I have a problem that I was hoping the members here would advise me on.
Shipping costs (From Australia the seller, to USA the buyer).

Ten (10) magazines, and a poster.
Poster to be sent in a tube, which costs $2.50.
Mags to be sent seperately in a box.

Total shipping costs are over $66...........

She says she will only mail by International Registered Post, as that is the only way to protect the seller/buyer.
I looked up the links she provided in each of her listings and saw that her choice of shipping method looked like the third most expensive choice possible.
Per the Australia Post Web Site Caluclator:
Sea mail would be $32.65 while her choice would cost $52.65.
for the box alone.
The box will weight approximately 1750 - 2000 Grams.
(4.25 pounds).
plus she would have to fill out a customs document.

The poster (Unless I ask her to fold it and place it in the box with the mags) would cost about $14.

The Australian Postal Web Site states the following:
http://www1.auspost.com.au/pac/int_parcel_select.asp

Benefits
Sea Mail offers:
The lowest cost international mailing option
An ideal service for heavier items when speed is not important
Insurance for articles to most countries

Her note to me after I asked why the postal costs seemed to be higher than I expected.

Hi, Yes I know postage cost is high, unfortunately I dont set the rates. International rate is set by weight not size - approx $20 per kg in 500g increments. Which is why weights & website link are on listings. There have been lots of changes on ebay and paypal here in Aus and the only way both buyer and sender are covered is to send by international registered post. If you decide postage is too high let me know asap so that we can cancel the transaction.

I do not know WHY she would be so reclucant to use Sea Mail.
I honestly do not care if it takes a month to arrive, especially if it saves 20 bucks!

Just sent her this note:

I honestly do not mind if the box takes a few weeks to arrive. Sea mail is safe and (If if makes you feel safer) the package can be insured. I am buying old magazines and a poster, not a rare painting. (I hope that did not sound mean). I have a spotless record of buying things from all over the globe and from hundreds of sellers on E-Bay. I truly do want the items I won in your listings, and slow delivery is NOT a worry for me. In fact, you could fold (loosely, gently) the poster and place it in the same box with the magazines, save the cost of that tube. Or you can remove the poster from my purchses. Its only an old poster. You can also save this note to show to E-Bay if you fear I will leave negative feedback. With this letter, you should have no fears. As for me? I trust you. Truly...

If she stated in the auction details that she would only ship to overseas customers using registered mail then you have no recourse.  The seller can ship any way they want to and if you don't ask questions beforehand then you are only making things more difficult for yourself.

And Mars hit the nail on the head.  No one wants to send packages internationally via surface shipping because of all the delay problems.

John

in all respect to the seller here, she does have a point. unless its to someone i know very well and they are fully aware of the risks, i will ship NOTHING by surface (which is the option you are referring to). it is immensely slow and immensely unreliable.

i would rather ship something faster and know it gets there reliably. its as simple as that.

you see, what you dont always realise, is that when you insure something, sure you insure it. if it goes missing, you make a claim, so you get YOUR money back, but they seller is still out the items/funds, so the only other way is to do it with compensation as well, to also protect the seller.

in the UK, the only option like that is Airsure, which is pretty expensive.

i dont blame her for the option she has chosen. she is only protecting herself in this instance. i would likely have done the same.

Al

Kingofpain89 wrote:If she stated in the auction details that she would only ship to overseas customers using registered mail then you have no recourse.  The seller can ship any way they want to and if you don't ask questions beforehand then you are only making things more difficult for yourself.

None of the listings (Four in all) indicated only Registered International Post would be used.
In the listings, the seller posted a link to the Aussie Mail web site and she also listed the weight of the items in each listing and even gave her address code for us (the biddders) to do our own calculations for SH.

killjoy32 wrote:John

in all respect to the seller here, she does have a point. unless its to someone i know very well and they are fully aware of the risks, i will ship NOTHING by surface (which is the option you are referring to). it is immensely slow and immensely unreliable.

i would rather ship something faster and know it gets there reliably. its as simple as that.

you see, what you dont always realise, is that when you insure something, sure you insure it. if it goes missing, you make a claim, so you get YOUR money back, but they seller is still out the items/funds, so the only other way is to do it with compensation as well, to also protect the seller.

in the UK, the only option like that is Airsure, which is pretty expensive.

i dont blame her for the option she has chosen. she is only protecting herself in this instance. i would likely have done the same.

Al

All good points from you guys.

I think I will pay her the $66 and move on.
I want the mags and the poster, and she wants to ship her way for her protection.
We both get what we want.
I have also learned a valuable lesson.
Costly but still worth it in the long run.

Not being a seller myself I was not able to see her side of things.
Thats why I asked here.
I knew you guys would help me see it from the sellers viewpoint.
My thanks to you all.

BTW: One sale in three years does not make me a seller......

Looking at it from the sellers point of view, buyers get antsy if it takes 2-3 months to get their stuff, EVEN if they know it's going to take that long, or if you have warned them. It's happened to me quite a bit, about Week Eight you start to get rude and annoying emails from the buyer, so I won't use anything but Global Priority anymore myself....being as the seller just doesn't know you, she's trying to cover herself here.

Mike B.

International shipping, in my very limited experience, both as a buyer and seller, is expensive - its something like 2-3x what domestic priority costs, and that's for the equivalent of "media mail." Slow, and costly - if you want it faster, it costs even more! Also, if you want tracking, from what I've been told, it has to go a certain way... and that means even more expensive. I try to provide tracking services for free... but international is ridiculous. That's why I offer discounts.

Deadlord39 wrote:

Aneoth wrote:Perhaps someday I too can contribute something useful as well.
quote]


Anything is possible.

just so no one counts on it.

Ask her if she is worried about charge back for the different postal methods.. if she is, you can pay me by paypal and I'll d/d the cash into her bank account so she does haven't have to worry about a charge back.. no problems really..

Brette:)