Chinese buyers

[ringvagen]

Anyone have experiance of buyers from china. I ask because I send a sideshow statue to china and him claim it was broken I now formyself it was no problem when I send the statue.

 

[EVILFACE]

Don't send stuff to china.

 

[Super Goblin]

Yeah I learned early on to not sell anything on eBay to anyone outside the US.

 

[Vivek]

There are chances it was opened and mishandled by customs. You need to inform the buyer that you can't cover for damages caused by their customs.

Lot of statues collectors in India face similar problems on a regular basis.

Which is why I stopped shipping items directly to me. Cause a US seller will have to use USPS to keep international shipping costs lower. And though USPS is great for US shipping, once it reaches the international destination, it's at the mercy of the customs and post office of that country. Hence even USPS can't be held responsible if the item was damaged in the buyer's country.

I now use a parcel forwarding service and ship all my US purchases to my NY shipping address. And that company forwards it internationally to me through their private courier. It's insured and thus they make sure it's not delayed or damaged by customs. They likely have some agreement and understanding with various customs as they have to forward large shipments intact on a daily basis.

ringvagen, if you had offered tracking to your shipment, check when it reached the buyer's destination and see how long it was delayed at customs. Sometimes that might help to make the case that the item was detained and thus was damaged during the inspection.

 

[Darklord Dave]

This hobby is truly international and to say "don't sell internationally" will insure you'll never get true value for anything selling on the secondary market. I've been selling a bunch of Hot Toys on ebay and 90% of the buyers have been international - Mexico, Russia, France, Philippines, etc. Just take the insurance option when shipping.

 

[Boba Ben]

I once sold something on ebay to a person in Mexico. It went missing for three months until it was finally delivered the guy. It was apparently held in customs. I haven't really been keen on selling anything outside of the U.S. since that happened.

 

[RavenEye]

I do custom orders for people, UK and France it takes 2 weeks for parcel deliveries. Have a forum member here who commissioned me destination is in Belgium, so I'll see how it goes.

 

[brebro]

I only sell within the USA, but at least two times my auctions have been won by someone in Mexico who had me send it to someone in a border state like Texas, who I assume sent it on or held it for them. Probably not feasible with China buyers.

 

[robbiethepainter]

I have been selling truly all over the world. Some countries are better then others. Some are hit and miss. I have been lucking in not having big things to ship so the likely hood of a major catastrophe hasn't happened. Even though prices are much higher, going with a private company gives me a greater since of comfort, because it can be tracked. My Post guys always say "Once it leaves the US, there isn't much we can do."

 

[GE 7]

There are chances it was opened and mishandled by customs. You need to inform the buyer that you can't cover for damages caused by their customs.

Lot of statues collectors in India face similar problems on a regular basis.

Which is why I stopped shipping items directly to me. Cause a US seller will have to use USPS to keep international shipping costs lower. And though USPS is great for US shipping, once it reaches the international destination, it's at the mercy of the customs and post office of that country. Hence even USPS can't be held responsible if the item was damaged in the buyer's country.

I now use a parcel forwarding service and ship all my US purchases to my NY shipping address. And that company forwards it internationally to me through their private courier. It's insured and thus they make sure it's not delayed or damaged by customs. They likely have some agreement and understanding with various customs as they have to forward large shipments intact on a daily basis.

ringvagen, if you had offered tracking to your shipment, check when it reached the buyer's destination and see how long it was delayed at customs. Sometimes that might help to make the case that the item was detained and thus was damaged during the inspection.

in NY! I think we both use the same freight forwarding company "Aramex"

This hobby is truly international and to say "don't sell internationally" will insure you'll never get true value for anything selling on the secondary market. I've been selling a bunch of Hot Toys on ebay and 90% of the buyers have been international - Mexico, Russia, France, Philippines, etc. Just take the insurance option when shipping.

Actually I am from Saudi Arabia but I agree partly with what the guys say about not shipping internationally.
One of my first figures was from a seller in the US who ship internationally and I asked him to ship directly to me to Saudi Arabia and I am still waiting for my shipment.. for over a year now.
Then I decided to go with a freight forwarding company who gave me an address in the US and they collect my shipments and reship them to my country, and since then I had over 70 shipments and never had a problem with a lost or a damaged one.

So my suggestion is, do not ship to a country who don't have a strong mail system or have over a billion people living in it, if they are a frequent buyers they would have a forwarding address in the US.

 

[potato]

Compare to normal postage, how much in % do you have to pay extra per shipment?

