No response from winner bidder with question about shipping preference

[rigbca8]

The winning bid on my item was from an overseas buyer, new to EBay, with ZERO feedback. The item was $50 and the shipping costs will be a minimum of $118 with a possible delivery of up to 12 weeks. Shipping via air is $188. My listing stated that for non US or Canadian shipments, please request a quote for freight (which buyer did not).  I have sent the buyer 3 emails explaining that shipping is crazy expensive and that if he wishes to cancel the order I understood and would be OK with that. The buyer has not responded. I do not want to send an invoice because I am thinking that if it does get paid, the transaction will end up as a dispute which I will end up losing. What is my best course of action? 

[momcqueen]

Welcome to ebay Community. This is a member-to-member board.

First of all, do not ship anything via SURFACE. You will lose any and all claims of Item Not Received (INR) within 30 days and surface although tracked takes longer than that. This is guaranteed. You may as well give it away. So send the buyer one invoice with one postage choice and that is the one for a TRACKED service with a delivery estimate within three weeks, tops. I take that will mean service via Xpresspost or Air Parcel. If it's valued at $850 CAD or more, you need signature on delivery so that limits you to Xpresspost and the countries served by it, period. 

The ebay Money Back Guarantee is valid for the buyer for 30 days therefore it means ebay expects your item to be delivered within 30 days.

But that sounds like a moot point. I doubt from what you've said that your buyer will be back to pay. 

[momcqueen]

But which item is this? The only ones among your Solds that look heavy or awkwardly-sized appear to have sold to experienced ebayers. 

[mcrlmn]

IMO, cancel the order, then add the buyer to your blocklist.

Select "The buyer asked to cancel the order or there's an issue with the buyer's address"

 As payment hasn't been made, the cancellation should be finalized quite quickly.

All fees charged will be reversed.

[momcqueen]

@mcrimm

If there is no communication FROM the buyer, ebay will assume that the order was cancelled due to it being out-of-stock and the seller will get a defect for trying to lie about the buyer asking to cancel.

Honestly, it is better for the seller to specify the correct cost for tracked shipment with a quick delivery estimate (NOT SURFACE) and let the buyer decide whether to pay or not.

Let this go to Unpaid Item case and close on the buyer.

Proactively trying to cancel based on the buyer being uncommunicative is going to backfire. The road to  is paved with good intentions. It will get the seller into trouble when it is the buyer at fault.

[reallynicestamps]

Do not ship Surface.

Do not allow the buyer to choose Surface shipping-- you will lose both the item and the payment when the scammer buyer demands and gets a refund for non-delivery.

I do not want to send an invoice because I am thinking that if it does get paid, the transaction will end up as a dispute which I will end up losing.

You only lose an Unpaid Item Dispute if the buyer does not pay.

And frankly, I don't think he will, because he is shocked about the (perfectly reasonable) shipping cost.

And he doesn't even know about his country's duty and sales tax yet.

Run. Run as fast as you can from this "bad and will get worse" transaction.

Send the buyer an invoice with the higher (Air Mail/ tracked) shipping service.

When he does not pay, open an Unpaid Item Dispute in the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page.

When he still does not pay, close the Dispute as soon as possible (96 hours later).

You will get your FVF back.

The bidder gets a Strike as a deadbeat.

He will not be able to leave feedback.

Then relist, using Calculated Shipping, Air Mail and tracked. And think about the countries you do not want to ship to (Nigeria? Viet Nam? Italy? Belarus?) and Block them.

[momcqueen]

I've never had trouble shipping to Italy. The others I agree it's best to avoid. And Turkey. While you can get Tracked Packet to go there, buyers are currently unable to use PayPal to pay you.

[ypdc_dennis]

The guarantee is valid for 30 days AFTER actual or estimated delivery time. Only if there is NO delivery time estimate available does eBay use from time of payment (7-37 days for domestic, 31-61 days for rest of the world).
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.html

[rigbca8]

The item was a boy scout hat -- quite light but need a big box. It seemed odd that a person from Thailand would want a Canadian Boy Scout Leader's Hat.

[rigbca8]

I will be taking your advice and not offering to ship Surface. I have sent quite a few things overseas via Surface, and thankfully, haven't had many problems. I didn't really think that buyers would exercise their option to dispute long delivery if they were made aware ... but, when u said, "U may as well just give it away!", u r absolutely right. Thank you for opening my eyes!

[i.am.vivian]

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@rigbca8 wrote:

The winning bid on my item was from an overseas buyer, new to EBay, with ZERO feedback.

My listing stated that for non US or Canadian shipments, please request a quote for freight (which buyer did not).  

I have sent the buyer 3 emails explaining that shipping is crazy expensive and that if he wishes to cancel the order I understood and would be OK with that. The buyer has not responded. 

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Why does everyone automatically assume that every buyer, new to EBay, with ZERO feedback is a scammer?  

They're buying a NON-electric typewriter.  You do not say what country but you DO say you did not include a shipping fee.  Take some responsibility for the situation you created and stop treating everyone like a criminal.  

Maybe they don't read English well or have regular access to a computer.  Maybe that's why they need a manual typewriter.  

A little consideration wouldn't hurt.