Is International shipping on eBay safe?

[Mark G]

Hi all,

I'm selling a lens on eBay at the moment and when listing it I was given the option to ship to a UK mail centre for them to then send on internationally. Is this safe for the seller or is it liable to fraud from buyers saying they never received goods / not as described etc???

What is the general opinion on this? Would you use it?

Please also vote, in the poll so I can see the outcome.

Many thanks
Mark.

 

[Brazo]

I have used it albeit not for lenses. You ship to the uk and eBay then take responsibility.

 

[Sejanus Aelianus]

I've sold a few things that way. I like it better than the old system, where you had to estimate international postage and choose a carrier, then worry about customs clearing it and all the other things that could go wrong.

With the new system, once eBay have accepted the parcel it's entirely up to them to get it to the customer and gather the proof of delivery, or so they claim.

 

[Mr Perceptive]

I've used but a couple of things:-

It's slow, stuff seems to spend quite a time in their UK centre before going forward

It's not cheap, several potential purchasers baulked at the cost, it's quite a hike over some other couriers/Royal Mail

It's very difficult if not impossible to combine shipping of multiple items on checkout, as you have no control over the checkout procedure. I had a couple of buyers send me money for an extra item directly via PayPal so I could put it in the box going with the first item going via the eBay shipping route. That kind of defeats the EBayer seller/buyer protection systems


So it works but it's flawed

 

[old bloke]

I have used this service four times, I always send signed for so any problems for the ongoing delivery is Ebay's responsibility, I don't know what would happen if there was a dispute over a description or condition.