How can I block Italy buyers? Thanks

[zakkawholesale]

Normally listed via turbo lister. want block Italy buyers, as the high chargeback rate.

Thanks

[purse_of_the_legionary]

Xena,

I cannot claim that everything I sell is insured, as Canada Post's prices are too high to ship small item, I won't be able to compete with American competitors...

And yeah, Italians have limited english, but believe me they can read "$47.50", as I never heard of an Italian since I changed my pricing.

When you say "Also, by not being responsible for uninsured items, you are setting yourself up for problems. 100% will Paypal side with the buyer if you cannot prove delivery.", thing is, most seller are saying they are not responsible if buyer doesn't take insurance, in their items descriptions.

I know it is risky, but on 550 feedback received so far, I only had one issue with an Italian. From my point of view, 99% of the buyers seem to be honest and will never abuse. Anyway, as I said, Canada Post prices are too expensive, can't compete with USPS'S...

[purse_of_the_legionary]

Xena,

Also, by not being responsible for uninsured items, you are setting yourself up for problems. 100% will Paypal side with the buyer if you cannot prove delivery.

Anyway, providing insurance (like Small Packet International, which includes $100 insurance, instead of Light Packet International, not insured) for all items won't help against a charge back on PayPal, as I need a tracking number as a proof of shipment. And because Expedited Parcel doesn't exist for international shipment, the only way to get a tracking number at Canada Post for international shipment is to use Xpresspost, which costs approx $50 to ship a 6x9 inches bubble mailer...

Any suggestion here ?

[westernstargifts]

And because Expedited Parcel doesn't exist for international shipment, the only way to get a tracking number at Canada Post for international shipment is to use Xpresspost, which costs approx $50 to ship a 6x9 inches bubble mailer...


You got that right! In the middle of all of this talk about Italy I got my first sale there. I asked at the Post Office yesterday if there was a way to send it with tracking...it was Light Packet...and it would have cost me around $50 to ship an order worth around $54. Light packet was about $3.75...huge difference.

Judy

[coxengines]

Fair enough, Purse. If you are not hearing from Italians, I guess they are reading - just my perception I guess, because I get so many overseas buyers asking for shipping quotes when my listings clearly state the cost.

Perhaps a misunderstanding as to what I meant to say. What I meant was that, whether you are claiming to be responsible or not and whether the buyer pays for insurance or not, you will always lose in a paypal dispute if the buyer claims "not received" and you have no tracking.

That is why I advertise "Includes insurance" as, in all reality, that's what is is anyhow. I realize that many sellers state the same as you but that in no way protects them. Educated buyers know that and will not pay for insurance.

Xena

[coxengines]

You are correct as to CP pricing vs. USPS - c'est la vie!

80% of my shipments are "light packet". I add $1 to my actual cost and that goes (in theory) into a contingency fund. I run 200-250 auctions/month + about 40% success rate with Second Chance Offers - makes for quite a nice contingency fund every month.

All of my claims have been from Italy in 2007 and, strangely enough, none of these were for "light packets". Every one was for "small packets", which are insured to $100 anyhow.

I, as of this week, have one US customer with a non-delivery of a light packet. It will be my pleasure to re-ship his item, as I consider myself to have been very fortunate so far when it comes to claims (Italy excepted LOL!).

Xena

[coxengines]

As to your concern about paypal chargebacks for "small packets", why worry?

Customer does not receive the item.
You refund the customer his money, voluntarily.
(this usually triggers positive feedback)
You file a claim with Canada Post.
Canada Post sends you a cheque.

It's that simple! Although it would be nice if the buyer received the merchandise, I personally don't care where the money comes from.

Actually, come to think of it, Canada Post is a valued customer on mine LOL!

A bad situation is now a good one - boils down to perception .

Xena

[treasure-pot]

Xena, of course the one downside to "selling" to Canada Post is that they fully expect to buy at your cost and not the selling price from your eBay listing.

Bill
treasure-pot

Co-Author of

[coxengines]

Actually, Bill, CP has been very good about this.

They pay the declared value (I do all my small packets on-line) plus postage.

Of course if you declared a lower value to help your customer through customs.... yeah!

Perhaps I have not filed enough claims yet but, so far, they have been real good.OK, it takes a few months but at least they pay.

Perhaps I should get your book just for the heck of it?

I am reading "Tricks of the eBay Business Masters" by Michael Miller right now and my spouse teaches courses on "How to be Successful on eBay" at the local UV but one has never finished learning!

Xena

[treasure-pot]

I suspect you have been lucky thus far. Most eBay sellers that have filed a substantial number of CP claims will, at some time or another, have encountered an agent that wants to stick to the letter of the law. Like you, I've also had claims paid without asking for proof of cost - I've also had as many where it becomes a real contentious issue.

CP can (and will) trot out their policy that says they are only required to pay cost. When they do, just make sure you insist they pay all your costs (eBay fees, PayPal fees, packaging costs, etc.)

Bill
treasure-pot

Co-Author of

[westernstargifts]

Unfortunately Canada Post will not insure jewelry sent by Small Packet. The fellow I deal with at the Post Office says they are sticky about some other products too such as ceramics.

