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You may also be interested in these guides: How to Print USPS International Shipping Label With Required Customs Forms and When to Buy Shipping Insurance Part 2 – The eBay Seller’s Perspective

One of the most important decisions any business will make is whether or not to ship internationally. In today’s world economy, opening up your business to billions of potential customers seems like a no-brainer. Unfortunately, shipping internationally can be a complex and frustrating endeavor as you try to make sense of all the options available. This guide will help you make an informed decision on which shipping services to use to get your items to your customers economically, while protecting yourself from the many potential problems that come with international shipment. This guide is written for a seller shipping internationally from the United States. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself on a beach in Barbados you may need to apply this information more liberally as your shipping options may include “By Banana Boat” rather than “Globally Insured.”

International shipping has come a long way. In the past few years USPS has made a serious overhaul of their international shipping options and at least attempted to make choices easier for sellers. It is now possible to print international shipping online both with Paypal and on USPS.com, which means no more waiting in line at the Post Office and no more filling out forms by hand. USPS packaging supplies are no longer split into international and domestic, so you can use the same envelopes and boxes you use to ship to Arkansas to ship to Tanzania. Postal systems in other countries are improving, speeding up shipping times and reducing the number of “lost” packages. International shipping has never been a more attractive option than it is today.

USPS offers a variety of international services, ranging from the relatively inexpensive First Class Mail International to the most expensive Global Express Guaranteed. When selling online and accepting payments with Paypal, you must have online verifiable proof that your item reached the buyer. Because of this, you should never ship an item via First Class Mail International because it is impossible to track First Class Mail International Packages. There are buyers on eBay who prey on sellers who offer First Class Shipping. With the push of a button they can tell Paypal they did not receive the item and Paypal will refund their payment in full every time because the seller is unable to provide any proof that the item was delivered. No amount of phone calls, complaint letters, or postage receipts will get your money back. This is one lesson many sellers have learned the hard way.

After First Class, comes Priority Mail International, formerly called Global Priority. Many sellers on eBay offer Global Priority International as their featured international shipping method. The USPS advertises it as taking 6-10 days and although it is still expensive, it is much cheaper than competing services offered by DHL, Fedex, or God forbid, UPS. One important note is that tracking is not available on Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelopes or Small Flat Rate Boxes. Although it does say this on the USPS website, many sellers are surprised to find this out because Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope online labels print with what looks like a tracking number. Don’t be fooled, USPS will not scan this number and it will not be trackable in any way. This is one of the reasons why the Flat Rate Envelopes are much less expensive than variable Priority Mail International rates. Because tracking is not available on Flat Rate Envelopes or Small Flat Rate Boxes, these services should never be used by sellers who accept the payment via Paypal or any other payment method where the buyer can dispute the payment. Another problem is that USPS advertises Global Priority International as only having tracking available for “major destinations.” Thus, there is no guarantee that your package will be tracked accurately, or for that matter, that it will be tracked at all. Even if your tracking number shows the item was delivered, it may still be difficult to win a Paypal dispute if the buyer says they did not receive it. Paypal has increasingly been siding with buyers on all types of disputes and it is difficult to guess what they will do in this particular situation now or in the future.

Next is USPS Express Mail International, which is what I recommend all sellers offer as their only method for international shipments. It is expensive, but in reality it isn’t much more expensive than Priority Mail International variable rate, which as I have explained is your only other real option. USPS Express International drastically reduces the amount of buyers who will try to fraudulently say they “didn’t receive the item.” I have never lost a Paypal dispute when I used USPS Express Mail nor have I ever had a package lost in the system, which is a serious feat considering the distance packages travel and the numbers of hands that touch it. If a package is undeliverable you can choose to have the item returned to you at no additional cost. USPS Express International offers 3-5 day shipping times to most destinations, full tracking including a signature by the recipient, and includes up to $100 insurance at no additional cost. USPS Express Mail Flat Rate Envelopes also offer all of these benefits at a reduced cost and I strongly recommend you utilize them to fit any item that has a chance of fitting. Be forewarned that for some inexplicable reason it is not possible to print Express Mail International Flat Rate Envelopes through Paypal. You will have to manually copy the information over to USPS.com.

