What part of "Ship To The United States Only" do buyers not understand

YoshiFan1

YoshiFan1

CAGiversary!
Feedback
3 (100%)
Does anyone else have this problem?

I only ship to US addresses because you can't use tracking on international shipments (or without a large fee) and you are not protected by Paypal's seller protection policy.

In the past week, I have had people use buy it now on my auctions from the Netherlands, Costa Rica and Canada. In the past, I have had buyers from Canada, England and Spain do this as well. Sometimes the buyer asks me before bidding or using buy it now and I sometimes says I will ship to them but usually they don't e-mail me first.

When this happens, if the item is inexpensive, I usually will ship it to them provided the buyer will pay the higher shipping fees for an international shipment but this is getting ridiculous.

EBay needs a feature where it won't let a buyer from another country bid or use buy it now if the seller has said they will only ship to US addresses.
 
tracking isnt the real problem with those bidders..its getting secure payment

I started a long thread once on ebays forums asking why cant sellers block out international bidders by country but the answer is obvious...Ebay profits from mistakes so they allow them to happen...it wouldnt very hard to just block bidders by the country they are registered from
 
Just make sure you type it in the Item discription portion in BIG TYPE and put that you will leave neg feedback to anyone who doesn't read the full listing before bidding.I do that with paypal (well not the neg feedback threat thing) and i have only had one guy bid thinkin i accept paypal.
 
I don't have many problems with people not reading descriptions. I do deal with a lot of other stupid people though.

Recently someone bid on my copy of PSO. He e-mailed me asking me to cancel his bid because he bid on too many copies at once. I ignored his request because it was early still and I was certain he would be outbid.

I came back later and he bid again, and eventually outbid... again. So I sent him an e-mail saying "you've been outbid twice, please refrain from bidding again" and I blocked him.

So what does he do? He notices he's been blocked and registers a new name to bid a third time!
 
So when an internationl person wins, charge em like $20 for shipping. You can get insurance on airmail for about $1.80 per $50.
 
Its not the fact of paying the money its also hard to get them to pay in a secure method.

another problem is that if you do insure it for the value they get all pissed about custom charges and even sometimes decide the return the package and then I am out custom fees and shipping...its just not cool or worth it
 
Yeah it seems like the buyers don't want customs to know they true value of the item and in addition, a lot of the international buyers also ask me to check off the gift option instead of merchandise on the customs form so they won't get stuck with any fees.
 
[quote name='defender']Its not the fact of paying the money its also hard to get them to pay in a secure method.

another problem is that if you do insure it for the value they get all pissed about custom charges and even sometimes decide the return the package and then I am out custom fees and shipping...its just not cool or worth it[/quote]

Wow, I've never had that problem. I love selling to international bidders because I often get higher bids that way. I allow international buyers, but I say in the listing that they are responsible for any shipping and handling fees. So far, no problems at all.
 
[quote name='siamesellama']I don't have many problems with people not reading descriptions. I do deal with a lot of other stupid people though.

Recently someone bid on my copy of PSO. He e-mailed me asking me to cancel his bid because he bid on too many copies at once. I ignored his request because it was early still and I was certain he would be outbid.

I came back later and he bid again, and eventually outbid... again. So I sent him an e-mail saying "you've been outbid twice, please refrain from bidding again" and I blocked him.

So what does he do? He notices he's been blocked and registers a new name to bid a third time![/quote]

Lol i've done that before.well, bid on too many of one thing, didn't keep bidding after i got outbid though.Every once in awhile i bid on something but miss something in the auction, then notice that the seller doesn't want me to bid.lol...just ask manofpeace :oops: :lol:
 
My big problem has to do with people not reading the description. I clearly state I only accept paypal. Yet, I have someone buy an item, and then tells me he can only do a money order. I don't like money orders because I don't like giving out my address if I do not need to. So I get back several e-mails pleading with me to accept the money order. It's a big pain in the ass, and most of the people that do this are new to ebay.

