Buying/selling cards in the US when living in Europe

General
1

Hello all,

After having spent a few months on the Europe market I’m looking to buy and sell in the American market too, but I’m having quite a few questions. I hope someone will be able to answer them, and if possible from experience, but I’m happy with any answer as information regarding this is incredibly hard to find.

It seems like the biggest issue with buying cards from US living in Europe is the shipping cost, I searched a couple of listings and most of them list a shipping cost of 18 dollars, with “International Priority Shipping to Netherlands via the Global Shipping Program”, while when I asked a friend of mine from the US to take a look at them it was either “FREE Expedited Shipping” or “$0.50 Economy Shipping” for the same listings.

Secondly there’s import costs, now from what I have found so far it seems like in The Netherlands we need to pay VAT + import costs + clearance fee when buying from non-EU countries. Below 22 euro it’s exempt of all costs, between 22 euro and 150 euro it’s only VAT (not sure if there’s clearance fee) and above 150 you need to pay all, with clearance fee being around 15 euro I believe.

When selling cards via Ebay I believe that offering tracked selling is the only option, which costs 16,50 euro. I’m afraid that this will cut down a lot on potential buyers, now if the cards would be like 100 or perhaps 50 euro/dollar each then it’s perhaps not the biggest issue, but here I’m talking about cards that are worth like 10 euro.

For buying cards I found a possible solution via Repackaging Services from the US to EU, this would bring in some additional shipping costs for a package of course and would bump the value above 150 euro so it also depends a lot on how much import costs I would be paying. That is assuming that a package consisting of all collectible items is taxed and gets import costs added just as the individual items would be.

For selling I don’t have a possible solution though.

I’d like to hear some thoughts on this and how I could make it work, because the US is (even if only via Ebay) a way bigger market than Europe and I’d like to use that market.

(For example I have a Kingdra Holo H14/H22 from Aquapolis that some surface wear and light edge wear and minor scratches on the back, probably Light Played or maybe Excellent and it seems like they could sell for around $10 via Ebay. In the European market I’d be lucky if I could get 4 euro for it, so at the very least I’d try to put it on auction with a 3 or 5 dollar reserve to see where it would go. The shipping costs would be 16,50 euro for tracked mail and 1,25 euro for untracked but that leaves me the risk of Ebay buyers wanting to pull a scam on me. A seemingly NM one costs $16-$18 in the US right now, so there’s no reason anyone would buy mine if it’s played and has a higher shipping cost.)

2

Well for one thing, the European market has fewer buyers, but also fewer sellers - so for the European market that does exist, at least you have an advantage there. But you’re right, the US market is bigger, and there’s really no way around your disadvantage there.

Remember, the more expensive the item, the less the difference in shipping cost matters. So one possible way around this issue is to focus on selling higher value items (PSA graded cards, complete sets, etc.). But for lower value items (such as an Excellent/LP Aquapolis Kingdra) there’s no denying you’re at a significant disadvantage compared to US sellers. Your best way around this issue may be to list specific lower value items when they’re not being sold by anyone else, so you can capitalize off of international buyers who want the card right away, rather than waiting for someone in their country to list one.

3

It sounds like you’ll need to get comfortable with the risk of an eBay buyer claiming non-receipt/scamming you and just ship with no tracking. A lot of folks in the US market ship no tracking in a regular envelope for low value cards (~$5). The bad eggs trying to get a free card pop up infrequently enough to make it a manageable cost of doing business. Keep in mind these sellers are big time with hundreds to thousands of cards listed so a $5 hit isn’t a big deal to them.

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4

I’m in canada and have the same issue when buying from US as they always say “$18 international blah blah” … But I do sell a ton and of my 600+ ebay transactions iv’e had maybe 3-4 claim they never received their cards in which case I just refunded right away. I send to the states in an envelope with a stamp that costs $1.20. There are cases in which mail actually does get lost at times but I can never determine fully if the person is telling me the truth or just wanting a free card. In any case, 4 claims of not receiving of 600+ transactions isn’t too bad of a risk to take. However it may be a little more difficult being in Europe and the mail has to travel further and may be more likely to get lost, sometimes you’re going to just have to take that hit if wanting to use their market. Anything over $40 I pay for tracking (costs me about $4.50). But if you’re going to be pushing out a lot of smaller value cards you might as well just ship in regular envelope and bite the bullet once in a while when people claim they never got

5

For non graded single cards:

Figure the trackable shipping charge and simply pass that charge on to the buyer. State that’s the charge whether they buy 1 or 20 items. Might get some multi sales that way;)

You can add a line saying “For other shipping options contact me thru Ebay messages.”
Then you can try to pull them off auction then through email tell them a Paypal fan/friends/gift payment privately will get them a 2.00 shipping charge but if lost or damaged then they lose. At least it gives them an option.

6

Shipping costs will KILL a sale. I can’t tell you the number of times I found 1 card for $5 and shipping was $18. No thanks. Say you “combine ship” and then do it. I have told sellers NO thanks when they told me shipping is $5 for 1 card, $10 for 2, $15 for 3.

If you are selling non-English cards, I could be interested in them.

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7

I think the origin of these problems is eBay using the Global Shipping program. It’s very expensive and the US sellers don’t realize the fact how expensive it is. The service might be good for the sellers but it definitely turns buyers away. I don’t buy from sellers who use it. Sometimes if there is a card that I really want I send a message to the seller and ask if he offers other shipping options for outside US. Some sellers do but most of them don’t unfortunately. So I keep buying from sellers who have reasonable shipping costs.