Since cost is a serious concern, let’s quickly compare the prices of shipping a 2 pound package from the United States to Canada. If you choose to ship internationally on eBay, you can pick specific countries you are willing to ship to. Even if you are not comfortable shipping to Europe or Asia, Canada is a relatively safe location because they generally speak English and their postal system is pretty good. If you are new to shipping internationally I recommend trying to ship to Canada only to start. You will get a feel for how international transactions go and can familiarize yourself with the many shipping options available to you. International shipping to Canada is also less expensive than shipping overseas to Europe etc. so your potential losses are minimized.

As you can see the cost of First Class International is by far the cheapest option. Unfortunately, it is not a viable choice. Neither is Flat Rate Priority. So our options are Priority for $19.71, Express Mail Flat Rate for $23.87 or variable rate Express for $30.82. Hopefully most of your items will fit in the Flat Rate Express envelope as it is nearly identical in price to Priority, plus it includes insurance, signature confirmation, and full tracking. If your item does not fit in the flat rate envelope, it’s a tricky decision to decide if you want to take the chance of losing the entire amount of the transaction over a $10 difference in shipping cost.

Next, let’s look at the cost of shipping the same 2 pound package from the U.S. to Germany, which is about as far away and expensive as international shipping gets.

Here, the Express Mail International Flat Rate Envelope is actually cheaper than the Priority Mail International variable rate envelope/box and even the variable rate Express package is less than 6 dollars more expensive. There is no reason not to go Express here, as a $6 investment now makes you much less likely to lose the entire cost of the transaction to a Paypal dispute. Plus, you will likely receive high ratings from your buyers on your Detailed Seller Ratings as they won’t believe they got their package in three days across the globe. If you’re still reading you’ve probably picked up on this, but DON’T SHIP FIRST CLASS INTERNATIONAL OR FLAT RATE PRIORITY. Just trust me on this.

Moving right along, we can’t discuss international shipping without covering customs forms. Filling out customs forms is a contentious topic, so much so that eBay took a rare opportunity to make an announcement regarding sellers who receive negative feedback over customs charges. Read about it here Feedback Withdrawal and Removal and here ***A Message from Dinesh Lathi – Update to the Feedback Removal Policy In reality it’s a somewhat worthless policy as few buyers will leave feedback that fits into those specific guidelines, but at least eBay listens to its sellers right! All international packages must include a customs form indicating what is inside the package, how much it’s worth, and what category the item falls into. A great number of buyers will contact the seller after winning an item asking if it’s possible to mark the item as a “Gift” with a low value. They do this to minimize the chances that they will have to pay an additional amount in customs fees upon receiving the item. If you aren’t willing to do this, you might want to say so in your listing, so you won’t have to deal with it. It’s a federal crime to mark customs forms inaccurately so I really wouldn’t dare recommend doing it in this guide. The other downside of marking that Playstation 3 as a $5 pair of underpants is if the package is lost, and you have to try to collect insurance on it, you will only receive a refund in the amount that you declared the item. If this happens, and you lied on the customs form. I do not suggest telling the Postal agent that you “said the item was a gift so they wouldn’t have to pay customs fees but really the item was worth $500 not $10.” You don’t want to do 5 years hard time at Riker’s Island.

