Would appreciate a Mod and/or seasoned seller's input!

3Guardsmen

3Guardsmen

Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Messages
3,652
I currently have a sale thread (my first on BF) going in the exchange. I stated in my initial post that my sales were "CONUS only." I feel I may have been a bit too vague in my specifications, as I've now been contacted by two different members, who live abroad and wish to purchase by having me send the knives to a US shipping address to then be forwarded to them. My question to the Moderators and/or seasoned sellers on here is whether or not stating "CONUS only" is explicit enough to indicate a lack of willingness to sell to members abroad via third-party, non BF members?

It is not that I have anything against selling to members abroad, it's just that I've been burned a few times on other sites by so doing, and don't want to take any risks in my first sale/s here on BF. I would have no reservations about selling to a BladeForums member here in the States, who could then sell to a member abroad in a different transaction. I am, however, concerned about selling to a member abroad via an unknown person (non-member), whom I have no way of monitoring (and no recourse via the feedback/reputation system) to make sure my product actually gets to the buyer. Is my position unreasonable? I guess that's what I'm trying to ascertain.

Thank you,
3G
 
3Guardsmen said:
I currently have a sale thread (my first on BF) going in the exchange. I stated in my initial post that my sales were "CONUS only." I feel I may have been a bit too vague in my specifications, as I've now been contacted by two different members, who live abroad and wish to purchase by having me send the knives to a US shipping address to then be forwarded to them. My question to the Moderators and/or seasoned sellers on here is whether or not stating "CONUS only" is explicit enough to indicate a lack of willingness to sell to members abroad via third-party, non BF members?

It is not that I have anything against selling to members abroad, it's just that I've been burned a few times on other sites by so doing, and don't want to take any risks in my first sale/s here on BF. I would have no reservations about selling to a BladeForums member here in the States, who could then sell to a member abroad in a different transaction. I am, however, concerned about selling to a member abroad via an unknown person (non-member), whom I have no way of monitoring (and no recourse via the feedback/reputation system) to make sure my product actually gets to the buyer. Is my position unreasonable? I guess that's what I'm trying to ascertain.

Thank you,
3G
Click to expand...

I have sold a few items here, and usually indicated ConUS, but was also contacted by buyers overseas (including the UK, China, etc.). In one case the person had me ship to a US address to be forwarded to them, and in the others the buyers had me ship directly, but asked for priority shipping at their cost.

All in all these were just as easy of transactions as the ones within the US.
 
Get your money in advance, and make sure the buyer agrees that he has no recourse against you if something goes wrong in transit. If they're still willing to buy under those circumstances, do it - you have nothing to lose.
 
I stand to be corrected but I am sure that if you receive a Papal payment from abroad and then ship to a local US address, or indeed any address other than the buyers registered Paypal one, your Paypal protection is lost.

So the buyer could claim you never shipped it to him and claim a refund.

I have asked people to ship CONUS to me before when I am in the US and because they trust me they do but if you are dealing with a recent member with no feedback I suggest caution.

There are many of us Internationals that have good reps and we appreciate those who are willing to ship to us. But I would never blame anyone for being cautious and not shipping International.

Your terms of sale are CONUS only.Perfectly reasonable and stated upfront....I suggest for your own peace of mind you stick to it.

Good luck with your sale.....:)
Steven
 
I have bought from people who said US only with no problems so far. I was happy to pay up and have them ship
when the payment had cleared. I would think most people realised I'm not out to scam folks so were willing to flex
their conditions of US only. I have also been knocked back a couple of times but thats fair play too.

If you don't lie about the value on the customs form and get insurance then there really is nothing to worry about.
From what I have seen the problems start when people try to "fiddle the books" and then the package goes missing.
 
I have a friend in the US where I have stuff sent from sellers who refuse to ship outside the US. None of those sellers ever had a problem with my request. They felt that as long as the knife arrived safely at the specified US address, they'd fulfilled their requirements. And they were right.

I've even had one seller reconsider because of this silly and unnecessary (but apparently unavoidable) construction, and send the knife to me directly. ;)
 
As a seller, you have the right to refuse to deal even with someone in the town next door if you don't trust them, like them, or want to get involved in any way with them.

I am personally willing to ship anywhere in theory but that also depends on the person I'm dealing with. We have people (like Haze) who have been around long enough, we know they are reliable.

You are certainly justified in specifying US only and to the paying addressee. Perhaps they can get their US trans-shipper to send their PayPal or money order so there will be no confusion between payer and addressee.
 
I sold a knife to someone in Russia vis a US associate of his.

He had his US friend pay with a USPS money order and then I shipped to his US address. No 'confirmed address' problems that way.

Worked great for both of us.
 
I have never had any trouble shipping to BF members outside the US except the one time Canada customs stole the package.I always say that I can not insure a package going out of the US and am not responsible for it after being shipped.The buyer understood and took the loss as customs would not release the knives.
I have insured a package going out of the US one time for the man as it was a 500.00 knife,IIRC it was around 60.00 to ship it with insurance but it got to him in 4 days and all was good.
Only one time did I refuse and that was from a newer member that wanted me to ship to China.That wasn't the reason I refused,it was that he wanted his friend here to send me payment.That guy emailed me that he was some CEO of whatever and wanted to send a company check.He was very rude from the start and got worse when I told him pay pal or M.O. only.That one just screamed scam.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top