Vinokurtov

Occasionally I clear out my surplus and mistake bike stuff on Ebay. After half a dozen nightmares (virtually every transaction) selling outside the US, especially to Canada, I set up a US only policy and even linked a page as to the reasons why for prospective buyers, explaining that it was nothing personal, I'm not a flag waving xenophobe, Etc. So this shows up in my Email today from an Ontario Canada resident:

"You are a real ****ing lazy business man. Stay in the USA."

Gosh, you're really swaying me to reconsider. Yeah, your polite and considerate attitude would really make working with you worth any hassle that I might incur.

Mouton

are you going to share your ebay name so we can check the warez?

0-20 in 5 Sec

That would be against forum rules

Vinokurtov

And I respect the forum.

Mouton

Well Im a terrible heathen!

flyingscotsman

Can your share the email of the A$$hole so we can berate him

dsb137

I feel your pain... I'm in the process of parting out a race motorcycle and it seems that every question I get is 'will you ship to Canada?'... The bad part is that 2 guys didn't even bother to ask. One of the shippments went OK (extra hassle, export docs, etc. not wothstanding...) but naturally, UPS crushed the box of the other, and a Akrapovic Evo II titanium exhaust in the process. So now the guy is after me, and I can't seem to get UPS to do anything, all in all a delightful experience... Is there a way to refuse a winning bid if its from a canadian and award the auction to the next guy?

WCroadie

I think you can refuse the winning bid and offer another bidder a second chance, or just relist it. Make sure you say shipping to US only just to CYA, I do. Then they should not be able to complain if you refuse their bid.

Grasschopper

I have a dollar that says it was EURO.

rogster

Edit your seller preferences to include US buyer only. Very easy to do.

Not sure what would happen if the Ebay account holder is registered in the US but the Paypal confirmed address is outside of US like in Canada. Technically, the shipment should sent to the Paypal confirmed address.

woodcycl

In that case, simply block that ebayer from bidding using the username.

flyingscotsman

I had too much trouble selling items outwith the USA, if I was asked if I would ship to Canada I would look at the time, however I would add an extra charge for the pain that it becomes, the final straw was an italian whoose $20 item cost $25 to ship and the trouble I had with it.

So now when I list on ebay I quite happily delete bids from outwith the USA, I checked with Ebay and that does confirm with their policys providing that my auctions say only USA.

oilman_15106

I quit buying from Canada also. 80% of the listings don't show shipping costs and their postage must be funding the free health care system they have. In general the shipping costs from Canada to US are outlandish. Had a stem shipped from Switzerland for $11 as a refrence point.

shoerhino

I suspect that some people think that everyone on eBay is a business owner providing a service and have higher expectations of the seller as a result. For example, a normal business that would get an inquiry to ship an item internationally would be more receptive to do so, as it would potentially expand their business, but a person who is just selling a stem may not want the hassle of shipping internationally. It seems that when you state that in the auction, people do get upset, almost as if there is an expectation of an international shipping service.

Personally, I only ship to the US. I don't want to wait in line at the local post office to fill out the paperwork. It could be a nice day outside - why spend the time standing in line in the post office for an extra dollar or two? Where a business may look at making more money on the transaction and ship internationally, it's worth more to me to get the shipping done quickly.

va_cyclist

And I always thought Canadians were so nice.

blue_nose

Keep it up and we will stop sending down the good beer

FYI - You do not have to stand in line to ship anything to Canada. You can pick up a bunch of custom declarations (stickers) at the post office. It takes an extra 10 seconds to jot down what the item is and stick it on the package. Hey, it’s up to you if you want to exclude the Canucks, but really it is not a big deal to send anything north of the boarder.

hiromian

No way. Don't brand us with the Nice crap. We have our fair share of A$$ wipes just like anywhere else. I would like to apologize on behalf on all Canadians, especially for dising Vino, one of my personal faves. But anyway, such is life, people suck, even up here in Canada. DocRay can probably prove it. I'm sure he has a stat up his sleeve for this. Or he can just prove it by being himself. I know I can.

dsb137

For the most part that's true, provided everything goes right... At the moment, the guy that bought the m/c pipe has a crushed box and an unusable pipe, and I've been going round and round with UPS for over a week. UPS Canada and UPS USA are basically pointing fingers at each other... meanwhile the buyer wants a refund, including imports fees and such. So when this all washes out, I'll have a damaged m/c pipe, and be out shipping (both directions...) and import fees... All because I sold to a Canadian when I said I wouldn't... Provided UPS Somebody pays the claim...

Dick Rhee

I clear out a bunch of my old records on Ebay every once and a while and rarely have problems shipping into Canada or Europe (except for the occasional flake Ebayer that can't understand why shipping a 12" to Norway will cost over $6). I'd imagine it may be more difficult with items of a larger value though.

DocRay

I've sold ~125 items to the US (100% positive), and quoted exact shipping costs prior to sales. If you are stupid enough not to ask for shipping costs on an eBay bid, don't be upset if they are higher than you think. That's just common sense.

The opposite is also true, shipping rates to Canada are often double the US ship rates, then the package arrives with the same postage as shipping in the US. This is very common, which is why I check first (intertestingly, if I mention this to most US sellers, they will ship for the true price).

Shipping is the central ripoff of eBay, many new items are sold at no profit, with the only profit coming from "handling". But this is true with any transaction.

The only bizarre thing I can't understand is that Americans will often pay more on an auction than what I paid new for an item.

BTW: Canadian health care is not "free", it is funded universally for all people by taxes. It's a national decision, whereas US taxes are mainly focused on killing people abroad.

Dick Rhee

Ouch, but true.

Vinokurtov

Even here, where people at the Post Office are friendly and efficient (I kid you not, they are GREAT), there's at least a 5-10 minute wait in line to give them your package and the paperwork. When I lived in Oakland it was 30 minutes and then you got someone who didn't have a clue what they were doing.

The quickest I've ever seen anything get to Canada from the US was six weeks. I sent something to a friend in OZ recently and it took almost 3 months, as did a package to Europe. Things get TO the US pretty fast though, which, given our extra tight security you'd think would be the other way around.

DocRay

Americans complain about USPS, but it is much better than Canada post. Shipping anything from Canada takes paperwork and lineups, and they are not open afrter 5pm or on weekends.
I freaked out the first time I received a letter on a saturday in the US.

Doggus

Patriot

Yeah, but we have lots of really cool toys to play with.

Oh, and don't forget who else sits under our little umbrella of cool toys to play with.