Last, as I touched on before, it is possible to choose which countries you ship to and block buyers who do not live in these countries. No matter where you choose to ship, I recommend blocking bidders who live in locations that you do not ship. It will decrease the amount of mail you get from the Chinese trying to sell you fake tennis rackets and you won’t have to file fee credits from bidders who aren’t clever enough to figure out you don’t ship to Mazatlan. To do this, go to Selecting Buyer Requirements and follow the instructions. I recommend only shipping to the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, Australia, and Japan. You will run into potential problems if you ship to the many members of the Nigerian royal family or to South America as their postal systems are generally not good. You may want to limit your transactions in Asia and Eastern Europe as well until you get a feel for how potential scammers operate.

Ok, really last thing. You need this customs envelope when printing out labels yourself. Customs Form Envelope 2976E Rather than affixing the shipping label, you put the documents in this envelope and then attach it to the package. All international supplies available from USPS are listed here, and remember, they’re all delivered to your door for free: USPS Supplies For Mailing / Shipping – International

That about sums it up for now. I look forward to hearing from you so this guide can be as up to date and accurate as possible. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment or email me at josh@auctioncope.com. I really have nothing better to do, other than selling thousands of things on eBay, so I’ll get back to you soon.

If you found this guide helpful, check out the site index by clicking here for 75+ more guides including how to get around eBay selling limits, enabling PayPal’s merchant rate to save money on fees, and raising your auction and fixed price visibility in best match search.

You may also be interested in these guides: Print USPS Small and Large Flat Rate Box Labels With PayPal On EBay and The Limitations of USPS Delivery Confirmation

Added January 2010:  It is now possible to ship both Small and Large Flat Rate Boxes with PayPal, as long as you do so through eBay rather than PayPal directly.  For my guide on doing that, check out Print Shipping Labels Directly With EBay.

Most sellers choose to ship via the United States Postal Service because of their relatively reasonable rates and easy access to free shipping supplies.  One of USPS’s best products is underutilized by many sellers who aren’t familiar with how USPS rates work.  Introduced in November 2004, the original USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes measure 13.25″ by 11.75″ by 3.25″ or 11″ by 8.5″ by 5.5.”  The benefit of the Flat Rate Box is that the cost is the same to ship any weight up to 70lbs.  The cost is also the same to all destinations within the United States no matter how many zones the package travels.  They originally cost $7.10, but the price has increased dramatically to $10.70 in 2010.  Nonetheless, it is still cheaper to ship an item that weighs three pounds or more in a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box than in a package with a variable rate (such as a regular envelope or box) for most destinations.  USPS variable rates are based on both weight and the package’s destination.  As you might have guessed, the farther away the package is going, the more expensive it will be.  One other thing, USPS rates only change for every full pound i.e. the cost is the same for every weight between 1lb 1oz and 2lbs or every weight between 3lbs 1oz and 4 lbs so you can round up to the nearest even pound when entering shipping weights.   To put it another way, there is a significant price change between a 2 pound package and a package weighing 2 pounds 1 ounce but there is no price change between an item weighing 2 pounds 2 ounces and one that weights 2 pounds 15 ounces.  Let’s look at an example of how the Priority Mail Flat Rate Box can save you money.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume you’re shipping a three pound statue from Seattle, Washington zip code 98105 to Detroit, Michigan zip code 48201.  The cost for Priority Mail variable rate packaging would be $12.70. With a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box, the cost would be $10.70, a savings of $2.00.  For a two pound package the variable rate to Detroit would be $9.55 and the flat rate box would be the same $10.70.  For two pounds, variable rate is always cheaper.

Now, let’s say you’re shipping that same three pound statue from Seattle to Los Angeles, California zip code 90001.  The cost in Priority Mail variable rate packaging would be $9.00. Of course, the Flat Rate Box still costs $10.70.  Here, you actually save $1.70 by shipping the same statue in your own envelope or box rather than using the Flat Rate Box.   If the statue was four pounds then the cost in variable rate packaging would be $11.90, so the Flat Rate Box becomes cheaper at four pounds for this destination.

