Up for sale is a beautiful Abell Blackwood and silver D/C set. The set is around 10 years old and has been little played. New this set would cost you $600 with a wait. The D makes an excellent session Instrument and playing it with the C body is a delight for doing solo work. Sell price is $450, Shipping and insurance included . US Buyers only. I’ll keep this offer to C&F members for a few days and then will be posting on eBay.
Ben Shaffer
Bennc2@aol.com
I’ìm curious - why do people specify where they’d like to ship to? How does it make a difference? I notice a lot of ebay stuff is only shipped within the US. I’ve shipped stuff to Australia and the States and Europe and never had any problems. Just wondering.
Cost, usually, of delivery with signature (required for eBay Seller Protection), makes some items prohibitive to export. Also, the time it takes to get through Customs to conclude the purchase. There’s also the risk of items not being picked up from Customs when the buyer doesn’t want to pay any unexpected taxes and fees. Which means, if lucky, the seller gets the item returned, and has wasted their time and postage.
Stick a whistle in a mailing tube, post it priority mail. It will get there in two to seven days, no hassle no problems with customs. It will cost you $7. I have received probably a dozen or more whistles from the US that way.
People who insisted on courier or signed on services without exception created extra cost, slower delivery (in the case of couriers) and extra hassle.
Agree for many, usually low-value transactions. Maybe not for one of those $6000 Rudall and Rose flutes, though, especially in an eBay transaction with an unknown buyer.
We’re not talking about the sale of a Rudall here are we? We’re on the subject of whistles, that’s how I took it anyway.
I was responding to the question in post #2, which was more general.
This is going way off topic isn’t it? But the OP implied that he didn’t really want to ship internationally so here’s why I won’t ever again ship internationally.
On Feb. 25th I sold a Perry Yung shakuhachi on ebay to a buyer in Spain. He had asked me to allow him to bid, agreed to pay customs fees and postage. I unblocked him and he won the auction, paid promptly, $182.50 and then informed me that he wanted me to declare the value at $30 and declare it as a gift. Dumb me, I should have seen the red flag and hit the refund button but I didn’t. I did inform him that I would not and could not falsify a US Customs Form and would put the value at $152.50 and ship it insured USPS International Priority Mail for $30, actual shipping was $32.79. He wrote back OK, I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope I don’t have any problems.
My next email from him was rather hostile, he said customs fees were 50% and berated me for not filling out the customs form as he requested. Insisted I give him an immediate refund. I informed him that I would refund when the shak was returned to me which would be if the package was unclaimed.
He then filed a complaint with ebay stating that he had paid for the item he won but had never received it. Ebay froze the $182.50 in my Paypal account until this issue was resolved. I informed them that the item was in Spanish Customs waiting for the buyer to pick it up, giving ebay the Tracking # so they could verify where it was.
They ruled in his favor and refunded the $182.50. When I check the Tracking # now it states that they were unable to deliver the item and were preparing it for shipment. That was over 30 days ago, same message everyday - preparing for shipment. If and when it’s returned to me I’ll have to pay the return shipping from Spain. At the end of my ebay descriptions I write I DO NOT SELL OR SHIP INTERNATIONALLY.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Jude
This doesn’t sound like a shipping issue so much as sad (and instructive) confirmation that Europeans are an untrustworthy lot.
No, no. Please don’t think that I’m bashing Europeans. It just that I can’t reach out and touch someone that far away. 
I had a ebayer from Finland that asked me to allow him to “Buy It Now” on a lap steel one time. I unblocked, he bought, paid promptly and later sent a very nice email thanking me. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you.
Jude
I’ve sold quite a few items internationally.
It may tick off the buyers, but I insist on using an option that affords me tracking and insurance.
I also get all terms IN STONE and get the buyer to agree to them beforehand.
I make clear I’m going to declare the item at value and that I will not accept a “Gift” option on PayPal.
And it’s still a risk. Ebay/PayPal have a track record of siding with buyers, no matter what. Even if you have tracking information.
heyjude, I hope you get your item back.
This is what I found when I did my daily tracking for this item. It’s almost home. I’ll let you know what the return shipping cost is when I receive it. Over 90 days to round the bases and slide into home plate.
( Label/Receipt Number: CP84 9694 993U S
Service(s): International Parcels
Status: International Dispatch
Your item left the United States from FOREIGN CENTERJERSEY CITY NJ 099 at 8:18 am on June 04, 2011. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.)
Oops, I just read it again, maybe they sent it back to Spain. 
Jude