Getting Serious(er) About International Shipping
OK, alright, we admit it: support for international buyers on Bonanzle has been somewhere between "pathetic" and "awful" so far. Prior to today, an international buyer wouldn't have been able to determine if an item could be shipped to them until checkout. Of course, since only about 500,000 of our 2 million-ish items are setup to ship internationally, the chances that the buyer can even find an item that ships to their country in the first place was so slim that most buyers understandably didn't bother trying.
But that's beginning to change. As of this evening, international buyers can now filter their search by items where sellers have specified that shipping is available to their country. For instance:
61,000 Bonanzle items ship to the U.K.
70,000 Bonanzle items ship to Canada
66,000 Bonanzle items ship to Australia (Or at least they will by tomorrow morning, just fixed a bug where Australia was returning 0 results. Sorry, Aussies!)
Furthermore, if a user from another country is logged in, they'll be shown the price to ship the item to their home country (as specified in their account settings) on the item show page, rather than the price to ship to the US, as they would have been shown prior to this evening's update. If they aren't logged in, we'll give our best guess at what it might cost to ship to their country, based on their IP address.
There are still a number of features on our "wish list" for international shipping, not the least of which is the popular "next up" item to get calculated shipping setup internationally. But, practically speaking, without the ability to filter search by shipping country, I'd imagine that very few international buyers would have benefitted from intl calculated shipping anyway.
Hookin' It Up
You say you're a seller and you haven't setup your international shipping rates yet? Well I'd say it's high time to get on that. We've tried to make it as painless as possible with the batch editor and shipping profiles. If you already have items listed, your best bet is to visit the batch editor (My Bonanzle -> Batch Edit -> Shipping Options) and specify your international shipping options from there.
If you list items with international shipping on a regular basis, read up on shipping profiles and you can setup your international shipping with one click per item.
We'll surely be making more iterations on this in the weeks & months to come, but hopefully this round of changes will open up many new buying opportunities for our international set, and prove once and for all that we really do care about the other 95% of the world.
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44 responses to Getting Serious(er) About International Shipping
This is wonderful news for buyers and sellers!
Great round of changes. Thank you.
Good news for those of us who ship to
anywhere there’s a zip or postal code.
I have edited alot of my items with International Shipping charge but I dont see that it shows up anywhere in the listing for the buyer to see. Help! Where will they see it?
Wonderful news !!! Thanks Bill !!!
I’m in Canada, and I haven’t done the shipping thing yet. It seemed like everything was geared to US shippers.
All my items are different weights and sizes, so I need different shipping for each listing, BUT every single listing shows the shipping to anywhere in the world, in the description.
I indicate at the top of my custom cats, that I ship worldwide, and that I combine shipping.
Does this leave me out in the cold as an international shipper?
Wondeful!! I have my records done for the international buyers…now to do the rest!
And I will ship anywhere…so if it is not set up for shipping, just give me a shout!
Thanks Bill!
Way to go, Bill!
This is a major improvement.
Now I am rooting for the next ‘international’ step, so allowing sellers to block specific countries (with you using the IP address to achieve this).
It would set you ap;art from the competition and increase safety for sellers on the site. I can imagine there are sellers who really do not want to ship to certain African countries, or sellers who sell items that won;t pass the customs inspection of a certain country, liek with leather goods to Italy.
So please get us ‘country blocks’, which no major marketplace site offers till now (only credit card gateways, Paypal and individual sites do.
Peter
Farout and groovy even!
Seriously…this is a huge step in the right directions, thanks!
We are oh so grateful for all you do seen and unseen,
Joyfully,
Reen~
Bill this a good step in the right direction. I would love to include international buyers. It opens up so many avenues of getting a sale, however I have to wait until you add calculated international shipping. I cannot offer a flat rate at this time due to the size and weight of my items and the fact I combine shipping to lower the cost for the buyer. I will be looking forward to the day you add the calculated international shipping.
Laura
I’m in the same boat as bookbin with different weights. Have also put instruction in the descriptions, which has always worked fine. How about an option in the bulk editor for: ships internationally- yes or no, that would be part of the filter?
great step in the right direction… really appreciate it BUT……whatever you did….has totally changed everything I had specified. What was “free shipping” has now changed to "no shipping specified to CAN….also when you try calculated and specify weight etc it is showing USP… guess none of this helps Canadian sellers…. something to work towards
@fashion: If your user account (or IP) is from a different country, you’ll be shown the rates to ship to your country automatically when you look at items. If you’re from the US, you’ll just see the US shipping rates, since those are the only shipping prices relevant to you.
