I'm flogging an old Sid fork, have specified UK-only on auction but had a few queries from Germany. They must like their retro stuff over there.
In two minds about whether to send abroad or not, have sent smaller items before but nothing this big.
Wonder what view other sellers have taken?
And how much would you charge to send to DE?
No. You can't get guaranteed delivery, and it's dead expensive.
When I first got rid of a few bits, a bloke in Slovakia won a frame. I was all niaive and looked into it, but he didn't reply and then a friend explained the "non-delivery" scam. So, I did nothing and nothing happened. I'll re-list it one day, I have 'UK only' now.
I do buy little electronic things from Hong Kong, never had a bad experience there. Great for stocking fillers!
Cheers, al.
I sold an RP23 to a guy in Germany. Went very easy, he Paypaled the money and I used PO to send it insured. Wasnt expensive either.
I've sent stuff to Italy, it was a pain in the ass as the buyer disputed the postage, so I had so scan it in etc, and when it arrived he then disputed the item wasn't what I had advertised it to be.
Luckly he went to his LBS, and they confirmed it was all OK.
I wouldn't bother
you might find the size of a fork is the problem: you can do royal mail 'airsure' to many european countries which is better traceked and insured but there is a limit to the dimensions and weight of the package.
Sold my full sus frame to a guy in europe. Was about 100 quid for fully tracked postage - he seemed happy to pay.
Exchange rate is in their favour so it'll get more common i think.
I sent stuff to spain and germany ( scalextrix cars!)
Insured postage for a few quid, no problems.
I sent a pair of wheels to Greece once. Bloke bid even though I said UK only.... They took a month to arrive and it was more faff then it was worth.
I might send to Germany or somewhere closer as they seem very clued up on delivery etc, but I'd think twice about it.
I've bought loads of stuff from NZ, USA, Germany and Hong Kong, all no problems, though
I've sold lots of stuff overseas, once to the US, many times to Spain and once to France. Use the international signed for service, which will give you proof of receipt, but unless you use a courier (UPS, Fed Ex etc) you can't track a package once it's left the UK. The postage costs can be on the high side but that's just something to manage with the auction listing. To illustrate, I once sold an old hard tail frame only to a guy in france. The postage was £120 insured and with proof of receipt.
The big news is that you can significantly raise the final value of the auction by posting overseas especially to places where parts are expensive new (I think Spain must fall into that category) and/or where the pound is weak against the local currency.
I usually put the highest price I can reasonably think of for international postage costs. I then add a note in the auction listing to say that this fee must be paid on the close of the auction and that I will refund any difference after I've packaged it up and got a fixed price for postage. I've done this several times and it has worked well, with people being very appreciative of a the refund.
I sold 9 items 2 weeks ago and all of them ended going up abroad, all were paid for quickly all were delivered no problems.
On small parcels postage abroad is suprisingly cheap, not much more than the UK, on bigger ones however the costs can soon mount up, expect over £100 for a frame with insurance.
People abroad are bidding more at the moment because as said above retail prices in, say, the spanish islands are huge and the pound is nice and cheap at the moment. I sold a Radar lens that I was asking £17 for on STW, wnet to Germany for £47!
i sold a set of pikes to a guy in estonia ... had to use interparcel at a cost of £23 though as it was too big for royalmail
Some useful advice there guys, thanks.
Royal mail airsure is not tracked past the UK boarder and is useless, Use DHL etc from parcel2go.com or i like interparcel.co.uk
Yep, done it loads of times, sent a Fuel Ex frame to Tenerife, it got held in customs for ages, but otherwise no problem. Good way to make a lot more money at the moment with the strong Euro, I sold a 9 year old Gore jacket for £85 a couple of weeks ago!
I sold some snowboard bindings on Ebay to a bloke in Budapest once - very cheaply. I charged him exact cost for postage and he was so pleased that I'd sell them to him he paid me 5 quid more than we agreed!
Sent few things abroad. But if the parcel is bigger than 60cm and heavier than 3kg (or a bit more can't remember) You will have to use ParcelForce, but still be able to post it in a PO (but some other companies might be cheaper try the sites mentioned earlier). Someone tried to scam me twice when I was selling a mobile phone and a new 2008 Spesh FSR. As always "send it to Nigeria, money will be in a holding account and will be released once You send us the proof of postage" yeah right 🙂 One thing went to Portugal, postage wasn't high and managed to sell it for almost £20 more than I paid for it 6 months before, guy PayPalled me the funds but I waited till the money reach my bank account before posting (just in case) 🙂
If the guy has good feedback and he's reasonably close Germany, France, Italy, than I would probably send some stuff there. To a prince in Nigeria, no thanks.
I am one of those overseas bidders 🙂
Exchange rate makes it too tempting at the moment...
Don't know what to suggest as a safeguard. There are a**eholes everywhere sadly. Shipping is not normally a problem to Belgium or Germany I thought? Parcelforce seem to do a pretty good job. Any related costs are the problem of the buyer of course. Prices are readable online too I seem to recall so no reason for quibbling from either side?