QXL - Danish auction site. Successes?  

That's not weird.
There are tons and tons of online sites that don't ship to Switzerland and won't accept mailing addresses/credit cards from Switzerland.
One of the reasons is that they don't want to deal with the differing VAT situations between countries.
Another reason is that Switzerland is very, very picky about what can be imported into the country. For instance, the McDonalds restaurants here are only allowed to use Swiss beef in their hamburgers.

OK But nobody mentioned...
OK But nobody mentioned Switzerland. This is more of an ebay vs QXL/Ricardo business war. QXL used to have a UK site but shut it down because it had no market share. Of course, eBay operates from many countries, and has users in China for example...

Presumably
its UK operation was non-profitable in that case?
I'm not sure what eBay has to do with it ?
..and I'm pretty sure Riki was just offering up Switzerland as an example of a country and its trading practices.

Dude, I guess
I misunderstood your complaint. It seemed that you were shocked that this company chose not to deal with shipping globally.
I was just pointing out that LOADS of companies don't ship internationally because it is just not worth the hassle. Whatever.
Unless you are shipping an entire container, it is a giant PITA 🙂 to ship single items across borders.

No, my point is that on eBay ...
No, my point is that on eBay I can bid on items all over the world, be that China, USA, Canada, Australia, and all of the EU countries. Just finding it weird that QXL auction site has blocked the entire English speaking world from bidding, and was wondering if anybody has managed a workaround

You
can only buy large items on eBay that the seller wants to ship.
There are plenty of items listed as not for International shipping.
But, I get your point... although eBay is a truly International operation

OMG, Lit up
you need to do a little more research before you post on here. First of all, there are probably more people in Scandinavia who speak proper English than there are in America. Ya know whut ah mean?
Having said that, if you are under the impression that the majority of sellers on Ebay ship internationally, you are sadly mistaken.
Do your homework. See ya.

Closed auction systems are...
Closed auction systems are nothing new. Yahoo Japan auctions is the same way. I have access to it as I have a reading knowledge of Japanese, a Japanese bank account, and understanding inlaws. If you really MUST access this auction site you will need to:
1. Befriend a Dane with net access and understanding for your situation. Better yet, marry one and get on his/her parents' good side.
2. Convince them to sign up on the site for you (if they don't already have an account
3. Tell them what you want to bid on.
4. If you win, you pay them via Paypal (assuming they have an account). Be prepared to pay the outrageous shipping fees. Twice. Yes, you'll have to pay to have it shipped to your friend, and then your friend will have to ship it to you.
5. Look at your bank account after a couple of purchases and decide it really isn't worth it.
fm

and
realise that dealers put an awful lot of time and effort into building up their businesses and are unlikely to give all their hard- earned professional information and away on internet fora 😉

Riki, the site this guy is...
Riki, the site this guy is talking about is like Ebay in that it's a place for individuals to sell stuff. The site doesn't do the shipping.
That said, I dunno why the site doesn't allow international bidders. But I also don't know why you'd want to buy stuff there anyway what with the double shipping rates as someone else mentioned. I lived in Denmark for a year in the late 90s. Postal rates were more than double what they were in the US. I don't know about freight costs but since pretty much everything in the country cost at least 25% more than in the US, and sometimes a LOT more, I would assume they are high, too.
Also, in all the second-hand shops, flea markets and MCM-type shops that I found (and I found a LOT), I rarely saw anything that you can't find here. Meaning, they exported a lot. They didn't and still don't make a huge variety of good stuff. It's pretty select.
I also rarely found any bargains. The Danish people as a whole seem to have a much greater awareness of good design than Americans do, and there seemed to me to be way fewer things slipping through the cracks. Even people I met who had kind of junky, non-designer furnishings knew who the big name designers were.
Of course there are always exceptions, one of them being the handsome teak lounge chair that I got in a junk store in Fredensborg for $13 US. One or our Danish friends laughed at it and said they call them "Mother chairs" because everyone's elderly mother has one. We still call it that.

QXL versus EBAY = DK
The point of QXL is that it is ebay in denmark although EBAY has bought into denmark via Den blaa avis. (free adds paper)
QXL if for individuals who sell off the items they could not put on DBA or get to lauritz to sell.
What has happened in Denmark via lauritz is that the second hand market is pretty much tied up to them as they get such prices by unwitting buyers from all over the world who throw money at something without thinking about shipping let alone have an opportunity to inspect what they buy. The images LIE like a cheap chineese watch!
That other side of the coin is also that lauritz have the unscrupulus mind of a stray dog when it comes to writing discriptions HONESTLY. so much so that the Danish consumer protection ombudsmand had to step in and lay the law on them.
The best advice I can give you is to think calmly before you think you are loosing a fortune. Go to denmark if you MUST and be preparred to travle shitloads with a copy of Markedskalenderen, Boot fair calender, so you can visit boot sales from the small to the HUGE.
The rules there are that dealers will be waiting at the doors at least 1-1.5hrs before anything starts and they will sweep the place like a cocain addict does a mirror of fresh white powder. The insiders at the boot fairs will also have taken items to one side for their "contacts" even before the dealers are let in.
In denmark it is much like a national sport to visit the "loppemared"
Then consider speaking to shippers like DFDS, DSV, and many others.
Add this to your travel expenses, purchase price and final customs clearance and then try and work out the asking price you need to get just to break even.
If after all that you still have the buzz then start looking for contacts in denmark who will work with you. To some of the big wholesalers, who through their scouts have sweept the markets, will not even consider your calls for deals unless you are preparred to take a 20ft container and pay up front.
still sounding like you can make a killing?
How do I know all this.
1, Im danish
2, I have my own scounts,
3, My father started the company in 1978 selling SECONDHAND furniture in the uk and was LAUGHED at for buying bulk teak etc.
5, My father and I now run the comany together since I took over in 1994
4, I spend time in Denmark

Thank you everybody who...
Thank you everybody who replied. As someone has said, this is not an issue about QXL not doing 'shipping' to other countries. QXL is an auction site like eBay with individual sellers, shipping is at the discretion of the each seller. My point is that the site restricts ACCESS to those who are not living in Denmark, so I was just thinking that for an auction site to restrict access to all English speaking countries seems hard to justify in business terms, when if they opened it to international users then the sellers would get more bids.
I am not a dealer, I just found an old jug in my dad's place with a chipped spout, checked out the numbers on the base and discovered a duplicate vase in Denmark. It was made by a Danish ceramics firm. It was going for about £50 but of course I cannot bid on it, which is a shame.