Yep, tis true. Common Market. EU Super State. Blah, blah, blah. But when it comes to international e-commerce, well now you know why it took a Frenchman to invent eBay. But he had to come to the United States to do it!
The French still can't get their heads around eBay. They think it's a carboot sale that reaches 30 million prospective buyers. As long as they are ready to 1) pay in cash or personal cheque (this is the only country in the world that WANTS personal cheques from strangers!) and 2) collect the goods in person. Forget shipping to even Metropolitan France, they won't even do that. They make the Japanese come to them. Worse still, they do!
And sorry, mates, but the British are not much better. Even some of the most estemed British sellers want to make sure YOU know that PayPal charges (egad those greedy American capitalists!) them a lousy 3 per cent so they ask, in defiance of the eBay policy, for YOU to add that to the winning bid. Just tack the bloody charge on to shipping and don't tell anyone, ok?
Or, do what I do. Write articles for a British magazine and ask to be paid in sterling. Open a current account with NatWest and pay them in sterling. That always wows them that we American rubes can break into the world of international commerce c. 1910. But I still ain't flying to France to pick up my little Simplex plastic wingnuts. The airport will be on strike anyway if I try..
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA