1) If I get this response, I usually give up because it's almost impossible to convince the seller that I DO live in the United States, ( We have a ZIP code! )

2) Shipping via UPS or Fedex almost always costs more than the cost of the item. So with this response I can either give up, or try to convince the seller to ship USPS.

3) When I get this response, I know my shipping cost is going to be the lowest possible.

So most of the time, I don't even try to buy physical products online. I just window-shop to find out what I want -- then look for it locally. It's best to let my local merchant handle the shipping and customs problems for me.

I was wondering what types of merchandise you generally sell on your store (that is, if I too could find some stuff to buy lol )

The shipping options on our website are limited to domestic and Canada. We have a note on our website to contact us for international shipping. Then I do the research and provide the potential customer with cost options.

We RARELY ship international (maybe once in 10 years?) because the costs are prohibitive (more than the item). Nevertheless, we do offer the option, just in case.

BTW, we keep inventory on hand, so we ship ourselves (no fulfillment service). The holidays get a little frantic, but so far, we've been able to handle it.

Hope this answers your question.

Personally I prefer Fedex and DHL for fulfilment, because I have very good experience with them as a customer. They r not cheap but since when is "cheap" good?

If you use Amazon for processing payments they also offer you a fulfilment service. As far as I know, they primarily use UPS.

Credit cards mainly, and right now I just sell digital stuff. Physical goods maybe an option in future if I find the "right" shopping cart and a cool and reliable fulfilment company (I know which ones to go for so this is not a biggie). For selling digital goods you can use 3rd party processors such as Paypal, 2checkout, clickbank, etc. for processing your payment or your own merchant account if you have one. Other options can be Google checkout, Amazon payments, etc.

We sell a tangible product (Wineopoly game) at our website and use a shipping calculator that is based on zip code. To me, this is much better than a flat rate shipping charge -- for both the customer and us.

Also, we give the customer shipping options. They can use USPS or UPS and can also choose speed of delivery. All this is based on the shipper's charges, not some arbitrary amount based on the total $$ of the order.

Of course, we'll never know the real reason people abandon the shopping cart, but as other people have said, it's probably because they've decided they can 'live without it' -- especially during these tight economic times.