Below are some hints & tips for Trading Internationally
- Listing Internationally
- On page 4 of the add your item form is the Post-to locations
section.
You will need to adjust the post-to settings from UK Only to either Worldwide or select those
regions you are selling to. You are not able to deselect the UK. Your item will appear on all
the appropriate worldwide eBay sites with the price showing in UK Pounds plus an approximate
conversion into the local currency
You can see from the example above that the approximation is using the Interbank Currency Rate
rather then the more useful / realistic Tourist Rate.
- Listing on other eBay's
- You can list your items directly on the non UK eBays (eBay.com,
eBay Germany, eBay Australia etc etc).
Your auction will then appear in the native currency for that site. Some bidders are put off when they
see an item listed in a foreign currency
Doing this would also let you sell exclusively to the countries covered by that eBay site and to
exclude the UK. A pitfall of this is that your listing would need to comply with the sites local laws
and you lose any UK specific rules like the ability to charge a Credit Charge Surcharge.
You also have to charge your winner the exact value of their winning bid
(see currency rates below).
- Shipping
- When shipping items overseas it is best to send everything by airmail,
except where the winner is in Eire or the close continent. Surface Mail to most parts of the world
can take months. Unless a buyer insists on an item going by surface mail and is willing
to wait patiently for it to arrive you should always send by airmail.
It is worth noting that cargo space for airmail post is pre booked and once all airmail has
been loaded any excess space is filled with surface mail therefore some surface mail will arrive much
quicker then expected, but this only happens occasionally.
- Payment Methods
- If you are trading regularly with a specific
country / countries you may
find better more specific payment options, but an irregular seller or someone who attracts
buyers from no specific country needs a range of payment options.
PayPal operates in US Dollars and is available in a large number of countries worldwide.
(Click here for the full list)
Billpoint is also available in a number of countries worldwide
(Click here for full listworldwide
SendMoneyOrder accepts Credit Card payments and will post a
US Dollar money order to the seller which can
then be forwarded to Auctionpix for conversion into Sterling for no fee.
Postal Order, in some countries the Post Office sell Sterling Postal Orders for a low fee.
Western Union & MoneyGram both have worldwide branch networks.
- Currency Rates
- When an overseas bidder looks at your auction listing they see
an approximation of the current bid price in their eBay sites native currency.
The approximation is based in the Interbank currency rate and is lower then the 'real /
Tourist Rate'. A seller is able to set their own currency rate, which must be displayed on the
item description page.
(At the time of writing this I am using the rate quoted by
Auctionpix
which is UK£ 1 = US$ 1.57 (I actually quote an approximate conversion rate, provide a link
to Auctionpix and state I will use the rate shown by Auctionpix on the day the final price is quoted)).
- Customs Paperwork
- When posting the winnings you need to attach a
green customs sticker to the parcel (The CN22). The item description should be filled in. The value of the item
should be entered, this should be the value of their winning bid, not including any shipping charges.
The merchandise box should be ticked
and you need to sign
on the dotted line at the bottom of the form.
Different countries have different import regulations and some check incoming post more thoroughly then
others, you might be asked to tick the gift box by some buyers
(as gifts are exempt import duties), it is up to you what you do in this
case but you are breaking customs laws / regulations if you make an incorrect declaration.
It can be worth adding a line to your terms and conditions stating
that the buyer is responsible for all import duties as some do not realise that having paid you
to ship the winnings they may be charged import duties by their post man when he delivers the parcel.
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