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8

The GSP isn’t for everyone but it’s GREAT for some:

  1. Sellers who NEVER shipped internationally now can.

  2. Buyers who want something from a seller who never shipped internationally, now can get what they want.

No seller or buyer is forced to use the service so it doesn’t hurt anybody.
I just don’t see a down side to GSP.

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9

I understand that but the problem is the shipping price is very high. Also I can’t trust that my order won’t be charged for taxes again when it arrives to Finnish customs as the buyer will pay the taxes through GSP as well… that’s the problem. I would be ready to use GSP if I buy something expensive but when you buy a single card for like $10 and the shipping would cost $29 via GSP I don’t think it’s not very reasonable…

10

I guess it is all a matter of perspective. You are feeling like some things you see available through GSP are overpriced because of it, but the reality is they are only an option to you because of the GSP.

I used to do the international shipping thing straight up and had so many problems I decided to drop it all. US only as far as eBay goes for a while. GSP came along and I started using it as it protects me very well. That now re-opens up my whole inventory to the international folk. Sure for some of my inventory it hardly makes sense and I get frustrated messages once a month or so saying “$30 shipping on a $5 card argh!” but the fact is having the option to pay $35 for a card that only I have on eBay is better than not having the option to buy it at all. You can either pay it or not pay it.

As is the case to I do have some regular international customers who started on GSP and now we do deals privately with great success. Also make direct shipments to any forum members as well.

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11

I remember you mentioned this in the past. This is something they definitely need to fix.

In general I think GSP could be a fantastic system, but it sounds like there is a disconnect between ebay and the country of destination. Ironically it was made to help sellers, but it ultimately deters international buyers.

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12

This is exactly what I meant.
Sellers can use GSP if they like as you do and don’t deserve to be bad mouthed by people who don’t want to use it.
Again, I don’t use it but am glad sellers like you have an option other than USA only.

13

That is the source for the most of the problem. The balance is greed or stupidity.

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14

Just to go back to the OP,

I am in the UK, and buying and selling to and from USA is easy enough in truth,

I purchase A LOT of collections from the USA, I would say when purchasing you need to be spending $100+ each individual transaction to make it worthwhile, the big advantage to buying from USA is they have a lot of product we Europeans just do not have on our sites, also in general (not always) you can find cards for better prices, always include taxes in your workings, and if you do not get taxed see it as a one off and not the rule,

Selling to the USA, you used the example of the Kingdra, for cards with below <£30 value and free postage to the USA I send untracked (eBay), however on my website I ONLY offer tracked shipping simply because most of purchases from me in the USA have been at least £50 +,

You just need to be smart with your selling options, you have to respect there is a small puddle between Europe and the USA the package has to travel, and this costs money, taxes are taxes but like I say this is no reason for a deal to not go ahead,

For high value sold items to USA, there are 1 day couriers available for around £20, for low value items, you need to either pay £4 (untracked) or £7 (tracked letter) or £12 (tracked small parcel),

At the end of the day there will ALWAYS be a small disadvantage selling between continents simply because of geography, but I and plenty of other forum members will have completed plenty of continent to continent purchases and sales, make it economically efficient, be reputable and the disadvantage will feel smaller as time goes on! :blush:

That’s my points on it anyways, when buyers are buying across continent they do usually buy multiple items, list loads of items, offer combined postage and you’ll be able to compete without too much issue and if they want ONE sole card from you, then tell them they’ll have to pay premium! :ninja:

Hope that helps :grin:

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15

@cljdavis do you not have a cheaper option than $4 for untracked? In the United states we have global stamp that can send a letter for like $1.15 that can be used to send up to 10-12 cards in my experiences (no toploaders or sleeves) or 2 cards in a toploader. It is the route I go when dealing with trustworthy folks on here and such for just a card or a few cards here and there.

16

I’ve just done a mail price finder and indeed you are correct, for sending 1-4 cards with minimal protection you could probably get it down too a £1, but this takes up to 60 days!

Not personally a service I would use, but I guess it is available :blush:

17

I’ve just posted 2 packages to the US with royal mail neither containing more than 3 cards and each in bubble mailers, the one untracked option was £3.60 and the tracked option was around £7. This for bubble mailers from royal mail is the cheapest I could find.

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18

I am talking about envelopes from the United States, not padded envelopes. Any singles under $10 on my eBay I send just in a toploader with a packing slip wrapped around it in a first class envelope for $0.49 U.S. and I can send the same anywhere in the world with the global forever stamps for $1.15. They are reasonably quick too. I send to Argentina fairly often and it is typically 1-2 weeks. Untracked though and 12 cards is the most I have tried for with it. Anything too thick gets an unmachinable surcharge in the U.S. and costs an extra 19 cents or so. Don’t know if that is an option for the global stamp though.

I always kind of wondered how they can do it so cheap and who gets how much of the $1.15. It would be interesting to know how they split that since it clearly is only handled by USPS part way. It is insane that I can ship a card anywhere in the world for only $1.15.

19

Wow…the last 100 of these I bought were 130.00 or 1.30 each. These actually went down?

20

Yeah the USPS had a weird thing in the past year or so… They had some “temporary” price increase that congress allowed them to do a few years ago expire, so they had to lower their prices back down for a bit there. Then they had an increase approved in Congress to raise it back close to the same. I am not sure exactly how the global ones were affected by it all but I know first class went up, down, then back up.

I bought 40 of the global ones at $1.15 earlier this year and they will probably last me a couple years. Unless maybe I opt to test the waters on international shipping again which I may do. I don’t know if I want to deal with the headache again, but maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as I remember.