[sdiy] OT : Ebay (mercifully short)

[Chris Randall]

> I agree entirely with jbv on this.
> I manufacture analog fx boxes, and 90% go direct to USA.
> Really, there isn't any difference between walking to
> the post office & mailing to Sydney or to Poland, Czech
> Republic, or USA.

Consider this, though: my wife and I own a record label, and 90% of our
business is in the US, as well, and about 9% of the remaining 10% is with
Canada. That other 1% is both far more expensive, and far from easy, to ship
to, and we've often considered not accepting overseas orders at all. We
charge a flat rate for postage overseas, and we find that kids will get
together and make a big order, which they paid the $9.95 flat rate for, but
ends up costing us $45 to ship, and we lose money hand over fist. We don't
charge at all for postage on our continent, and make money quite nicely. Of
course, the profit margins on CDs are quite high, so one should take that in
to account.

> To get very slightly back on topic, what DOES amaze me are
> US companies that aren't interested in $1000 component orders..
> "no we dont sell outside USA"!!!!

It's worth noting that this country is a Federation, where the individual
states have much more rule-making power than a state or province in your
country might have, and some states have rather odd tax rules, as far as
mail order goes. If it's a smaller company, I can easily see where they
might never set up the machinery to even be able to keep books for such an
order. Mail order in and of itself is a tax nightmare here in Illinois,
that's for certain. I'm sure Messrs. Blacet and Richter will have some
insight in to this as well.

As for eBay, I always check the "will ship internationally" box, but say
that buyer must pay actual shipping, where I will always pay shipping for
domestic winners. I think that's reasonably fair, considering the above.

-Chris Randall