Selling parts to international buyers

[KiloWhiskey1]

I need some advice on how to protect myself while selling some RV parts to a buyer outside of the United States. What is the best form of payment? What should I avoid?

I want to be helpful, but I also don't want to get scammed.

Thanks for any and all help.

Keith

[flyboy1963]

Keith,
I'm sure many here will echo these sentiments, it's more about trust than borders.
Personally, if you were selling me a $100 widget, I am taking an equal risk that it is 'as advertised'. Of course, you can use PayPal, which gives the buyer & seller some recourse should the item be questionable....I'd have to look it up to see exactly how that works.
Usually I go to the bank, and get an International money order, made out to you, in U.S. funds. Costs me $10, but it is simple and secure.
I mail it to you....you cash it, and then ship me the Widget. I am liable for any duties, taxes, brokerage or anything else.
Seems like I take all the risk in that form of transaction, but in several purchases from guys just like you, it's always worked out.
Before PayPal.....I once had a guy from Pensacola send me a cheque for about $3000...when it cleared, I called his shipper and sent him a BD-5 kit.....which he got a few weeks later, after a 3000 mile journey!

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by flyboy1963

Keith,
..... Of course, you can use PayPal, which gives the buyer & seller some recourse should the item be questionable....I'd have to look it up to see exactly how that works.
...

I think the PayPal protection only works for Ebay purchases.

However, PayPal is a good method of transfering money and takes care of any currency exchanges in a very simple manner.

I sold an airpeed indicator via Ebay to a person in Germany. It went OK eventually, but we both thought it had been lost in transit. German customs sat on it for many weeks and the parcel tracking didn't record it...

[DCat22]

The buyer has a whole lot of power in PayPal transactions, eBay or not. I wouldn't use them (as a seller) for an amount I wasn't able to lose...PayPal (and the buyer) can reclaim the money later, after the transaction is done, and the buyer has the item.

For day to day stuff, and lots of <$1K transactions here on VAF, I've used PayPal....and trust...and had a 100% satisfaction rate. I do look at prior posts and things like that though. I wouldn't buy a 530 from a new user. Generally, anyone actually building (or pursuing the idea for a while) seems to be a good risk.

[PerfTech]

...For convenience sake, we use PayPal or credit cards. All are about the same cost to us and it seem to streamline the transactions. We sell a considerable amount of product out of the country (125 + sales per month) and have never had a problem of any kind with the RVers. seems they are a great bunch of people. Allan..

[RobinHou]

Don't accept a $5,000 cashiers check for a $500 part!

Seriously, I have purchased an engine and an exhaust system from Europe with PayPal with no problem. But I never sold anything oversea so my experience may not be applicable. In any case, I often develop a good or bad reading with the person I am dealing with after a few emails.

[craigvince]

We ship airplanes and parts all over the world. For small stuff, we take a credit card. Anything more than a couple thousand, we have them wire the money directly to our bank.

[Ironflight]

One way to learn something (other than pure post count) about a person here on the forums is to "left click" on their user name, then click on "show all posts by this user". Read a few, and you can get a good idea whether or not you want to do business with them.

I've yet to have a bad transaction with a VAF member BTW!

[daviid]

alot of forums i'm on use a addon called iTrader. its not perfect and its effectively the same as ebays system. but it gives a much better idea.

other than that. usually a higher post count is a good judgement factor, but not a guarentee. with any internet sale, you will never be 100% safe

[vlittle]

Originally Posted by az_gila

I think the PayPal protection only works for Ebay purchases.

However, PayPal is a good method of transfering money and takes care of any currency exchanges in a very simple manner.

I sold an airpeed indicator via Ebay to a person in Germany. It went OK eventually, but we both thought it had been lost in transit. German customs sat on it for many weeks and the parcel tracking didn't record it...

I have sold products for many years using PayPal to destinations all over the world. The only problems I've had were with German Customs.

I had one buyer, when he didn't receive an item within 2 weeks file a PayPal dispute, rather than sending me an email. My account was debited until the dispute was resolved-- once Customs stored it for a few weeks.

I was upset because if the buyer had contacted me, I would have sent a replacement to him right away and trusted him to return one if he ended up getting two. Instead I got a black mark from PayPal.

PayPal makes everything work as a 'trusted intermediary', but buyers seem to have all of the power. There is a small possibility that a buyer can claim that he never received the goods, even if he did.

In my case, I did end up shipping two devices. The buyer then received both about the same time. He did ship one back at his expense, thankfully.
v