China & Brazil invoke "management by exception" phase II...

[ricarmic]

Got sales to China and Brazil today which make me nervous every time so I reviewed my losses information for 2014 (for the folks who read my "self insured" notes of the past, I will reissue when I get all my year-end book keeping done).

It is important to me to be able to say I will ship anywhere (and I think it helps in Cassiniland anyway)

For 2014 Brazil and China together accounted for 50% of my actual/purported losses (one from Brazil reported lost and repaid again later).

Earlier I invoked phase 1 of MBE (mgmt by exception) and stuff I figured would sell to folks in China I listed with registered/equivalent shipping.

Since then:

-folks from China have started buying all sorts of stuff I didn't expect them to

-I've learned how to put specific flat rate, (everything I sell is flat rate) shipping only for China and Brazil (too bad they don't have "south america"). It is embarassing that I didn't know/think to do that earlier, a symptom of just reusing the same listings for the last 15 years!

Now that I can target the two countries, MBE phase 2 was invoked today, now ALL items I list will have registered/equivalent shipping charges to China and Brazil. This will slow sales to those two countries, but at least in my "stamp world" I have a very high loss rate to those two countries if it isn't registered/equivalent, so only marginal loss anyway and 90%+ less headaches.

Actually as a side note, a surprising number of China buyers continued to (successfully) buy under MBE phase 1, I'm almost of the mind that honest buyers understand the risks of the system and don't mind paying the extra, whilst the dishonest ones of course will go somewhere else....

[2014sportsterguy]

MBE IDG (I don't get) ? I don't even get phase 1 not alone phase 2? I started to get confused at Cassiniland......BWMS bizzaro world makes sense now.......lol

[ricarmic]

Hi Sportster!

Old habits die hard, MBE = Management By Exception (I did define it the first time I used it - MBE= you start to manage (focus on) stuff once it becomes broken (or different from normal)). Used to do this acronym stuff all the time when I had a real job (plus the eBay job).

In phase 1 I made everyone international pay registered/equivalent who wasn't in USA or Canada for things I thought folks in China would buy. That was successful but a pain for people who weren't in China and when folks in China bought stuff I hadn't expected.

In phase 2 I realized I could target only China (and Brazil too) so I am only targeting those countries making shipping registered/equivalent and I'm doing it for all lots across the board.

Cassiniland is just my confusing way of trying to refer to the fact that I think worldwide shipping makes one's listings show up more frequently as part of the cassini search algorithm.

[pjcdn2005]

I've only shipped once to China and that was in November. In December they claimed an inr. Yesterday I had another sale there for $130 so I'm a bit nervous but we'll see what happens.The buyer just registered the same day as he bought my item. That made me think of all the 'should I sell to this zero feedback buyer?" threads.  I've never really worried before about brand new buyers but I admit this one makes me nervous, mainly because the buyer in November who filed an inr had also just registered the day of the purchase.

[maximus7001]

So you actually have people in China that are coughing up $74 for or more for expresspost?

[ricarmic]

Hi Pj, yes I would be worried too, any other country not, but China yes. Hopefully it works out ok!

[ricarmic]

Hi Maximus! Generally the stuff the folks from China buy from me fits in a normal envelope (remember I sell stamps) so I register it which is only $20 ish. Without registration my loss rate is very high, high enough that I don't care if I lose the sale as the odds were it would be INR'd anyway.....

[maximus7001]

Oh, we were not aware this. So do you take the envelope to the post office for this? And does this include the postage?

[maximus7001]

Ok just had a look at canadapost.ca and saw that this registered for international is classified as letter post (not lettermail) and has the following restrictions:

• A signature upon delivery. (Lettermail only)
• Delivery confirmation online or by phone the next business day after delivery. (Lettermail only)

So this appears to only have proof of mailing and not proof of delivery for international which is not good enough for a paypal/ebay claim.

[pierrelebel]

" not good enough for a paypal/ebay claim"

Canadian sellers using "Registration" are aware that PayPal will not approve/deny a claim on the basis of an envelope having been sent "registered'.

That is not the point.

Way too much is written about the eBay/PayPal protection.  It is not that important in most instances.

Using "Registration" is a deterrent, nothing else.  It is not perfect but it works most of the time for stamp dealers.

Sellers selling other "stuff" should do what they feel is best for their products.

[pierrelebel]

It should also be noted that Registration overseas is $17.00 (plus letterpost postage).

Now, stamp dealers generally acquire postage at 30% to 50% below face value.  So the out-of-pocket cost of sending a registered letter overseas is only about $10.00 to $11.00 or so. 

And yes, to answer another question, registered letters must be sent from the Post Office where a receipt is obtained.

[ricarmic]

Pierre said it all!