eBay buyers from China (1 Viewer)

[agmtanks]

As a veteran seller and buyer on eBay since 1998, I am now dealing with my first buyers from China . So far it has been Brutal !!!
I have been selling Forces of Valor 1/32 models. First buyer from China bought a King Diorama for $120 on January 30 and sent me only $60 for shipping without me sending him the invoice with $70 in ship costs. This bothered me and I refunded his money via paypal. He says he will pay for it , but no paypal yet.He has about 36 transactions.

Other buyer bought a Tiger Diorama for $140 2 days ago and no paypal yet. he has 18 transactions, member for 5 months.

Worst part is trying to figure out the address in China as it is near inmpossible to read eBay end of auction report.And these buyers cannot correspond in English.

I am getting good bids from these guys, but am ready to put China on my NO BID list.
And very strange how these Forces of Valor tanks are going back to China where they were made ???

Has anyone else had any sales to China?

 

[glossman]

I have no experience in either buying from or selling to China eBayers.

However, I suspect the problem is language.

Your buyers may not fully understand your item description and payment instructions.

Just my opinion.

Raymond.:smile2:

 

[Gideon]

There is a language and cultural barrier with Chinese buyers but I think this will all change in due time.

I used to sell a lot of high end audio to Chinese and Korean buyers. There were always issues, it was like a debate of sorts. In many of those cases, what I listed as my terms were often challenged. At every step. So much so that I blocked many buyers from China/Hong Kong and South Korea for those types of items.

To be clear, there are difficult buyers everywhere, of many nationalities. You may be dealing with inexperienced buyers and, as I said, there is likely a language and cultural thing going on.

Be patient though and you will likely be rewarded with good and loyal buyers. I have been on eBay since 1996/7. Back then, europeans were just beginning to catch on to eBay. I had a lot of mis-communications and problems with payments but we generally managed to work things out. A good number of those people still buy from me today.

Just be patient.

 

[uksubs]

I have no experience in either buying from or selling to China eBayers.

However, I suspect the problem is language.

Your buyers may not fully understand your item description and payment instructions.

Just my opinion.

Raymond.:smile2:

Yep got the same problem this weekend on a Fov king tiger ,never asked before about shipping costs and he now want to bid on more Fov stuff even when p&p is £50.00 just for the kt!

 

[glossman]

In some Asian countries, it is considered acceptable practice to bargain down the price of an item to the lowest possible before closing the transaction. You need some local knowledge to know where and how to do this. I would be surprised if some China buyers had the temerity to try this on eBay.

Some bidders on eBay may try to re-negotiate (haggle down) the postage charge after winning the item. It gets worse if the bidder threatens to leave negative feedback if the postage discount is not met. I have been lucky not to have had to face this ugly situation so far.

Raymond.%^V

 

[VIRIATO]

Hmmm, teaching English in China must be a good deal, more and more so...:wink2:


Paulo

 

[jazzeum]

I've purchased items from Chinese sellers (mostly Cds) with no issues. Having been to China, the people in the cities are quite advanced, more so than here in many ways, and I would have no issues with selling an item to someone in China.

 

[agmtanks]

After reporting one buyer to eBay, he sent paypal today, blamed problems on Chinese New Year. No problem with his English. He asked for me to put a low Customs value on his box so he would not have to pay customs tax in China. This was a very strange request to me as the FoV tanks are made in China and I am shipping the tank back to where it was made !!!

When I took the box to the Post Office today , I also asked if my box would malke it ti China. He said GOOD LUCK !! Probably would arrive damaged, sit at Customs for a few weeks or contents stolen.Does not look good for future shipments to China.

My main worry Can the Chinese Postal workers who deliver the boxes read my English postal label???

 

[Phantom Warrior]

After reporting one buyer to eBay, he sent paypal today, blamed problems on Chinese New Year. No problem with his English. He asked for me to put a low Customs value on his box so he would not have to pay customs tax in China. This was a very strange request to me as the FoV tanks are made in China and I am shipping the tank back to where it was made !!!

When I took the box to the Post Office today , I also asked if my box would malke it ti China. He said GOOD LUCK !! Probably would arrive damaged, sit at Customs for a few weeks or contents stolen.Does not look good for future shipments to China.

My main worry Can the Chinese Postal workers who deliver the boxes read my English postal label???

I sold several models to a guy in China and he would e-mail me his address in Chinese as a pdf file I could print like a black and white picture. So there were two shipping labels - one in English and one in Chinese. It worked out well.

Terry

 

[uksubs]

After reporting one buyer to eBay, he sent paypal today, blamed problems on Chinese New Year. No problem with his English. He asked for me to put a low Customs value on his box so he would not have to pay customs tax in China. This was a very strange request to me as the FoV tanks are made in China and I am shipping the tank back to where it was made !!!

When I took the box to the Post Office today , I also asked if my box would malke it ti China. He said GOOD LUCK !! Probably would arrive damaged, sit at Customs for a few weeks or contents stolen.Does not look good for future shipments to China.

My main worry Can the Chinese Postal workers who deliver the boxes read my English postal label???

It turn out that i have the same buyer !

 

[steveo]

Just my input i sold 2 action figures before Christmas one to South Korea and one to China,on my listing i said i would consider bidders from Asia but asked them to contact me for full postal costs,which both did before they bid,have you used babelfish or googles translate service this helps,although its now word or grammar perfect:smile2:
I asked them to send me there addresses in their simplified languages which i printed and attached to parcel and with one address in English.Long winded maybe?
I insured and used a proof of signature postage and both arrived early January,with positive feedback left on both items,so as long as you make sure the bidders aware of the costs,insurance and full(and i mean full not part)payment is received within 3days,no problems with my experience of Asian Bidders.
Hope this help,Regards Steve.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Just my input i sold 2 action figures before Christmas one to South Korea and one to China,on my listing i said i would consider bidders from Asia but asked them to contact me for full postal costs,which both did before they bid,have you used babelfish or googles translate service this helps,although its now word or grammar perfect:smile2:
I asked them to send me there addresses in their simplified languages which i printed and attached to parcel and with one address in English.Long winded maybe?
I insured and used a proof of signature postage and both arrived early January,with positive feedback left on both items,so as long as you make sure the bidders aware of the costs,insurance and full(and i mean full not part)payment is received within 3days,no problems with my experience of Asian Bidders.
Hope this help,Regards Steve.

That's a good idea. I am always in a quandry selling to Asia because the postal costs from Canada are so high if shipping by air with delivery confirmation. That usually kills the bid.Shipping by surface can easily take longer than the 45 days the buyer has to put in an ebay claim that they haven't received the item. I will only ship by surface outside Canada/US to people I know and not through ebay.

Terry