30 Jun
2004
30 Jun
'04
3:27 a.m.
>>>> "Fred" == Fred N van Kempen
<waltje(a)pdp11.nl> writes:
Fred> On Wed, 30 Jun 2004, Paul Koning wrote:
Hans> I find it amazing that in the land of rampant capitalism they
Hans> are unable to see the advantages of selling internationally....
>
Hans> The eBay "will ship to
<insert your country of choice> only" is
Hans> something I do not understand. Why reduce your potential
Hans> market? An international buyer knows they will have to pay for
Hans> shipping and that might put them off but why shut them out
Hans> completely? The extra hassle of an international shipment
Hans> cannot be that great, at least it isn't in my experience here
Hans> in Europe.
> Unfortunately you're mistaken (for the case of
exports from the
> USA). Shipping things may be easy if you don't bother studying
> the export laws, but if you DO make the effort to learn and
> understand them and comply, you'll find it is not easy at all.
>
> I spent several days in a course on this topic back in 2000, and
> naturally things are more complicated now.
Fred> Thats why smart people
live in countries that are less
Fred> restrictive on what can be exported "in the People's Best
Fred> Interest". :)
That doesn't necessarily help... if it came from the US, it
technically carries restrictions with it as it travels.
Fred> Seriously though. Yes, the export stuff is an issue in the
Fred> U.S., although so far, most sellers basically did not want to
Fred> bother with the extra forms, the ".. possibility of me having
Fred> to pay taxes or duties for your country..." and so on. And,
Fred> face it, most U.S. citizens don't even KNOW where, say, Holland
Fred> is.
Why should they? :-) (Former Dutchman speaking here...)
The issue isn't just forms. The issue is that the rules require you
to check each shipment destination to see if it matches a prohibited
parties list, and that list changes all the time. It's not a low
overhead activity to do this stuff right.
I suspect there are people who don't do this, either because they have
no clue that they are required to, or because they figure they don't
care. But my point is that it is hard work to obey the law in this
area.
Fred> And ya know what? Once I tell em I actually live in the U.S.,
Fred> but am "sent out" to Europe... they're all of a sudden OK with
Fred> sending it to Holland again. Even though they need exact
Fred> instructions on how to fill out those damn forms ;-)
If the sender was aware of the rules and applying them as written, I
don't think that should have made any difference...
paul