I'm screaming!

I'm SCREAMING!
It's all so terribly frustrating. I just went to look at my reports from eBay and I see that people out of the USA are giving me low marks for shipping costs. I do ship within the USA for free (eBay gives us no choice - free shipping and we also pay for the insurance!) if the item is less than $100 buyer pays for the shipping.

A lot of eBay sellers won't even sell to people out of the USA but I love shipping things all over the world. I think that it is so fabulous to be able to get things from my ladies in the USA and have them wind up in closets all over the world - and I do ship to places I've never even heard of! I love that!

But I think that there are things that people out of the USA do not understand about shipping expensive items and the risks that are involved as the seller.
So I am writing this and hope that you will read it and understand my predicament.

Years ago I used to send all of my packages via United States Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail. I was always impressed that it was pretty fast and definitely reliable, expensive, but not crazy expensive.

THEN it happened! Over a Christmas holiday two different people in two different countries told me that they did not receive their items. Hmmmm - strange, nothing like that ever happened before - but I said OK, I knew that I could track the packages and we would figure it out. BUT - what did I learn? I learned that once a PRIORITY package leaves the USA it cannot be traced beyond that the USA. Crazy, right?

I had to refund these two people their entire payment. The packages NEVER came back to me.

I would like to say that I do not believe these people because I have shipped 1000s and 1000s of packages, and really - although there are occasionally problems - everything gets figured out - but not those 2 items.

Where did that leave me? I was shocked to find that I couldn't track the PRIORITY packages once they left the USA.

From that day forward I have shipped things via EXPRESS INTERNATIONAL. The items are insured by Auctiva (at my cost). Yes, it is expensive - but if you are shipping expensive items, you must ship them the safest way. It is also pretty fast - they say 3-5 days. I don't know if it gets there that fast - but it gets there quickly, it is trackable and the item is SAFE.

So please, if you complain about the shipping costs when leaving feedback (you know - those little stars) eBay will throw me off of eBay (yes, that is what they will do). I do not pocket a penny of these charges and in fact, because I pay for the insurance myself, it costs me money to ship you these things. But I offer up wonderful merchandise - people are happy to find these items on eBay and I do want to continue shipping all over the world. But if eBay suggests that my shipping charges are too high I will have to stop shipping to anyone outside of the USA. I am selling for "clients" and cannot absorb the shipping costs to people out of the country.

I love eBay - I have been selling for 9 years now and with 100% feedback, you know that people enjoy the things that I have sold them. Up until now people's feedback outside of the USA regarding shipping costs didn't get reported - but now they do - and what will happen is that I will have to stop shipping out of the USA.

So please think about what you are doing when you click on those stars! I know that everyone is pleased with the things that I sell and I hope that you like me too - I love eBay and really want to continue shipping you these great things. I don't believe that you would want me to ship you things in anything but the safest way. When I can, I will send something in a FLAT RATE envelope, that helps the cost go down - but only small things fit in those envelopes. If the item is under $100 I am willing to ship via Priority Mail and if the item is under $100 and fits into a PRIORITY FLAT RATE Envelope, then we've got the shipping down pretty good :)

OK - how does that sound?
You don't want me to scream now, do you?