Selling from overseas

[birdman98]

Never thought I'd live to say this...but I now have too many mandolins. Time to sell one off.

Problem is, I live in rural Japan. I've had great experiences with the Classifieds here as a buyer in the States, but I've never put anything up for sale.

So I thought I'd put this out there to anyone who wants to chime in.

What would be the best way to handle a sale from overseas...in terms of protectng the buyer and myself as a seller??

I know that I'm a stand-up guy but if you were buying an axe from someone in Japan, what would set your mind at ease??

[Pete Martin]

I would look at Ebay buying/selling experiences of the overseas seller.

And maybe someone in the states could act as a go between?

[JHo]

There's a website called Escrow.com that acts as an escrow service in situations like that. I've used it before as a seller, and while they take a small commission, it seems worth it if you have a buyer who doesn't want to just blindly send you money.

[Folkmusician.com]

It will be hard for you to get a good price if shipping to the US. The problem being, there is no shortage of mandolins over here, and unless it is a REALLY good deal, it would not make sense for someone to buy from out of country.

There are risks/hassles with importing instruments.
The big factors are payments, shipping, and fees for importing. Even with good intentions on both sides, it is not easy to give a trial period with international sales.

Aside from an Escrow service (which I feel are not really a benefit), there is no way to protect both buyer and seller.

Though there may not be as big of market there in Japan, I would think that anyone in Japan would prefer to buy domestically and you would have an advantage.

You might consider consigning the instruments with a dealer in the U.S. You could ship multiple instruments over at once, and buyers will be dealing directly with the US dealer.