Selling to someone in another country

Language barriers, trust, time zones, customs, VAT, shipping arrangements, shipping costs, currency exchange, fraud, et al.
I don't have many completed overseas transactions but I have logged many hours emailing and researching failed efforts. I've had a couple of offers from Asia where all goes well with the arrangements until time to pay ....... then the downward negotiation begins. I, for one, would rather not bother.

Macrojack,

Regarding:

I've had a couple of offers from Asia where all goes well with the arrangements until time to pay ....... then the downward negotiation begins. I, for one, would rather not bother.

I've had similar experiences, what is it with that?

Do they put us through mental gymnastics, hoping the time already invested will force us to accept a low ball offer?

My favorite is accepting a reduced price on goods and after quoting the shipping at my EXACT cost, no extra's for time, packing materials or driving to shipping office, the response is: "Shipping too high, I won't pay."

Perhaps we should take buy out FedEx and change the rates?

I've sold to Europe, Australia, and the U.S. with no problems at all. Sure there's a small amount of paperwork, takes about 10 minutes all told (which is nothing compared to the time it takes me to pack for safe shipment). World Wide Web, lots of potential buyers all over the globe and if they're willing to pay me for the item including shipping, I'm happy to do the deal.

Being Canadian I don't try to purchase items listed here as "U.S. Only", shame cuz there's a lot of cool stuff I would buy if I was invited to by the seller.

I have had significant problems purchasing from Canada due to seller's lack of a NAFTA certificate, and subsequent duty, brokerage, and state tax fees I had to pay above the advertised item price and shipping costs. These costs were significant and not incidental. I recently investigated shipping electronics I was selling to Canada and found several potential pitfalls related to how you identify the item, the associated fees, and who pays those fees (buyer or seller), and when. Maybe I just do not know the ropes well enough, but until I can find a guide of some sort that explains fail-safe methods of trading across borders, I will not take the risk again. I would find it quite helpful if maybe Audiogon could take the lead here and add a section explaining recommended procedures and potential considerations when trading across borders, with specific guidelines for Canada, Asia, etc. Do any of you know of existing resources for that information?

I asked Audiogon this question and they told me to ask my fellow goners.