Ebay question- SOLVED- Thank you! 1 1

[kagemusha7s]

Hello,

Hoping someone can help me with some advice.

I have a book for sale on ebay. The listing states U.S. shipping only.

I just received a message from a buyer in Germany asking if I would ship it to him.

I dont mind doing it, but I noticed that the buyer has been an ebay member since 2018, yet they only have 2 feedback, both of which are in the last month.  It just seems strange to me that someone would join over 3 years ago and never purchase or sell anything until this month... and now they want to buy something from me.

So my question is, should I be concerned that this is some type of scam.

Thank you in advance for any input

Edited August 3, 2021 by kagemusha7s

[ThothAmon]

Hello. I’d change your listing to include eBay’s Global Shipping Program as the only way you ship internationally. That way they pay your standard shipping charge and you ship to eBay’s international hub where they will forward to the international destination. Once it gets to eBay you’re all good no matter what the buyer does. eBay bills the buyer without your involvement.  Good luck. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 8/3/2021 at 11:27 AM, kagemusha7s said:

So my question is, should I be concerned that this is some type of scam.

You should always be on your toes. That being said, everyone has to start somewhere.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 8/3/2021 at 11:32 AM, ThothAmon said:

Hello. I’d change your listing to include eBay’s Global Shipping Program as the only way you ship internationally. That way they pay your standard shipping charge and you ship to eBay’s international hub where they will forward to the international destination. Once it gets to eBay you’re all good no matter what the buyer does. eBay bills the buyer without your involvement.  Good luck. 

Learn something new everyday. This may entice me into selling internationally with GSP.

[Funnybooks]

On 8/3/2021 at 11:27 AM, kagemusha7s said:

Hello,

Hoping someone can help me with some advice.

I have a book for sale on ebay. The listing states U.S. shipping only.

I just received a message from a buyer in Germany asking if I would ship it to him.

I dont mind doing it, but I noticed that the buyer has been an ebay member since 2018, yet they only have 2 feedback, both of which are in the last month.  It just seems strange to me that someone would join over 3 years ago and never purchase or sell anything until this month... and now they want to buy something from me.

So my question is, should I be concerned that this is some type of scam.

Thank you in advance for any input

you can consider ebay's global shipping program

https://www.ebay.com/help/global-shipping-program/default/global-shipping-program?id=4646

[kagemusha7s]

On 8/3/2021 at 11:34 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Learn something new everyday. This may entice me into selling internationally with GSP.

I knew I would get the answer here.  ThothAmon thank you very much for the info.  I had never heard of that option.

Thank you very much

[kagemusha7s]

Thank you everyone for the input 

[rjpb]

I use ebay's international standard delivery option. It's cheaper than USPS First Class International, even though they charge the buyer enough extra to cover the fees they collect on shipping charges (so you as the seller are not paying them). Be aware that Ebay just started collecting EU VAT on orders from Europe and charging FVF on that, the same as they do for sales tax in the U.S. Add to that their additional fee for foreign currency conversion, and the effective FVF on items sent to Europe is around 16% including managed payment fees. I charge an additional handling fee on foreign sales of roughly 3% to defray the additional expense. 

[Yorick]

I believe that feebay eliminates your feedback rating if you have not done any transactions in a while.  So that "less-than-ten" feedback buyer could have made plenty of purchases or sales in 2018, 2019 or 2020.  You would need to click on their feedback score which should take you to see their whole transaction history.

[rjpb]

On 8/3/2021 at 12:09 PM, Yorick said:

I believe that feebay eliminates your feedback rating if you have not done any transactions in a while.  So that "less-than-ten" feedback buyer could have made plenty of purchases or sales in 2018, 2019 or 2020.  You would need to click on their feedback score which should take you to see their whole transaction history.

Your ebay rating expressed as percentage only covers the previous 12 months regardless of how many transactions you have, but your feedback number accounts for all feedback since you joined.