posting abroad

[Ou7shined]

A newly signed up BCer (like yesterday) based in Latvia contacted me last night enquiring about the GT6B I have for sale on here. In theory I have no major objection with shipping it to him, or anywhere else in the EU. He is aware of the extra costs involved (still looking at actual prices), obviously I'll receive payment before shipping and I'll make sure there is adequate insurance.

I see many examples of people who won't ship abroad. What are the pitfalls? What are your experiences?

Rich.

[beerdragon]

I was on the brink of buying a Bass off Basschatter AREA who is based in Germany. one well known caarrier kept on saying it could not transport the bass and another quoted £100. i'm sure i could have got it cheaper if had stuck at it but i gave up. shame really, it was a lovely bass and AREA is a really nice guy.

[Spartacus]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='525835' date='Jun 27 2009, 11:55 AM']A newly signed up BCer (like yesterday) based in Latvia contacted me last night enquiring about the GT6B I have for sale on here. In theory I have no major objection with shipping it to him, or anywhere else in the EU. He is aware of the extra costs involved (still looking at actual prices), obviously I'll receive payment before shipping and I'll make sure there is adequate insurance.

I see many examples of people who won't ship abroad. What are the pitfalls? What are your experiences?

Rich.[/quote]

I work for a shipping company and we have lots of arguements with customers who expect to ship high value high risk items oversease for a tenner. The fact is that to properly insure your goods and ship them at reasonable cost we have to accept liability for subcontract delivery and collection services at your end and at the buyers end and in transfer which works out expensive for stuff which can be damaged easily. Cost is one 1 issue bit you need to make sure you trust the buyer first as theres a big potential for fraud and you cant necesarily check the bueyrs credentials 1st or chase him down if hes a scammer. Make sure he pays by bank transfer or paypal with confirmed address and only ship to the confirmed address.

PS Im not saying your buyer is a scammer but if he mentions sending company cheque or western union then be a bit worried

[MythSte]

Ive sent a bass abroad through the forums before. No hassle whatsoever. Make sure you phone your bank to check the money has [u]fully [/u]cleared before you proceed though! I'm sure i heard some story about how theres a period after youve been given a cheque/transfer where you can "see" the money but its not fully over yet and can still bounce?*

[size=1]*I might be lying, or have dreampt it. but im sure i heard it, really, i am![/size]

[ashevans09]

I ended up sending a mixer to a cruise ship of all places on mainland europe and it ended up there in one piece. Taking out the extra cost I actually find you get a better service when shipping overseas... I don't know. I think most people's objection is that if it does go wrong it could potentially be much more difficult to solve.

IMHO of course

[tauzero]

[quote name='beerdragon' post='525854' date='Jun 27 2009, 12:10 PM']I was on the brink of buying a Bass off Basschatter AREA who is based in Germany. one well known caarrier kept on saying it could not transport the bass and another quoted £100. i'm sure i could have got it cheaper if had stuck at it but i gave up. shame really, it was a lovely bass and AREA is a really nice guy.[/quote]
A couple of years ago, I bought a Warwick in a hard case from a German ebay seller and the shipping was something like £20. I've had other instruments from German sellers (Palatino upright, NS WAV-4) and they were similar shipping rates. Germany to UK seems considerably cheaper than UK to Germany.