Any Ebay ninjas here // Does the UK sellers hate mainland Europe?

[Too Bo Coo]

At least when I need stuff from the States I order it, send it to the rents house and pick it up over the holidays.  My fiance has a stroke every xmas that I need an extra suitcase for toys and supplies...

[Onebigriver]

I will ship to some European countries, but others have somewhat shaky postal systems, and sellers have a pretty rough time of it on Ebay as it is so it is hardly surprising that they limit risk.

[WillieB]

In my experience most UK sellers ( and even some US ones) will send to mainland Europe when asked.
However with the 'new' Customs charges I don't often buy anything from the US or Australia anymore.

As for being a 'sniper' on Ebay. Take a look at my avatar.

[weismonsters]

A lot of sellers wont post to here, but I am not altogether surprised since one item in every 6 or 7 disappears into the aether. I have given u claiming because there are some people who will immediately offer a refund if you mention it didnt show up and others who will just wash their hands, and so if i take the generous people on their offer it just seems like i am punishing them for generosity so now i just accept that i will loose my money every so often as a buyer. If it is something valuable i will contact them and ask for registered post. I think normally people will be willing to do that if asked. There used to be a prce calculator on Royal Mail website which you can direct them to if they are unsure about it, assuming its still there.

[grant]

When I was selling on ebay, I only sold to Canada, US, and the UK. I did make a mistake with one of my earliest auctions and missed restricting countries and I sold to: Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia, Bulgaria (yes!), South Africa, and the usuals. I was selling a lot of vintage Volkswagen memorabilia then. The buyer from Italy wanted it shipped to Spain because he said the postal system in Italy was so corrupt. He was an airline pilot and picked it up on his next leg.

On LAF, interestingly, I have primarily sold to New Zealand. 

[Momotaro]

My daughter lives in Japan, so I've got used to the ins and outs (and horrors) of international postage.  I've posted games-related stuff to Europe, the States, Australia, NZ.

On my last eBay sales, I forgot to change the "UK-only" default, but provided quotes to German and Portuguese buyers.

Couple of exceptions.  Everything I've ever sent to Italy or Spain by normal post has gone missing, so it's courier-only to those countries.  Sorry guys, it's just bad personal experience.

[Lowtardog]

I will ship to some European countries, but others have somewhat shaky postal systems, and sellers have a pretty rough time of it on Ebay as it is so it is hardly surprising that they limit risk.

I will normally post over seas if asked but it can be a pain as it means extra trip to post office to work out postage etc based on package sizes, types of postage. There are some such as Italy etc who have a poor reputation so I always put a caviat of the type of postage with insurance etc to more remote or dodgy locations. There are or I have hear of scams where they say damaged, not received so it can be a little bit of a gamble

[Cubs]

I will post anywhere the buyer wants, so long as they cover the cost and it's recorded. I will also put some international sample quotes (usually US, Canada, Australia, NZ and EU) on the listing for anything I expect to go for a decent amount (ie. over £25-ish) because it generates much more interest and thus pushes the price higher.

A little time and effort on my part can result in a lot more money. I've lost count of the amount of times an auction price has been pushed up and up by international buyers trying to outbid each other.

For small stuff I am willing to post abroad, but the fact that I insist on recordable delivery will usually mean the postage cost is prohibitively expensive for buyers outside the UK.

[Dolmot]

For some statistics, I've ordered hundreds of packets to Finland, 90% of them in standard, unregistered mail. I can recall exactly four of them getting lost over years. Interestingly, all were from the UK but that's also the most common country of origin so it doesn't prove much yet.

• A heavy parcel of minis was torn open and the content lost/stolen, most likely by a temp worker during a Royal Mail strike.
• An order which was paid but I never got any confirmation nor managed to contact them afterwards so possibly never sent in the first place.
• An Amazon order which bounced back to them from somewhere after two months or so. I had already received a replacement so no real loss of any kind.
• Exactly one parcel which was certainly shipped but vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, I've received everything I've bought from Italy, Spain, ex-Yugoslavia and other strange places. No matter how you count it, the loss rate has been less than 1%. Despite all the usual mudflinging, our post is generally very reliable so don't treat it like Italy. You can quite happily send stuff unregistered with the only notable risk being inexplicable multi-week delays. Heck, despite all price increases even registered mail from the UK is usually cheaper than sending the same stuff from here to the next door.

(No, wait, it's actually quite sad. Usually I don't even bother trying to sell any physical items larger than a single mini in a letter as the postage would be outright crazy. Want to compare rates? )

[6milPhil]

Changed the topic title a bit. I've spotted a lot of different auctions where the sellers has a UK only text. I know that some of these sellers can be persuaded to actually send to europe if you ask them (apparently, ebay has a postage setting that people forget about). But on quite many occassions, I've stumbled upon a seller that just refuses to send to europe. Is there an issue of people frauding, or just the seller being lazy and unsure when he needs to do the address tab?

I'll ship to anywhere, but only ever do postage options for the UK just to save time, but do mention my willingness to ship anywhere, message me, etc. in the item description. Calculating postage to everywhere is complicated, for the UK I always over calculate and then partial refund on it. Folk always like to get a little cash back, not so much asked for a quid more. 

I have heard poor experiences from some with Portugese/Italian/Greek/Spanish buyers, I always assume it's a poor postal service than anything else, some don't. I tend to always send recorded anyway, then everyone's happy.

That's one of the superior things about LAF, we're all over the place, and we trade happily between ourselves with the minimum of problems. Hurrah for us!

Do think hate in the title is a little strong...

[Conquistador]

I quit offering selling outside the USA, Canada, and UK because every time I research the (horrific to outright banditry) postage costs to other countries involved I get no reply or a gentlemanly question about a misplaced decimal...   but seriously, international postage does seem to be a big damper on buying second hand miniatures (not going to talk about postal/customs inspectors and those costs.)  Recently I sent some single miniatures to Europe and I almost killed the sales because I was not ready for the cost involved.  

I reserve to reflexively grumble/complain/whine about postage from recent items shipped from the UK and Australia (it is traditional to do so I believe)   but seriously it almost seems like the assorted postal services are competing to discourage private transactions over oceans.  I know that isn't true but it sometimes seems that way.

Gracias,

Glenn