Shipping abroad

[glefty5]

Just wondering why so many posters on this site & most sellers on eBay won't ship internationally? Is it that much of a problem? I can understand not shipping to Kazakhstan, Albania & Ivory Coast but to Japan???? I'm an Aussie so no language probs (Crikey!!!), the yen is stupid strong and especially as you guys in the US have it so good with basically everything cheaper than anywhere else in the world regards comparative salaries & cost of living, I don't see any viable reasons. I've bought plenty of stuff from the US on eBay & even a bass from Carmine so......Please explain!

[Addison]

I have no problem shipping overseas... but, my deal with shipping internationally is that the only way to do it so it's cost effective is to ship standard post, and the tracking is horrible and the insurance limit is way low.

It's all well and good if the buyer and seller agree to ship out a $2500 bass with no tracking or insurance, but if something were to happen to the bass it would really suck and turn into a big mess that would stress out both people.

I'm not the kind of person who would be able to brush something like that off with a simple, "Oh, well... you should have paid for FedEx or UPS, so I guess it's your loss." Even if that's what the buyer agreed to, I would still feel responsible for allowing that type of shipping. Not sure if that makes sense, but... I think you might get what I mean.

Even though it wouldn't be my fault, I'd feel like crap if something happened... so I'd rather just avoid all that and ship internationally fully insured with a tracking number using UPS or FedEx... or not at all.

And since those shipping methods can cost as much as $400-$500, most people don't agree to it.

[Lefty007]

I've been selling internationally for at least 10 years. These are the challenges:

Payment:

Many buyers now just want to do Paypal. Paypal offers Seller's Protection when selling to certain countries, but not all. Seller Protection is needed in case the seller tries to undo the transaction after the bass has been shipped, like trying to do a chargeback. Also, imagine that the bass is lost or damaged in transit. The buyer might claim that the bass was never received and try to get Paypal to refund the money.

So, unless I have some information about you (eBay feedback, or know you well from forum interaction) I would not like to sell via Paypal. Another option is wire transfer, where the buyer sends the money directly to the seller's account. This puts the buyer at risk, because once you send the money, it's gone for good. If you don't received a bass, the only thing you can do is cry.


Shipping:

Shipping to Europe and Australia is expensive. A regular bass' hard case inside a cardboard box measures 50"X20"X8", and weighs around 25 lb. This costs around $300 via Fedex or UPS to most of Europe. The alternative is the US postal service (USPS), but it has size restrictions to many countries, which don't allow to ship a box with such dimensions. To the countries where that size is permitted (Germany, the U.K., for example) it costs about $120 to ship - not bad. For those countries with smaller size restriction, you could send the bass without a case, and detach the neck (if it's a bolt-on, of course). This would cost about $90 to most Europe.

Insurance:

Damage or loss in transit is a risk. If you go Fedex or UPS, you are covered and you can claim any value you want, and expect to get paid if something happens (although it still is a long and tedious process with no guaranteed outcome). In case of damage, they would try to prove that the item was not properly packe, if that's the case.

With the US postal service, you can insure, but only for a few hundred dollars, and processing a claim could take a long time. Remember that the USPS tenders the package to your country's mail service, so there is more than one carrier involved, and tracking is not as certain as with Fedex or UPS.


I've been lucky that I've never had any incidents with either Fedex or the USPS (I don't use UPS because I have had many problem with damaged items with them). And I've never had any problems with buyers trying to scam me or try to do a charge back, etc., but I know it happens.

It seems easy, but there are risks involved. For example, I would never ship a high-price bass through the USPS, or I would never accept Paypal from somebody in a country that does not offer Paypal's Seller Protection. eBay offers some extra layers of protection and a feedback system, but forums don't. Unless you have been active in a forum and have a reputation among the members, you could be a scammer for all we know, and believe me, there are people who do nothing more but try to scam people in forums all day long.

Custom duties:

To ship a bass properly with full insurance, you have to declare to customs the same value as the insurance. This could mean that the buyer must pay a lot of money in taxes and insurance. Many buyers try to save money by having the seller declare a minimal value, but in case of damage or loss, that amount is all you going to get.

All in all, for me, the pros outweigh the cons. I've sold many basses a lot quicker because I decided to sell to Europe or Australia, simply because, as you mentioned, the lower prices here, and because the demand.



I hope this helps.

[andrew]

Excellent post Carlos, I'm going to sticky this.

[Rodent]

OP: wouldn't this be considered illegal? (bad joke referencing subject line)

to date I've not had a negative experience shipping outside of the US. so far finding a reasonable solution to Australia has been the most challenging, as Australian post has size limitations that are significantly smaller than an assembled bass can safely be shipped. The best solution I've found to Australia so far is to work with the client to arrange for them to have a local luthier reassemble the neck/body and tweak the trussrod after the strings have been installed

all the best

R

[andrew]

OP: wouldn't this be considered illegal?

I'm sure if you poke some air holes in the box it'd be fine.

[andrew]

Just wondering why so many posters on this site & most sellers on eBay won't ship internationally?

There are some actual reasons why shipping internationally is prohibitive for some sellers, but I honestly think for most sellers it's just easier to not do it. There's some extra paperwork and know how involved in doing it correctly that some people couldn't be bothered with.

