Purchasing tools on ebay

[Steve Beck]

A relatively new member here, joined in February this year.
I am user and collector of Record planes. I have purchased the majority of them from sellers on ebay UK. Just wondering why so many sellers on ebay elect not to ship to the USA? Is this something to do with customs forms or possibly they just want to keep the "good stuff" in the UK? Not knowledgeable in what ebay requires from sellers shipping overseas but in a couple of instances I have had the seller ship the item to a person in the UK whom I have purchased from previously and they in turn would forward the item to me. Sellers who do not want to ship to the USA are truly missing the opportunity for a greatly increased number of potential buyers. I have chatted with a few others in face book that are members of tool groups and live in the UK and they also agree that sellers should be more aware of the opportunity to sell in the US. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Happy Easter weekend to all and have a pleasant spring time.

 

[LJM]

I don’t think it’s particularly an issue with the USA; many sellers simply don’t want the “hassle” of what the perceive or assume to be a complex postage situation. I regularly find items that the seller is unwilling to post, no matter how willing I am to pay for that service; sometimes a reason is given, but often not.

But I’d also say that as a seller, the eBay system for stipulating where you’ll post lends itself to selecting everywhere, or only domestically because you have to stipulate services so it gets complex.

 

[wallace]

It could be the possibility of the item going awol whilst in transit, some people might think its more likely to go missing if its shipped internationally. Then the onus is on the seller to reimburse . I've shipped abroad before and the person said it never arrived so I had to reimburse.
I see ebay doesnt allow a seller to arrange their own international postage now, probably to stop items being shipped as gifts avoiding taxes

 

[artie]

Join the club.

I've had the same thing when trying to buy from the US, China, and mainland UK.

"Doesn't ship to N Ireland"

 

[Steve Beck]

It could be the possibility of the item going awol whilst in transit, some people might think its more likely to go missing if its shipped internationally. Then the onus is on the seller to reimburse . I've shipped abroad before and the person said it never arrived so I had to reimburse.
I see ebay doesnt allow a seller to arrange their own international postage now, probably to stop items being shipped as gifts avoiding taxes

I just looked at the shipping options on ebay UK and I believe it is optional. If the seller does select to use the ebay program they are fully covered for loss of items or non delivery. I have compared shipping rates of the ebay program and other services available to UK sellers such as Royal Mail, Hermes, Parcel Force and they are usually somewhat less costly. They also offer insured coverage for loss. Also the ebay program is very inconsistent in its fees. For instance a whole No. 5 Record plane may cost about 40 £ and a just the frog or other small parts for a plane will cost the same.

 

[marcros]

Is there also an issue with shipping items containing rosewood and CITES?

 

[Steve Beck]

Is there also an issue with shipping items containing rosewood and CITES?

I did have one plane confiscated by the global shipping program a few years back because they claimed it had rosewood content, It did. I spoke directly on the phone with the agent at Pitney Bowes, that is the company ebay has contracted with for the program, and they said it was sent to a warehouse. I ploitely told them that someone at the warehouse now has the item in his or hers garage! But both the seller and I were reimbursed for our fees. I have had other planes shipped that did have rosewood with no difficulty. I believe the seller took care of the required paperwork in these cases.

 

[wallace]

I sold something to a guy in Oz and ebay wouldnt allow him to send his address to me via a message and I couldnt access it. I could only send it to one of their mailing centres for them to ship. The guy got a huge shipping and customs bill.

 

[shed9]

Is there also an issue with shipping items containing rosewood and CITES?

I've been hit by this in the past when ordering tools from the US, I generally and eventually get the item delivered but its always a gamble.
Whilst the target audience is bigger for the seller using the Ebay shipping program, a word of caution to buyers in that returning an item is not as straight forward as it should be.

To the OP, I'm fairly sure no one is trying to retain Record plane stock within the British Isles, I suspect it's just convenience and not aware of the selling options. Perhaps put up a request on the wanted section of market place on here for Record planes?

 

[guineafowl21]

Join the club.

I've had the same thing when trying to buy from the US, China, and mainland UK.

"Doesn't ship to N Ireland"

“Doesn’t post to Scottish Highlands”

For which, read: “uses bargain-bucket delivery service, plus can’t be a rsed to alter arrangements”.

Isn’t there an option to tick when selling, UK-only or worldwide? It’s nothing specifically against the US. Sometimes if you message them and offer to arrange delivery yourself they’ll come around.

These are private sellers, not businesses, so shipping is an unfamiliar task. Many times, I’ve seen, “can’t post as too heavy” - but when shown the Parcelforce express48 service, which can send 30kg from Penzance to Wick, for about £14, collected from your door, label provided, they are often surprised.

 

[MarkDennehy]

"Doesn't ship to N Ireland"

That one does crack me up.

"Sorry, I don't ship abroad" when given a Dublin address. Okay, fair enough, customs might be a hassle and it's a private sale not a shop. *sends Belfast parcel motel address*
"No, I won't ship abroad"

It's Northern Ireland mate, it's not abroad, it's your country. Jaysus. There was a rather long and in-depth conversation about this over the last century, did you miss it?

