Selling a pedal - would you ship abroad?

[Tom_C76]

Hi guys. I'm selling an old Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal on ebay, and they seem to make silly money. One sold recently for about £187...

Anyway, my auction finishes today, and I've had messages from potential bidders in Korea and Hong Kong asking for a price to ship to them. The HK account only has 5 feedback in 3 years.

Do you think I'm right to shy away? Pedal hasn't reached reserve price yet, but I'm expecting lots of bids as it heads towards the finish, it's at £77 already with a UK bidder.

[Bullett]

I think with something like that you are likely to get genuine buyers.
Plus they are contacting you and asking before bidding.

[Tom_C76]

Looking at Interparcel, it would be about £70 to ship once the compensation cover is high enough. That's just silly money. I guess that would put them off a bit, and I'm not sure ebay will let me charge that much for shipping anyway.

[davidd]

More hassle than it's worth I'd say.

[Bullett]

I think I'd say no and sell to a UK buyer based on that.

[dojo]

I've bought most of my pedals from the states. No reason not to

[Tom_C76]

I sent them the shipping quotes (box 300mm cube and up to 3kg so I could pack it well) and heard nothing further. In fact pedal didn't reach reserve so I've still got it.

[dojo]

How is old it? Mk1?? Surely not!!

[Tom_C76]

dojo said:

How is old it? Mk1?? Surely not!!

Yep, bought back in the late 90s at a guess. First proper pedal I got when I decided my Zoom 1010 was sapping pretty much everything from my tone.

[dojo]

Black with blue writing?

[dandarez]

I send stuff abroad and find Royal Mail International ('not' Parcelforce) is fine, but sadly their limit is 2kg for anything other than printed papers (books) and luckily for me they can go to a limit of 5kg.

It's a pity about the 2kilo weight limit for other things (you then have to go Parcelforce and ...a hike in shipping costs!) But then any shipping abroad that's weighty gets that premium hike from all delivery companies.

I had one item that I simply 'large bubble' wrapped/parcel taped and got it to hover just on 2 kilos. It got to the USA without a hitch for 21.50 (comp cover was only measly £20 but I chanced it - item worth just over triple that). I find if your stuff is 'very' clearly addressed (printed, not scribbled or handwritten!) and sender details added, it rarely ever goes astray.

RM International maximum size: The combined length + width + depth must be no more than 90cm, with no single side longer than 60cm.
That works fine for me.

If your pedal box was packaged max 2kg and could fit those dimensions you could ship 'tracked and signed' to Hong Kong for 23.50 - inc comp up to 50 quid, or pay extra £2.50 for compensation up to £250. 5-7 days. With delivery confirmation. In my book that's not bad. And if the recipient is prepared to pay the delivery costs, all the better.

Parcelforce similar (faster delivery, from 2 days guaranteed + tracking) however, cost is over 80 quid!
Royal Mail International wins, no contest.

[Tom_C76]

dojo said:

Black with blue writing?

Yep. Send me an email address and I can forward you a photo with serial number etc.