eBay

musicyouneed · ‎10-24-2016

I had an email question from a person who was interested in one of my CD's. He was asking for a discount as he thought it was too expensive. He also wanted to know what it would cost to ship to Germany.

The CD is expensive and very rare. I have 6 watchers on it. On the river, it sells for $41 in acceptable condition to $217 in very good condition. I have it for $99 and only want to ship it to US or Canada.

This potential buyer lives in a country I do not ship to so he ships to Germany, which I do, but not in this case.

I can tell that this person is a CD music lover by the amount of CD's he has purchased and from whom. I recognize a lot of the sellers he has purchased from in the past.

I have to respond to him about not giving a discount and also not shipping to Germany. I have just amended the listing to show only the US and Canada.

Now I want to say "no nicely" what would you say?

i.am.vivian · ‎10-24-2016

You are absolutely sure that, even sending it tracked, that you do not want to sell to him? If it were me I absolutely would not send it without tracking. How big a discount is he asking for? Is he a collector or a reseller? How likely are you to sell it at your asking price to CAN or US?

Had you blocked Germany from the listing? Did it show up on eBay in Germany or did he find your listing by shopping on Google? (I hate it when people do that).

If you don't want to sell to him you can easily be very kind when you explain that you do not ship outside Canada and the US. Before American's Global Shipping Program a lot of Canadians (and others too probably) would have to ask US sellers who only shipped within the US if they would make an exception and mail to Canada. Maybe he is just trying that.

If you simply don't ship there all you have to do is explain that. You don't have to decline the discount because it is a non-issue.

If you will send but want to decline the discount, your choices are explain that you simply can't come down any more, OR come down a bit (if its not too much) and add the difference into the shipping fee.

But if you just tell him what it costs to mail the item tracked with Canada Post, the problem may go away on its own. 🙂

musicyouneed · ‎10-24-2016

Thanks for your advice. This is what I wrote him.

I would like to thank you for your interest in the CD. It is a very rare and difficult to find CD and that is why the price is so high. At this point I am not willing to go down on the price.

Also the reason I do not have shipping to Germany listed is because, I would need to send it tracking international mail and it is very expensive. It is $47.

momcqueen · ‎10-24-2016

My general response to things I don't want to do or to which I find the request to be offensive is as follows:

"Thank you for your kind offer. At this time, however, I must decline. Thank you for considering McQueen and Mo Mater."*

No more, no less. The user making an unsolicited offer doesn't have an inherent right to know the reason I'm saying no to them. Don't engage with these people, they take it as a sign of encouragement.

Or:

I would tell him shipping to Germany costs $40 and leave it at that. If he wants it, he can have it for the asking price (OBO) and postage with tracking added.

momcqueen · ‎10-24-2016

*(You have to insert my eyeroll to self between the lines.)

thestuffofchris · ‎10-24-2016

I think that is exactly how I would have responded. You don't outright decline shipping to Germany, but you do let them know how much it costs so they can decide if it's worth it.

Who knows, they might still be interested even with that shipping cost. I am a collector of certain genres of music myself and have spent quite a bit on international shipping in some cases where I felt it was worth the cost, particularly in the case of those rare and hard-to-find items.

Ultimately, it's up to the buyer to determine if they want the CD enough to buy it from you at that price with that shipping cost.

rose-dee · ‎10-25-2016

@thestuffofchris wrote:
I think that is exactly how I would have responded. You don't outright decline shipping to Germany, but you do let them know how much it costs so they can decide if it's worth it.

Who knows, they might still be interested even with that shipping cost. I am a collector of certain genres of music myself and have spent quite a bit on international shipping in some cases where I felt it was worth the cost, particularly in the case of those rare and hard-to-find items.

Ultimately, it's up to the buyer to determine if they want the CD enough to buy it from you at that price with that shipping cost.

I agree. I've set my international shipping at actual cost since rates became so expensive and risks due to eBay's on-time shipping metric so much higher. I figure that the occasional buyer who might be interested in a unique item will pay the shipping if they really want it.

I expect the buyer was just pressing the OP, hoping he could get this rare item for less. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back and bought it at full price, with actual shipping (that is, if the OP decides to take the "ship-to" country block off).

However, I do think it's up to the OP to decide whether he wants to ship to Germany at all. There have been some real concerns expressed about delays and shipping problems to Germany specifically. Tracking will help, but I'd probably also want a signature confirmation feature. Presumably that's what was included in the shipping cost the OP mentioned.

momcqueen · ‎10-25-2016

There is no signature available on Tracked Packet. You need Xpresspost International for that and it's $65 CAD and up.

musicyouneed · ‎10-25-2016

Well he wanted it shipped to Germany because he lives in the Russian Federation and I definitely don't ship there.

momcqueen · ‎10-25-2016

My ship-to locations are set to worldwide but, in reality, limited to the 31 countries served by Tracked Packet. I'm assuming Canada Post picked those for a reason.

momcqueen · ‎10-25-2016

I have had only one instance of trouble with a shipment to Germany but it was, oddly, a Tracked Packet that went missing during a flood in the area. The buyer reported to me that it was, in fact, delivered. Late. And repaid me the funds I'd already given back. But it never did show Delivered. I've been lucky with good, honest buyers that way many times. It compensates for the ones who may not have been honest about not receiving their untracked orders in the past. (Like the one from UK who had it for sale after getting a refund and left snarky feedback about that.) I wouldn't hesitate to ship to Germany. The Germans, however, never miss an opportunity to charge import taxes.