Before eBay existed I sold antique and collectible toys through ads placed in specialized toy collector publications. These publications had world-wide distribution and several of my customers were from countries outside the United States. I never gave any thought to excluding buyers from other countries. If I priced a toy at $775 and someone from Japan, Australia, England, or some other country was willing to part with $775 for the toy I was happy to sell it to them. I was in business to make money.

It wasn’t until I’d been selling on eBay for a while that I started reading what other sellers were doing and realized some sellers were excluding bidders from outside the US from bidding in their auctions. While some of their reasons for not accepting bids from international buyers had some validity, most didn’t make much sense to me, and, in most cases, they still don’t today.

The rational they used for not accepting bids from international buyers back then was pretty much the same as you hear today.

1. There is more paperwork involved. While this is true, I don’t see it as a problem. In most cases the additional paperwork involves either a PS-2976 or a PS-2976-A customs form. Neither takes more than two minutes to fill out.

2. International shipping requires additional packing. I don’t buy this argument. An item going across town should be packed just as safely as one going half-way around the world.

3. Problems can arise because of language differences. While this has some validity, you can be certain a bidder from another country is just as conscious of it as you are. My experience has been that as long as you don’t try to impress an international buyer with the diversity of your vocabulary there shouldn’t be any problems. And, if they aren’t sure they understand something they will ask.

Shipping times can cause problems. It can take a lot of time for international packages to reach their destination. Particularly, if you use economy (surface) shipping. But you will find that most buyers in other countries are completely aware of this. If you are dealing with a buyer with little or know feedback, just be sure you point out that something shipped by economy rate may take as long as two or three months to reach them.

5. Exchange rates can cause problems. Another argument I don’t buy. As long as you require payment by either an international money order made out in US funds or through Pay Pal you shouldn’t have any problems. Some will talk about the counterfeiting of international money orders, but in this day when many US banks will not accept US Post Office money orders, you are much more likely to receive a counterfeit US money order than you are an international one.

6. PayPal doesn’t confirm addresses of non-US customers. True, but a large number of US PayPal customers never bother to confirm their addresses either. If you accept payment through PayPal from non-confirmed US customers, and you should, there’s not reason to do otherwise with international buyers.

Are there instances when you shouldn’t allow international buyers to bid in your auctions? There probably are. Some eBay categories are already rife with problems with fraud by both buyers and sellers. If your business is based upon items in these categories, it’s possible the problem will only be exasperated by allowing international buyers to bid in your auctions. In this case, you should determine what your additional risk factor is by allowing international buyers. If that risk factor is one you can live with, include them. If it isn’t one you can live with, you should exclude them.

Ultimately, most sellers, allowing international bidders to take part in your auctions can open up a whole new market for what you sell and and in some cases increase your profits tremendously.

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