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Regarding people selling equipment to U.S.A. only

I am in Australia and find many things I would like to buy but mostly people will only ship to US or Canada.Is it very complicated to ship overseas? If I were to pay for some speakers and their shipping by bank transfer could the seller simply take the boxes to his local Fedex or the like or is it more complex than that.I am aware that there are some Paypal scams happening from the far east but if I were to deposit funds directly into the sellers bank account would this not make the transaction foolproof and risk free for them
joecrowe
jeff_jones
418 posts
 
For me, shipping is not an issue, except for the increased risk of equipment handling damage. But when selling/describing used equipment and negotiating back and forth, the langauage barriers you sometimes encounter can make things hard enough that it takes some of the fun out of the hobby.
faziod
151 posts
 
I purchased a couple of amps from a gent in Toronto Canada. I mailed out a postal money order priority mail which took 8 days to reach him. I live in Buffalo NY and can drive to Toronto in less than a hour and a half. The Amps shipped out the same day he recieved the money and it took 5 days for the amps to reach me. That was enough for me. USA only.
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,768 posts
 
For me, it isn't that I've had any terrible experiences, there's just a higher level of uncertainty, particularly around customs and duty issues, because there seems to be absolutely no consistency to how the regulations are enforced.

I've bought and sold several things between the U.S. and Canada, which you would think would be as straightforward as a 'foreign' transaction could be.

On the first, I was charged a 10% duty on used speakers coming into the U.S. On the second, the speakers came from Canada with no notice of any duty owed and then got a bill for 5% duty three months later. The third, a CD player, arrived from Canada with no duty ever charged. The fourth deal was killed when Canadian customs told their citizen, my buyer, that he would have to pay 15% on American gear being brought into Canada.

The shipping went fine in all three cases, except for a three week delay on the second set of speakers because the seller forgot to include a form and it had to catch up with the speakers sitting in a customs warehouse in Toronto.

None of that has scared me off. If the deal looks good I'll take the risk again, but it is a little scarier than going down to Fry Electronics and loading up the hand truck.
dem
79 posts
 
The least expensive method to ship small items overseas I have found is with Express Mail. However,a postal clerk told me to forget about being able to track the package or verify delivery after it departs the USA. So, if the package did not arrive to the buyer...you can imagine the problems with insurance,etc...
rockvirgo
587 posts
 
I shipped some floorstanders from Dallas for a nice guy in Trinidad. He had a pal in the shipping business in Florida who handled the rest from there. Maybe that was so easy it doesn't count. When I sold a Japanese CD player to a dude in Canada he lost his cool with me when he had to pay all kinds of Canadian taxes.

On business to business deals, overseas trade is no real sweat. Savvy overseas buyers know that if they arrange the shipping themselves a USA seller will be hard pressed to deny them the goods.

What spoils it with these one shot amateur deals are the getover specialists out there. You know who I mean. The cats who burn you on shipping or take it upon themselves to alter the terms of the sale once they've cleared the field of other ready buyers. One seller recently had the cajones to offer email notification of actual shipment for $1 extra!

Inside the USA tracking numbers or delivery confirmation is cheap insurance for peace of mind. One buyer claimed he never received his $350 priority mail item. Lucky for me I'd sprung the $0.45 for the confirmation. Once I laid it on him he suddenly remembered he'd forgotten to check his P.O. box for two weeks, the address he gave me!

Alas, there are no confirmations for overseas buyers. And sure there's tracking numbers, but how long's it going to take for the UPS guy in Ohio to pay a visit on the scam artist with the limited damage in gay Parie? Color me low anxiety -- USA only please!
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