Thread: Shipping to outside the US

There seem to be quite a lot of people on ebay who (in their listings) only ship to the country they live in (sometimes the continent). So I was wondering, do any of you ever ask people if they will ship to you, for instance asking someone who's listed something as shipping only within the US to ship it to Europe? And what do the sellers usually say?

When asked most non-commercial sellers will send overseas.
I have seen Italy and Third World Countries boycotted by some due to bad experiences in the past.

Commercial vendors often don't want the additional hassle of going to the post office to work out costs for postage and insurance.

Morale of the story: ASK!

I'm with Kees. I don't even ask if; I ask how much.

I've found the same, though there does seem a marked reluctance from US sellers to ship overseas - no idea why.

i ask if i really want it. most times i just use ebay.ca that way i know everything can be shipped to me.

most people are accomodating, although i had one seller that refused to ship from the US to Canada because it wasn't covered under paypal? (tell that to the other 50 sellers in the US i've bought from ) I even said i would assume all responsibility and he just said "Sorry, it doesn't work like that" but thats the beauty of bureaucracy. So i went and bought the same damn razor from another seller fro $20 cheaper who WAS willing to ship to Canada.

Thanks for the answers, guys!

I ship hones all over the world. It's extra work to do so but I just consider it to be one of the services I offer to the SRPers. The extra work is a form that takes about five minutes to fill out, take to the Post Office, answer their questions, etc. I also pack extra well and that takes extra time and materials (read "money"). But, when I get an email from a guy in Mongolia who says "Howard! Your packaging survived the Chinese postal system! Thanks!" well, that's priceless. And now a guy in Mongolia can get a decent shave and join in with us all here.

What is interesting to me about shipping to the global market is as follows. First, shipping my Select grade belgian stones back to Belgium to people who can only get Euro grade stones there was a real shocker! Second, sending Norton and DMT stones to Europe was a big surprise as people can't get them in many countries there. Third, my prices even with shipping, are lower than local prices in places like Australia, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Slovakia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, etc.

I also ship to military addresses which also seems to be something vendors are reluctant to do. That always blows my mind as I value the job those folks are doing wherever in the world they happen to be serving. I also discount to them and, as its usually a flat rate USPS box, I throw in a book or two, some candy bars, etc. to let them know we care and support their work.

The last thing I'll say about this is that most people value the time I spend with them on the phone or in emails and come back as repeat customers. They don't get that with eBay stores or abrasive businesses where an order-taker answers the phone and has never sharpened anything in her life. Like anyone else, I do get the occasional person who is . . . hard to please . . . but no one can say they were mistreated by me or were ever taken advantage of through misrepresentation. In the world of internet sales, I understand from all of your feedback, that is somewhat rare.

Howard
www.theperfectedge.com