One thing NOT to do; don't offer international shipping with prices and options all laid out on your listing and then decide you don't actually want to ship internationally AFTER someone purchases and pays. I had that happen 3 times last year with ebay and reverb listings from the UK and it was really fucking annoying.

Teacher's Pet wrote: Does anyone have tips on selling stuff to international bidders on eBay?

It seems like a good idea to open up auctions to anybody/anywhere but the international customs paperwork and fees could be a real pain.
Complainers, scams, returns, refunds, etc -- no thanks.

I remember (I think) fm Elisha saying he wouldn't sell/ship anything to Italy, period.
Does anyone have any hard yes/no, red lines etc?

I got domestic shipping down pretty well, this couldn't be that much harder, could it?
Just wondering if maybe it's not worth it.

So, uh, anybody ever shipped a small box to South Korea?

DON'T: be that guy, or worse yet, that pawn shop that lists shit on every available platform and doesn't de-list after it's sold.

So, a seller on eBay has a bunch of small items spread across 5 separate auctions, totaling $43, with $33 total freight.

If you chucked them all in one box it would be much, much cheaper than $33.

I thought I could message the dude with 5 item numbers and he could make a new auction for me with an actual accurate shipping cost, but eBay won't let me send the message because apparently this is considered nefarious.

I tried writing my email address on a Post-it and sending a photo of the post-it; No dice.

Any other options I should consider?

There's no outside contact info (like a brick-and-mortar business website or something like that.)

Teacher's Pet wrote: Mon Mar 10, 2025 4:10 pm So, a seller on eBay has a bunch of small items spread across 5 separate auctions, totaling $43, with $33 total freight.

If you chucked them all in one box it would be much, much cheaper than $33.

I thought I could message the dude with 5 item numbers and he could make a new auction for me with an actual accurate shipping cost, but eBay won't let me send the message because apparently this is considered nefarious.

I tried writing my email address on a Post-it and sending a photo of the post-it; No dice.

Any other options I should consider?

There's no outside contact info (like a brick-and-mortar business website or something like that.)

Can you send a really simple email? Like "Any chance for combined shipping on multiple items?"

Yes, that was the first message I sent, he said "OK" and then I sent the item numbers and eBay would not accept/send the message.

I'm not even trying to be shady! I'll pay full price and fair shipping!

Once, in a similar situation, the dude just stuck an $11 cash refund into the box he sent me.
That man remains a personal hero of mine.

Teacher's Pet wrote: Mon Mar 10, 2025 4:24 pm Yes, that was the first message I sent, he said "OK" and then I sent the item numbers and eBay would not accept/send the message.

I'm not even trying to be shady! I'll pay full price and fair shipping!

Once, in a similar situation, the dude just stuck an $11 cash refund into the box he sent me.
That man remains a personal hero of mine.

Those people are out there. Humanity is worth saving.

The seller can enable an "allow combined shipping" option on their end. They may not know.

Anyone else getting a rash of partial refund and refund requests lately?

I take a million pictures, spend money on appropriate packing materials and charge actual shipping costs, write a million words, am careful about wild claims and conjecture and all that, but still encounter people requesting refunds now and again that I’m not sure how to handle. Or just need to vent ha.

One guy was reaching out because he wanted the original 3 prong plug that came with a preamp, which wasnt included or pictured or anything. Its the same 3-prong plug that goes on a million different types of gear and now wants $26 back because he “read somewhere it made a difference” that he didn’t have an original. Gave it to him so that I wouldn’t have to hear from him again and got good feedback, but it was not worth sweating over as much as I did.

Also have a guy who bought a part that is difficult to date - checked its features against a bunch of completed listings, websites, etc. Had every square inch of the thing photographed. When you’re listing something Reverb instructs that if a number of dates were possible, like 60s-70s, then to put that, so I did, and now I’m getting a refund request because it marched one decade and not the other.

I’m upfront about returns and am not out to screw anybody over. I also try to weed out the freaks, which I can generally sniff out quickly and have straight up given refunds just based on weird messages after they checked out, but I am also not doing this for a living and would rather keep something than send hundreds of dollars of gear back and forth through the mail.

Still, I understand that I’ve been in similar situations as the buyer, and know how it goes, but probably wasn’t always right then either.

Thoughts?

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Sun Jul 20, 2025 8:24 pm Anyone else getting a rash of partial refund and refund requests lately?

I've not been selling much lately on Reverb, but I feel like selling to strangers in "public" places has gotten more and more frustrating over the last 3 years.
For guitar gear I try to sell here, sometimes "the gear page", and I try things like instagram stories and facebook "friends only" posts.
For bicycle gear, I have 3-4 forums and newsgroups that I try as well as the social media.

After that, then I move on to FB marketplace, reverb, craigslist, etc.

But yeah, dealing with the public and strangers is a damn nightmare nowadays.