I’ve noticed this on many forums, posts and sites.
For whatever reason US collectors are always fearful of shipping to other countries.
Why is this?
I’m just curious because I find sometimes it is like I have the plague or something when I’m trying to purchase cards.
Yet when buying from other people, they don’t realize that sometimes the cards come from Canada, UK etc.
Why is it a big deal… Someone lol
I’ve never had a problem with it. It only costs me $15 USD for First Class Mail.
To me it’s not worth it to pay the absurd shipping costs internationally on certain benchmark prices. If you’re buying a $15,000 Charizard from me we can certainly work out some international shipping but a $10 EX card is hardly justifiable. Many of us are in the US anyway, most of the market I’d guess, so for each international buyer there is likely a domestic buyer as well, which of course saves the money and hassle.
I don’t see places like the UK or Canada being an issue. I think there is a fear that shipping to more economically depressed countries is a point of concern for a lot of U.S. sellers. Due to the disparity in the average standard of living between the U.S. and these countries I’ve seen a lot of people try to financially exploit Americans by any means they think they can. I’ve had it happen many times in my other business deals with places especially in Asia or the Indian Subcontinent. Rather than expand our buyer base by a fraction of what we would by selling in the U.S. alone it’s easier to avoid potential hassle with buyers in these countries. By no means am I saying everyone in these countries are out to exploit “rich Americans” but plenty are from my experience. It only took 2 scam attempts selling cards to block international shipping on my ebay account.
Im a newer seller and I recently shipped my first item (That wasn’t in the U.S) to Canada. I always thought it was complicated. Limiting my market to just U.S didnt really matter to me because my items were always selling. When in reality the only difference was the postage label looked different, cost a little more, and I had to sign it.
Now i’ll ship to pretty much anywhere, but i didnt before because i didnt know how!
I think thats the reason most “newer” sellers dont. Can’t speak for the big guys who don’t though.
I avoid it for a couple reasons.
Most the time I don’t know if I can trust tracking to show delivery of the item. With the way eBay and now PayPal function I have to prove an item arrives at its destination else in can be disputed. If this happens I loose regardless if the item arrived or not. Passing through multiple postal systems carries greater risk. Not to mention customs and delays.
Many overseas buyers also request items be marked low value. Which is another reason to just avoid dealing with it and the extra paperwork.
Others ask that low value items be shipped low cost, no tracking. This relates back to the first point where if I can’t prove it arrives I’m on the hook.
All that being said, I’m willing to do it for people I feel I can trust and/ or people I’ve dealt with before.
Wow…these replies above are shocking. Not only do I ship anywhere but a bunch of my listings are FREE INTERNATIONAL lol.
Somebody said most of the market is in the US? What in the world are you talking about? Of course I can see why you’d say that since the US is the only place you ship but most my private and eBay sales are international. Honestly, I believe the best Pokemon enthusiasts are beyond our shores.
Well you’re a legend Gary and i bow down to your willingness to always ship to me in a heartbeat. Thanks for your kind wordss about us collectors outside of the US.
Well, it’s totally true. We in the states should be as honest and helpful:)
You said it garinson… Its great minds like my own that are the pinnacle and heart of true passion for this hobby.
no one is as cool as me. 
Need i remind you that I, myself like bardok am a brilliant scientest.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_DFJ-OXTzQ
P.s You americans stink bad. australia win. Theres more smarter people here. If we went to war right now… you would lose.
It’s hard to debate that the is not a greater risk shipping overseas. There are just more complications involved that sellers do not want to take on. The more hands that a package has to touch the greater the risk. When you take into account the different hands of completely separate shipping organizations, the risk seems very intimidating. Why bother with it.
Ease & protection. For those two simple reasons I choose to keep most of my items US Only,While I COULD ship to other countries, and might benefit on certain auctions.
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P.s You americans stink bad. australia win. Theres more smarter people here. If we went to war right now… you would lose.[/quote]
Australia? Are they still open? 
