Topic: Ebay US ONLY sales?

[motorcycleclaude75]

Hey Everybody,

I have a bit of a rant today .  I'm trying to understand why quite a few Ebay items are only sold in the United States and not to CANADA.

I have come across some great parts that I would buy but I can't since the seller won't ship to Canada.  I don't understand this since the buyer pays the shipping and it's usually way more expensive but we are willing to pay.  Sure there is an extra customs form to fill out but how hard can that be?

Now I understand, it's quite complicated to sell a vehicle cross border but why so much reluctance to sell parts?  It's a significant market that is being missed and Canadians miss out on a lot of great parts.

Please enlighten me!

Claude

[motorcycleclaude75]

Hi Jim,

I have tried "ask seller" option and I have been refused several times, hence my posting.  Also I did discover USPS vs UPS the hard way but several people aren't aware of this.  The brokerage fees UPS charges is plain "highway robbery".

Claude

[ProTeal55]

Allot of people don't wanna deal with the hassles/extra effort that is involved in shipping across
the border. I did it once, quoted a way low shipping rate, and ended up making about $10 bucks on the deal 

When I sell stuff on the Bay, I usually say US orders only, unless the wanna-be buyer emails me a specific request...

[Gordon]

Most sellers don't realize that it only takes about 30 seconds extra (one customs form) at the post office to send a package to Canada.
Also they may not feel like quoting two different shipping prices in the listing.  I always offer to ship worldwide and have never had any problems, if they're willing to pay the shipping, that's fine with me.

 Just think of it this way, if they don't want your money, why would you want to give it to them? 

[csendker]

If it's something you really, really want, you can try having it shipped to one of us USA guys and then we resend it.  I live in Buffalo, heck I can meet the Toronto or southern Ontario guys at the border and just hand it to them. Unless it's something major, the border patrol probably won't know or care about some junk rattling around the trunk - just tell them we're heading to 'the Canadian Ballet' for the evening.

[BobbyR]

I would always put in my Sales U.S. and Canada only. The form is more of a a pain in the butt than it was, and it is tracked. I think a lot of sellers are afraid of the IRS getting that info. Little do they know, Ebay will turn all your records over to any Government Agency who requests them. Some may also confuse Canada with a foreign Country. While it is a Sovereign Nation, it is hardly Foreign.  

[upperlake04]

 thanks BobbyR  -  mcclaude - I have had the same problem several times. Twice the seller cheerfully gave me a (reasonable) shipping quote to Canada, the other time the reason for not shipping here was - wait for it- 'you guys aren't in Irag with us'     The multi flags waving in his ad should have given me a clue.

[Gordon]

I've seen problems on ebay before where the seller selects the "Will ship to North America" option for the listing, and then gets pissed when someone from Canada wins the auction!    Just one more example that it doesn't take much brains to use a computer...

[Bob Wessner]

What sort of parts are we talking about here? I've mailed some small things to members in Canada via USPS, no form, no hassle and they got there as fast, if not faster than if I mailed them to an address within the States.

[csendker]

So much for NAFTA.

[mennedy]

I wrote something about this on another thread but here it is again.

I always send the email to the seller enquiring as to sales to Canada and explain that all they need to do is pick up a customs declaration form at the Post Office, mark it as Used/New Japanese Motorcycle Parts (not M/C parts) and put down a declared value - the sale price. Throw it in the mail and your done. There is no duty on any Japanese (only Japanese) parts coming into Canada. Never been refused by a seller.

I worked for Cdn Tax Dept for 25 yrs (I escaped from that Federal Institution 4 years ago!) and have confirmed with Customs just lately. The receiver will pay GST and $5 for Canada Post to clear a smaller item.

I know from experience that people are intimidated by "forms" and "process" that they don't know anything about. Give them the knowledge and their objections disappear.

[Raul CB750K1]

I never really pay attention wether the seller is willing to ship to Spain or not. When I'm interested in the item, I bid for it. Then two things can happen.

a) I'm not allowed to bid because the seller has set up restrictions. Then I contact the seller and I have had three different experiences:

a.1) The seller remove the restriction and let me bid.
a.2) The seller insist he's not willing to ship to Spain, regardles of my good feedback and my payment account. Then, when I see the article has sold for the starting price I kindly email him again reminding that the more buyers are permitted to bid, the higher the final value will be.
a.3) The seller just ignore me, and so do I with him.


b) I bid and win the item. Then two things happen:

b.1. The seller tells me that the item was not available outside US. I insist about my good feedback and my quick payment, but if he prefers not to complete the transaction I move along and vote him positive.
b.2. The seller agrees to complete the transaction. I sometimes discuss the price because they try to "cover their asses" and give sometimes a high quote. When the item arrives, if the difference is about 6-7 bucks, I ask for a partial refund, that I get 90% of the times. I must say that if the seller has fall short I also send the difference.

