A little Ebay help, please...

[bobofish]

I've been trying my best to lay low here since I joined a couple of weeks ago, because although I am in love with rangefinder photography, I am not yet the proud owner of a rangefinder. I figure that this post will find wise and caring eyes, and it also seems that most of you do a great deal of buying and selling on the internet...

In my quest for a rangefinder, I have decided to sell on Ebay for the first time since I set up my account 4 years ago....long time coming I guess.

So, I had a little sucess, and sold my first two things on Ebay...one item sold for $30, it's shipped, no big hassles......

However the other item is a violin, and sold for a decent price of $801, to a bidder from Taiwan. I specifically mentioned in my list of possibly shipping/bidding locations N. and S. America, Europe, Australia and Japan, or in other words, no Taiwan.

I was and to some extent still am willing to allow the sale, but I'm having a little trouble getting any kind of seller protection from Paypal, because the buyer's address is neither confirmed, nor is he apparently eligible for seller protection.

His money is sitting in my Paypal account, and the violin is very well packed and ready to ship...however I'm a little antsy about sending it to Taiwan with little or no confirmation, and I have nightmares in my head of the instrument being rerouted to Bangladesh for no particular reason, and the Taiwanese guy demanding his money back....or the instrument showing up at his door, but maybe he'll just say he didn't get it, and I'll be out an instrument, shipping, and his money....

Is it possible that I am overreacting? The second highest bidder and I corresponded before any bids were placed (in the very last minute of the auction) and he is interested in matching the offer, and he lives in Canada, but apparently I could ship to Washington (I don't know what the deal there is either...)

I have the dude's money, most obviously I would insure the shipment, and he has been friendly via email, and has very good feedback...What's my call?

P.S. it's quite important for me to get very good feedback in my first couple of sales, because I some high dollar items I'd like to sell if I could, so that one of these days I'll be able to join the ranks of the rangefinder brigades..

 

[mtokue]

Hi, I've sold some items to Guys & Gals in Taiwan, I didn't have any problems....
The items were a camera ($450ish) and a bunch of Games software.
What I would sujjest is that you use a Shipper that offers a trackable service and that neccesitates a signature for acceptance. Should be available either through the postal service or DHL-FedEX-TNT etc. I would contact the buyer and explain the situation and see whether he'd agree to paying half or all the extra charges for the service,explain the Originally not waning Taiwan as a destination point.
Mike.

 

[bobofish]

mtokue,
I forgot to mention that the buyer wants USPS Airmail or UPS Air, and he has already paid shipping as well as the auction price....all indications are that he is on the up and up, however I'd prefer not to be placed on the "ripped off" list.

I should also mention that I haven't got the slightest thing against Taiwanese or any other nationality, I'm just wary of unconfirmed international orders in general.

 

[JoeFriday]

it seems to me that since the buyer is insisting on USPS service, he is assuming all risks involved with that.. you already have his money, so it's not like you're going to be ripped off.. just send it 'certified' and keep all receipts.. I wouldn't worry about it.. I've done business with people in the Ukraine, Hong Kong and a few other far east countries without a problem

 

[kiev4a]

Just make sure the Paypal deposit clears before shipping. That's why I have a seperate bank account I move money into. I wait for it to clear the bank before shipping on items where a lot of money is involved or I don't know the buyer.

 

[ray_g]

Waiting for the payment to clear is definitely a good idea. Credit card fraud is certainly more common in certain parts of the world. Other than that, I would ship it as he wants, UPS or USPS WITH insurance. Make sure you have the shipping receipt, which you can scan and email him as proof that you sent it. If it doesn't reach him for some reason, I do not think that anyone can fault you.

 

[ScottS]

This doesn't answer your current question, but for future reference, when you list an item on ebay, there is an option to automatically block bids from users registered in regions your auction is not listed as shipping to -- although if this transaction goes well, you may not want to do that -- you do have the option. It's probably best, though, to be as wide as you're comfortable with in terms of where you ship, but then restrict bids from bidders that don't meet those requirements. That way you don't have to worry about making a decision after the auction is over as to whether you're willing to ship to the winning bidder.

Scott

 

[kiev4a]

Most folks overseas want to send and have things set "Air Post" which isn't insured but seems to be fairly reliable. Insurance on such shipments is really steep. I've only sent one item insured to another country. A buyer in Israel had to pay something like $35 insurance on a $250 item.