Brian Swale wrote:
To my mind the setting by USA sellers of the flag " will ship to USA only " is either pure laziness in following the 'bay options and not thinking it through (perhaps the world ends at the USA border?), or is is an implied mistrust of any process or person outside the USA. All unwarranted.
There is also an extra 'hassle factor' that may be significant. I can
mail a package up to a couple of pounds to the US just by putting
postage on it (and buy the postage over then 'net and print it on my
printer!) and handing it to my mail carrier. Bigger packages require
going to the PO, but not waiting in line. All the POs in my area are
overcrowded and understaffed. That means it can take up to an hour round
trip to post a package and $.50 for parking. Not only are many of our
citizens highly insular, but so are many postal employees and the
instructions in POs about international mailing are not very good. As a
result, it is surprisingly hard to figure out about mailing options,
insurance costs, delivery confirmation, which customs form to use, etc.
I have received what later turned out to be simply wrong instructions
from postal employees about international packages.
Sometimes the sellers think they will have to meet all extra postal or customs charges associated with the overseas postage, and just need to be assured (as I'm sure you all know by now) that the buyer has to meet those and it is normal practice.
I haven't yet bought anything from N.Z., but my 18/3.5 came from
Australia and I've bought from other places around the world, so, as a
matter of principle, I don't limit where I will ship to the US. But I
can see where if I were very busy, so time was really money for me, and
selling items of modest value/profit, I might find international
shipping not to be worth it. I don't work much, by choice, but I charge
$50/hr and up for my healing and other 'new age' practices and $165/hr
and up for programming. How would potential buyers react if I said
"International shipping at actual cost plus $30 handling and hassle
fee."? That's below my 'cost' but I'm sure you and others would feel
discriminated against.
Clear away the misunderstanding and normal business can take place.
So consider that, while it may be laziness, mistrust, xenophobia, it may
just be the economics of business. As an example, many businesses in the
US will only ship United Parcel Service, which is, for many small items,
slower and more expensive than the Postal Service. However, UPS comes to
them and provides extra services to minimize their costs and they have
to go to the PO and wait in line to mail USPS. So they find it worth
while to lose some potential sales through higher shipping costs in
order to minimize their costs. Must work, 'cause UPS just agreed to a
substantial increase in labor costs with their union in the middle of a
weak economy and high unemployment.
Don't take it personally,
Moose
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