As you can see the cost changes significantly depending on where you are shipping.   Familiarize yourself with how much it costs to ship to different areas so you will know when it’s cheaper to use a Flat Rate Box and when it’s cheaper to use variable rate packaging without having to check both for every address.  As a rule, variable rate packaging is always cheaper than a Flat Rate Box for a package weighing 2 pounds or less.  For two pounds one ounce or more, the Flat Rate Box is often the cheaper choice, unless the package is traveling a relatively short distance.

So far I have discussed the two Flat Rate Boxes that USPS originally introduced in 2004.  Since then, USPS has introduced two other sizes. First introduced in March 2008, the “Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box” measures 12” x 12” x 5-1/2” and costs $14.50 to ship domestically and $12.50 to ship to APO/FPO addresses. APO/FPO addresses are military addresses.  To show support for the armed forces, USPS offers a discount on the Large Flat Rate Box when shipping to these addresses which makes the Large Box the ideal solution when shipping to APO/FPO addresses.  Personally, I do not have a lot of use for Large Flat Rate Boxes because they are only slightly larger than the regular Flat Rate Box, but if you have an item that does not fit in to the regular Flat Rate Box be sure to check out the Large Box.

Finally, USPS introduced the Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box in January 2009. It measures 8-5/8 x 5-3/8 x 1-5/8 inches — about the same size and shape as three stacked DVD cases.  The cost is $4.95.  If you have an item that small that weighs more than 1 pound then it may be wise to ship in this Small Flat Rate Box.  There is also a Flat Rate Envelope that also costs $4.90 that may also be useful for smaller items that weigh more than 1 pound.

You can order USPS shipping supplies online and they will be delivered directly to your home for free. Check out USPS Postal Store Flat Rate Boxes

If you found this guide helpful, check out the site index by clicking here for 75+ more guides including how to get around eBay selling limits, enabling PayPal’s merchant rate to save money on fees, and raising your auction and fixed price visibility in best match search.

For their first several years in business, Paypal did not want you to contact them.  They did not provide a phone number or email address on their website and you would have had to go to one of those “Phone numbers for impossible to reach companies” websites in order to find contact information.  This may seem a bit peculiar for a company that has all of your financial details including checking account numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers and a wealth of other information strategically collected over time, but nonetheless that is how they chose to conduct business.  It shouldn’t be surprising then that a company that was so unscrupulous from the start would turn out to be the monster we are all familiar with today.

After years of public pressure, Paypal was finally forced to provide clearer and more reliable customer service.   Today, most people are familiar with Paypal’s standard lines of communication including the number published on their website, 1-888-221-1161.  Amusingly, if you run a Google search on “Paypal phone numbers” the first site that comes up is Paypal Sucks which is one of the most popular sites on the internet for people at their wit’s end over Paypal problems.  The list at “Paypal Sucks” is fairly old but many of the numbers still connect to someone.  If you’re like me though, then you are hesitant to start randomly calling people on a list to discuss what should be confidential correspondence about financial details.

If you have a serious problem and Paypal phone support refuses to connect you to Paypal’s Executive Escalations Department (similar to asking to speak to the manager at McDonalds) you can try emailing them directly at executiveoffice@paypal.com.  You can also call Connie at Executive Escalations directly at 402-952-8338.  Make sure you email them from an email address registered on the Paypal account.  It may take up to five days to receive a response.  If you don’t receive a response, try sending an additional email threatening to open a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the California State Attorney General.  More information on filing will come in a future guide, but for now here are the respective links to the California State Attorney General Complaint Form and the correct department of the Better Business Bureau at Better Business Bureau eBay Complaint Form

eBay hates when they receive Better Business Bureau and Attorney General of California complaints because it can cause serious problems for their company.   You can complain to eBay all you want, but contacting the Better Business Bureau will get you a written and recorded response from someone high up at eBay.  Plus, you can keep the lines of communication open as long as you like because you decide when you are satisfied with their response.  The last time I filed with the Better Business Bureau I got a high ranking person from eBay’s Office of the President.  The California State Attorney General will likely respond that they don’t act on individual complaints, but they will file it on record.  My suggestion would be to fill out your complaint to the Better Business Bureau and print out a second copy to mail to the Attorney General.