 

[Exluthier]

I sold an item (a relatively rare bicycle-saddled treadle fretsaw, of US origin) on eBay, and specified ‘UK only’, because I had experienced difficulties with buyers in the USA claiming their own shipper was less expensive, etc., and generally arguing post-sale about shipping costs and duties, which—with five thousand mile borders, and only one currency—they seemed not to comprehend. I also needed the space it was taking up, and specified a quick collection. It turned out the winning bidder was in the USA, which person then emailed me to say that a well-known UK tool dealer would collect it from me ‘very soon’. It took four months! I complained to eBay that I had specified UK only, but they found in favour of the American buyer.

 

[Concizat]

I've sold a few times to the USA using E-Bay's International delivery and found it super easy with no problems.
You pay your favourite delivery co. to send to a central warehouse in the Midlands with a reference no. and they do the rest.
You don't get to know the delivery address but does that matter?
I've no idea what E_bay charge but the US customer has always been highly delighted.
You get the purchase price and delivery price to the warehouse from Paypal, so everyone is happy.

 

[pidgeonpost]

I've sold a few times to the USA using E-Bay's International delivery and found it super easy with no problems.
You pay your favourite delivery co. to send to a central warehouse in the Midlands with a reference no. and they do the rest.
You don't get to know the delivery address but does that matter?
I've no idea what E_bay charge but the US customer has always been highly delighted.
You get the purchase price and delivery price to the warehouse from Paypal, so everyone is happy.

I've used this a couple of times too, simple and satisfactory.

 

[Jacob]

I've sold a few times to the USA using E-Bay's International delivery and found it super easy with no problems.
You pay your favourite delivery co. to send to a central warehouse in the Midlands with a reference no. and they do the rest.
You don't get to know the delivery address but does that matter?
I've no idea what E_bay charge but the US customer has always been highly delighted.
You get the purchase price and delivery price to the warehouse from Paypal, so everyone is happy.

Yes super easy but expensive for the buyer and no help offered from Ebay if anything goes wrong.
Mine was a banjo sold to Romania. The case got damaged, which in turn soured the whole deal for the buyer, who set about finding as many faults as he could to get his money back - always easy with something not brand new.
In the end we both lost and Ebay was completely unhelpful and uninterested. Much better, cheaper, more reliable, better insured, to use UPS, DPD, or other carrier.

 

[Awac]

Join the club.

I've had the same thing when trying to buy from the US, China, and mainland UK.

"Doesn't ship to N Ireland"

Don’t get me started on “will not post to Highlands” (from within the uk!) or the extra cost people seem to think is ok to pile on.

 

[marcros]

Don’t get me started on “will not post to Highlands” (from within the uk!) or the extra cost people seem to think is ok to pile on.

surely that is the extra cost incurred by the parcel companies? if it isnt economical or possible to use Royal Mail, I can understand why people are unwilling- if they add on extra cost people moan, if they dont they lose money. they cant win either way.

Parcels in general are a hassle (as an individual rather than a company. it is made slightly easier now that you can drop off at a local shop, but you still need a printer and packaging materials. it soon takes half an hour to package things up and address them.

 

[guineafowl21]

surely that is the extra cost incurred by the parcel companies?

An anachronism - 30 years ago access to the highands was poor and few trips were made up there. Delivery networks are much better now but cheapo delivery companies still use the old excuse.

eg:
Postage of brewing stuff from NI costs more to ship to Inverness than Estonia. DPD.
Postage by RM or PF doesn’t penalise highlands. It can be done.

As I say, I can send 30kg, bulky parcels, collected from my door and label provided, to Land’s end for £14. I can also send a 1000kg pallet to same for just over £100. If I can do it, anyone can.

 

[Corset]

i have sold my bit on ebay and postage is a real issue. You have to price competively. So you take an average price and then hope for the best. However if the item goes for a lot of money you need to insure it, which you have not factored and that is not cheap. If it then can be only posted by say royal mail. Its simply unviable and i have been forced to cancel several sales to ireland and the highlands for this reason. If you go back to the buyer and explain most get angry but its not the sellers fault as they cant cover all options. The reality is isolatd locations carry a premium and thats life, its possibly fair as the driver has all that fuel to expend and environmentally that is an issue. The buyer makes their choice where they live...
On the other hand international shipping on ebay is easy. Just post it to the midlands etc and they do the rest. In my experience when i quote it up to send direct for the buyer (its hard but possible to do) they have a shock and realise that ebay is pretty fair. In my experince on heavy ish tools theyare often too cheap. I have found if you have free postage on a a heavy item they buyer has the win of the century as its so much cheaper than it should be. just got to plan tacktically what you think is going to happen...

 

[alz]

Isolated locations? I am an easy-going fella, but was pretty irate when a seller told me he couldn't post an item from the Midlands to Aberdeen without a hefty surcharge. Admitted he posted to Land's End without a problem or extra cost.
Mind you, I must admit that BBC Scotland - based in Glasgow - seem to end their north news coverage at Dundee most of the time....but I better not start about the television licence!