[melissa_talent]

Why do some US sellers not want to? An item I'm watching is from California and the seller stated in her auction she will not ship outside the US- what is the risk? I'm totally naive when it comes to all of this, two of my Vuittons were purchased from American sellers without a problem. I understand custom fees may apply, but as a buyer I know that any extra charges are my responsibility.

I did send her a message asking if she would make an exception but I'm waiting for a response.

[vanojr9]

Many sellers are wary of selling internationally because there's almost no recourse if you're defrauded by the buyer. You can't file in small claims court, Paypal really can't do anything, you have no access to law enforcement, it's just a risk, especially when selling big ticket items that you could just as easily sell at a profit in the States. It's possible that this seller might have been burned in the past and now doesn't care to ship internationally as a result. Not your fault, obviously! It's sad that there aren't better policies to govern this sort of thing. She may very well make you an exception though - some sellers just want to make contact with international bidders first.

[pink.caviar]

Agree with above post. I sold a pair of $100 pants last year to someone in Canada from the US. She filed with Paypal claiming she never received and there wasn't any way I could deal with her because you can't track unless you use EMS (International Express), which costs a lot more.

[pink.caviar]

As a result I don't ship internationally for anything valuable unless they have excellent feedback (at least 100). Most of my auctions are BIN with best offer, so I have a chance to go through the bidders feedback in detail before agreeing to anything.

[Lvbabydoll]

Yeah I agree with vanjor. I don't sell very valuable items but I'd be more wary with that, not only with customs fees that may incur, but because the shipping can be quite expensive and buyers aren't willing to pay the price most of the time.
I've mostly sent to Europe, Canada and Australia...haven't had a problem yet with the exception of SLOW shipping to Europe.

[canada's]

i'm in canada for the summer, but live in the states, and i have also found this.

a lot of the time it's because sellers (especially those who sell here and there) don't want to deal with the international line at the post office, which is totally understandable. depending on what sort of place you send your stuff from, you may have to wait in an incredibly long line, which is time/hassle. and as someone else said, it's virtually impossible to track it once it leaves US customs.

[melissa_talent]

so tracking numbers pretty much don't guarantee anything?

thank you all so much for explaining, for some reason i just always assumed that the states and canada were like.. the same and shipping back and forth was like shipping within.

[canada's]

there are varying opinions of that, but i ship between the two countries regularly as my boyfriend is canadian, and SELDOM does something make it to canada within USPS/UPS's given amount of time, no matter what sort of shipping i pay for. therefore, i never ship anything that HAS to be there by a certain date because i know it most likely won't make it. even when you ship ups or fedex, it can go into CPS hands once it leaves customs, so tracking it through the original source does no good.

[Lvbabydoll]

^Yeah I'm waiting for a shipment from Canada, it SAYS it'll be delivered on the 14th but I don't know how close that'll be. It says it's in the destination country but I don't know how all that works.

[csssaunt]

Cannada's mail service is so slow it makes me nervous. My neighbor is a Canadian and she warned me NEVER to promise anyone in Canada a delivery date--even if the USPS says it will arrive within a certain time frame.

[Oh Donna!]

I never ship out of the US anymore. We arent protected by PayPal. I have had problems with buyers from Canada being the most difficult I have ever dealt with so I especially wont ship to Canada. One or two bad apples unfortunately ruins it for everyone.

[twiggers]

I will still ship international....especially Canada since they do confirm paypal addresses there. HOWEVER...I tell my international buyers that I will only ship in a way that provides tracking & fully insure it.
For example, a gal from Australia just won one of my auctions...even though it clearly said 'USA & Canada only'. Well she does not have paypal confirmed address....so I charged her the extra money to send it Express Mail with insurance. So I am protected by having super proof of delivery!

[brtracy]

Last time I shipped to Canada, it took 3 weeks with Priority mail. That is why I rather ship to UK or some other countries than Canada. I have the worst lucky with Canada postal service... either buying or selling...

[temo]

Interesting to hear. I've never had a bit of problem receiving or shipping from Canada. I've found most US'ers to be very gracious about shipping to Canada. (Even refunding part of the cost when it was less than they expected!) I received a package from Chicago to BC in 1 week!!! Maybe I've just been very lucky so far.

[Luv2BuyBags]

If you really want the item then contact the buyer and tell her you are willing to send a money order (if you are). Just make sure you send your envelope with some sort of tracking. I got 2 items from Canada and I had to sign for them and had no porblem. I am betting she is concerned with paypal so if you pay by $ order she should have no problems selling to you.