International exchange

If the total price the buyer has to pay is reasonable and the risk is minimal, then you shouldn't have much trouble selling from outside of the US. The only other factor would be how long it would take for the buyer to receive the item, that may deter a few people.

I don't know if Paypal offers you any seller protection in Japan, but I know the US terms of service stipulates that First Class Mail International (usually the cheapest shipping method from the US) is not covered by their seller protection because the tracking info isn't adequate. So realistically, a person would need to use a higher priced expedited service that provides detailed tracking in order to have any Paypal protection. Again, I don't know if that pertains to you in Japan or not. Pretty much everything I've sold internationally has cost between $30-$40 to ship and pretty much everything I've sold within the US has cost between $10-$20 to ship, since I always insure my packages. If you choose not to insure your packages, you'll just be assuming all the risk if it does get lost in the mail.

I don't know all the ins and outs of the international trade agreements, but I'm pretty sure that if a person in the US buys a knife from a person in another country, there is no import tax if the knife was originally manufactured in the US. That's about as far as my knowledge goes on that subject lol.
 
sharp_edge said:
$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 $7 USPS 2-3 day priority within the USA, as the guy above pointed out.
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To each his own.If i can pay 150$ for a knife,i wouldnt let the cost of a lunch stand in my way.
 
Any problem has a solution.If the buyer and the seller are serious,they can work something out.Its more of a hustle,of course,for the guys in the US,but it can be done.
What i cant understand is the shipping time problem.You are buying a knife,not a life saving vaccine for your sick child.So what if it takes a month to arive?
 
Some people are just impatient. Usually I'm not too concerned about how long it would take, but there have been times when I worked out of town a lot and wanted whatever I bought to arrive before I had to leave town again. Otherwise it could be sitting in the mailbox for a month or at the post office where it could get returned if I didn't claim it.

As a seller, I prefer to have things get to there destination as quick as possible too. I don't like having lingering transactions. I've got one right now that I sent to Canada on June 9th and it's still being held by customs.
 
2 months in customs Corey??? Is the buyer hysterical yet??
What happens now??
Joe

-Corey- said:
Some people are just impatient. Usually I'm not too concerned about how long it would take, but there have been times when I worked out of town a lot and wanted whatever I bought to arrive before I had to leave town again. Otherwise it could be sitting in the mailbox for a month or at the post office where it could get returned if I didn't claim it.

As a seller, I prefer to have things get to there destination as quick as possible too. I don't like having lingering transactions. I've got one right now that I sent to Canada on June 9th and it's still being held by customs.
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I have had mostly good experiences. I list shipping as US50 but am open to shipping to certain locations.
Tracked and insured shipping can be expensive. Without tracking I will not refund money on something that gets lost. Shipping to South Africa can sometimes take months.

I've had bad experiences with Israel, Russia, Canada, and the USA. In all cases it was the person that was the problem not the country or the postal/shipping services. Fortunately even in hundreds of transactions over the last 40 years, I've had very few bad experiences with "knife people".
 
palonej said:
2 months in customs Corey??? Is the buyer hysterical yet??
What happens now??
Joe
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Actually he's been pretty patient about it. It's a liner lock AFCK and, at the time I sent it, I wasn't aware that Canada is so strict on "gravity" knives. Should've tightened the pivot down, but the buyer didn't advise me to do so, now I know. It was in limbo for a month, then he got a letter from customs saying they were holding it for inspection. Now he's waiting on another letter from them to see whether they release it to him or let him arrange to have it shipped back to me. Hopefully they let him have it, but I'm ready to get a decision one way or the other.
 
Damn bro! That sucks.
I guess this is one of the reasons so many don't want to deal with international sales.
Doesn't seem like customs is in any kind of rush to get this done either.
Hope it ends up well for you Corey.
Joe
 
Thank you all for your opinions.
I have upgraded my account to give it a try.
I will set up my Paypal business account and post a sales thread sometime soon.
 
-Corey- said:
Actually he's been pretty patient about it. It's a liner lock AFCK and, at the time I sent it, I wasn't aware that Canada is so strict on "gravity" knives. Should've tightened the pivot down, but the buyer didn't advise me to do so, now I know. It was in limbo for a month, then he got a letter from customs saying they were holding it for inspection. Now he's waiting on another letter from them to see whether they release it to him or let him arrange to have it shipped back to me. Hopefully they let him have it, but I'm ready to get a decision one way or the other.
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Maybe the custom officer liked the knife a little too much.I've sent a knife as a gift to my brother in law who lives in Canada.It was a spring assisted Kershaw Cryo.The canuck from custom decided it was a switch blade and confiscated the knife.Canada operates acordind to the ridicolous UK knife laws,who thinks a nail clipper is a lethal weapon.
 
Because knives are so damn expencive in europe i think ill only be buying from places like here.

Closed the deal on a ZT 0452 CF here 2 days ago, must admit i'm a but scared but i hear paypal G&S is solid buyer protection.
 
Most of my collection of American knives has had to come from the US itself as I'm in Europe.

I've bought quite a few knives from members here and never a problem, yes I have had to pay import taxes (usually) and I accept that as a known, customs can take a while but it's always been fine in the end. I've also done a couple of trades here which have been very satisfactory, but that has been with members I've had contact with. Others have very kindly given me knives and I've given many and done GAWs. I've bought knives from US dealers and the Bay without incident too.

However, I have been thinking about selling off some knives but that does make me uneasy for the following reasons: Postage costs from here are far higher than the US, getting it insured is more or less astronomic even though our domestic P.O. is really reliable as regard thieves etc. The main thing is, if an unscrupulous buyer decides to say to Paypal that they have never received the knife-when they have-I'm defenceless. Of course, if I've had some connexion or links with the buyer then that would make a difference but selling unseen as it were, seems too risky. Pity.....
 
Will Power said:
Most of my collection of American knives has had to come from the US itself as I'm in Europe.

I've bought quite a few knives from members here and never a problem, yes I have had to pay import taxes (usually) and I accept that as a known, customs can take a while but it's always been fine in the end. I've also done a couple of trades here which have been very satisfactory, but that has been with members I've had contact with. Others have very kindly given me knives and I've given many and done GAWs. I've bought knives from US dealers and the Bay without incident too.

However, I have been thinking about selling off some knives but that does make me uneasy for the following reasons: Postage costs from here are far higher than the US, getting it insured is more or less astronomic even though our domestic P.O. is really reliable as regard thieves etc. The main thing is, if an unscrupulous buyer decides to say to Paypal that they have never received the knife-when they have-I'm defenceless. Of course, if I've had some connexion or links with the buyer then that would make a difference but selling unseen as it were, seems too risky. Pity.....
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If you have someone in mind that you trust in the US, perhaps you could ship to them uninsured and let them ship it to the buyer from there. USPS priority shipping with full insurance usually costs me from around $7 to $20 for knives ranging from $50 to $1000. The only hitch would be that your buyer would need to send their payment to the middle man since you wouldn't be shipping directly to their confirmed paypal address. It would definitely be a hassle, but if you could find someone you trust that would be willing to do it, and the buyer would be willing to go along with it, it might be an option. Probably not too many buyers that would trust something like that though lol, sounds like a scam just trying to explain it.
 
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