I'm only in Canada and I get this too. It's a drag when you see a deal on a bass or other gear you want and then you can't get it because the seller won't ship it to your country. I just got this problem on a pedal on TB. Wanted it, but the seller said no to shipping to Canada.

I prefer basses put up for sale on this board not be domestic sale only. I feel like it's contrary to the spirit of the board being a helper to getting hard to find basses into southpaw hands. But I won't make people offer international sale to post basses for sale here.
Plus it's a bit of a rub when I see a "US only" or "Europe only" for sale ad here and think "Damn, this is posted on the board I helped build and I can't even buy it because I'm in Canada!"

[darkkent]

Great responses everyone. Andrew you're absolutely right, its so hard for us to find a great axe and then to be denied by borders.....BUMMER! Of course, caution needs to be taken from various angles-from researching the prospective buyer to the shipping methods and so on. I believe that it can be done successfully far more than not.

That being said, Glen hit me up about the Carvin SB5000. I sent you a PM as well.

Have a great weekend everyone....

[pjmuck]

Insurance:

Damage or loss in transit is a risk. If you go Fedex or UPS, you are covered and you can claim any value you want, and expect to get paid if something happens (although it still is a long and tedious process with no guaranteed outcome). In case of damage, they would try to prove that the item was not properly packe, if that's the case.

With the US postal service, you can insure, but only for a few hundred dollars, and processing a claim could take a long time. Remember that the USPS tenders the package to your country's mail service, so there is more than one carrier involved, and tracking is not as certain as with Fedex or UPS.

You can insure a package for up to $650.00 via USPS.

[glefty5]

Thank you everyone for your insights, I can at least understand the thinking behind it now, even if it is through gritted teeth . I was aware of the size limits to Australia so I only ever imported a Music-yo Steinberger which came in under the length restrictions & although our postal system is very good, it ain't perfect. Here in Japan however, I pay about $10 import duties, and the postal service or courier companies deliver 7 days a week, including public holidays!!! I haven't needed any necks to be unbolted, though I wouldn't have a prob with that anyway, and I've bought 7 basses from EBay in the US in the last 12ish months without a single problem so based on that track record I'm happy to take my chances but if it were an expensive one, yeah, I would have to consider the insurance situation.
Anyway gents, thanks again to all & sundry for the detailed info. By the way, if anyone needs any help with trying to navigate their way around some of the mouth-wateringly great Japanese sites, which I regularly watch, zap me a line here or check out my previous posts with some basic Japanese for 'bass', 'lefty' etc. Here are a couple with English.

http://en.search.borderless.rakuten.com ... ents/bass/
With this one, just type in 'left' in English & do a search。It's pretty all-encompassing

http://shop.taniguchi-gakki.jp/products ... gory_id=11
The famous Taniguchi set up to go straight to lefty basses

http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goo ... p?fair=205
Not a lot but good high end stuff, also set up to go straight to lefty basses

Enjoy, lefty bros!!!

[pjmuck]

Thank you for posting those Japanese links. Always some incredible lefty eye candy over there.

So what is the deal with Taniguchi-yakki? Will they ship outside of Japan to the US/Can, etc? I wish they would go the route of Ishibashi and sell some stuff on ebay. I have to say I've been amazed at how rapid the shipping out of Japan is to the US. I've ordered a few basses over the years, and none ever took more than 4-5 days to receive. That's faster than some domestic shipping!

[andrew]

Another thing I wish sellers wouldn't do is offer free shipping within your own country but charge full price to everywhere else. If you'll eat the $30-40 it costs to mail a bass within the USA, why not shave that off the $60 shipping to Canada (or elsewhere)?

[Addison]

Another thing I wish sellers wouldn't do is offer free shipping within your own country but charge full price to everywhere else. If you'll eat the $30-40 it costs to mail a bass within the USA, why not shave that off the $60 shipping to Canada (or elsewhere)?

I've always offered to eat some shipping... usually I'll cover $40 and the buyer is responsible for anything above and beyond that.

[funky42]

im really sorry guys i had to do it.

[NoXX]

I see...... Funky42, I think that although the seller clearly did not add enough padding, your package arrived in one piece. Clearly, the body is in good condition, but the neck's a little short for my tastes

Way to derail a thread

[andrew]

I've always offered to eat some shipping... usually I'll cover $40 and the buyer is responsible for anything above and beyond that.

[Assumer]

I occasionally ship to other countries. I just sold a bass to a guy in Ireland but, if I cannot get feedback it is sometimes scary. You feel you may not have options if you are ripped off.

[bhunt1]

I am looking into shipping a bass to Europe and from what I can tell from the US postal service website, the case is too big to ship with them. Also, if I do ship just the bass it looks like it will run from $150 to $250 depending on how fast the service is. Does this all sound right to you guys or am I missing something? Are there better alternatives than US Postal service to ship from US to Europe?

[Rodent]

which European country are you shipping to? IIRC I used USPS to ship a bass in a standard hard case to England without any issues

all the best,

R

[bhunt1]

Germany. Which shipper did you use to ship a bass and case?