International exchange

miso2

miso2

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Nov 19, 2014
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Hi all,

I have several knives I will never use in my inventory and think that they would be better off with someone who appreciates and uses them. But, I am located in Japan, where knife exchange is not common.

Therefore, I would like to ask you if you would be willing to buy a knife or knives from someone abroad, with international shipping involved. I have seen "US only" or "CONUS only" too many times and am hesitant to buy the gold membership.

Let me know. Thank you,
 
People are often nervous about shipping items to foreign buyers because there's little protection for the seller if things go wrong. And international shipping can cost a fortune.

As an example, I'm involved in Motorsports and I race a relatively rare car. I was looking for a pair of Weber carburetors to replace the stock fuel injection on my car (long story). There was a guy in England who had a pair of Webers with the correct manifold and asked if I could do a straight swap with him.

I shipped him the stock parts and they were returned about 2 weeks later because his mechanic refused to pay the hefty import duty. We spoke on the phone. The seller claimed he hadn't informed his mechanic that a package was arriving and begged me to resend it. Besides, he claimed my Webers were already "in the mail."

Needless to say, the Webers never arrived. To add insult to injury, I was charged 3 times for shipping: the British Post charged me for the return trip! I lost a big box of nearly irreplaceable parts and paid about $300 in shipping fees.

If the deal took place here in America, I would at least a have chance of recovering some money.
 
Yes. I understand that. I would be (and have been) little bit anxious in an international deal. I need to make my mind that I would and can take the full loss in the worst case scenario.

I am still interested to hear if there are people willing to take an international deal regardless. What I have to sell at this particular moment is a few used Spydercos, and I am thinking of selling them as a cheap bundle.


EDIT (8/8): Although this is still hypothetical, I remove the names of items I would sell, since it may be a violation to the site rules as pointed out below.
 
Last edited:
You might want to have this moved to the Feedback section. Have a look around there as well because it has been discussed quite a bit.

Basically, there are some people who don't mind doing international deals. Often only if they are on good terms or have a good reputation in the community.
 
Good to know that there are some. I am not sure what my reputation is in this community. I don't think I have done anything terrible....... yet.....
 
I'm in the same boat as the OP. Too often is there a statement like 'US only' or 'CONUS only'.

To expand on the OP's post: would it be considered bad form or impolite to PM someone if they would reconsider if I were to carry the costs and risks involved? There have been rare occasions where I would have been willing to.

That said, I do understand the barriers in international shipping. I have occasionally bought thing from the states, both from well known stores as well as on the big auction site. The thing is: prices for shipping are all over the place. The big auction site is usually the cheapest, but one store ships for $15.99 to the Netherlands, where the other will quote me starting from $69.99. Then different carriers calculate wildly varying handling fees for customs declaration. Just on the shipping alone it's hard to see the woods for all the trees.

Then there's taxes. A couple of years ago you would get lucky about 75% of the time and not get hit by import taxes. These days, it's much more strict, and it seems to be the exception to the rule. In my case, taxes are calculated on the total price INCLUDING shipping AND handling costs. On top of that, customs wil also hit you with handling costs of their own.

If I'm looking at buying something from the USA, I'll usually make a quick-and-dirty calculation that looks something like this:

Price of goods + Shipping and handling = price before taxes
Price after taxes = Prices before taxes + 35 % + € 30 handling.

And even then I'll sometimes overlook hidden costs and get a nasty surprise.

The thing is: if something is not ok, you always lose out on all those additional costs, even if the seller wants to do everything in his/her power to make it right. And I wonder what happens on the side of the seller if you do send it back; do they get hit by taxes too?

Even so, there are rare cases where it's still worth it, and I have been thinking about the membership for about a year now. I could definitely use some pointers in figuring all of this out though, because there might be a better way.
 
Lodd said:
To expand on the OP's post: would it be considered bad form or impolite to PM someone if they would reconsider if I were to carry the costs and risks involved? There have been rare occasions where I would have been willing to.
Click to expand...

I've said things similar to "I'll take it if you change your mind on international shipping." Sometimes they do, usually not.

The only issue with "carrying the cost/risks" is that when you work with PayPal, they can only trust your word not to file a claim. In order for them to trust your word, it helps if you are are on good terms or have a good reputation in the community (as I said). Even so, it isn't worth the risk to many if they have other possible buyer/traders in their own country.

It can help if you have a proxy buyer in the US to help, but be sure to state this in advance.

This of course has to do with buying, not selling.

So in response to the OP,

I don't think you'll have as many hurdles selling your items, honestly.
 
I have bought quite a few knives internationally. It has always worked out just fine. I especially like the deals you can get from makers from certain countries, think it might be an exchange rate thing?
I have heard of some having trouble with customs. Don't know if it is customs workers trying to snag a free knife, or a stiff worried about legal bs about sending " weapons" internationally. I have never had trouble with that though.
Shipping can be spendy though.
 
Only knife I've sold back to USA was my Busse TGLB because it was worth the effort (wide buyer market + having enough money back from the sale). Selling anything cheaper usually defeats the purpose as you need to spend so many shillings on shipping.
 
Emre said:
People are often nervous about shipping items to foreign buyers because there's little protection for the seller if things go wrong. And international shipping can cost a fortune.

