Why are so many opposed to selling overseas?

S

s.c.

Feedback: +107 / =0 / -0
Joined
Mar 2, 2003
Messages
1,063
I didn't know which forum to put this, but I figured it would be best here.

Why are so many sellers against shipping overseas? The only additional work is filling out a customs form that takes all of one minute. I've done several sales to members in Asia, Canada, Australia, and Europe without incident. I make it clear that they pay for additional postage, which is typically about $12-15 extra, and that they agree that I assume no responsibility once it leaves my hands. They've always agreed to these terms and the package has always arrived safely.

It seems that many foreign members miss out on some great deals. I just don't understand why many members are so against selling to our friends overseas.
 
I sell/trade overseas once in a while. USPS Priority Int. is about $13 and easy to do on line. There are some countries that you do not want to ship to, Eastern Europe and Italy for example. Sent a knife to the Ukraine once and it took 2 months. Insurance is also not available. I get knives from the UK and Switzerland all the time.
 
I agree that it is not that difficult to make it happen. A few reasons why people dont/wont. First I think the biggest is people rather not risk getting screwed over in a deal. There has been many many threads about people getting ripped off in international deals. Another is because people are lazy/dont want to hassle with it and rather just limit to in one country. Just my .02
 
The rampant fraud due to the almost complete inability to recover your losses or pursue those who did the stealing.
 
I won't take a chance with Customs of a foreign country. For those that think they can navigate the intricacies of various foreign knife laws, more power to them.
 
I agree with all the above apprehensions, but as long as the buyer agrees that you assume no responsibility/liability, what's the problem?
 
The problem is

1) It can be more trouble packaging, documenting, and mailing to a foreign country. Some people wonder why they should bother when the US market is so large.

2) It can take considerably longer for a package to arrive and customs seizures or returns are a factor. This adds to the stress which is unwelcome in what is supposed to be a fun hobby.

3) Fraudulent claims or reversal of charges can be harder to deal with across borders. Even many major dealers are not prepared to do foreign sales for just this reason.
 
I have offered many times to ship overseas (or to Canada) if the buyer was willing to pay extra to cover the actual shipping cost and bear the risk of loss. Every time except once, the buyer declined. And life goes on. . . .
 
s.c. said:
I agree with all the above apprehensions, but as long as the buyer agrees that you assume no responsibility/liability, what's the problem?
Click to expand...

It's not you (the folks in other countries), it's me.

I would feel like complete crap if there were a case where an overseas buyer agreed to take all the risk regarding delivery and by some circumstance ended up with no knife while I still had their money. Seriously, it would bother me to no end no matter how good natured the buyer might be about it. I would hate to have that hanging over me with no real recourse available. It is my fear of that situation, regardless of how small the chance might be when all the proper planning and vetting is done, that prevents me from sending knives outside the US. Even in a few cases where I dealt with an intermediary party in the US who then forwarded knives on to someone overseas I sweated everyday until I got confirmation it was received safe and sound. Like Esav said, the stress can take a toll. I truly prefer to preclude the possibility altogether.
 
s.c. said:
I agree with all the above apprehensions, but as long as the buyer agrees that you assume no responsibility/liability, what's the problem?
Click to expand...

Because no matter what is agreed upon in a thread, reversals of payment and/or pp disputes still happen regardless of acceptance of the risk.
PP doesn't care what a BF thread states.
If customs opens your well sealed and properly packed box, then tosses it back in and puts a single piece of tape on it, your knife is now easy to get at by others in it's travels.
Ever try to recoup your lost blades value on a International shipment? Still waiting for my $900 from the USPS or Canada Post. Been over a year. Of course I gave the buyer his money back because a deal is not finished until he has what he paid for. The box arrived empty with Customs tape on it.
 
s.c. said:
It seems that many foreign members miss out on some great deals. I just don't understand why many members are so against selling to our friends overseas.
Click to expand...

This has certainly not been my experience........
I has been ages since someone refused to ship to me......

I don't know where you are but you are a long standing member and by all accounts you have a excellent record.

Judging from your recent feedback someone out there is shipping you knives......:D

Many folks in the US have been burned or just don't want the hassle or angst of International sales. That is certainly their choice.........and I respect it.

I don't take it personally when someone does not want to ship to me.......There are many sellers who will and loads of knives to buy.

I just move on........

Steven
 
s.c. said:
I agree with all the above apprehensions, but as long as the buyer agrees that you assume no responsibility/liability, what's the problem?
Click to expand...

When a knife doesn't show up, the buyer (that agreed to the liability) now has a decision to make. Lose the money and the knife, or swallow his ethics and file a claim. In the one case where I had a customer send me a letter agreeing to the liability if lost / stolen; he filed a paypal dispute when it went lost in his country and paypal refunded his money. They didn't blink an eye when I filed his agreement to liability with them.

You can't insure the priority; you can't control what happens to it when it leaves your hands; you can't control what the buyer does when it doesn't show up.

A couple years ago, I was losing 25% of them ( or they were showing up with customs tape and no knife ) if sent without insurance. Haven't lost a one sending express w/insurance. It seems to have gotten better lately and I have started sending some lower value orders via priority without issue so far (knock on wood).
 
It goes both ways. I buy from the US and there is always a risk of somebody ripping me off or it getting lost/stolen. Fortunately, I've had no problems with the transit, only with sellers sending the WRONG knife then taking ages to put it right.

Once you establish a good connexion with a seller then it's excellent, it's not at all difficult to send stuff abroad contrary to what some think.
 
I live in Israel, and while it may take longer for the knife to get here, or to clear customs, it always arrives. My first ( and only) buy here, was sent to me faster then my Knifeworks purchases.
 
The reason is very simple. Margins are too low in this industry to cover the additional risk involved in shipping abroad. Don't take it personally. It is just business.
 
I ship products overseas all the time with no issues. If the customer is willing to pay just a little extra for shipping, wait just a bit longer for delivery and understands that the further something has to be shipped increases the chance of something not going well during shipment then I have no problems shipping overseas. But I also understand and respect why others may not want to.
 
I had a sour incident were the buyer got his knife confiscated by the local authority. He blamed me saying that I should have lied on the shipping paperwork, saying that it was a book or something instead. I wrote in "cutlery". I probably could have not, but I gave the man his money back and let him know that he would be the last person I dealt with out of CONUS.
 
If somebody overseas rips you off it costs a lot more to show up at their house and get back your money or knife, or otherwise obtain satisfaction.
 
Yo s.c. I'm one of the overseas dude you dealt with :)

I think there must be distinction made between dealing with somebody with a good history and one who has no history. I recently did a trade with a fella in the states and due to his (assuming it's a boy :)) impeccable record I offered to send it to him first. I won't do that if he/she has no history or post counts to guide me. It's like dealing in EBay. You can breath easier dealing with a fella with 100% +ve feedback of over 1000 feedbacks for example :)
 
The way I look at it may sound a little biased. We have what, four knife factories here in the states? Twenty out of nineteen knives are imported. So the way I see it, the rest of the world has plenty of supply. Just kidding....

The real reason I don't (and would NEVER even consider) shipping a knife overseas? Simple. You people have governments that make California look like a free country. Not only would I run the risk of becoming an international criminal, I'd run the risk of getting ripped off by your taxing freakshow customs agents. Even if I was tripling the money potential (which isn't even close to possible) it wouldn't be financially worth it. And since I don't know you, I'm not gonna be inclined to do anything out of "friendship". So no profit potential, no buddy motivation, and a potentially explosive legal hassle has me thinking, erm.... Get your OWN knife. Heck the dam factory is over there any-freakin-how. Cheers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top