I’m in Australia and the main thing I find when buying cards from US sellers through avenues outside eBay is that the ones that don’t want to ship internationally don’t want to do it mainly because they haven’t done it before. They don’t know the shipping costs, different options etc. and don’t want to do the research or bother learning, so they stick to domestic sales only.
I live in Norway and im so tired of people saying they dont wanna ship to me cause of shippingcosts. I have a few friends from the US and the normal shipping rates are 1-2$ for a normal white envelope and 15$ tracked bubblemail (I only use this for PSA cards with value).
99% of the time I pay for the shipping myself but even then some people don’t wanna ship here. I think everyone belive Norway is a place all mail goes to get lost. Atleast thats what it feels like when people act scared
Lack of experience and the fact USA has biggest buyer base are few reasons that come in my mind. Overall I feel at least most of European countries offer reliable tracking services so that shouldn’t a problem for sellers + like @garyis2000 suggested there are tons of great collectors worldwide willing to spend good amount of money for good products and the amount just keeps going up with current Pokemon boom.
Here is my view as an international seller.
The US has the biggest single market by far. Shipping within the US with a tracking method that is acceptable for eBay is cheap.
Selling overseas opens up a lot of potential problems that people just don’t want to deal with, which is their choice, right or wrong or even imaginary.
I also think you have to look at the item price. Selling a $500 card overseas is a lot easier than a $10 card if you want to be fully covered.
We as collectors can’t complain that some sellers have a low appetite for risk, that is a personal choice and everyone here should respect it. Sure, it’s frustrating but you shouldn’t be pushing people to do something they are uncomfortable with. I had to deal with this when I lived in Canada, while not something I liked, I never complained because I can understand why sellers do it.
I think a lot of people forget this a persons business, not some huge corporation. Something goes wrong they pay for it, it’s not just “hey boss, we had a $300 charge back today”. That money is coming out of their pocket, the pocket paying their rent and feeding their children or maybe just the money they were going to use to buy more Pokemon cards. Why is it wrong to expect people to try to run their business as stress free as they can?
Aside - I know I wish more Japanese sellers would only ship within Japan 
This has been a big mystery for me. There are ton of sellers on eBay who don’t ship outside US and it really sucks as I’ve had to pass lots of good deals because of that. I always ship outside of Finland (obviously) and outside of Europe too. I don’t see any risks selling from US to Europe to be completely honest. I’ve never lost anything I’ve bought from US, tracked or not. Meanwhile I’ve had to do a few refunds for US buyers for not receiving the item though…
And the reason people ask items to be marked at lower value is because of the ridiculous taxes we have to pay for stuff that comes outside of the EU that has over 22 euros of value. I know it’s wrong but you would probably understand it bit better if you had to experience it yourself. I don’t usually ask such a thing though, I might ask that only from people that I have a mutual trust with such as members of this forum.
I understand not wanting to ship to certain places like South America where the postal services are horrible, though. For example I sent a package to my Brazilian friend in November 2016 and he received it on May 2017 lol only took half a year! Normal envelopes seem to get there in normal delivery range for some reason though. I don’t sell to South America myself as the delivery times can be ridiculous on certain items and people would keep asking refunds for items being late out of my control. Meanwhile I don’t see such an issue with from US to Europe… I think mail runs very smoothly between Europe and the US in general, there isn’t much of risk involved in my point of view.
Australia? Are they still open?
No garinson, we have closed our doors to poor refugeez such as yourself. if you come here… expect to live on an island full of sociopaths in middle of waterb.
I feel your pain. I’m in Thailand and I can’t tell you enough how difficult it is for me to purchase cards. Some sellers just wouldn’t sell even if I offer to pay for a tracked shipping. I understand that they’re afraid of being scammed and I don’t blame them. It’s hilarious though because the truth is, limiting your market doesn’t save you from scammers. Sure, they’re minimizing their risk but they’re also limiting their opportunity.