Ola Guys

This is not really a rant allthough it might appear like that but why do so many Ebayers don't deal with any country outside the US?
I'm an avid Ebayer... I pay with paypal... I always pay quick. And I always pay the shipping costs... So why do a lot of US Sellers not deal overseas. I have bought stuff from all over the world and it never seems to be a problem to get the stuff to me. Except for America where there seems to be some sort of barrier where you can't buy when you are not in the US.

What's the deal with that? I'd really like to understand.

Most sellers I encounter, when shopping for models, gladly ship outside of the US. I have run across a few located in the US that will only ship to one foreign country and not the US. That makes me scratch my head. Are you looking at the US ebay or using your local one? That might make a difference.

Certainly in the early days of ebay it was quite often that US sellers would ship OS, but it is pretty rare in my experience now to find one who doesn't.

There are heaps of non-eBay US online stores that won't ship to Oz however.

The only issue I am aware of is tracking numbers on packages, depending on the value of the package, some buyers would like tracking number to ensure the item does not get "lost" in post. Some countries do not allow the tracking number to carry over. I now for myself, I tend to only look in country for items to buy, unless I know the out of country buyer. I have heard in the past that item have gone "missing" after shipping to other countries and has caused issues for the seller with demands for refunds and bad feedback.

Sadly it is rare these days that I buy anything in Oz. I've bought a HEAP of stuff out of Hong Kong and mainland China never had a problem or anything go missing and supply is always quick and the price reasonable. Postage is great too. Ozzie suppliers just can't match the customer service and ability to supply.

Well the problem is not so much in the regular kits that I buy as I can get them really easily here in holland or the rest of Europe. The problem lies in the rarer resin and Vacuform kits that I always try to hunt down. And which pretty much is a buy them where you can find them market. So this has me ending up all accross the globe searching for them.

@ Matt
Well as I said above I usually scour the world for the rare stuff. Which has me often enough end up on Ebay.com. Only to be dissapointed by the scores of "US only" sellers. It is not even limited to Ebay either. Take a look at all the US sellers here on Armorama in the buy sell and trade section. You will find out the majority will not ship outside the US.

@ Kevin
Well I'm not completely sure if I understand it completely what you say. My english is quite good but I have a bit of difficulty with some structures in sentences. But then again. If it is a matter of trackingnumbers well... I have never encountered similar problems like that from other countries. And there are also high value [ackages being send in the rest of the world seemingly without problems. Packages can get lost.... again not a US only problem but I think the majority of the stuff gets delivered. Speaking from my own experience I only had it once in a trade where I send my stuff out but never received the traded item. But all the stuff I won or ordered accross the world always came trough. And there were some really high value packages among them as well.

@ Scott
I have similar experiences in Japan, But also mainland Europe, Hell I had ordered stuff in Poland that was delivered so quickly I almost suspected the guy to jumop in the car after the order to deliver it himself. Here in Holland a lot of the hobbyshops are dissapearing and those that are left are really pumping up their prices. So the modeler here is almost forced to seek his stuff outside Holland

I find hobbyeasy.com and luckymodel.com have prices comperable to ebay. If it wasn't for shipping, I would probably buy my stuff from the UK. As is, luckymodel and hobbyeasy fill that void and offer the buying power of ordering from the manufacturer's country with reasonable shipping.

Hi Robert. Maybe you should look for a US contact who will buy for you and you can pay him instead. I know this may cost extra for the double postage, but at least it will take care of your problem. Ive had several people who offered to do this for me. There are some great guys on here who are trustworthy and wont loose their reputation and rip you off. You caould also return the favour if they ever were interested in items available in Europe only .... only this doesn´t appear to be a issue.
I buy a lot of from Ebay.UK and even though some say UK only, most will still send to Sweden if you conatct them personally. Postage from the UK to Sweden is usually cheaper than Sweden to Sweden.

That's a big one for me too, postage TO Oz is far less than postage FROM Oz

I believe ebay is now charging final fees which include shipping charges.
No one wants to pay final value fees for shipping outside USA as it is more expensive.
I think it is 9% of total amount?Shipping and sale price.

Faust,

I can easily relate to what you are saying. At the same time, though, I also have to lean towards what Kevin was saying: despite being in Europe as you are, my country postal services seem to suffer from a rather bad reputation (and I myself have had mixed experiences with them, with at least two packages gone lost completely), which eventually has me ask for tracking on packages that I consider of "high value" - either because they cost a lot or because they are extremely rare - with the consequence that some times what looks like a deal has prices soar the moment you add postage to it (as an example I bought an M1A1 AIM a while back that was 20$ something plus shipping, I asked for tracking - USPS priority - and ended up paying almost 50$).
One solution I have read about in some forums (not model-related though) is that there are "addressing services" companies in the US that basically work as a home for your purchases (by giving the seller a US address they can ship to) and then they transfer the stuff bought to you. From what I have read by people that have used it, it seems that the combined US-to-US postage + US-to-Oz ends up being generally less than the "regular" US-to-Oz postage, and I think can be cut further down if you arrange for "bulk shipments".
One example for you to look into: www.myaddressus.com
One last word goes to import taxes (i.e. VAT). I am not familiar with how it is in the Netherlands, but in my country, if postage came from US or Canada, 90% of the times I had to pay taxes on - especially if it was tracked! Whereas so far I have bought many times from China or HK and had not a single time taxes applied. Go figure.

Tot ziens

Echoing what's been said, whether it's models or vintage car parts, it seems the a few coutries across the pond have rather lousey tracking and accountability for lost times...add a few folks who take advantage of that and lie and say they never got an item...this leaves the guy in the US holding all the blame and ebay won't/can't do anything about it.
I'll add a similar issue I have had with ebay...gross misdescribed items and how I have to pay for return shipping for such a blatent mistake and ebay is fine with that...which I feel they shouldn't be and that I should get my return s/h back for a major item description mistake...missing pieces when described as checked and complete - started when described as never touched - wrong loose pieces in a kit....
IMHO, ebay has come a long way from the very begining, but has a long way to go yet!.....

I have given an Ebay buyer the option of what postage he wanted, with or without tracing etc, he took the cheapest without tracking and claimed the item never got to him. And Paypal automatically take the buyers side and I was left with a bill. I got mine back though and abandoned the account and have never used it since. Ebay is so big they don't listen, or care, and thee are lots of dishonest people out there to take advantage of you if you are not careful.

I haven't bought anything large from mainland Oz as the prices are just too high at the LHS. I can get kits delivered to my door from Hong Kong and China and pay half the cost of the kits at my LHS. Although I have found that BNA model world are going the right way over here and now offer free postage on any orders over $200AUD.