Re: FA: Please Buy My Crap

Look, You asked why, and I'm telling you. It's not like I'm writing off a
whole country because of one bad experience; I've formed my opinion from
hundreds of sales all over the world. It's just more of a pain in the ass
that I want to deal with for items below a certain price point. That's all.

This seems to be an emotional sore spot for you rather than a rational point
of contention. I don't know how to help you there. Just think of it this
way:

You may not be able to buy 90% of the P Basses posted, but at least you
aren't siphoning your country's taxes into an imperialist war machine; If
you have a heart attack, you won't have to file bankruptcy; and your
provinces can secede from the country without mass bloodshed.

So buck up, little camper!

PS: I do want to address one comment though, regarding falsifying customs
documents. I'm all for sticking it to the man, but this pisses me off for
several reasons:

1) Imposing on an anonymous stranger to break the law for you is both rude
and arrogant. Last time I checked, rule number one of "how to break the law"
is "know who you are dealing with".

2) Giving into this demand only invites a whole host of other demands. Best
to take control of the auction from the get go. I don't mind writing "gift"
on the declaration, but I'm not going to say that a $1,000 guitar is a $9.99
tambourine because you're threatening me with negative feedback if I don't.


3) Yes, YOU may get caught, or the package may be rejected. I'm a regular at
a local owned shipping store that I've used for years, so I hear ALL the
horror stories. Usually YOU wind up paying the actual duty plus a hefty
penalty that is more than the item is worth. That's if they give you the
package at all.

I wouldn't give a red rat's ass about any of this, were it not for the fact
that I have to read YOUR 20 desperate emails for me to "fix" the situation
by faking MORE documents, under threat of negative feedback.

....And god knows what my bat*** insane government has up it's sleeve. I'm
not going to spend my life in Gitmo because you want me to shave $100 bucks
off the declaration.

Like I said, it's too much trouble for most items I sell.

"jeffb" <jeffb@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:gRfdj.29390$DP1.16182@xxxxxxxxxxxx
js wrote:
Only here could a simple selling question turn into an argument about
Canada.

A simple question about shipping to Canada turned into a discussion
about...shipping to Canada. Go figure, eh?

Remember, I grew up on the Niagara Falls border AND spent many a year
working retail and dealing with cross-border shoppers. So I'm both
sympathetic and not so much so...

Hmmmm....the thing you have to remember when dealing with Canada is that
between it and the US is the longest open border in the world, we accept
US dollars over the counter here, speak the same language, share a
majority of our cultures, have been a haven for US tourists etc, etc,
etc and it feels like a real slap in the face when some hick who doesn't
understand he's closer to Vancouver than he is to Miami couldn't be
bothered to deal with us.

First off, I was joking. Sort of. It's just easier for me to ship to the
lower 48, period. MUCH less hassle if things like shipping damage or
tracking issues or outright fraud arise. And you don't get any of those
special surprise surcharges when you go to ship, charges that weren't in
the
shipping quote. I know this because I've been through it many times.

Half joking, 100% serious is what I heard.
USPS and EGL have never hit me with "surprise" charges coming to Canada
or shipping from to the US. The problem is always with UPS...I've been
through it many times and don't deal with them anymore unless there is
no feasible alternative.

Second, There ARE some pain in the ass problems with shipping to Canada,
not
least of which are the Canadians themselves. When they're not asking you
to
falsify customs documents or screwing up the exchange rate, they're
telling
you to ship parcel post so they can save on shipping - then complaining
when
the package disappears or is held up in customs for months. again, been
there many times.

What's the risk of you "falsifying" a customs document? You think
they're gonna come after you for saying a used DAT machine you sold for
$300 has a value of $50? The reality is that unless you enclose a
receipt for $300 your chance of ever hearing about it is ZEEEEERO...they
got bigger fish to fry. Christ John, one internationally known bass
repair shop I deal with who ships worldwide daily sent me a $200 item
marked as a gift without me even asking...and just to be clear I never
would ask for anyone to do this especially with a big ticket item as the
stated value is what it gets insured for.

