USPS and UPS does not offer these options when shipping to a foreign country. Once it leaves the US, it's basically out of there hands. USPS is not going to hand deliver a package in Russia. The Russian Postal Service will. UPS offers tracking, but no proof of delivery or signature. Since I have no way of tracking or getting a signature, and I shipped to an unconfirmed address, all he has to do is file a dispute through Paypal. Since I can't give Paypal proof of delivery, they will side with him and give him his money back FROM MY ACCOUNT.
Wow - I just went through the same headache. Here's my story:
1. Listed as US ship only, winning bidder from Russia requested final invoice to include shipping and insurance. His buyer rank was 76/100%.
2. Sent invoice received immediate payment. But, because I have fewer than 20 sales, Paypal put a hold on the funds for 21days.
3. Called Paypal, and asked them "What's MY protection?" They said only if buyer has a confirmed address, and then the protection is only up to $200.
4. Several emails with buyer, he insisted that Paypal does not support confirmed address in Russia, even copied a part of their terms. Paypal told me on the phone he could with a credit card.
5. Refunded the money - including fees
6. Initiated a Dispute - Item Not paid, Mutual backout agreement. He accepted. Left me a postive feedback.
7. Second chance offers fruitless
8. Saw that eBay charged a Value Fee at the sale - in addition to the listed fee, a percentage of the total. This was removed, but I still owe the listing fee. I am going to try to reverse that, because the bidder did not follow the instructions.
9. Re-listed the phone, this time putting in BIG BOLD - US Shipment ONLY!
So, I watch about 5 phones at a times to see how the auctions go. About 1 out of 5 that I watch declare worldwide shipping. About 4 of the final auctions have winners from outside the US. So they're not reading the listings properly, and not contacting the sellers prior to bidding.
No offense to our international friends here - I'd love to ship the phone overseas, I could get more - but there just isn't enough seller protection for this.