Good Luck!

eBay announced several important changes coming in June this morning. Nothing looks particularly upsetting other than dispute resolution moving from Paypal to eBay and the plan to issue automatic refunds without seller consent. More on the repercussions later: eBay April Seller Update

You may also be interested in these guides: When to Buy Shipping Insurance Part 2 – The eBay Seller’s Perspective and The Perils of International Shipping With eBay and Paypal – A Guide to Successful Shipping Practices

January 2010 Update: Since it is no longer possible for sellers to offer optional shipping insurance on eBay, buyers no longer have the option of adding it. EBay finally realized sellers were using shipping insurance to tack on unexpected fees and shipping insurance in no way benefits buyers. Plus, with third-party shipping insurance there is little proof that a package is even insured in the first place. Buyers should avoid paying for shipping insurance whenever possible. Read on.

Shipping insurance is one of the most misunderstood topics for both buyers and sellers on eBay. Buyers purchase shipping insurance unnecessarily and many sellers don’t know when they should add it to their packages. This guide is split in three parts. First up – The Buyer’s Perspective.

When should a buyer pay extra for optional shipping insurance? The simple answer is never. It is the seller’s responsibility to deliver the item purchased in the condition it was described in the auction listing. If the item arrives in a condition other than it was listed then it doesn’t matter if the item was damaged during shipment or if the item was never in the condition the seller described. If you receive an item that is not as described and the seller refuses to accept a return and refund your payment you should open a Paypal dispute. You will win the dispute and the seller will be forced to accept the return and refund your payment in full including any shipping and handling charges. Many sellers have disclaimers in their listings saying “Not responsible for lost or damaged items if insurance isn’t purchased.” They may as well say, “The sky is purple.” The statement is not true. Every seller is liable for delivering the item as advertised regardless of what additional shipping services are purchased. The seller may refer to their disclaimer in their correspondence with you or in the Paypal dispute, but it won’t matter. Paypal will side with the buyer when the item received does not match the description in the auction.

Look at it another way: How many times can you expect to be offered optional shipping insurance when shopping online at a reputable retailer like Dell or Nordstrom? The answer is never because companies know their liabilities. If the item arrives broken or damaged they are responsible both legally and ethically to replace it. When a person sells you something on eBay, they take on these same ethical and legal responsibilities.

Finally, let’s imagine for a moment that you did pay for optional shipping insurance and the item you received arrived broken. Your best course of action is to contact the seller to organize a return. If the seller refuses, you should open a Paypal dispute stating that the item you received was not as described. If the seller still refuses to accept the return, Paypal will eventually decide in your favor, and instruct you to return the item to the seller. At this point, it is the seller’s responsibility to file an insurance claim with USPS if they think that is their best course of action. As the buyer, you can technically file the insurance claim yourself, but trust me, you don’t want to deal with it. As the buyer, you also do not have the documentation necessary to file an insurance claim so it would be impossible to file without full diligence and cooperation of the seller. If you receive an item that is not as described for any reason, including what may be postal negligence, your best bet is to return the item to the seller. You simply cannot take the seller at their word that they didn’t intentionally send you a broken or damaged item. Even if it is honest postal negligence, USPS/UPS/Fedex will still likely not issue a refund. You do not want to be out the item and your money if the insurance claim does not work out.

It is the seller’s responsibility to purchase shipping insurance because it only benefits them in the case that they must file a claim for damage during shipment. As the buyer, you have no responsibility to pay for shipping insurance.

<If you found this guide helpful, check out the site index by clicking here for 75+ more guides including how to get around eBay selling limits, enabling PayPal’s merchant rate to save money on fees, and raising your auction and fixed price visibility in best match search.