Ebay is one of the largest marketplaces in the world when it comes to selling your goods. It allows a person in Canada to sell their product to someone in Venezuela in such a way never seen before. The average store seller will most likely have to deal with international selling sometime in their eBay career. In order to get your listing posted on international sites you must select the International Site Visibility box from within the listing editor of your choice. There are a few requirements however for international site visibility and Currently, international site visibility is only supported by the U.S., U.K., and Canada sites.
International site visibility requirements
- You must have a verified PayPal account associated with your seller account.
- Your listing must offer PayPal as a payment option.
- You must have a Feedback score of 10 or more.
- If you’re listing on eBay.com or eBay.ca, your item’s location country can’t be the U.K. or Ireland.
- Your item must be posted in an eligible category. Ineligible categories include video games, DVDs and movies, hunting knives, auto parts, and vehicles.
- You must offer shipping to the U.K., Europe, or worldwide. Specifying shipping service to these areas is highly recommended, since listings without specified shipping may be moved to the bottom of Best Match search results.
- Your listing must meet all applicable country policies.
It’s important to remember though that every country has different rules when it comes to the selling and shipping of items across the globe. To truly allow your business to prosper, it’s vital that you acquire a basic understanding of the principals involved in this process.
The first thing you need to check is that the item you’re selling isn’t prohibited by eBay or other international countries. This will help you avoid any potential legal trouble, or having your account banned by eBay itself.
The next thing you should check is where you can, and you can’t ship. There are certain places that some items can’t be shipped to, and it could potentially cost you a lot of money in seized packages if you’re not careful.
When you’re setting the price for your product, eBay will automatically convert it to the local currency. The single most useful payment processor is PayPal, they will allow you to convert money from over a 100 different currencies, and simplify the payment process.
The next most important task you will have is selecting a proper carrier for your packages. It’s important to tailor each of your items to the carrier itself, and you will often find that one carrier works a lot better for one item then it does another.
When selecting carrier make sure your looking at their shipping method, speed of delivery, and item restrictions. You should always try to find a good mix of speed, and reliability when selecting a carrier. Any item that is late or never delivered at all can cause a negative feedback on your seller rating.
When filling out custom forums, make sure that you take the cost of duties, and tariffs into account when setting the price for your items. You need to have a solid understanding of all the costs that are involved with shipping internationally to ensure you are still making a good profit off any transaction.
One of the most daunting tasks in international shipping is the potential for paperwork, and it can be overwhelming to someone not properly prepared for it. Any seller that has the potential for doing a lot of international selling should take the time to properly familiarize themselves with all the paperwork involved.
Finally it’s also advisable that you do your best to keep as detailed records as possible on all transactions, forums, and any other documents involved in the selling process. This will help protect you in the future against any potential lawsuits, or legal actions taken against you. Never depend on being able to recreate these records if you need to.
With these things in mind, the world of international eBay selling and shipping can be a very friendly and lucrative place. So what do you think? Post your comments and experiences with selling internationally on eBay below.
