Ebay

[sid]

I posted earlier in this thread, but I repeat, that I have sold on Ebay UK using my address here in France without any problem. I do have a French Paypal account but I'm not sure whether this is relevant.

If you look at the computing sections in particular, you'll see many items from China and Hong Kong, I don't believe they all use UK addresses..

When the OP raised this issue I tried listing a DVD immediately, thinking that perhaps the conditions had changed, but it went on OK and I can't understand what goes wrong for him/her. I don't use the French Ebay for selling and rarely for buying, so all of my experience has been with the UK site. I think British buyers don't like foreign vendors simply because the carriage costs will be higher, and delivery a little slower.

Sid

[Labruyere53]

Coop thanks for your reply on your experience of buying from the USA, does seem to be a bit of a lottery. From what I can make out I think I'm right in saying that items of clothing ( if they get stopped by customs) are liable to 12% import duty + 17.5% VAT. But it also said items under £18 in value get no charges, not clear though if that is total parcel value over £18 or per item, maybe somebody out there knows????

As for the OP saying use a UK Ebay account & address, thats all very well but then surely you would then need to send any items you are selling to the UK address first to get posted on from there otherwise buyers would then know it wasn't posted from UK.  Too complicated, my intention is like sid to sell on Ebay UK using my address here in France, can't see that would put UK buyers off especially as the ad will be in English not French.

Labruyere.

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="Jura"]

.....I have friends and family abroad, in Australia and the USA, who simply refuse to sell or buy from French or Italian ebayer's. Most often the reason is that they either never pay up or do not ship the item you have bought. Apparently France and Italy have a bad name on Ebay I have been told.

Open a UK Ebay account but you need to quote a UK address.

[/quote]

What a load of utter ill informed rubbish, E bay in France works very well and many of us buy and sell all over the world. I had an eBay account in the UK and just transferred it to France why lie about where you live, EBay is based on mutual trust.

Its new to the French that is true and they ask a lot more questions than UK buyers but have a look at eBay in the US Jura to see where the real problem buyers are.  There is no such thing as a UK Ebay account, its an Ebay account, you can quote a UK address to Ebay if you want but that has to be backed up by a credit card at the same address but as you still have to post from France you gain nothing. If you quote a UK address and charge EU post rates your feedback will soon get deep into negatives.

[inkflo]

I have to say that I set up my E Bay account on the E Bay UK site, purely to ease the language situation.

I set up a Papypal account two years ago, in English for the same reason.

If I advertise on E Bay UK, or pay via Paypal, I always get the e mails back in French, never in English.

I have managed to list my items now, but I still get all the e mails in French.

[Russethouse]

What a load of utter ill informed rubbish, E bay in France works very well and many of us buy and sell all over the world. I had an eBay account in the UK and just transferred it to France why lie about where you live, EBay is based on mutual trust.

I buy ceramics and am always nervous of buying on eBay France because in my experience some French sellers simply do not have a professional approach to packing.

I haven't had the same problem with goods from within the UK or USA.

BTW I think either Aladin or Antiquities & Brocantes main feature article was about eBay this past month.

[ebaynut]

It's very late, and having terrible tech trouble with the forum lately, but thought I would let you know that this Thursday (3rd April) is a cheap listing day on the UK site.

Good time to try it out? [;-)][:)]

(Only 5p per item - regardless of start price - some exclusions apply)

See: Details here

[ebaynut]

Came across this listing on the UK site, and I thought you might be interested in 'some sellers' reactions to French buyers. Not that this is the norm I might add. We have sold items on dozens of occasions to France, and have NEVER had a problem. We have had items that took an age to get there, but got there in the end. [:)]

We frequently come across listings on the USA site, who are absolutely adamant that they 'WILL NOT SHIP TO CANADA!' [8-)][:-))] Why?...I don't know!

We have found our biggest problem buyers (not that there are many) are always the inexperienced (low feedback), who think that you only have their sale to deal with, and who expect you to deliver to them anywhere in the world, no matter how heavy or large, the next day for 50p! [:(] [:@]

As for shipping heavy items, once the item gets up to the 4 kilo price range for the PO, we always find that courier companies offer a much better, cheaper, and trackable service, particularly for international parcels.

[Ron Avery]

Happily people like this are in the minority, I would think twice about buying from him even if I lived in the UK.  The bit about Paypal and the EU is utter rubbish plus he adds VAT to his postage costs which is totally illegal.  In my experience those who do not offer Paypal and post such ranting crap get much lower prices and I suspect looking at his sales that applies to him.  I buy and sell in France and have had only one item not get here and that was a real bargain that amazingly turned up back with the seller, she said, who then relisted it hoping that I wouldn't notice, so when I complained it was re-posted to France and promptly lost it in the post again!![:D]

[Chancer]

It was interesting to read the feedback that he left for others, a couple like "this Frenchman  doesnt understand English or French"

I have some recollection from my VAT days that you should charge VAT on zero registered items if it was being provided as a service which postage and packing would probably be, this guy may just have had an inspector pick him up onit and insist all future invoiced P&P carry VAT.

I think I learned this from my then commercial landlords who held a zero rated buildings insurance on the whole property, they in turn apportioned it to all the tenants and invoiced with VAT (which we were able to reclaim) as part of the service charges.

Or should VAT not be charged at all to overseas buyers? Would that include the EU?

[ebaynut]

I agree Ron, the problem though, is that honest sellers often get tarnished with the same brush, and lots of people are afraid of ebay as a result. You generally only get to hear about the occasional horror story, despite there being hundreds of thousands of successful and happy transanctions. [blink]

Unfortunately, if he is registered to pay VAT, he is also legally obliged to charge VAT on P&P, as it is deemed to be a service that he provides! (Not sure how this works for customers outside UK though!)

