Okay, I’m officially pleased with my eBay selling experience to date. I managed to sell all 3 of my last set of auction items. One didn’t get an actual bid until 2 minutes before the close of the auction – I’ve never seen someone snipe an open auction before. 😉 And one of the others had a little sniping war between two bidders at the end. I think the winner was using automated snipe software, so may have had an unfair advantage. And the third auction went to a person from Spain, so my first international sale makes me a little nervous.
It’s not like I’ve never mailed anything outside of the US before… I have a secret stitching friend in Canada to whom I’ve mailed packages every month since April or May and I’ve had swaps and exchange gifts go out of the country as well. However, SELLING to someone outside of the country (i.e. exporting commercial goods), as opposed to sending a gift, is a totally different ballgame. Well, not totally – same customs form, just filled out slightly differently. However, as a seller on eBay, the unknown variable of possible customs duties and/or taxes that the buyer must cover is a little nerve-wracking. I’m sure there are sellers out there who are marking sold items as gifts with no cash value so that all duties, tariffs, etc. are generally waived. HOWEVER, being the honest person that I am, I want to be a reputable business person and not cheat the governments. Even if it seems dumb to have to declare an item worth only $6.00. I’m just hoping that all international buyers are reading the line in my auctions that reads “International buyers will be responsible for any applicable taxes and duties.” Otherwise, I’m going to have the potential for negative feedback. And that would be bad for me at this point in the game. If I were a big seller, a false negative or two wouldn’t hurt, but for a brand new seller with a feedback rating of … 2 … I can’t afford it!
No point in borrowing trouble, though. That’s why eBay gives you the right to respond to feedback. If it happens, all I have to do is restate my posted position on duties and let buyers draw their own conclusion. As long as they bother to actually read my feedback and not just check the percentage and run away… I have to STOP this line of thinking. It is what it is.
In the meantime, I have two more listings written up and ready to submit tomorrow when I get home from work. I’ll write up a third one at that time, as well. Selling in groups of three seems to be working for me. Can’t wait to sell off more of this stitching stuff that I will never use!
