Back last Oct./Nov. I was selling some Datsun 240Z NOS parts via Craigslist and various car sites. The first person to contact me was a guy in Canada. No problem I thought, his money was as good as anybody else's.
First, he wanted to know the number of boxes, weight and size of each so he could estimate shipping cost. Well with 2-300 lbs. of this stuff and all different sizes, this was no easy task, but I would have had to do that as well for someone here in the States, so I got it done and reported the info back to him.
Next, he then wanted me to research and find the cheapest shipper. Again, no problem.
Then he tells me Canadian Customs requires each box has to be itemized and that I had to contact them and get everything arranged.
That's when I hit the brakes! Everything was already boxed up and ready to go and I wasn't about to unpack it all to itemize each box and then repack everything. It seemed this fellow didn't want to lift a finger to help get this stuff to him, so I told him thanks but no thanks and sold the parts to a guy in Calif. that did everything! Even emailed me the labels to print out and had the shipper pick everything up at my front door.
Even though this one “bad” experience wouldn’t stop me from selling to other countries, I would surmise that the folks blocking overseas bidders have either had problems like this in the past or have heard horror stories from others and figure it’s just easier to sell “local”.