Topic: Shipping Emergency!! Help!

[robdrobd]

I put an exhaust on feebay and someone in South Africa might buy it!! How the heck do I ship to SA? Any South African Members out there that can help? Or better yet, US members that have shipped to South Africa?

[Eddie]

UPS will be outragous...prob $5-600
Fed-x - If you know someone who shipps Fed-X they might be able to do it a lot cheaper. They have a program called "Best rate" for export....prob $2-250.
USPS...not sure...check with your post office. Problem with USPS is you cant track it very well and a major pain in the a*#.... I would only ship to another counrty if they paid by wire transfer..NOT PayPal..   Hope that helps..

[Bonesaw]

I shipped computer parts to France once via USPS, they sent it registered mail. I know they said they could not track it and I don't remember if it was able to be insured.

[malcolmgb]

I would only ship to another counrty if they paid by wire transfer..NOT PayPal..   Hope that helps..

Why do you say that, I thought wire is less secure especially Western Union, I always use Paypal.

[robdrobd]

I had to block all bidders from South Africa. Cheapest I could find was almost $1000 shipping

[Eddie]

Why ? Paypal can yank the money back if the receiver of the part says he never received it. So USPS would be out for me...I doubt the guy in SA would pay the $$$ to have it shipped UPS or even Fed-X. Direct wire transfer to your account is probably the most secure...they can send you money but there is no way they can get it out. I use a totaly seperate bank account for Paypal and keep the funds just low enough to keep it open. Paypal will not help the receiver of funds if there is a problem...I know for a fact..

[toytuff]

I always state USA only just for that reason.

Not going to deal with it.

tt

[robdrobd]

Africa seems to pose the most problems. I have shipped everywhere else fairly easily

[malcolmgb]

Some countries in S.Africa can be a 'Black Hole' no pun intended, think Nigeria, I have heard stories first hand of both goods and cash disappearing.
Paypal will freeze cash in a dispute and investigate the claim, again a first hand story involving my daughter and eBay sales, they found in her favour and released the funds back to her, she lives in the US.

[ttr400]

I Live in South Africa, (yes this is a country) Africa is a continent..!! Nigeria is another country in Africa...

Shipping to or from SA is no different to shipping anywhere else in the world, I ship all over the world from a small parcel using the postal service (called posting an item) or an airfreight company for larger items like engines. (this is called shipping, airfreight or sea freight, not so common these days).

Just received some pistons from dynaman sent express mail, arrived in 5 days. The best way to send parts from the US is via express or priority mail, this you can track via the USPS website right up to customs. The most economical way for any large part is via airfreight (I use a company called Toll international, they have offices all over the world) and shipped only to the nearest international airport. you can also ship this way to SA. collection from the airport. There is also no import duties on motorcycle parts, only VAT on the declared value.

The most common way the world does business is with international bank transfers, EFT, Swift etc, this is the most secure.
Paypal, did you know it was a South African who started paypal, he then sold it to ebay for.........plenty. he now lives in LA I believe and is developing space ships, what he says will be the first commercial venture into space.

I have found the worst country to ship to is Italy. I have found the slowest to receive from is Canada.

Kevin

[Raul CB750K1]

Why ? Paypal can yank the money back if the receiver of the part says he never received it. So USPS would be out for me...I doubt the guy in SA would pay the $$$ to have it shipped UPS or even Fed-X. Direct wire transfer to your account is probably the most secure...they can send you money but there is no way they can get it out. I use a totaly seperate bank account for Paypal and keep the funds just low enough to keep it open. Paypal will not help the receiver of funds if there is a problem...I know for a fact..

That can happen with an american buyer too. I have more than 1000 ebay transactions, most of them purchases. I believe that feedback is still an asset.

Many times the seller will say: "sorry I only send insured", and many times, the overcost of insurance is close to the item alone! So I retort: "listen, it is stupid to pay 100% of the article price for the insurance, when the chances of it being lost are less than 1%. I run the risk, send it regular mail. Never had any problem, and if I had, I would have kept my word and declare the item lost.

Insurance protects the seller, at the expense of the buyer. If I'm the buyer, I want to decide if I want to run the risk. The ebay messages can act as a disclaimer for the seller, in case I file a complaint to Paypal. But as I did, I believe that when a seller sells me an item and I have plenty of positive feedback, it helps to win some confidence.

I understand it gives some uneasyness to send things to strange addresses, that some strange post company will deliver, so you will lose track of it once it flies beyond the US border. But there are many countries apart from US with honest people, honest postmen, and efficient  post services. Overcome your fears and don't refuse to sell abroad, try first with low cost items. You will see that it can be a smooth transaction, the same than with a countrymen. And I personally enjoy the fact to receive things from other countries, so I guess many other people is dying to buy from US.

Not blocking foreign bidders means having more bidders, and that means more chances to have a bidding war and higher selling prices. The more restrictive you are, the less potential buyers, and so the lower price. You may get scammed every now and then, but if you check the buyer profile, at the end of the day you are better off selling worldwide.


Can you imagine if the chinese would sell only to chinese people? I have bought from chinese many times, the prices are ridiculously low, and the rate of loss is 0%.