I doubt many people has a forwarding address. If this is the case many people will have a Japanese Forwarding address so they can enjoy the ease & price of shopping from Japan.

in NY! I think we both use the same freight forwarding company "Aramex"

So my suggestion is, do not ship to a country who don't have a strong mail system or have over a billion people living in it, if they are a frequent buyers they would have a forwarding address in the US.

 

[CloudN]

Anyone have experiance of buyers from china. I ask because I send a sideshow statue to china and him claim it was broken I now formyself it was no problem when I send the statue.

Ask him to take pictures and see how it's damaged. Also , just want to confirm that the statue is in it's original packings.

 

[GE 7]

Compare to normal postage, how much in % do you have to pay extra per shipment?

I doubt many people has a forwarding address. If this is the case many people will have a Japanese Forwarding address so they can enjoy the ease & price of shopping from Japan.

It's per pound, the first pound cost $18.3 and starting from the 2nd pound it will cost $10
So, I will have to pay for the shipping in the US+forwarding company charges.

Actually these forwarding companies give you multiple addresses, the company I am dealing with gives me a US, UK, China, India, Turkey and Dubai addresses.

 

[potato]

Kinda expensive, a reason why i don't shop direct from Japan using these 3rd parties. Unless the there's no other way or the price is that cheap that it's worth it.

It's per pound, the first pound cost $18.3 and starting from the 2nd pound it will cost $10
So, I will have to pay for the shipping in the US+forwarding company charges.

Actually these forwarding companies give you multiple addresses, the company I am dealing with gives me a US, UK, China, India, Turkey and Dubai addresses.

 

[Vivek]

in NY! I think we both use the same freight forwarding company "Aramex"

There are many other mail/parcel forwarding companies who also offer NY addresses, but yes I too use Aramex through Shopandship.com .

Compare to normal postage, how much in % do you have to pay extra per shipment?

It's differs from company to company. I would say sometimes it's even cheaper than sending it directly via USPS for smaller packages. Some offer better prices if you have a monthly fee plan. If not, it's charged per pound per shipment. Some site have the basic price of around $30 per pound. Some combine your shipments, some don't. Every time I look at ebay listing with USPS pricing, the minimum to ship a action figure internationally is usually $25 and above. It's standard shipping with no tracking and would take 2 to 3 weeks or more to reach me.

The site I am using is the same as mentioned by member GE 7, they actually charge $10 for the first pound, then it's $18 till 2 pounds and so on. It works out $8 per additional pound. For $42 I can ship 5 pounds. And best of it's all insured. Anything below $100 is insured for free and then it's $1 for every $100. They don't combine shipments. But they offer the best deal in terms of pricing when compared to other sites. And the item reaches me within 5 to 8 working days.

https://heavyfuture.blogspot.in/2012/10/shopandshipcom-offers-protection.html
I wrote a blog post about it last year when they announced the insurance against damaged goods.

I doubt many people has a forwarding address. If this is the case many people will have a Japanese Forwarding address so they can enjoy the ease & price of shopping from Japan.

I rarely use it, but I do have a different company (vPost) for my Japanese shipments, so I can buy items from Amazon.co.jp and other Japanese sites if needed. Used it twice so far and had no problems with it.

 

[Darklord Dave]

There are many other mail/parcel forwarding companies who also offer NY addresses, but yes I too use Aramex through Shopandship.com .


It's differs from company to company. I would say sometimes it's even cheaper than sending it directly via USPS for smaller packages. Some offer better prices if you have a monthly fee plan. If not, it's charged per pound per shipment. Some site have the basic price of around $30 per pound. Some combine your shipments, some don't. Every time I look at ebay listing with USPS pricing, the minimum to ship a action figure internationally is usually $25 and above. It's standard shipping with no tracking and would take 2 to 3 weeks or more to reach me.

The site I am using is the same as mentioned by member GE 7, they actually charge $10 for the first pound, then it's $18 till 2 pounds and so on. It works out $8 per additional pound. For $42 I can ship 5 pounds. And best of it's all insured. Anything below $100 is insured for free and then it's $1 for every $100. They don't combine shipments. But they offer the best deal in terms of pricing when compared to other sites. And the item reaches me within 5 to 8 working days.

https://heavyfuture.blogspot.in/2012/10/shopandshipcom-offers-protection.html
I wrote a blog post about it last year when they announced the insurance against damaged goods.


I rarely use it, but I do have a different company (vPost) for my Japanese shipments, so I can buy items from Amazon.co.jp and other Japanese sites if needed. Used it twice so far and had no problems with it.

Those prices are excellent and compare with USPS and are much, much cheaper than UPS or Fedex. I'll have to look into that.