@jinx: Similar to above. I’m guessing that you live in Canada, so the item show page is now (correctly) telling you that shipping hasn’t been setup to Canada, because the “free shipping” option that can be specified for items only applies to US at this time. To specify international shipping rates you have to either use shipping profiles or the batch editor.
@leeflang: You should already be able to pick and choose what countries you want to ship to by using the zones in the batch editor, no?
Thanks Bill. That helps!
Oh, nice. I ship ANYTHING anywhere in the world.
It’s written in the shipping profile.
But jumping into buyers face is definitely business improving.
Thanks Bill…. Yes I live in Canada…I was offering Free shipping to Canada and the US on certain items…and contact seller on the rest. Guess I had better start editing.
So Bill, what exactly is it that we have to do? I’m confused. I cannot enter individual fixed pre-calculated shipping fee’s to everyone of my items. I ship everywhere, but Internationl shipping is not checked because I cannot provide individual quotes for everything I have until a buyer requsts it.
Thank you so very much
Now how about those folders?? – you’re a couple days late on that now lol
Just for those who don’t know, the shipping rates for most countries for the First Class International rate that I use to mail my jewelry overseas (thick manila envelopes) are just about 25-50 cents more than to send them to the next state here in the USA. Canada is usually almost the same as USA postage. So consider offering it. I get lots of customers from the UK and Australia. Dianne~
Bill, using your link above, 61000 plus items to UK. When you actually go to the link to see if your items show, it only gives you 99 pages (at 100 items per page), rather than 618. In searching low to high, you only see items up to 4.97.
Thanks for all the forward thinking steps. I would still like to see a shipping calculator that the buyer could use for both domestic and international shipping. One that is based on location and package weight.
About International First Class Mail-there is no protection to buyer or seller if the package is lost, or stolen in customs (it does happen), or the buyer claims to have not received it. Seller beware. It is not “trackable” as is International Priority Mail.
AWESOME!
2 questions:
1) what does “clear international shipping rates” mean in batch edit??
2) If I "add flat rate shipping to (name a country) in batch edit, can I add a SECOND flat rate to another country and a third one to still another, or do these overwrite each other?? If “add” is really additive instead of a replacement value, this opens up a LOT of interesting doors!!! Thanks!
This truly does not work for Canadian sellers …now exposure is gone …great
Any ideas
I am really confused.
1. Is there any way to choose you ship worldwide and show up in searches without entering a price for shipping per country? I ship world wide some things I can give a flat price but most I cannot. And combined item international shipping that would be impossible without knowing which items they are getting before hand. I am mainly concerned here whether I am going to show up to international buyers now without flat rates picked for each item for each country.
I am intrigued yet very confused and a little worried lol
Unless you can give a flat rate to the countries you want to sell to your items will NOT be seen to these countries, so if you are willing to ship internationally now your items are taken out of the search and they will never see you, unless you can set a price across the board for your international shipping (i know I can not) so there goes a large group of buyers that will never see you again
“It is not “trackable†as is International Priority Mail.”
Priority International is NOT “trackable” either. USPS express is the only service that comes with the ability to track the package.
Bill,
You say that one can already select countries, but that is not accurate. We cannot. We can only select zones so regions and 6 individual countries. Since there are at least 180+ countries worldwide, what we need is to be able to select those countries, just like Paypal offers, where one can block each individual country. I have no interest in selling expensive items to Poland or Roumania if I cannot insure my items for that destination (no insurer will). Or if my leather items get confiscated in Italy, I do not want to sell those to them either. So what we need is both blocks by booth and by item for individual countries. Some sellers will block per booth and some per item like leather items only). I assure you that this will put you way ahead of competitots and create many happy sellers and buyers. A ‘zoned approach’ is simply useless as it si too wide a net.
Peter
Bill I tried using you “shipping Profiles” and it does not work. Maybe for US Sellers . . . but not canadadian Sellers…..and exposure is still not there. now what…..any suggestions
Arrgh!!! I had specific rates for all my items and as each ships for different rates for different countries as per Canada Post rates. Now, I used your shipping profiles feature and it has just frigged up everything I set up.
