posted on July 6, 2005 10:13:50 AM new
I'm about to murder someone in Canada right now. By the request of the owner, we ship to international destinations via FedEx Express only (and I am obliged to enforce the policy whether I approve or not). This is specified very clearly in the listing.
In fact, the first thing our invoice says is: *****NOTE: IF YOU ARE SHIPPING OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES, DO -NOT- CHECK OUT. Reply to this email and tell us your country of origin so we can adjust your shipping costs.*****
Also, our Vendio checkout is set up such that international bidders have a default price of $150.00 shipping and handling. This forces them to contact us such that we adjust it to a more reasonable price. (This reduced the incidence of foreign bidders conveniently paying domestic shipping by 99%.)
Yet, someone from Canada somehow neglected to read "for the continential US only" in the same sentence as $9.00 shipping and handling, skipped over that paragraph in the invoice, and somehow bypassed Vendio and wound up paying only the $9.00 US S&H cost. She paid by a MO too, not Paypal. I am so friggin' sick of this. At least the owner gave me his full approval to stick my ground and to charge her full FedEx Express price rather than using USPS Letter Post or whatever.
posted on July 6, 2005 10:36:15 AM new
I would just send them an email stating that on arrive of the money order - you will pack the item for shipping and will be happy to ship as soon as the ADDITIONAL shipping cost of XXX is received.
Thank you for your bid.
posted on July 6, 2005 11:09:55 AM new
He may think you made a mistake of stating 150 for intl shipping and decided 9.00 is more reasonable for shipping to Canada.
You cannot always assume people will negotiate with you on the 150 shipping.
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on July 6, 2005 12:32:09 PM new
I took ladyjewels2000's recommendation, thanked her for her prompt partial payment and told her that we would be happy to ship the item as soon as we got $XX.XX for FedEx International Express shipping to Canada.
Actually, the $150.00 shows up as a "****NOT ACTUAL CHARGE CONTACT SELLER FIRST****" shipping method, as opposed to "FedEx Ground" or whatever....
I'm just fed up with international buyers who pay domestic shipping, and there are now so many safeguards & warnings that I no longer believe that such charges are accidental.
posted on July 6, 2005 01:50:17 PM new
whatever the difference is between the $9.00 s & h you were paid and what you really wanted for the s & h, is it worth potentially losing a future customer over?
example: i recently purchased a resale item - ironically, from a fellow canuck. somehow, i managed to underpay him the princely sum of $1.15. rather than just send the item along, i was required to spend another 60 cents postage to canada, another check, etc. i seldom recall underpaying. but unless i really want something from him, i probably won't be buying from him in the future.
another suggestion - if i saw where someone quoted a blanket $150 for international s & h, i'd be ticked. (i live in the states.) i'd try to make it sound a little more "user friendly."
posted on July 6, 2005 02:22:04 PM new
if you are fed up with intl bidders,why not block them? sell to domestic bidders only!!
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on July 6, 2005 03:56:43 PM new
Stop...That's a far too drastic action to take when there is a simple solution. Shelly only has to write a one paragraph description in English. The second paragraph will be the same description in Spanish. The third will be the same in French. Each subsequent paragraph can be typed in the native language of the countries she sells to. So she has a 180 paragraph description in as many languages. So what? It will prevent any possibility of miscommunication with the customer, unless he lives in Arkansas.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on July 7, 2005 09:10:24 AM new
The vast majority of our International Bidders are wonderful people to deal with. We sell many rare things that they cannot easily find in their own country, and as such they are very willing to pay for FedEx Express shipping.
It's only the very few international bidders who skip over all the warnings & pay U.S. shipping that present problems. I refuse to believe that is accidental any more than the few instances where we had a buyer from our home state (which requires sales tax) put down a state different from the home state (even the city & zip code will be correct--just the state is wrong), pay the amount minus the sales tax, and say "oops we put down the wrong state, please ship to XX instead of XX."
posted on July 7, 2005 09:20:00 AM new
We use to sell internationally, and were taken so often by foreign buyeers, that we quit. For 3 or 4 years, we sold domestically only - then a few months ago, I jumped back into the international market.
