Choosing to offer your item internationally as well as to the United States may significantly increase the number of potential buyers you reach. This could help you sell more items and command higher prices. For more information about global trading, visit eBay's International Trading resource page.

Note: Review the Prohibited Articles list prior to specifying international shipping to familiarize yourself with import/export restrictions. And whenever you sell to buyers in other countries, make sure that you comply with the law in those countries. Get details

Listing items for international buyers

To make items available to buyers in other countries, a seller may need to be verified. Sellers in most countries can be PayPal Verified to fulfill the requirement. In Germany and Switzerland, the verification process is PostIdent, and in Austria, it is ID Verify.

You also need to specify shipping worldwide, or to the individual countries or regions where you’re willing to sell.

There are three ways that buyers in other countries can see your listings:

• You can select the international site visibility listing upgrade for the countries where you want your eBay.com and eBay Motors items to appear in search results.

• You can list your item for sale directly on other eBay sites. You’ll need to meet all the selling requirements of the other sites, and pay the other sites’ fees as well.

• Whenever you allow shipping to other countries, or worldwide, buyers in those countries can choose to see international items in their search results.

Communicating with buyers
Selling to buyers in other countries can mean answering emails at unusual times due to time differences. You'll also need to communicate clearly about currencies and sometimes overcome language barriers.

Currencies
There are two key features that help international buyers convert the price of your item to the currencies they understand:

• Bids and prices on the item page automatically display in both the currency you specify and the approximate home currency equivalent for the site from which the buyer is viewing the item.

• A buyer can convert all Search and Listings prices to local site currency by clicking the Show all prices in local currency (for example, Pounds Sterling on the U.K. site) link in the Show box on the Search and Listings pages of all non-U.S. eBay sites.

For information about how to allow your international buyers to pay for items using different currencies, see Selling with PayPal.

Language translation
If you do not speak the same language as the potential buyer, you may want to use translation software to translate key phrases. Some translation services are available free on the Internet. Many are not 100% accurate, however, and eBay cannot guarantee their services. If you use such a service, provide simple, grammatically correct phrases free of abbreviations to maximize the chance of an understandable translation.

Escrow services
Prior to using an escrow service, consider the value of the item and the risk exposure compared to the fee the escrow service will charge.

• Review the buyer's Feedback.

• Consider the value and nature of the item.

• Assess risk and, if uncomfortable, conduct the transaction using a third-party escrow service (if available).

Learn more about using escrow.