is other thing when they just refuse you. I am not saying that there is only honest people here, but you can find dishonest buyers everywhere in the world. I do think sellers should pay attention in the buyer's history and his/her location in Brazil. Moreover, communication is very important. Maybe the seller doesn't realize but because of shipping costs and taxes, everything is double or more than double cost for us, so it is natural to see especially inexperienced buyers freaking out about delays and using Paypal protection without patience or criteria (yes, you guys should prefer experienced buyers...). In situations like that, keep the communication. Suggest something like I do (wait 45 days, then get more 20 days from Paypal... the package WILL arrive in 65 days; otherwise a problem did happened...). When communication is good and the seller is calm and confident, with good reputation and willing to work with me if things don't arrive in 60 days, I don't even worry about Paypal.

Anyway, I just hope I somehow helped you sellers. Believe: there are honest and experienced buyers here. You can't generalize things... for good or bad.