Another problem is people that do returns. I get back the item after it has clearly been used, and then they demand all sorts of money from me. It is like some people think I am a rental service.
 
[quote name='manofpeace20']My big problem has to do with people not reading the description. I clearly state I only accept paypal. Yet, I have someone buy an item, and then tells me he can only do a money order. I don't like money orders because I don't like giving out my address if I do not need to. So I get back several e-mails pleading with me to accept the money order. It's a big pain in the ass, and most of the people that do this are new to ebay.

Another problem is people that do returns. I get back the item after it has clearly been used, and then they demand all sorts of money from me. It is like some people think I am a rental service.[/quote]

Lol,i'm halfway guilty of the first one.But i always email the person and beg em to take a M.O., Because unfortunetly i am unable to use Paypal.I never bid then ask them to accept money orders..thats just stupid.

The only times i ever refund someone there money is if i made a mistake in my listing or i make a 100% satisfaction guarentee.All other times i put 'sold as is'.
 
[quote name='manofpeace20'] I don't like money orders because I don't like giving out my address if I do not need to. [/quote]

I don't like giving my address out either but don't you give out your address anyway when you mail the item and put your return address on the package?
 
I hate when it happens, I dont really care if they are from Canada but anywhere else I would leave negative. I am in Michigan so it doesn't take as long to ship something to canada
 
There is now an option in eBay to block bidders from countries you are not willing to ship to :bouncy:
 
[quote name='imad']There is now an option in eBay to block bidders from countries you are not willing to ship to :bouncy:[/QUOTE]

I'm fairly sure that options existed for years...
 
[quote name='imad']There is now an option in eBay to block bidders from countries you are not willing to ship to :bouncy:[/QUOTE]

Wow...talk about rising from the dead...
 
[quote name='imad']There is now an option in eBay to block bidders from countries you are not willing to ship to :bouncy:[/quote]i was gonna say this too. for awhile i have actually. i only ship to U.S. and Canada before. but after awhile i realize i have more potential to sell in Europe as well.. it didnt really make a difference to me after doing it it just gave me more hits.

but this stuff happened to me before also. i had a guy who won my psp but he lived in Saudi Arabia. not only did he not understand what I meant by SHIPPING TO U.S. AND CANADA ONLY, he wanted a warranty on the damn thing :dunce:
 
Cheapy's so lucky as to get Canadians asking this question. I always get people from like Brazil or Argentina. One time, this guy from Russia asked me if I could ship a game to his country (most likely in exchange for Stolichnaya Vodka and a stogey.) I didn't.
 
There is an option to block sellers from places where you dont ship.

Click on My Ebay
Left hand side under MY ACCOUNT
Select SITE PREFERENCES
Under BUYER REQUIREMENTS
Select SHOW
Select EDIT
Put a CHECKMARK under:

Buyers in countries to which I don't ship
Block buyers who are registered in countries to which I don't ship.
s.gif
This requirement can help you avoid buyers who agree to purchase your items without realizing you don't ship to their location

I guess the 'countries to which i don't ship' is defined when you list an item, right?

Hope that helps!
 
Here's my dilemma, but just because I'm an idiot: I don't want to block international bidders, but I don't want to ship to them either.

International bidders help to potentially raise the purchase price of my items by causing US bidders to bid higher. I like this. However, I do state in my auctions that I do not ship internationally. Despite this statement, I still get 5-10 emails per week. It's a silly inconvenience, and most times I still don't have to ship internationally, but sometimes.. just sometimes I have to send a strategy guide to Budapest or something. Shoot me.
 
[quote name='Napegator']There is an option to block sellers from places where you dont ship.

Click on My Ebay
Left hand side under MY ACCOUNT
Select SITE PREFERENCES
Under BUYER REQUIREMENTS
Select SHOW
Select EDIT
Put a CHECKMARK under:

Buyers in countries to which I don't ship
Block buyers who are registered in countries to which I don't ship.
s.gif
This requirement can help you avoid buyers who agree to purchase your items without realizing you don't ship to their location

I guess the 'countries to which i don't ship' is defined when you list an item, right?

