International Selling

[thriftingbyjl]

Hi all, 

I sell within Canada and the U.S. but not internationally. I felt like going international was too risky. Shipping rates, scammers, customs, etc...

My question to the experienced sellers here, should I reconsider?

Is it worth it?

What is your experience? 

I assume Canada does not have a global shipping program like the U.S., correct? 

Thanks in advance and Happy Easter!

[15westcoast]

Hi,  I used to ship worldwide but like you mentioned there are "did not receive

my item" and without tracking this is always a possibility.  So, now I only ship

to Canada, USA and sometimes UK which have affordable tracking .  Most other

countries are very expensive to include tracking and the buyer will usually not wish

to pay for it.  Don't ship without tracking !

[reallynicestamps]

I ship internationally (with four exceptions, based on poor postal systems).

First, international purchases are less than 5% of my sales.

I charge international buyers enough to cover my costs, even though I mostly use "free" shipping to the USA and Canada.

I have fewer problems with overseas customers than with US customers.

One possible way to monitor overseas buyers,  make your Shipping  available worldwide. The customer will be told to contact you for shipping cost.

You can then look at their Feedback left for others, their location and the value of the item to decide if this is a sale worth having.

Cross check the cost of untracked (letterpost and Small Packet) shipping with the cost of tracked packing.

ONLY ship by Air Mail. Surface is too expensive.

[pjcdn2005]

Correct, Canada does not have a global shipping program. I think quite a few sellers have cut down on their international shipping because shipping can tend to be slower now during the pandemic.  Before that, I shipped most of my  items worldwide although I did block China and Mexico after I had problems with delivery in both countries.  You might want to start out shipping to the UK, Australia, Japan and perhaps a few other countries to see how that goes for you.

How is the free shipping and free returns working out for you?  Few Canadians offer free return shipping since shipping is so expensive here.  You realize that you don't need to offer it in order to be a global TRS?

[thriftingbyjl]

Free shipping and returns have been a learning experience for sure. 

The more you ship to places the more you learn what the average costs is for items. Bigger, heavier items I do calculated. 

Of course there have been times that free shipping has cost me most of the profit. I chalk it up as still a sale and at the end of the day it will help me. 

Free returns has been okay so far. Most of my items I purchase for $5-10 so I don't even ask for it back. On average, shipping back is almost always more than what the item cost me. 

There are exceptions but I haven't had those yet. knock knock

[motomike_canada]

I ship internatinally with some exceptions. 
Lots of items go to: UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore. 
I rarely have an issue (and have cut out places where there have been issues before)

I use ebay calculated shipping for larger items. Everything is sent tracked, or UPS. Shipping UPS to Japan isn't as pricey as it seems like it should be (its more expensive to vancouver..lol) ChitChats can be OK for small items too, depending where it's going. 

On the .ca, you get more visibility in international ebay searches than the .com*, which can be an advantage, and I've found that people in some countries are more willing to deal with a Canadian than  other nationalities too. 

*at least this used to be the case, not sure if info is current in 2021. 

[thriftingbyjl]

I'm still thinking about selling outside of North America. Have not yet. I still have fear on shipping costs. You say you use calculated but when I compare the rate to say UK compared to Canada or the US the rate to UK is like 3 times the rate. This is with Canada Post. 

I mean what do I care if the customer is paying for it but it just doesn't seem right. 

Any comments from anyone. 

Thanks.

[ricarmic]

Although I sell stamps, I'm a bulk kinda guy and I sell and ship boxes up to Bankers Boxes worldwide. I have always shipped worldwide, but I live in a safer and generally happier client base.

In all my over 20 years here I've never used calculated shipping. I have always used flat rate shipping. (Originally I had no choice)

Like femme, for me for stuff on .COM it is free shipping to USA and Canada, everyone else pays a flat rate. For stuff on .CA it is free shipping to Canada. USA and International pay flat rate extra.

To know what "average" number to use, one can look up the various rates on the Canada post rate tables to various locations and figure out the "flat rate" number to use. I've normally used numbers higher than "average" which has worked out about right (it helps to also cover things like cookie jar insurance etc too).

Here are links to the rate tables (this is the level one rates):

This is the one you put your postal code into to know what column to use in the tables:

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/tools/pg/prices/FSA_RateCodeLookup-e.asp  

This is where the tables are: (click on Business prices which is level one discount)

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/tools/pg/default-e.asp 

[parts_and_diecasts]

I used to sell internationally pre-pandemic but then switched to USA/Canada only due to shipping delays and getting burned a couple times with INRs (small packets - no tracking).

However, I am considering offering global shipping again (wth tracking this time) as it would make sense for some of the more niche items I have for sale. I have a handfull of US$100+ diecasts that have a big following in Asia and from my short time on Instagram, I remember that the deepest pockets in the hobby were in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea).

As for Mr. Stamps, I disagree with your comment on US buyers, never had an issue with them, even back when I was crazy/stupid enough to swim naked by shipping Small Packets untracked. If it wasn't for US buyers, I (and most of us I believe) could say good bye to most of our sales (90%+).

God Bless America!