International Shipping remains highly dangerous.

I don't ship internationally.

This is directly related to the way Ebay evaluates me as a seller. The evaluation process focuses on small numbers of negative reports, and a very few can cause loss of TRS status, with resulting increase in Ebay fees.

The problem with this methodology is that the most problematic of buyers end up being the most important to sellers. Buyers who are inexperienced. Buyers who live where delivery is imperfect. And buyers who are quick to go off. Some would include malice here, and I'm sure that happens, but in my experience it's very rare. Problematic buyers aren't often malicious, but they do have a lot of bad experiences, and generate the majority of grief encountered by good sellers.

International selling is, by definition, to a problem buyer. While most western delivery systems are reliable, some, notoriously Italy, are not even close, and various others, including Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Israel, are imperfect.

Add to that the high customs taxes levied by most of Europe, and the culture of avoiding such taxes. Most European buyers have had experience with sellers who do their best to help, and they have had experience with sellers who refuse cooperation. The latter can expect rating consequences. Not usually, but when 1% consequences really matter, then it's going to be prudent to avoid the problem all together.

Ebay has tried to help, by not scoring all DSRs the same, and by protecting sellers from negative feedback which references customs issues.

But Ebay has left the big cannon in place pointed straight at seller: the INR dispute. Item Not Received. Sellers who encounter 1% INRs, regardless of what happens next, face serious Ebay consequences.

And the small cannon: international DSRs on positive feedback which does not reference any customs issue in the text. The text doesn't matter. The DSRs do. Clean text, dirty DSR, yields pain.

Many sellers are perfectly aware of the odds of getting their item delivered in imperfect situations. We're willing to refund when delivery fails. But, we are unwilling to risk the Ebay consequences of an INR or bad international DSRs when we've always done the right thing.

Solution: a seller who:
a. buys an Ebay shipping label to buyer's address
b. subsequently refunds, voluntarily, in a timely fashion, all money paid by buyer in response to buyer complaint

Should not face further sanction of any kind.