Hope that helps![/quote]

I've clicked this option and it has reduced the number of international bidders. Still some seem to get thru and win items. Anyone know why this might be happening?

If tracking is needed for international deliveries I believe UPS will provide it (at a higher cost).
 
[quote name='3extremes']I've clicked this option and it has reduced the number of international bidders. Still some seem to get thru and win items. Anyone know why this might be happening?

If tracking is needed for international deliveries I believe UPS will provide it (at a higher cost).[/quote]They simply need to change their account settings to say they live in the US. Easy.
 
As someone from Canada, I always make it a point to message a seller from the US first if they don't have shipping to Canada listed. Albeit, I admit there are a lot of boneheads out there that never check descriptions, or try to contact the person on the other end.
 
[quote name='Napegator']There is an option to block sellers from places where you dont ship.

*snip*[/quote]Thanks for posting. I'm definitely ticking this option. I too have had international bidders when all my auction clear states, in bold black letters, U.S. bidders only.

I even had a Buy-It-Now listing for a webcam in which someone from Australia ended up purchasing. The buyer did pay the extra shipping I added, but I just don't understand two things. 1. Can they read? Or better yet, do they read the listing at all? 2. Why would you buy a used webcam from the U.S. and pay over $20 shipping when I'm sure she could have picked one up locally for less than that?

By the way, if you pay for international shipping via USPS through Paypal, it does generate a delivery confirmation number that can be checked on their website. It's basically the customs form number, and it works as a delivery confirmation number too.
 
[quote name='grendel19']Thanks for posting. I'm definitely ticking this option. I too have had international bidders when all my auction clear states, in bold black letters, U.S. bidders only.

I even had a Buy-It-Now listing for a webcam in which someone from Australia ended up purchasing. The buyer did pay the extra shipping I added, but I just don't understand two things. 1. Can they read? Or better yet, do they read the listing at all? 2. Why would you buy a used webcam from the U.S. and pay over $20 shipping when I'm sure she could have picked one up locally for less than that?

By the way, if you pay for international shipping via USPS through Paypal, it does generate a delivery confirmation number that can be checked on their website. It's basically the customs form number, and it works as a delivery confirmation number too.[/quote]

I've got a lot of the bidding options for international bidders blocked. I just don't like doing it as a small time seller for items not worth the effort of selling to internationally, but always have people asking if i can send it out of the country.
 
[quote name='3extremes']I've clicked this option and it has reduced the number of international bidders. Still some seem to get thru and win items. Anyone know why this might be happening?

If tracking is needed for international deliveries I believe UPS will provide it (at a higher cost).[/quote]

you can ship with fedex or ups internationally with tracking and extremely quickly [less than a week]. The issue is cost. Its hundreds for a relatively light medium sized box, and that doesnt include the import taxes which = ~20% or more of the claimed [insured] value. On the more expensive and heavier items its not uncommon for the price to be double whatever the auction ended for after shipping and taxes take their toll.

And FYI, when you send an item internationally as a "gift" its not ment to be abused. Do it too many times and they'll investigate you for mail fraud.
 
Hey guys, I am going to bump this thread to bitch about everyone else bumping this thread! You are hurting my internet! Stop it right now!
 
I actually do the majority of my eBay sales to foreign countries and it has worked out pretty good for me. I've only had a few "lost in the mail" (probably just shifty buyers) but I don't regret selling internationally as it makes for a better item ending price usually. Like others have said, you can also block certain regions or get registered mail services for those that you do want (and insurance). Best of luck. I realize this was like a 4+ year old post =P
 
I try to prevent this by Having big bold red letters at the bottom of the description stating "the auction is open to us bidders only". It works 50/50 and some will just send me messages asking if I will ship to their country.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top