No shipping to Australian member - is this a common attitude on Trade Me?

I don't think it's a common problem Mark and the reaction seems a bit over the top from your seller. Best way forward would be as you say to get your friend to buy it, get it shipped to them, then they can ship to you. Some people don't have any experience sending overseas so they don't realise how straight forward it is.

Gary,

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it.

I was just taken aback by the outcome the seller had in blacklisting me before I could explain.

But I guess I will have to wait and see if they relist the item at all and get my friend just to bid on it if they do, that is another copy does not turn up in the meantime.

Gosh! Sorry to read of your experience Mark,

I would be taken aback by this reaction also! - who knows whether or not you may be purchasing as a Gift to send direct to the Recipient Nationally here!

As Gary-NZStocked advised - That's Not the norm - though everyone has a bad day from time to time I would not expect that knee jerk reaction! - Oh well, their loss of Sale & potential continued business. - There are many sincere & genuine Members with a mature edge who would happily assist you through Q&A to establish shipping criteria/intent, Don't let 1 bad egg spoil your Trading experience! - I hope you find a second item without delay - All the Best - Cheers 😊

S,

Another wonderful reply.

You are right maybe it was just the seller was just having a bad day and found my question annoying noticed I was from OZ and thought enough wasting my time.

Either way...like you said I should not let one person ruin what is another great day to be alive.

Regards

Mark

Sending anything OUT of NZ is at a horrendous cost compared to receiving from overseas.
Then theres the customs declarations etc from both NZ and the receiving country.
Some countries have very picky and specific attitudes/ regulations about how an item is described which can invoke customs investigations.

Had this before where I described an item by it's true original name but should have used a different variation name of that product.
Took them 3 weeks to get it sorted and any nearly cost me an extra $300 to get the item released for delivery
.
Some traders simply don't want to have to deal with anybody outside of NZ and I think thats fair enough.

Luckily all I wanted was just a single piece of sheet music....but was blacklisted for they didn't want to ship overseas and I have since lost the person I could have had it shipped to in NZ.  So it will be one piece I will have to continue to look for and hopefully it will be a seller in NZ happy to post sheet music to Australia.

But can understand your frustrations, must have been a very expensive item to start with.

The value of the item only has an impact on travel insurance.
Other then that it's about 70% volume with some weight alterations.

Eg: I had to send two bare computer Harddrives to Singapore for warrantly a couple of years ago.
Parcel of around 17cmm x 8cm x 12cm = $45 international shipping.
The two hdds came back as two separate brand new sealed external hdd retail box's that if I had shipped that size out,  would have cost me around $150 for me to pay to send

Thats the type of difference we have in NZ for international shipping outward
China has a long standing international postage agreement allowing them to pay around 10% of the real cost and receiving countrys have to comply with delivery under the same agreement, even when china offers free shipping