Hi Craig

Although l don't actively advertise l'm happy to sell to overseas customers and have done so far when posting to Spain, Poland, USA and other  l've encountered no problems when advising customers the difference in postal costs. 

Of course there are the known pitfalls of people wanting to pay by money transfer etc, l only really accept Pay Pal etc for such transactions.

Also, think twice before paying for Royal Mailss 'international signed for' they state the following Signature on receipt
online tracking within the UK l cant see the point of paying for it if it only tracks the package whilst it is in the UK, also l wonder how easy it would be to get a copy of the proof of delivery from the postal service in the destination country.

Hope it helps a little

Selling abroad is no harder than selling just to the UK. Most of the time all you need is a simple stick-on Customs sticker supplied by your local Post office.

In the good old days before eBay mucked about with their search engines I regularly sold to the USA and at the last count have posted to over 20 different countries. At one time most of my sales came from the USA and I made arrangements to accept cheques and  money orders in dollars. I even accepted the green inland US postal orders that state they cannot be cashed outside the US (They lie, they can be cashed here in the UK)

Here on Tazbar I have sold to the USA, France, Spain and China so it is certainly worthwhile offering to sell overseas 

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I'm not sure if your sales would increase by offering to sell internationally or not.  A lot would depend on the type of merchandise you offer, the desirability and availability of it outside your own country and, of course, the state of the economy.

One thing to remember is that the cost of shipping goods can be considerable and therefore large heavy items may not be a good choice, unless the item is unique and highly sought after.

Having said all that, I enjoy the cultural exchange when selling internationally.  And, although no one can guarantee an increase in sales, I can't see how increasing the potential market for your goods could hurt.

Good Luck!

Dennis

I used to get overseas customers every day, around a quarter of my customer in fact. eBay put an end to that with their constant meddling and greed.

Most of my overseas customers were in Italy. Never had a single problem with an Italian cutomer, most of them were computer shops buying bulk.

The US also used to be big for me, lots of buyers for the Thermaltake gear that I sold back then. Nowadays, ALL sales are just 5% what they were 2 years ago....cheers eBay!

The only way forward (for me) is to list 1500 items. I'm sure that with so many product lines I wouldn't need eBay at all.

Two years ago I had 1500 items available on eBay but the cost of having an outlet on eBay has eaten away at the profits and stock lines get less and less as time goes by, which shows that eBay is a shrinking market.

With 25,000,000 listings, the question now is; Are there enough customers to go around? With changes to the search engine, such as Best match the answer to that question is surely, No!

TTG.

Items available

CASE MODS, CABLES, COOLING FANS, HEATSINKS.

I may or may not be typical of an overseas buyer... but

1 - I will not ask you about post prices if you don't show them.  That to me means you're not interested.  The only exception to this is if you're the only place in the world that has that item.  So - if you don't include the post prices -  I will not look further

2 - I recognise that it is expensive to send to me compared to the UK, and I will not think it strange if your prices reflect this

3 - Do not assume because something is heavy and therefore costly to send I will not want it.  Trust me - earlier this year I happily spent postage of GBP 94 on a single ebay item to receive it

4 - Do not assume I am out to scam you.  The number of ebay sellers with a half side of almost abuse against potential international buyers is shocking

5 - Make sure you check the addresses carefully - Tazbar does not include UK on the address when people in the UK buy from me - so I have no idea if it includes Barbados on the address when I buy from someone in the UK

6 - Do not inflate the price of the goods on the customs form.  Customs duty varies from country to country.  The limits in the USA are very high - but here I pay duty on EVERY penny you write on that form and often at over 100% - so anything I buy from you will at least double in price for me - so don't make that worse by writing a higher value

7 - Do not mark the goods as a gift unless they really are.  It's illegal.  And it'll be your problem not mine, although you may have been trying to help me out

8 - There's a lot more people outside the UK than in it, and you know - some of us once we find a nice helpful seller, who doesn't treat us like some form of sub human for living overseas, who is polite, friendly and good.... will often come back for more, again and again and again!

Good luck with it.  The more people willing to send overseas - the better  

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Ken
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Over 100% customs duty!  Good Grief!

While I can see your point, Indy, about listing shipping costs in the listing, I'm of the opinion that requesting a quote based on the particulars of the shipment results in savings in most cases.  Unfortunately, Tazbar's choices in listing S&H is a bit inadequate in my opinion.  It's designed pretty much with UK sellers in mind.  The space for European shipping cost makes sense if you're based in the UK, but for US sellers a space for Canada or Mexico would work better.  I would also like to see a better way to handle combined item discounts. 

Dennis

I do agree that a lot of eBay sellers have become way too defensive regarding mistrust of their customers.  Not only international ones but domestic buyers as well.  I'm afraid eBay with all their "improved experience policies" have pitted sellers against buyers.  Unfortunately, a mob mind set is hard to combat.

patrickindulwich:

There's no difference at all apart from the fact that some people as far away as the USA or Australia start complaining when things don't turn instantaneously. Maybe they think some of us own matter transporters!

Interesting!  That's what a lot of US sellers say about the UK and Europe.  So it looks like we're pretty much the same the world over.  I guess Walt Disney knew what he was doing with "It's A Small World After All."

Dennis