Just like eBay, if you are from Canada, there are no viable options to specify the correct shipping on USA based sites.
Come on now, get with the class. Adjust it so us non-USA users can get our specifics correct. PLEASE !!
It’s just fustrating all over again…that’s why I’m winding down my eBay.com listings and moved to here.
RE CANADIANS and Shipping Profiles. I’ve been working on this all day, the trick I have found is this:
1st – I set up shipping profiles for shipping to the US.
2nd – I batch edit my listings and add the US Shipping Profiles. Don’t bother specifying International Shipping in the shipping profiles..it doesn’t work.
3rd – After you have added your US shipping profiles to your listings then you batch edit and ADD the international Shipping charges.
This method is working for me right now.
I’m still having problems with International buyers not seeing my Canadian listings when they search.
If an Intl buyer is Not logged in then my listings show up, but if they are logged in my listings do not show up unless they uncheck the “ship to country” box.
I’m sure you boyz are working on this for us. Thanks
Well I am an international SELLER who sells to most places, including the US and Canada. Cant set flat rate as the items are all different and the regions work backwards for me as US IS international for me and Spain is Domestic and the rest of Europe is Europe! lol
So it looks like reduced exposure until this is sorted out. A shame, but this doesnt work for me at all, it makes it worse. I will have to set individual shipping profiles for each item and each region available, even though it will be a very average price and not accurate.
I reckon that with the level of sales outside the US being as high as they are, without a proper international shipping set up, there is a great arguement to make it a little more international seller friendly too.
Help! lol
Is there anything new for us non USA sellers yet ..my listings are still a mess and I have spents the last 2 days trying to get answers …nada yet
I went through all the motions last night and the system will not allow you to set up shipping by Zone. I thought maybe I could just charge a High Flat Rate and explain that any excess would be refunded back through Paypal but that is even more work to add to all of my ads. Then we may see another change in the future that requires it be changed back. I wish the feature would just be kept on hold until the entire application becomes functional with a real shipping calculator.
I’ve spent days editing my traits and only 1/3 of the way done. Seems I’m always editing instead of promoting and selling. Sorry, I’m just not a hppy camper right now. It is very important for me and many others to have International Exposure. I do appreciate your efforts though Bill.
I do most of my sales to USA/CANADA but is good to know about Europe and Asia too
without forgot Latinoamerica
Mary
This would be why, when I search for any item, I get 0 results until I uncheck “ships to Afghanistan”. Even then I am not getting all the results shown that should be shown.
I second many of the thoughts expressed above, including thanking Bill and his staff for all their hard work.
Yahoo! Thank you Boyz. Search is now working and when I sign in as Canadian I can now see all my listings. You are the BEST!!
Two weeks and I guess still nothing in place for international sellers…… whats up? I edited all my listings to read “see item description” and that is still not showing up in listings.
Thank you. I can’t wait until it really works.
I ship Worldwide and I’d like to be able to show this on ALL my listings. If cost is not indicated to a specific country it doesn’t mean I don’t ship there. I can’t possibly indicate the cost to ship to every country.
It would make my life much easier if I could indicate
SHIP TO: Worldwide
ASK the seller for cost to ship to your address.
The buyer could then produce his country and postal/zip code to get an exact quote for shipping.
I agree with all of the above, still too biased (understandably)to US based sellers, and the lack of shipping profiles in my listings screws up the new “Accept/Cancel Order” system, one buyer lost so far and he went away grumpy never to return, my buyers so far have all come via Google and are happy to return and possibly browse the rest of the site, no response from my email to support either which is unusual
Good to see that Bonanzle is getting more serious about international selling, but am still waiting for the site to be made more international seller and buyer friendly.
The problems of shipping profiles to lots of countries when booth items have different weights and prices have still not been solved – except for lots of profiles for each individual item.
Like eserafini, I would like a Worldwide option, so my items ase at least found in the search. Once I have a buyers postcode and country, I too can let them have an exact shipping quote. Right now I have to put a US quote and then various others for EACH item, and most of them still dont show up in the search outside the US!
Great tip! I’ll have to update my smaller items. I know how much they cost to ship first class. Thanks for all the upgrades! Keep em coming!
Still waiting for an automatic shipping calculator for international sales, I still see an antique there.I still don’t see how you can work with it. I did do Batch edit showing international shipping with no amounts.
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