# Shipping a bike to France from US that I sold?



## flyxaos (May 18, 2006)

Is it a huge hassle to sell a bike to a guy that lives in France? He wants to buy it, pay with PayPal, then have me ship it.

Does this work. Is there tons of paperwork on my end, and or the same and taxes on his end?

Thanks.


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## cicatrix (Nov 15, 2010)

flyxaos said:


> Is it a huge hassle to sell a bike to a guy that lives in France? He wants to buy it, pay with PayPal, then have me ship it.
> 
> Does this work. Is there tons of paperwork on my end, and or the same and taxes on his end?
> 
> Thanks.


Paperwork? Go to your local bike shop, tell them you want to ship a bike to Europe. Pay them.


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## Silentfoe (May 9, 2008)

Make sure you get shipping that tracks the package all the way to the front door, to include getting a signature. Also, be advised this is a common international scam. The buyer will claim that the package never arrived, dispute with Paypal, who will stop the payment to you and you are out both the bike and the money.


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## flyxaos (May 18, 2006)

I sort of thought that once I got the money out of Paypal, they wouldn't take it back. But, If it is a common scam, or there is a way to be scammed using paypal, then thanks for the advice, and no thanks on selling it overseas. I don't need to sell it that bad.

Thanks for the replies.


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## Kasper (Feb 23, 2004)

flyxaos said:


> I sort of thought that once I got the money out of Paypal, they wouldn't take it back. But, If it is a common scam, or there is a way to be scammed using paypal, then thanks for the advice, and no thanks on selling it overseas. I don't need to sell it that bad.
> 
> Thanks for the replies.


Ask the guy to transfer the money to your bankaccount.
Wait for the money to appear. Send the bike with insurance and tracking. If anything happens the dispute is between the buyer and the shipping agent.

Only downside is that the buyer have to trust you to send the bike once he transfers the money. But that's not your headache 

Kasper


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## moclan (May 26, 2005)

I'm in France and have already bought a bike from the US, well to be exact a frame. Didn't have any issues. If I remember right I used my credit card and it was sent through USPS (easier on tax on the receiving side).
Tried to buy a bike on ebay.de and got ripped off, lost about 1000$ because the pseudo seller wanted to go through an intermedier (?) company like escrow that happened to be fake ...

it all comes down to who the seller or buyer is and that is not always easy to find out before the transaction


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## Agent Koala (Feb 17, 2011)

Just like _moclan_, I live in France & I recently bought a bike from the US. Mine came via USPS too & no tax to pay for me (fortunately 'cause paying $600 shipping cost is such a pain !)...


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## euskafreez (May 26, 2010)

The thing is you should to take a good shipping insurance, a one with a good weight/damage ratio. Then because the buyer lives in France you will have to make a shipper's export declaration.

Few advices about this declaration :

Do not declare more than $50 (no tax for the buyer )
Declare a used mtb
Make sure the bike look used (and dirty )
Send the invoice via an air mail letter (sometimes the custom services control, but they don't know anything about mtb)

And make sure this guy lives in France for real, many french scammers are in fact west African scammers . Like custom services they don't know anything about mountain bike so ask him a technical question.

PS : I live in France, born 'n' bred


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