[kstjst]

i'm getting very frustrated with the postal system on my international shipping...once again, they seem to have lost the item i was mailing. i normally only sell higher end items internationally. and i send them via usps priority flat rate boxes. this gives me some comfort in knowing that it should be well packaged. but, once it leaves my post office and normally my state, i lose track of it, even if it's labeled (and paid for) as signature required.

the last one i lost was going to canada and was for $100+ earlier in the year. this time, the item was going to australia and was $850. i dropped it off at the post office on 8/4/13, left the state on 8/5/13, then dropped off the face of the earth and has yet to reach the buyer (or so the buyer claims). i can't even get any further information from the usps web site.

i'm still holding out hope that it shows up...but with my track record with international shipping...i'm thinking i may have to figure out how the insurance thing works with the bay.

the sad thing is, my auction didn't even allow for international buyers. but the buyer was somehow able to use the buy it now option. and i figured, as long as i get insurance, then should be okay...sigh...

anyone have any other ideas on how to ship internationally, safely? if not, sorry all you non-usa collectors, i gotta completely stop selling internationally.

[aktlingit]

I stopped doing international for similar reasons. Lost and damaged too much stuff.

Did your auction somehow end up allowing the new eBay Global Shipping? I haven't created any new auctions in a while so not sure if they default to this now but I do remember reading on this. Seems like the last one I created I had to disable International Bidders and Global Shipping as two separate items. It's got it's perks though, I just didn't feel like going through it in it's early days. Basically with this you can sell internationally, ship to an eBay processing center and they take care of the international shipping portion.

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/...ogram.html

[kstjst]

It was odd because I thought I disabled it too. When I go back to the auction it states "Ships to: United States." So in retrospect, I should have just canceled that guys win.

I do want to someday have my items go centrally to the ebay processing center, but I can't figure out how to do that properly. It keeps giving me the rates that I had first set up, which was ridiculous because I thought I had to be the one charging them for the international rate.

I stopped doing international for similar reasons. Lost and damaged too much stuff.

Did your auction somehow end up allowing the new eBay Global Shipping? I haven't created any new auctions in a while so not sure if they default to this now but I do remember reading on this. Seems like the last one I created I had to disable International Bidders and Global Shipping as two separate items. It's got it's perks though, I just didn't feel like going through it in it's early days. Basically with this you can sell internationally, ship to an eBay processing center and they take care of the international shipping portion.

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/...ogram.html

[SGC300ier]

I absolutely hate shipping things internationally. That includes Canada. I too, made my auctions for the states only, but still, people from all over are bidding on my stuff. It drives me nuts, because for the most part, I have to guess what the shipping is going to cost, and it never seems to be right and I lose money.

Too much of a hassle.

[animie67]

I hope you will still ship to U.S. Military overseas. The only issue I ever had while stationed in Japan was 1 card was lost from a seller in Canada (I think he messed up on the shipping address). The way it works for our military is that it will go to a USPS facility (usually L.A. or San Fran for Japan), placed on either a U.S. military plane or a government contracted one that flies out here daily. Then it is sorted at one of our military postal facilities and then finally sent to our post office. If you put a DC, Reg, or Sig confirm it still can be tracked to where the individual is stationed at.

[alfredoleal2001]

Have you thought about sending them via DHL or some other company???