eBay

byto253 · ‎07-29-2023

I just had a cancellation and got this message:

"i ordered this by mistake, if this is from Canada, i do not want to pay customs fees, not sure how that even works. i though you were in the U.S. so i need to cancel this order." This is from a seller with over 4k feedback as well.

Something that is not talked about much is the effect that being a foreign shipment impacts sales. I see threads about folks wondering why their stuff is not selling and others are. I think you cannot discount the fact that even Canada to the US represents a foreign shipment and that puts a damper on things. All things being equal, I go to a Canadian source myself.

Has anyone ever put information in their listing along the lines that "shipping to the US will not incur any additional charges and expenses. The shipment will be tracked and delivered to US buyers by USPS."

The wording needs work but that is the idea. I tend to swing between thinking putting info like that would be useful vs. keeping it very simple and not highliting the fact that I am in another country.

Appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.

byto253 · ‎07-29-2023

Just to add, the item is one that sells well so I am not concerned about saving this sale, etc.

femmefan1946 · ‎07-30-2023

First-- you can cancel as "Buyer Request" and end the entire transaction on the spot with no damage to your account.

When you do this, send the customer a Message that you have done so, but mention that US residents have an $800 duty free allowance and that there would have been no duty charged on the import.

Then put the xenophobic, paranoid nitwit on your Blocked Buyer List.

Life is too short to deal with stupid people.

ibccshop · ‎07-30-2023

I also make sure to include in the description "For Canadian purchasers tax will be added to the final price. All duties, taxes, Customs and import fees are the sole responsibility of the purchaser."

This should help inform people that they may be subject to Duty/Import Fees and reduce the chance of people wanting to cancel due to not wanting to pay Customs fees as you are making them aware in the description that there may be Custom fees and other fees associated with the purchase.

IBCCSHOP

byto253 · ‎07-30-2023

Yes, I did message back about the under $800 no potential extra charges. Now that they understood they came back and bought it after it was relisted. They just did not understand.

With the post I was just wondering if folks put anything in their listing to try and address this angst up front. I imagine that for anyone who has not bought from Canada before they stay away as they are not sure.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-30-2023

I have this in every description:

International bidders welcome!

Internationales Bewerber Willkommen!

Les sousmissionaires internationales sont bienvenues!

Recepción Internacional De los Licitadores!

BRITISH, AUSTRALIAN AND OTHER OVERSEAS: Shipping anywhere in the world by Air Mail International. And again Paypal .

Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.

http://stores.ebay.ca/REALLYNICESTAMPS

The part about import duties is boilerplate which eBay gave us some 15 years ago.

msau4301 · ‎07-30-2023

"Something that is not talked about much is the effect that being a foreign shipment impacts sales. I see threads about folks wondering why their stuff is not selling and others are. I think you cannot discount the fact that even Canada to the US represents a foreign shipment and that puts a damper on things. All things being equal, I go to a Canadian source myself."

I completely agree, I have had numerous people over the years say "oh I didn't realize you were in Canada" and ask to have it cancelled or the frequent "I only agreed to pay $X (US they see) and check out is showing me $X (Canadian). One time I had to try explaining how the exchange rate worked and it was like they had never even heard of such a thing!

I remember from one such person having trouble understanding they left feedback saying something like "Happy with item but payment was very confusing".....sigh

Because it was happening so often I added a blurb to every listing saying I was in Canada and my listings are in Canadian dollars. I also mention, as others have said that "Any taxes, duty or import charges are additional if applicable." But we all know not everyone reads.

It's nice they ended up coming back and buying anyways after it was explained. The bulk of my complainers do end up calming down and purchasing anyways, the cancelling at buyer's request comes into play with the others.

marnotom! · ‎07-30-2023

There's already a cautionary note generated by eBay that's on listing pages about the possibility of customs charges on an international purchases. That note is probably what got your buyer nervous. If you wanted to negate that note for potentional American buyers, I'd simplify your brainstormed message to something like, "This item will be shipped to the US via Canada Post/USPS and is not subject to customs charges."

ricarmic · ‎07-30-2023

My thoughts...

Generally people do not read the descriptions, this is especially true for the ones that SHOULD read the descriptions. (I keep my descriptions very brief anymore). By this I mean putting it in your description very likely would have made no difference.

If one adds stuff like this into descriptions (which IMO has next to no value) someday down the road when things change, one has to go back and fix all these, low to no value additional wordings to descriptions that theoretically are only going to be read by people who wouldn't have been a problem anyway.

The only time I would react to situations like this is if I got multiple buyers repeating the same questions, mistakes and in that case I would very much try to fix it by wording in the title.

Others will feel differently for sure...

recped · ‎07-30-2023

@byto253 wrote:

Has anyone ever put information in their listing along the lines that "shipping to the US will not incur any additional charges and expenses. The shipment will be tracked and delivered to US buyers by USPS."

I never have and I don't recall ever having any US buyer ask or comment about any potential border charges. Of course I have no way of knowing if buyers have been discouraged from buying my stuff because they thought extra customs fees were a possibility.

I do mention in my listings that eBay collects US State Sales Tax for most orders, that was added in the early days of eBay Sales Tax collection and is probably not neccessary anymore since the Sales Tax collection has been in place for quite a while.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
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rocketscollectibles · ‎07-30-2023

It's known that a very high percentage do not read description before buying online. I don't think adding anything to description will help this much. Your US buyers are probably mainly misleaded you are canadian because you are listing in USD. The currency 'falsy' tell em you are US.

I'm myself confused when i see canadian sellers selling in USD. Most of times the shipping charges are totally off. A lot charge the same amount to canada than to US, and they use the US rates. Like, they charge $30 to US, but still $30 to canadians, for exemple. There's also a conversion fees. Unfortunately i avoid buying to canadian sellers selling is US.

dinomitesales · ‎07-30-2023

As others have mentioned, few buyers look at the description, and even fewer will read the entire thing if you have multiple lines of text. Adding any sort of verbiage for international buyers is a waste of time in my opinion.

You've been selling on eBay for many years - if this is the first such encounter you've had I'd just chalk it up to an uninformed buyer and leave it be. I would only consider making changes to my listing descriptions, or in the methods I currently conduct business, if it became a recurring issue that was actively costing me sales.