Matthew Spakoski

I can tell you from years of personal experience that shipping internationally via ebay can be a real pain in the neck for a seller, especially with novice buyers. As ebay has mandated paypal payments for it's transactions, the only way to ship internationally is with a tracking number for the seller to protect themselves. If for instance something was shipped air parcel post (even if it's insured, the insurance number doesn't count for paypal tracking services, nor does the customs form number) and a buyer claimed that they never received it, the seller is out the funds, and the sword, period. No recourse, no arbitration, nothing. Sellers can't even leave negative feedback on ebay for the buyer anymore. It has been my experience that shipping costs (and methods) vary greatly from country to country. Even in the EU allowable parcel sizes are different from country to country, and will also change based upon the particular shipping service used to each individual country. And the cost to ship a sword sized box can swing anywhere from $30 for Air Parcel Post to $300 sometimes for a tracked service like FedEx or USPS Global Express depending upon destination. Most newer buyers are probably not even aware of these issues, or prepared for the added expense. I think one of my favorites always was "Please insure the sword for the full 2K purchase price, but place the customs form value at $100 for duty purposes and ship via the least expensive method." And this is supposed to protect anybody how? This would be the reason sellers would prefer to deal with experienced buyers, and why they place those restrictions on an auction.