If you provide the tracking numbers you should to any US buyer then
there is no problem. I NEVER, ever ship ANYTHING without a tracking
number even if it's to an address I could walk to. It's just asking for
trouble.

As for the exchange rate ONLY ACCEPT PAYPAL FROM INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS.
Period.

And God help you if you have to deal with a French Canadian... /shudder.
The
last fur trapper I sold to spent (no lie) 10 emails arguing with me
about
the shipping costs. No matter what proof I showed him that the cost was
accurate, he had some nonsense argument against it. He eventually worked
himself around to the point where he claimed "victory" by saying that HE
had
come up with the price of the original quote, and that it was the
correct
one. Whatever. And they wonder why so many people hate Celine Dion...

No argument there. I sold a laser level recently to a very nice guy in
PQ but damned if he wasn't worried to death I was screwing him. I did
eat the shipping cost after I failed by several days to ship when I said
I would and he apologized for doubting my integrity...left me some
killer feedback too. Now I explicitly state that I will try to ship
within a certain time frame but work schedule may not permit that and it
this is not acceptable NO NOT BID. I also make damn sure I communicate
when I'm likely to ship and when I actually do.

These are all minor points, sure, but when you're dealing with 5-10
auction
items at once, the extra paper work and handholding can be a major
hassle.

Yes but I for one am willing to compensate for that if it's something I
want badly enough and I try very hard to impress that I do not require
handholding. I do pay attention to shipping costs but if I want the
thing enough and someone is straight up saying the things you've said I
don't mind paying a few bucks for "handling". My standard "I'm in
Canada, please open your auction to me" blurb has the request to please
check my feedback. I have made sure on every deal I do the right thing
and it's clearly reflected in what others say about dealing with me.

Every bad experience I've had I've known better but ignored it. I don't
anymore. I read the signs...the feedback, the responses to questions,
the descriptions. People just want you to take them as individuals and
not paint them all with the PQ fur trapper brush.

The other thing is, eBay has been fucking around with their selling
forms so
much in the last year that it's impossible to find anything. I usually
turn
on Canadian shipping on the big items like guitars, but honestly, I
can't
friggin' find the button. What used to be a simple, straightforward, EZ
loading form has turned into a primary color Windows Vista like
nightmare.

Like dealing with Quebec...it should be easy but often for no fathomable
it isn't. That said I work for a company based in PQ that is without a
doubt the one of the best outfits I've ever been employed by.

It's obviously designed so that Grandma can sell a couple of Hummel
figurines, with minimal information choices - but for
regular/experienced
sellers, it's a nightmare. You can't even FIND many of your preferences,
or
they've been moved to categories that have nothing to do with them. It
took
me an hour just to figure out how to turn the shipping calculator on -
Used
to be a simple checkbox; now you have to pull up multiple Flash screens
and
go to a Master Preferences page, or some ***.

Actually, I was getting TWO completely different selling forms,
depending on
which button I pressed in the beginning. One would not let me edit ANY
preferences at all, and I'd have to back out and start over. Then
there's
that weird scripting crap in my auctions...

eBay REALLY needs to learn the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix
it".

AMEN!

Anyway, there you go. If you want something, feel free to bid. If you're
blocked from bidding, make me an offer here.

The El Cap is the only thing really interesting to me but if I do bid
I'd want to ship to the WA State address anyhow.

This is my standard request to a US seller to bid on his item:

"I'm bidding from Canada but I have a WA State 98281 shipping address
and I pay in US dollars with Paypal. Am I ok to bid or do you have
blocks up for non-US bidders? You can leave the block in place while
lifting it for an individual bidder here:
http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BidderPermitLogin
Check my feedback and let me know if I'm OK to bid.
Thanks. -jeff"




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