Drawbacks from selling overseas ?

Shipping charges, taxes, currency rates, insurance rates, tarrifs, warranty policies, possible language and/or cultural differences and good old fashioned politics all become issues. Should there be a dispute you'll have the complications and expense of international law. Good luck!

The last three items I advertised and sold through Audiogon, went to Switzerland, Germany and Korea.

In each case the price was agreed upon and funds were wired as US dollars to my bank account. I arranged and shipped twice via Federal Express and once by DHL. All three shipments arrived in perfect order and the buyers were pleased with their purchase.

There must be a clear understanding about voltage requirements, accurate and forthright description of your equipment condition, and clear understanding of declared value and insurance. The recipient should inquire about VAT, duty or customs charges so there are no unpleasant surprises. Some US products are taxed at 30%.

From a strictly personal point of view, I am better off having met these people and done these transactions.

Albert, your open, generous and unchauvinistic attitude is to be commended, I find. Audiophiles are a worldwide comunity, bonded by a common passion. I fully agree with the requirements you mention in your post. If that is settled, all goes well. Sound of course is Unsound's point about bad eggs. In case of dispute things get more difficult. I've been burnt twice, doing deals with Ex-Audiogoners in the US and being at home in good old Europe, there was nothing I could do about it. This is true of course also geographically the other way around. Cheers,

Albert, you are truly a gentleman. I forgot to mention that I had a bad experience a couple of months ago with a guy in China. I arranged to sell him a standard 15 amp iec which is what my ad stated. He sent me a money order from his bank and it took 3 weeks for it to clear through my bank plus my bank added a hefty service charge. I went ahead and shipped the cord immediately knowing it was going to take a while to clear. When the buyer received the cord, he sent me a nasty e-mail threatening to put bad feedback on my profile. Because of his poor English usage in the e-mail I couldn't quite understand why he was so upset. He then got a friend to send me a better e-mail that I could understand and included a picture of the male end of the cord and accused me of tampering or modifying it. It turned out that he had never seen a standard iec connection and apparently his unit he was going to use it on had some other type of connection. After several e-mail transactions, in frustration, I agreed to send him back his money, less the bank service charge, and he would have to pay to return ship the cord as it wasn't my fault that he didn't check to see what his unit's connection had. I specifically stated in my ad that the cord had the 15 amp iec connection.That is why I am a little tentative about doing International selling or buying. For me this was a very stressful time that I don't want to go through again. I feel I'm an honest person and I want to always keep a perfect record in my Audiogon profile.

I recently shipped a tubed product to France. There was a "shipping size" regulation (with USPS) that severely limited the amount of protection I could provide for this item. Fedx did not do ground to France. I'm assuming that I could have sent UPS, but did not check. So, keeping that in mind, I may not want to ship anywhere without knowing the
package size requirements. The other thing that bothers me about international USPS shipping is the lack of tracking available and insurance. These are knowns that the other party is usually willing to forgo, as they really do nothing
to get it there. So, I have successfully used the U.S. postal service to ship to Korea, France, and Switzerland.
It makes me nervous until they get it, but other than being a little more work in packing and filling out declaration forms, it has gone fine. They've actually been not too expensive, and fairly quick, too.

I've bought and sold abroad (from Australia, to Singapore). Albert accurately summed up the issues. In addition to wire transfer, Bidpay/Western Union is also available to send funds in US$. There are some hassles regarding shipping, but in general its not too bad. The biggest concern would be fees for wire transfer, customs, etc., and the language barrier. In both cases language was no problem, but I can see how it could become one if the person is not fluent in English. BTW, the DAC i bought from Australia was shipped directly to the manufacturer, who did the voltage conversion from 220-110,a nd checked out the whole unit for $50. And I did enjoy meeting folks from the other side of the world. But you will have to be persistent and thorough. I would also be very careful about credit cards and foreign bank checks, esp. if not in US$.

My last few sales have gone to Tokyo, Hungary, Soul and Tailand. In all cases the money was wired in US dollars to my bank. Once the moneis were received I sent the products out via Fed. Ex. In all cases the transaction went smoothly and took maybe an extra day or two. I have met some great people in parts of the world I would never have a chance to visit and have learned a great deal in the process. (imagine ten years ago selling to Hungary)
The only warning is shipping costs are extremely high, so be sure to understand the costs ahead of time. Also have an agreement as to how the customs costs are handled. In half the cases the value was disclosed as under $10 US to avoid aditional costs. (no insurance and agreed to by both parties)In any case be sure to have a written agreement as to how to handle this, and who is paying.