Re: Why do so many sell old HP calc to US users only? Message #17 Posted by Peter Klein on 25 Aug 2009, 12:24 p.m., in response to message #16 by Charles Oxford
Alaska, Hawaii, PR and such usually require more postage. I think many US sellers don't want to deal with situations where the postage will have to be discussed with the buyer. There may also be the perception that outside the "Lower 48" states, one has less recourse if the sale goes bad.
You've all seen the questions that get posted on eBay sometimes: "I want purchase widget. How much for postage you send my brother in Paris for him send to me widget in Irkutsk? It travel by dog sled. I pay when I get." A few of those, and people get nervous.
I have sold (a camera lens) to someone in Europe once. It worked out, but it was a hassle. Between language issues, misunderstandings about exact postage costs, etc., I spent a lot more time on it than on a U.S. sale. OTOH, I have purchased from Europe, no problem at all.
Another issue is that many other parts of the world like to pay by bank transfer. This is common in Europe, but US banks charge a huge fee, which often makes the transaction not worth it to the US party.k
Everyone has to decide what their comfort level is. As someone mentioned earlier, with 280 million people, the US is a pretty big market. Some Americans are pretty insular, and may believe that outside our country, it's a confusing and dangerous place. They ought to travel more. :-)
--Peter
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