As an example, I'm involved in Motorsports and I race a relatively rare car. I was looking for a pair of Weber carburetors to replace the stock fuel injection on my car (long story). There was a guy in England who had a pair of Webers with the correct manifold and asked if I could do a straight swap with him.

I shipped him the stock parts and they were returned about 2 weeks later because his mechanic refused to pay the hefty import duty. We spoke on the phone. The seller claimed he hadn't informed his mechanic that a package was arriving and begged me to resend it. Besides, he claimed my Webers were already "in the mail."

Needless to say, the Webers never arrived. To add insult to injury, I was charged 3 times for shipping: the British Post charged me for the return trip! I lost a big box of nearly irreplaceable parts and paid about $300 in shipping fees.

If the deal took place here in America, I would at least a have chance of recovering some money.
Click to expand...
International shipping doesnt ''cost a fortune''.For a knife it would be around 30$ or less.Just make clear the buyer understands that there may be custom fees and VAT to pay.I bought knives from the US,and even with the custom fees the prices where way better then the prices in Europe.As a side note,the US guys are way better to deal with than the europeans.
 
fluffyblade said:
International shipping doesnt ''cost a fortune''.For a knife it would be around 30$ or less.
Click to expand...
You can ship a knife anywhere in the USA for $7 (including insurance, tracking, and even the shipping box itself) by USPS Priority Mail. It's about 4 times that amount to ship to Japan with any service that guarantees delivery. With import duties on top of that, it may add up to a significant portion of the purchase price. Then there's the increased risk of something going missing or seized/delayed at customs.

I'm just saying...I can understand why people might avoid shipping to Asia.
 
miso2 said:
Hi all,

I have several knives I will never use in my inventory and think that they would be better off with someone who appreciates and uses them. But, I am located in Japan, where knife exchange is not common.

Therefore, I would like to ask you if you would be willing to buy a knife or knives from someone abroad, with international shipping involved. I have seen "US only" or "CONUS only" too many times and am hesitant to buy the gold membership.

Let me know. Thank you,
Click to expand...

not encouraging this, but one could theoretically send described as "camping tool", declare no value, and send as gift to the US. I know of at least one successful case. there's clearly risk involved though
 
miso2 said:
Yes. I understand that. I would be (and have been) little bit anxious in an international deal. I need to make my mind that I would and can take the full loss in the worst case scenario.

I am still interested to hear if there are people willing to take an international deal regardless. What I have to sell at this particular moment is a few used Spydercos (Manix 2, GB1, and Vallotton), and I am thinking of selling them as a cheap bundle.
Click to expand...

You might also read the rules for buying and selling here...

http://www.bladeforums.com/help/exchange-rules/

You appear to be breaking several of them. :thumbsup:
 
Emre said:
You can ship a knife anywhere in the USA for $7 (including insurance, tracking, and even the shipping box itself) by USPS Priority Mail. It's about 4 times that amount to ship to Japan with any service that guarantees delivery. With import duties on top of that, it may add up to a significant portion of the purchase price. Then there's the increased risk of something going missing or seized/delayed at customs.

I'm just saying...I can understand why people might avoid shipping to Asia.
Click to expand...
I understand you guys in the US dont need/want to ship abroad.Your knife market is not even on the same planet with the European one.But my point was that 30$ are not a fortune,and the rest of the things involved-custom fees,risks,long delivery time,etc-are the BUYER'S problem.When i buy a knife from the US i know i will have to wait a couple of weeks,and that may be aditional costs,and risks.As a seller the only risk you have to take is the item going lost in the mail or confiscated by the custom-and this will happen very rare,and never in a European country.
 
I bought a fairly expensive knife (CRK Umnumzaan) from a guy in Croatia. Price and shipping total was overall more than fair and I paid with PayPal G&S.

He probably took a bath on market value of the knife but he sold his knife. *shrugs*
 
fluffyblade said:
As a seller the only risk you have to take is the item going lost in the mail or confiscated by the custom-and this will happen very rare,and never in a European country.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, those aren't the only risks...and, if problems are as rare you as suggest, I must be quite unlucky; as I have had issues with 2 shipments (and I've not done a lot of international shipping). Now I'm one of those "US shipping, only" people - the only exception being an occasional fixed blade to Canada
 
fluffyblade said:
I understand you guys in the US dont need/want to ship abroad.Your knife market is not even on the same planet with the European one.But my point was that 30$ are not a fortune,and the rest of the things involved-custom fees,risks,long delivery time,etc-are the BUYER'S problem.When i buy a knife from the US i know i will have to wait a couple of weeks,and that may be aditional costs,and risks.As a seller the only risk you have to take is the item going lost in the mail or confiscated by the custom-and this will happen very rare,and never in a European country.
Click to expand...

$30 shipping fee IS a fortune for me and I suspect so for many others as well, again, especially when you can get it done with only $7 USPS 2-3 day priority within the USA, as the guy above pointed out.
 
Thank you guys for the inputs! It seems that some have bigger concerns than others over international shipping.

Now this is still just hypothetical.
Let’s say that I would want to sell a well-used knife, of which retail value is about $180, at $80 plus shipping $20 (with tracking) to the US, total of $100. This amount would probably not invoke the import tax in a JAPAN-US trade. I would accept the payment through Paypal G&S (there is no F&F in JAPAN). I am willing to take the loss if the item is lost (payback to the buyer).

Would this work for you?
 
Mod.
Please move this thread, if necessary, to the feedback forum.
Thank you.
 
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