These days you are certainly within your rights to insist on Express Int'l. Its completely common to see sellers doing this. Italians should expect it at this point and won't really fight you -especially if you made some sort of disclaimer in your listing. In some cases I've even had them insist on it being sent Express.
That being said, if they're griping about the costs, you can always offer to split it somehow. Or just send it first-class if they have strong looking feedback .
Ive been selling via Facebook and forums more than ebay lately...I insist on payment as a paypal gift, then they can't do chargebacks...put 100% of the risk on them. Piece of mind is a wonderful thing.
I insist on payment as a paypal gift, then they can't do chargebacks...put 100% of the risk on them.
I like this line of thinking!
billbradleyYou want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,905 Posts
Going back to my original post, the best thing about the whole fiasco was that when I re-listed the record on eBay the same buyer in Italy ended up paying $45 more for the record along with priority registered mail.
Unfortunately Italy is a no sale area for me & mine. My lady creates high end custom made ladies clothing via etsy, I sell a few bits vie ebay et al. Several times we've received the 'it didn't turn up' email.
A good friend of many years recently married an Italian girl and settled out there. According to him his local postman has his own 'business' from international parcels. Apparently it's widespread...
edit* Furthermore, it probably goes without saying saying that anything destined for Sicily or Sardinia (dependant on localisation) will most likely incur a local tax of sorts.
I just sold my first record online in like 10 years, a $65 12". Of course, it was someone in Italy who had signed up on discogs that day.
I was worried as hell based on what I've read (and the fact that she had seemingly never bought anything from the US before and didn't know how the process worked at all) but everything was kosher.
I sent it regular first class intnl and it arrived in like 2.5 weeks.
I didn't lie on the customs form (because she didn't know to ask) so apparently that wasn't cool, I guess she had to pay a chunk more on taxes.
Ive been selling via Facebook and forums more than ebay lately...I insist on payment as a paypal gift, then they can't do chargebacks...put 100% of the risk on them. Piece of mind is a wonderful thing.
How is this done? Can you provide a link to your facebook "store"?
I'm not going to talk about Italy because I don't know anything about their situation, but I know about France.
I'm french, I live in France.
There is nothing wrong with the french postal service, the problem is with french people. French buyers are dishonnest. If they can get free records from a total stranger, they would !
I've sold records online regularly since 2004. From 2004 to 2008 as my day job through a webstore where people paid by credit card. I've sent about 20-30 parcels a day, 90% of them not registered. In 4 years not anything was lost. Stolen credit cards ? Yes. Parcels that take a month to arrive ? Yes. Wrong adresses ? Yes, but then the records were returned to the sender. Always.
Now since 2008 I'm selling records through Discogs were people use Paypal. I've sent records all around the world, Germany and US mainly but also to India, Russia, Brazil, Tanzania and countries I had to check on a map to make sure they existed. I've had maybe 6 or 7 records that "did not arrive" : records sent to Paris, to Marseille, to the french embassy in Berlin, to Michel Dupont who lives in England...
When we had the store the payment was through our bank, you can't do chargebacks so our customers didn't try to pretend the parcel didn't arrive, but with Paypal ?
Ive been selling via Facebook and forums more than ebay lately...I insist on payment as a paypal gift, then they can't do chargebacks...put 100% of the risk on them. Piece of mind is a wonderful thing.
How is this done? Can you provide a link to your facebook "store"?
There is a facebook group called "the hassle free record selling group". Once you join, you just simply post on it's wall what you are selling. It's about 90% 45 sales.
Comments
https://www.paypal.com/hk/cgi-bin/?cmd=xpt/Marketing/securitycenter/sell/ShippingRecommendations-outside
That being said, if they're griping about the costs, you can always offer to split it somehow. Or just send it first-class if they have strong looking feedback .
Hate it when intl buyers use abbreviations and make little typos in their addresses. Then you have to beg for them to confirm it.
I like this line of thinking!
A good friend of many years recently married an Italian girl and settled out there. According to him his local postman has his own 'business' from international parcels. Apparently it's widespread...
edit* Furthermore, it probably goes without saying saying that anything destined for Sicily or Sardinia (dependant on localisation) will most likely incur a local tax of sorts.
I was worried as hell based on what I've read (and the fact that she had seemingly never bought anything from the US before and didn't know how the process worked at all) but everything was kosher.
I sent it regular first class intnl and it arrived in like 2.5 weeks.
I didn't lie on the customs form (because she didn't know to ask) so apparently that wasn't cool, I guess she had to pay a chunk more on taxes.
How is this done? Can you provide a link to your facebook "store"?
I'm french, I live in France.
There is nothing wrong with the french postal service, the problem is with french people. French buyers are dishonnest. If they can get free records from a total stranger, they would !
I've sold records online regularly since 2004. From 2004 to 2008 as my day job through a webstore where people paid by credit card. I've sent about 20-30 parcels a day, 90% of them not registered. In 4 years not anything was lost. Stolen credit cards ? Yes. Parcels that take a month to arrive ? Yes. Wrong adresses ? Yes, but then the records were returned to the sender. Always.
Now since 2008 I'm selling records through Discogs were people use Paypal. I've sent records all around the world, Germany and US mainly but also to India, Russia, Brazil, Tanzania and countries I had to check on a map to make sure they existed. I've had maybe 6 or 7 records that "did not arrive" : records sent to Paris, to Marseille, to the french embassy in Berlin, to Michel Dupont who lives in England...
When we had the store the payment was through our bank, you can't do chargebacks so our customers didn't try to pretend the parcel didn't arrive, but with Paypal ?
There is a facebook group called "the hassle free record selling group". Once you join, you just simply post on it's wall what you are selling. It's about 90% 45 sales.