Selling Internationally.

[the-tool-shed-online]

Hi all,

I am hoping someone who sells currently Internationally can advise if they require special Aussie licences to sell International? Also, how would you calculate postage and do you use Australia Post?

Thanking you in advance.

[cq_tech]

You don't need to do anything out of the ordinary to post internationally, and it's really not much different from selling locally, although I recommend that you acquire a decent digital scale first.

The following downloadable PDF file from Australia Post will tell you all that you need to know, including all the prices and rates for different weights and postage methods.

http://auspost.com.au/media/documents/international-post-easy-guide-ms160-31mar2014.pdf

[chezzy]

I wondered if the OP might be talking about "export licences" which I don't know much about but found the following:

http://www.austrade.gov.au/Export/About-Exporting/Exporting-FAQs/Export-license

http://australia.gov.au/topics/business-and-industry/trade-import-and-export

[wehavethatau]

I ship 50+ internationals per day. No license needed. You will just need to fill out a customs form for each item.

[chameleon54]

Ozfalcon has covered most of it. The post office gives me a bunch of customs declarations which I fill in and stick to the parcel at home with a small bit of tape that can be removed easily. ( stops them getting mixed up ) . You need a different form for insured items. I use International tracking or insurance whenever possible for overseas items as more of them do get lost. ( probably around 3-4% have some kind of problem ) I use the Australia Post websites postage calculator to work out cost and find it 100% accurate. Larger items are ridiculously expensive with 2-3 kg. costing $60-$90 for most countries. You do get a lot of requests for postage quote if not included in listing, most of which dont come to anything, so expect a slight rise in unproductive questions. Around 15% of my items go overseas so it is a handy extra boost to sales. International exposure can make a huge difference to the price of auction items if they are rare collectables. I recently listed a small group of collectable items and every single one of one batch went overseas at very good prices to multiple bidders in several countries. Most of the problems with parcels come from the countries you would expect. ( Spain, Cuba, Russian states etc. )  When things are very slow in Australia I tend to get more International sales, probably because of search function technical issues with ebay. I dont have any special licences and have never been asked about them. Once you have it worked out international post is no great dramas and can be worth doing.

[lane-ends]

The biggest problem you wil have is that your items are probably heavy so shipping costs will be too high and you wont be able to compete with asian sellers. The high cost of post will also mean the consequencies of a paypal claim will be high and so reg post will be required. This in turn will make it even more expensive.

Keep in mind if you sell a $10 item and total cost including shipping comes to $40, the buyer will be expecting a $40 quality item. That is, quality of your item from their persepctive will be benchmarked against total cost not actual, this can result in lowered DSRs and general complaints.