The reason I have been given for them not insuring jewelry is "How do you put a value on jewelry?". To me that is a no brainer....The same way you put a value on anything. I don't quadruple the price it cost me just because it is jewelry. You give it a markup the same as you would for other goods. If Canada Post sticks by their rules they should at least insure the amount that the jewelry cost to buy it wholesale.

Even still, when I was at the Post Office the other day, the fellow told me that I could always try to claim because they don't always follow their own rules 100%.

[jakeeangel]

I don't find them 'sticky' about ceramics. To me, they're pretty clear that they don't cover them or anything fragile like that period. Even the fine print on their fragile stickers say they don't cover breakables.

---

When you find doing what's right hard to do - you've got a problem.

[numero_1]

so far knock on wood i've had luck with italians, maybe cause i can speak their language ? dunno but my friend got scammed by an italian. what really happens is that their "posta italiana" postal service is HORRIBLE they loose everything, are extremely lazy and super slow. I sent an xpress package outside rome (1 week guarranted) and took over a MONTH !

i called CP with tracking #, they said it was in italy within a week, in the buyers town within 10 days, and it was seating half an hour away from the buyers house for the reminding 20 days ! unbelievable !

filed a claim and 2 days after he got it
still 1 month for an item sent via xpress ?
good thing the guy sent me a bank transfer but still i feel bad on his behalf

imagine if i were a buyer, i'd have filed a complain against the seller, wouldn't you ?

[coxengines]

I just couldn’t let go of this Italy thing, as I am quite loath of refusing to ship to a specific country. I therefore compiled some stats and came across something very interesting.

In 2007 I shipped to Italy 41 Shipments in total:

1 Parcel (w/tracking)
26 Light packets
14 Small packets

Although there was a paypal claim filed for the parcel, it was later closed as the merchandise was delivered (just took 3 months!).

NOT A SINGLE claim was filed for the 26 light packets (although I had many complaints that it took 6 weeks for delivery).

7 Claims were filed for the 14 Small packets (representing 50% of the total sent).

Here is where it gets interesting! Out of these 7 claims, all were filed after 15.07.07.

From 01.07 to 31.12 I shipped a total of 9 small packets to Italy. The ratio of claims for that period is thus 78% and that does not include the last 2 packages for which I have not received FB (do I sense a 100% ratio coming up?)

After digging deep for a reason, I realized that I had begun shipping via Venture One on-line at the end of June last year.

Previously, small packets had been labelled via a “manual” label with my personal name as sender.

The Venture One packages not only look and “feel” more commercial but also note a company as sender.

The light packages are all done “manually” as well and have the more “personal” feel, replete with stickers, stamps, hand-filled custom’s declarations, etc. (I do up everything at the office and simply drop into a mail box).

I wonder if I am onto something or if all of this is just coincidence? The fact that there was not a single successful claim filed for a light packet (there were some but the packages later showed up) really leads me to believe that I have come across something here (at least in my case).

I will now ship to Italy creating docs “manually”. It will be interesting to see if things change or not…

Xena

[tea_past_times]

Let us know

[recped]

Xena

While your theory has some merit I don't really think it's a true cause of the problem.

The delays in shipping to Italy have been around for a very long time but they have gotten much worse in the past 18 months and REALLY bad starting in the Spring of 2007.

I posted somewhere else my LONG term results shipping to Italy, to repeat (approximately)

1980 - 2005 "normal" delivery 2 - 3 weeks
2006 - 2007 "normal delivery 3 - 4 weeks
2007 - 2008 "normal" delivery 4 - 6 weeks

These results mirror that of other sellers, these sellers using all sorts of different shipment preparation methods and sending different types of items using different services.

There have been some interesting tidbits posted on the International board by Italian users giving some reasons for the deteriorating situation. Apparently Poste Italia have been making some noises about how this results from a reorganization and that improvements are forthcoming.

The Italian media are now all over this problem so maybe there will actually be some improvement....but I'm not holding my breath.
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

[coxengines]

recped,

You are surely correct in what you state. Perhaps I should have clarified that I was more concerned about the packages that NEVER arrive (or so they say...)

Xena

[recped]

I've only had 3 "never" and actually one of those did arrive after about 90 days (buyer let me know).
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

[bestshowtime]

How can I block Italy buyers?
You don't need block anyone!!!
Just offer for them Money order for payment!!!

[coxengines]

Further to my post # 32 and having changed how I label my shipments to Italy, I have not had one further INR claim from there.

Furthermore, shipments seem to arrive in aprx. 2 weeks now, on average.

Coincidence? Dunno but it's working now...

Xena

[fenian]

I'm pleased to hear that CP is living up to their claims on paying insurance for lost packets. Last year, a registered package to the UK went astray and, even though their printed advertising states "up to $60 insurance", they would pay only $41, as they claimed that was their "maximum indemnity by international agreement". This was for a package valued over $200. My other beef is with speed. On Feb 18th I airmailed a registered package to Argentina. Checking the tracking number, I see the package didn't even clear Canada till Feb 25th. No reason it should take a full week to get something onto a plane. I'm now getting the "where's my item" emails from a worried buyer. >>>> Michael