To ship or not to ship internationally? More buyers await beyond the U.S. borders, but consider the additional risks as well.
I’m a supporter of shipping internationally. In fact, my three largest value orders ever came from Australia, France, and Norway and they all arrived safe and sound.
That said, shipping internationally does carry some extra risks that you rarely (if ever) see when you ship exclusively within the United States.
Here’s a list of some common reasons why you might reconsider shipping internationally.
1. Customs Delays and Fees
Most First Class International packages will arrive in the buyer’s country with in a week or two. But packages of any size and value can easily become snagged in customs, sometimes for as long as a month or even more!
2. Shipping Delays
Once the package arrives in the buyer’s country and the package clears customs (which can take 30 days), the package is handled and delivered by the local postal service. Speed and reliability of international postal services varies widely from country to country.
3. Lost Packages
Although lost packages are rarity, even when shipping packages internationally, the majority of your lost packages will likely be international shipments. Due to Paypal’s buyer protection policies, if the buy doesn’t receive their order, you must refund them (unless the package was scanned as “delivered”). That means, if the package is not insured, then you’re out the cost of the items, cost of shipping and sometimes even out the cost of your eBay final values fees (if you don’t request a fee refund within 30 days). Ouch.
4. Higher Paypal Fees and Ebay Final Value Fees
The standard domestic Paypal fee rate is 2.9% + $0.30, unless you qualify for the hidden Paypal merchant rate. By contrast, the standard international rate is 1% higher at 3.9% + $0.30.
Ebay fees are almost always higher for international orders since eBay charges a final value fee on the shipping price. International shipping costs more than domestic. For example, a USPS Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelope costs $6.10 to ship domestically and $24.74 to ship internationally. Let’s do the math for a minute. If your final value fee rate is 10%, then you’re paying a $0.61 final value fee for shipping the item to a United States buyer and paying a $2.47 final value fee for shipping the item abroad.
5. Sporadic (if any) Delivery Confirmation
If you’re mailing your international orders via USPS First Class International, you’ll only get delivery confirmation for a handful of countries. What does this mean for you as seller? It means that your packages will disappear off the grid for a while. If you’re lucky, the package will be scanned as delivered…eventually. Basically you just have to wait and hope that USPS First Class International packages arrive and hope you’re not dealing with an unscrupulous buyer that will claim they never received the item. If the package isn’t scanned as delivered, then eBay will rule in favor of the buyer, should they choose to open an “item not received” case.
6. Language Barrier
When you ship internationally, your buyer may not be a native English speaker. If there’s ever a problem or any confusion, then one or both of you may become frustrated by the language barrier. As good as Google Translate and other online translators are becoming, some words and phrases still get bungled in translation.
7. Tricker Returns Process
Should the buyer wish to send the item back to you, the international returns process is both trickier and pricier than domestic returns. If the buyer is return the item because they don’t want it anymore, then they will pay the return shipping cost. If the buyer is returning the item because you screwed something up (i.e. sent them the wrong item), then you should pay the return shipping cost. Depending on the value of the item, you might consider telling the buyer just to keep the item.
8. International buyers will pressure you to lie on the customs form
Customs forms falsification requests are mostly a minor nuisance, nevertheless, they are requests you’ll never hear from a domestic buyer. Falsifying customs forms is illegal, yet some otherwise law abiding buyers will ask you to mark the item as “Gift” (instead of “Merchandise”) or mark a lower value on the form than they paid. Don’t do it! Either ignore falsification requests or respond that you only write accurate information on customs forms. Also, if your order is valued at $200, but you only write $50 on the customs form, then that order can only be insured for $50.
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Have you been scared away from selling internationally yet? Many sellers do get scared away from international shipping because of one or many of the reasons described above. But remember that greater risk bears greater rewards as well. Some of my best buyers reside beyond the borders of the United States which is why I choose to sell internationally. Will you?