US only sales WHY???

Largeyo, I completely agree. I am a longstanding (American) Audiogon member living abroad. I have bought several items on Audiogon from dealers who were willing to send internationally (thanks JD and Mehran, among others!). In no case have I heard back that there was a problem or otherwise experienced a problem. In a recent case, I had to pay consumption tax (equivalent to sales tax or VAT) to the Customs office, but that was fine. I was buying something I wanted, and had it been for sale locally, I would have had to pay the tax anyway so no real problem. If my willingness to do the deal at price X depended on whether or not the seller was willing to lie about value, I would wait until it was cheaper. I think potential buyers who ask sellers to lie about value do tend make life difficult for the rest of us.

There are many times I have wanted to buy things which are said to be "US-only" but frankly, trying to change the minds of dogmatic sellers is really not pleasant.

In the end, reality aside, it is what makes you uncomfortable which determines your limits. While US fraud is just as rife as international fraud, and is not really any easier for US sellers to combat (or gain relief from), the fact that the potential for fraud is in the same country rather than a different country seems to make it 'less likely' or safer. Hogwash. I would almost argue the opposite. International transactions are more likely to be done through money order, wire transfer, or bank draft, making buyer fraud less of a risk for the seller - transferring the risk to the buyer rather than the seller.

You also forget that we USA audiophiles really don't need to reach a larger market. Honestly, with 300 million people in the USA, why do I need the hassle of customs and all that paperwork to expand that base? If I lived in Europe, then I would sell to all Western European countries in order to have a market the size of the USA.

Bottom line....don't NEED to sell to Europe, therefore don't WANT to sell to Europe.

It works both ways guys. Every problem that exists in selling to somebody outside of the U.S. also exists when selling to somebody in the U.S.

Buying or selling internationally is not a problem if both sides know what they are doing, especially with regard to the extra costs. The extra paperwork is trivial, just five minutes to fill out a customs declaration. It's the extra costs people don't know about that causes hassles such as refusals to accept delivery. And that's the problem. Being in Canada, most of my transactions are international transactions with U.S. residents because of the size and proximity of the U.S. market. So when I buy something, I negotiate a price and shipping costs. I get the money to the seller. I then take care of brokerage, customs and taxes on my end upon delivery. No problem for me. No problem for the seller. He doesn't even see these things that happen in my country. It's my job to know these things when I buy internationally. I know what I'm doing and what all the extra costs are. Unfortunately, I find it often doesn't work this way when I try to sell internationally. I negotiate a price and shipping and the buyer asks me what the brokerage, customs, duties, taxes, etc. and whatever will be. First of all, this presumes he even knows that these things exist, which is often not the case. Well, how the hell would I know what your government or the shipping company charges for these things when something is delivered to you in a foreign country? You live there, not me. You tell me. It's not something I see or have anything to do with at all anyways. It's something you pay someone else upon delivery. It's not money that comes to me and it's not something I can pay for on your behalf in my country, except possibly brokerage in some circumstances. Do your homework.

I find that everything goes fine in international transactions so long as I don't have to babysit someone who doesn't know what they're doing. I've had people sending me domestic U.S. money orders printed with a statement: "Only negotiable in the U.S."...Duh...Where on the common sense scale does a person fall who sends a negotiable instrument to a foreign country that's only negotiable in their own country? They don't know what to do. So I have to tell them.

From the comments above, you can see it's a hassle to buy/sell internationally. It doesn't have to be that way. It's the people you deal with. As a result, I try to buy and sell domestically before I even advertise anything internationally. When I do buy/sell internationally, I try to ensure that I'm dealing with someone who knows what they're doing. Most of the time it works out fine.

As a practical tip, if someone says that something is only for sale in the U.S., ask them anyway if they will sell to you. I've never been turned down when I've done this. Sellers are not a problem. It's the buyers who are the problem because most don't know the extra charges at their end that the seller has no involvement with whatsoever.

There. I've had my rant for the day. I feel better now.

Selling high end audio internationally comes down to taking more time (how much varies), more work (how much varies), added risk to the shipment (how much varies), in order to make a sale. If you have a sizeable buying audience in the US, what would be the motivation for adding more variables to the sales process by selling outside the US? For most I'd say the motivation just isn't there.

Markphd,
I have only been refused by "US-only" sellers. I will, however, make an effort to try again, and educate sellers that it does not have to be a problem.