Being fluent in english and being able to pay quickly is something any seller appreciate. They can be a little afraid at the beginning about scammers, but it all depends in where you live.

Raul

[Carbine]

'you guys aren't in Irag with us' 

You could tell him that there are Canadian boys dying in the 'Ghan under fire a lot lately. Canada is doing what it can. However, back to the string at hand.  Most sellers will sell to Canada if asked prior to the auction closing. If your going to start using Ebay to aquire stuff, I would find a U.S. shipping address. A family member, a friend, or take up the kind offer of the many nice Americans on these SOHC boards to accept the parts on your behalf. Once you have a U.S. addy in place, start bidding! When you win, use the 'Ask a Seller a Question' option right after the auction ends, tell him, that yes, you are in Canada, and you have a alternate U.S. shipping address. Put in the question you would prefer he shipped to your Canadian address, but he has the option of using your alternate U.S. address. Chances are he will just ship it to you in Canada. Once he finds out how easy it is, you might notice he changes the his shipping preferences on his listings in the future, to USA/Canada, or even Worldwide! And that makes it better for everybody!! Cheers! Peter

[6pkrunner]

I know a bunch of guys in the US who will buy these "US only" sales and send them to me. If there is something you really want and they will not ship outside the 48, PM me and I can get it for you. I'm in Canada also.

[BobbyR]

I never ship overseas, there is too much fraud. I lost some serious money on vintage audio i sent over to Europe. Canada is fine since credit card transactions are processed using the same systems as the U.S. Canadians always used US addresses for Satellite TV gear, which I think would not make it through Customs.

[Raul CB750K1]

I never ship overseas, there is too much fraud. I lost some serious money on vintage audio i sent over to Europe. Canada is fine since credit card transactions are processed using the same systems as the U.S. Canadians always used US addresses for Satellite TV gear, which I think would not make it through Customs.

How is it possible to make a fraud when paying with Paypal? To open my Paypal account I had to undergo the same scrutiny process, with the activation code on the credit card statement and the like.


There is one thing that pissed me off. A couple of times, american buyers who agreed to sell me the items, once the transaction was completed and the feedback exchanged, claimed the fees back, and eBay cancelled my account for a month. I'm dealing lately with a german #$%* who gave me a wrong account data, I made the wire transfer and his bank returned it -taking 30 euro from my money as a fee-, and the guy opened a non paying alert. Well, actually he opened fourteen non-paying alerts as I won 14 of his auctions. I wrote eBay beforehand and they -surprisingly- replied my email and told me to reply the dispute first, and if something go wrong to contact them again. I have about 500 feedback, the seller, just 12. But I'm not so positive that those eBay people wont' take action against my account.


From my point of view, a seller shouldn't refuse to sell to anybody. The more bidders, the higher the final value. If at the end you don't want to sell you just offer it to the second bidder. During the time I became an eBay seller to get rid of some collectables I was pissed off by some people buying and not paying. Then I realized that it didn't make sense to ban them to bid, as if they were the only bidders it really didn't make any difference -you can always claim your fees back-, and if a serious buyer happens to win the auction then the better for you!!! It's like if somebody is doing you a favour, you don't even need to open a second account or ask a friend to bid on your auctions to jack up the price!!!


Raul

[Sam Green Racing]

Raul,

as soon as I saw this thread I remembered your postings on the subject.

Like as already been said, get one of your mates get it for you, I do.

Thats what we are here for, to help whenever we can, not to just take take take.

Regards Sam.

[Raul CB750K1]

Raul,

as soon as I saw this thread I remembered your postings on the subject.

Like as already been said, get one of your mates get it for you, I do.

Thats what we are here for, to help whenever we can, not to just take take take.

Regards Sam.

Sam, thanks for the nice offer. Actually one of my brothers is living in LA, so I should have no trouble with a US address. In general, that would mean paying shipping twice and it would make the part more expensive. As I generally buy CB350 parts, it always appears again sooner or later.