After 2 or 3 months of experience with foreign buyers, and their automatically paying domestic shipping rates, although our (TOS) check out clearly states that if you are outside the USA, or its territories, you must contact us for shipping costs.
The international buyers are simply skipping over contacting us regarding foreign shipping, and I am sick of all the hassle. We are returning to Domestic Shipping only, that is to the USA, and its territories.
Those who like the hassle of foreign buyers, you are most welcome to mine. I can do much more constructive work to produce more income, with the time it takes to e-mail back and forth with some foreign customer, who refuses to read all the TOS.
Bye Bye Foreign buyers..
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
posted on July 7, 2005 02:40:50 PM new
I sell to International customers a lot and I would not stop.
I have been lucky to get great buyers who read. But when I get an International customer who pays USA shipping I just paypal there money back with the correct cost and there never is a problem. When this happens the buyers are very polite and apologize for not checking before paying.
posted on July 9, 2005 10:14:38 AM new
Two comments.
First, vintagepostcardsdotorg
posted on July 6, 2005 01:50:17 PM
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whatever the difference is between the $9.00 s & h you were paid and what you really wanted for the s & h, is it worth potentially losing a future customer over?
Are you kidding me? An item that ships for $9 in the US is likely going to ship for over $20 internationally. I am not going to eat those charges for no one. But then again, actually sold anything of substance you would understand.
Second, shellyyes
How about stepping up to the plate when you have an international buyer. All of those using checkout (not just shelly) seem to think they do not have to do any work on their end. How about keeping track of your auctions and when you do get the international buyer, go in and figure the proper shipping amount right away. Then send them a correct invoice so they know what the proper charges are right from the get go.
There is a saying, if don't have the time to do it right the first time, where are you going to get the time to fix it and do it right the second time?
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Alive in 2005
posted on July 11, 2005 07:32:56 AM new
Outside of many foreign bidders sending U.S. shipping fees, I find the e-mail interaction on foreign shipments to be too time consuming. With 4 web sites, and working 3 auction sites, the addition of the foreign bidder, and back and forth e-mails to me is NOT worth the time; and time is money to me.
I openly admit, I have an idiosyncrasy about e-mail - I hate e-mail, particularly from buyers. Everything they need to know is on the ad. When I first started back in the mid 1990,’s I was thrilled with every e-mail and sent very personal, friendly responses. However, that was in the early days when getting 2 or 3 e-mails a day was a thrill. Today, when we get a zillion e-mails a day, with questions clearly answered on the ad, it just irritates me.
I may be alone in my dislike of e-mail, it is not just buyers, it includes friends and acquaintances with nothing more to do but to send out endless “urban legends,” jokes, etc.
I view most e-mail as a disease I must endure to have a productive e-commerce business, but I do not have to like it. I do have the maturity to respond respectfully, and politely, regardless of how I really feel.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
I would wager that a high percentage of international bidders are going to ship US anyway. This past week I had 4 international auction winners. 1 Canadian is going to ship to the US, 1 Canadian is actually having a local friend pick it up at my shop, and the other 2 are going internationally.
So, for me, an e-mail correspondence makes more sense than sending an invoice right away to their home country. It is not laziness to not want to do unnecessary work.
And anyway, for those wise people who prefer UPS shipping to USPS (even though it costs more), I need their postal code, not just their country.
posted on July 11, 2005 04:26:00 PM new
well, stone, i do actually sell a lot of items of "substance," as you put it. maybe i just have good luck with my international buyers, as the most i've been stiffed on with s & h is about 60 cents
posted on July 12, 2005 01:24:46 PM new
My shipping gives a flat rate "Shipping & Handling (to USA)" and leaves it at that. I leave NO option for international until they ask for it.
Then I edit and add "Shipping & Handling (to XXX)" and let them use the vendio checkout.
If you're not using Vendio, you're missing out on a GREAT tool! You don't even have to list through vendio to use it and now it interfaces with ebay so that ebay routes them to vendio when they do the ebay checkout.
AND if they are an international buyer, they CANNOT pick a US option! It's that simple. In the rare case where they want something shipped to a USA address, you can just quote them that amount (or they have to fill in the USA address to begin with and it's no problem).
------ "Bend over backward for the customer. Don't bend forward."