See here [:(]

The feedback system has had a huge benefit in building trust, both for buyer and seller, and the new rules regarding sellers not being able to leave anything other than a positive feedback for buyers, is so biased towards sometimes 'inexperienced' buyers, and against honest sellers, I fear many will pack it in![:(]

If new/inexperienced buyers see a couple of (unfair) derogatory comments made by other new/inexperienced buyers, they wont necessarily know how to check the real, overall honest integrity of the seller......that only comes with the experience of how to check someone out for real, and knowing how to read between the lines (they will just be blinded by the unchallenged/unreciprocated ones)! [:-))]

[Ron Avery]

Yes the changes are not for the best I fear. I particularly dislike the anonymous bidders, supposed to protect buyers from fraudulent second chance offers, however, this is allowing bidding by friends and family to go totally undetected. and even when picked up, eBay have done nothing,   I had a bid hike the other day by a bidder, who had made 379 bids in 30 days, ALL with that same seller yet a scroll through the sellers sales found not one of those bids was successful.  Have a look at the bidding record by a**C ( private)  on item 170209809119 and tell me if he is not connected with the seller [:'(] Yet this seller continues on, I thought the Germans lived by rules!!

I think the point made by some of the Ford parts seller's customers was that he was charging VAT on postage, not P&P.  Businesses can charge VAT seperately and some do, particularly with  vehicles and this is added added to the total price including P&P if applicable,  however, many others choose to incorporate the VAT into the final bid price which makes them equitable to private sellers.  With this particular seller, his whole tone and attititude reminds me of that of a certain Leeds model shop who no longer does any business through eBay.

[tegwini]

Ron

I have been attempting to buy garden furniture via ebay & have failed in 13 bids-   ALL innocent :   and caused by:   not fast enough; not experienced enough; too timid to fight for something & perhaps at the end rather  reluctant to pay the increased price.  So I have not 'won' any garden furniture, except for one tiny table set which I know I have overpaid for when comparing with others from the same company.  My timing for buying garden stuff is poor, should have bought it last Sept- Feb.

But, it does not surprise me to hear of anonymous 'buyers'. 

I have now 20 transactions on ebay & getting the hang of it, biggest problem here, IMO, is the cost of post which has just gone up again.

regards

Tegwini

[Russethouse]

tegwini, Please have a look at www.auctionsniper.com Decide what the maximum you are happy to pay for the item is, enter it and forget it - the program will bid for you, 5 seconds before the end of the auction.

That way you will not get involved in any bidding war, and in some measure it helps prevent the 'false' bid by friends scenario, except where the seller has used a similar last minute bid instead of a reserve

I have just 'trained' my husband in this approach with positive results.[:)]

[tegwini]

Many thanks RH

I'll  give it a go- if it's not too complicated- husband has used this,  but it was a bit of a mess as we were so desparate to get something & I had failed before, & this time we used both lap tops, he used snipe, & a lower bid, I had a senior moment of panic & we bid against each other!

We did get the item though.

regards

tegwini

[Russethouse]

Believe me, if I can do it - its easy [:)]  just copy and paste the item number (less room for error) and if buying in France use a period instead of a comma for Euro's €25.45 instead of €25,45

PS I want to search on ebay.co.uk for Laget, how do I stop it defaulting to Lager ? ( Laget was an artist who specialised in designs that reflected the areas of Languedoc - Roussillon and Provence)

[ebaynut]

[quote user="tegwini"]

I had a senior moment of panic & we bid against each other!

We did get the item though.

[/quote]

   

[ebaynut]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

PS I want to search on ebay.co.uk for Laget, how do I stop it defaulting to Lager ? ( Laget was an artist who specialised in designs that reflected the areas of Languedoc - Roussillon and Provence)

[/quote]

RH

You need to do an advanced search using quote marks

ie "Laget", and search all categories.  Also , check the box that says -Search title and description

Unfortunately the only item that comes up 'at this point in time' is a DVD, that has an actor with the same surname. [:(]

Save this search, by using the advanced search feature 'here' so that next time you can 'search your favourites'.

[I] You could always try putting an advert on 'I want it now'.(It's FREE)[:)]

[AnOther]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

PS I want to search on ebay.co.uk for Laget, how do I stop it defaulting to Lager ? ( Laget was an artist who specialised in designs that reflected the areas of Languedoc - Roussillon and Provence)

[/quote]Try     Laget -Lager

The minus sign specifically excludes the word which follows it (no space BTW), you can exclude multiple words too each preceeded with a - sign.

The reverse also applies so a + sign specifically includes the following word.

i.e. Lager +heineken

 

[ebaynut]

5p Listing day, this Thursday on the UK site !!! [:D]

See Here

[Jo Taylor]

[quote user="ebaynut"] We frequently come across listings on the USA site, who are absolutely adamant that they 'WILL NOT SHIP TO CANADA!' [8-)][:-))] Why?...I don't know![/quote]

The Canadian postal system can be a real pain, as can their customs. (As in douanes, not habits!) Have look at the US eBay discussion boards [:(].

When you address a package to Canada it must have the CN22 customs label top left, with the seller's return name and address also top left (don't know how they can both be in the same place!). Name and address should all be in upper case, there are rules about point sizes, why and where gaps are allowed. There are also rules and regs about what can or cannot be sent to Canada from elsewhere, especially from the US. Once it gets into the country it has to then work its way through customs, which can take a very long time, and duty rates are high.

Canadian postal humor{sic}: "Canada Post doesn't really charge 32 cents for a stamp. It's 2 cents for postage and 30 cents for storage." (Gerald Regan, Cabinet Minister, 31 Dec 1983 Financial Post)