In fact, it's been a while since I don't buy bike parts from the US. I'm buying lately from Germany, as the CB350 was sold there and the shipping is cheaper. I've bought lots of books from the US. As I say, I don't like to press sellers. If they are not willing to do, I just wait for another one to pop out. I must say that in 500 transactions it's been just 4 or 5 times that the seller has refused to complete the transaction.

My problem is that I can't stop buying parts that I already have. I have three clutch covers, but if another one appears and the starting bid is one buck I will try to be the only bidder and get it for the shipping price, even when I don't need it. Is there a cure for that?

I'm already in debt with many people from this forum. Terry sent me the Vegemite sample -BTW, I found it in the box I knew it was, I hope to have the chance soon to make a blog about it-, Mike Rieck bought and sent me some copper grease and the other day I asked him to buy me some Yamabond, to which he agreed gleefully. Bryan Jones sent me a CB350 brochure for free the other day. This forum is full of friendly people, I don't mind asking for a favour if the need arises. I rather don't ask my brother to buy me some copper grease, who knows what will he send me... ;-)





Raul

[clarkjh]

I'm 30min drive from Houlton Maine and am think very hard about getting a box at the USPS office there, under $70 US for a year.  Hell of lot easier walking a part through customs then waiting for it to clear in a Bonded warehouse.

James

[Sam Green Racing]

Not a bad idea Jimmy lad

Raul, you just mentioned 3 top guys in your last paragraph.

Sam.

[Raul CB750K1]

Not a bad idea Jimmy lad

Raul, you just mentioned 3 top guys in your last paragraph.

Sam.

I feel in debt with many people here, that even without having sent me anything, had shared with me his experience and good humour. I forgot that Terry also sent me a Classic Bike magazine featuring the CB750, and so did Mike with a Motorcyclist magazine and the World Cycles article. That's only material things.


Raul

[Sam Green Racing]

And that Terry was good enough to give you your ball back

[motorcycleclaude75]

Hi Everyone,

A lot of interesting point of views.  Thanks for all the input, but it still sucks.

Claude

[BobbyR]

I never ship overseas, there is too much fraud. I lost some serious money on vintage audio i sent over to Europe. Canada is fine since credit card transactions are processed using the same systems as the U.S. Canadians always used US addresses for Satellite TV gear, which I think would not make it through Customs.

How is it possible to make a fraud when paying with Paypal? To open my Paypal account I had to undergo the same scrutiny process, with the activation code on the credit card statement and the like.


There is one thing that pissed me off. A couple of times, american buyers who agreed to sell me the items, once the transaction was completed and the feedback exchanged, claimed the fees back, and eBay cancelled my account for a month. I'm dealing lately with a german #$%* who gave me a wrong account data, I made the wire transfer and his bank returned it -taking 30 euro from my money as a fee-, and the guy opened a non paying alert. Well, actually he opened fourteen non-paying alerts as I won 14 of his auctions. I wrote eBay beforehand and they -surprisingly- replied my email and told me to reply the dispute first, and if something go wrong to contact them again. I have about 500 feedback, the seller, just 12. But I'm not so positive that those eBay people wont' take action against my account.


From my point of view, a seller shouldn't refuse to sell to anybody. The more bidders, the higher the final value. If at the end you don't want to sell you just offer it to the second bidder. During the time I became an eBay seller to get rid of some collectables I was pissed off by some people buying and not paying. Then I realized that it didn't make sense to ban them to bid, as if they were the only bidders it really didn't make any difference -you can always claim your fees back-, and if a serious buyer happens to win the auction then the better for you!!! It's like if somebody is doing you a favour, you don't even need to open a second account or ask a friend to bid on your auctions to jack up the price!!!


Raul

Raul, PayPal is not that secure. They depend on the Credit Card Companies ability to identify stolen numbers and the like. The Process outside the US is really not as good as in the US. In the US the crooks got an early start so the sytems are better. The seller has a right to protect themselves as much as you have the right to buy. I was a very active ebay trader and we were given fake Bank issued Checks, which is why we call the bank to verify it is real. If I were to sell you a part I have no doubt that the money would show up. Mike Reick sent me some carb boots prior to my sending him a check. Here we are a community. On ebay any person can bid on your item, and a lot of dishonest people take advantage of it. 8 years ago, I had no ebay problems, now I rarely sell anymore. I would have no problem forwarding products from here in NY to my friends overseas.

[csendker]

USPS office there

Careful, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc generally doesn't ship to a PO Box.  There are several UPS-brand, Kinco, MailBoxes, etc stores that have mail boxes that are essentially PO boxes, but the delivery is to a real street address, thus avoiding the PO Box cunundrum.