Hi, In October I started listing papercuts on Folksy (none sold yet) and so far I’ve only made them available to uk buyers. I’m thinking about widening that to the rest of the world, but wondered if anyone here has had bad experiences with postal services in particuar countries? Thank you for your advice.
Poland and Russia are the only two where I have had problems - I will still ship there but use a tracked signed for service every time.
I don’t sell internationally because I am a bit cautious about the postal delivery service in this country, and therefore don’t feel confident enough to look at overseas!!
I will ship anywhere a paying customer wants me to ship. No problems so far 
Folksy doesn’t support buyers from a lot of countries, but I have no idea why: http://folksy.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/54076-i-don-t-live-in-the-uk-can-i-shop-on-folksy
I’ve been contacted by customers from places that Folksy doesn’t support and ended up selling to them off Folksy. I would have sold to them on Folksy if I could have though.
Melanie @Beledien I seem to remember from a while back that the countries Folksy doesn’t sell to are the ones which Paypal doesn’t support anyway but not sure if that’s correct.
I sell worldwide but I always use a Tracked or Tracked & Signed For service.
I had a problem with the Philippines once where it never arrived and eventually 7 months later it arrived back on my doorstep!
A similar thing happened once with Australia but all the others I have sent there have been problem free.
I’ve posted to Russia, Poland, Japan, Finland, Norway, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and lots of EU countries, to name just a few. No problems at all.
Most of my overseas sales are to the United States and customs delays are the biggest problem there.
Especially in New York - one parcel took over 6 weeks a couple of years ago but the service seems better now.
I have not had any sales to India, South America or Africa and would probably be a bit nervous until they arrived.
Shirley x
According to PayPal, their service can be used in 203 countries. Still flummoxed. 
I ship all over the world and (so far) never had any problems.
Thank you all very much, quite a range of opinions, but I think I may as well take the risk, Especially as I’m unlikely to be posting anything of more than £20 value.
This is the link to the countries that Folksy supports buyers from:
http://folksy.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/54076-i-don-t-live-in-the-uk-can-i-shop-on-folksy
This is what is says:
Folksy supports buyers from the following countries:
United Kingdom
Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden)
USA & Canada
Rest of World (Australia, China, Croatia, Iceland, India, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine)
Knew I’d seen a list somewhere but it doesn’t mention supporting all the countries Paypal supports, so I must have made that bit up. LOL 
Shirley x
I don’t think you did, I remember it too. I’ve a vague memory of Dave (gelert design) asking in the forum why a potential customer of his couldn’t pay and the reason given by admin was the PayPal excluded countries thing.
Although PayPal lifted some of the exclusions a while back, Egypt used to be excluded but isn’t anymore, same with Nigeria and some other countries.
I offer shipping worldwide but have only ever had UK customers on Folksy. On the dark side, I have a lot more overseas customers, sending to Australia and USA most regularly, but lots of other countries thrown into the mix. I know some sellers have had problems with items going missing in/to Italy, but I have a regular customer there and all has gone smoothly so far (touch wood!). My most exotic customer locations this year have been India & Chile, and again, no problems. All my items are comparatively low value, though, and not as likely to catch the eye of the light-fingered as more sparkly things…
I had something take a very long time going to Brazil, apparently it sat in customs for an age. And another took about 6 weeks going to Russia. But the only actual non-arrivals have been to the US and then only a couple out of a few hundred sent over the years. I think it depends on the value of your items, I might hesitate to send fine jewellery to some places for example, but otherwise, give it a go!
Whatever happened to GelertDesign? Haven’t seen him around for ages!
I ship all over the place and have never had problems.
By the way, Lovely Dave of Gelert Design is still around on the dark side and you can find him on Facebook.
Ack he’s about somewhere, selling in a couple of different places:)
And I don’t think anyone has really seen him in a long time … orders, buried under 'em:)
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Israel - had a lady order 5 tea cosies, complained all the time then when i had sent them, they got “lost” and before i could look into it she put a claim into PayPal so her money was refunded straight away.
Last month I posted around 70 items, all over the World, including Europe, Japan, USA, Australia and the only item not to arrive was about 30 miles away in Oxfordshire, that is just typical!!
Thanks again for all your help and advice, it’s much appreciated, actually I’ve now made my items available worldwide, and am keeping my fingers crossed!
I sell everywhere, and I have had post go missing all over. I suggest my customers upgrade to an insured service but leave it up to them with the understanding I won’t refund lost packages unless they have purchased an insured postal service. Tracked and Signed only provides insurance up to £20 and I have had one of these go missing so beware. I think clear policies is the answer with this one!
well with the new regulations coming in with VAT being charged to people in Europe…even if you don’t pay VAT, then I guess anyone in Europe will be off my list.