International member bids without confirming shipping costs. What is the proper procedure....???

[ac7112012]

I am new to ebay and in my listing

have requested to be contacted

for international shipping costs.

I received an international bid but

no email requesting shipping costs. 

Do I contact them and give them

a shipping quote or do I wait until

auction close and if they win,

then contact them with the

shipping quote? What is the

proper procedure in this situation?

Thanks

[dmil8030]

If you are willing to ship to that person's country, definitely send a shipping quote before the end of the auction.  If you wait and the person wins, she might not be prepared for the high cost of Canada Post's shipping.  Is that for the pattern?  On an item like that, to send it lettermail would not be terribly expensive, but still, -- there is no shortage of buyers willing to leave a seller a 1 in DSR because they think Canada Post charges too much.

If you do not ship to certain countries but you receive bids anyway, a seller is allowed to remove a person's bid for pretty much any reason.  Read here about cancelling bids:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#canceling

And whilst you're at it, be sure to set yourself up to block bids from members outside the regions to which you will ship.  Do that here (it's all part of the same page):

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#set

Oh, and you knew about the 21-day hold on payments to new sellers, right? 

[femmefan1946]

Pattern buyers do tend to be pretty good about reading descriptions and terms of sale. I would send the bidder the shipping cost - probably no more than $7.40 LetterPost, but it still could be a surprise.

This group of customers are rarely a problem, so Letter is fine. If you are nervous add a few pennies to handling (which covers the cost of envelopes, stiffeners and tape) as a form of self-insurance. But you will probably never need it.

It would be a good idea to weigh and measure all your items before listing to prevent just this problem.

[scifan57]

Even though your payments from your buyers will be subject to the 21 day hold,you are still required to ship within 7 days to maintain your seller protection.