Because of the large number of problems caused by International Buyers making payment to Paypal before receiving my invoice, I may have to discontinue my present policy of shipping Worldwide to Domestic only. Since at least half of my Buyers are from countries like the UK, Germany, France, Australia, Arabia, Canada, my sales would be cut at least in half. I have done everything I know to alert International Buyers to wait for my invoice before paying, by including it in my listing, as well as editing the "Congratulations" e-mail which is automatically generated to Buyers, but evidently, these Buyers do not read the listings or e-mails very thoroughly and still make payment; recently, after stating in my listing that :INCORRECT payments would be returned.
Another problem with International Sales is that eBay no longer honors "First Class International" shipping by not including this as a shipping option when sending invoices to Interenational Buyers! I guess it is because this method of shipping cannot include insurance, and since Paypal guarantees these Buyers with their Buyer Protection policy, they habe deleted this option. This makes it very inconvenient for me, because now I have to mail these packages from the post office, who does honor this method of shipping. I have never had a problem with this method; except for one time when a purchaser from Canada claimed this package was never received and I refunded their money. This was required, even though the post office confirmed the pacakage had been shipped. So why is the Seller responsible once the package leaves our hands!! This is not right.
I like to offer my International Buyers First Class International Shipping because it is very economical and saves them a lot of money on shipping; and you can send up to four pounds using this method. I would like to see it returned by eBay or Paypal as an option for the Seller...and it should be. After all, it is we who are taking the risk, not them, and it is we who refunds the Buyer...not them...although they get the credit for it by advertising their "Guarantee" to them.
These are two things I wouild like to see changed regarding International Shipping, and would appreciate any comments along these lines. From what the post office tells me, there are a lot of Ebay Sellers who are telling them about this, and are avery disappointed that it is no longer an online option.
