posted on May 14, 2002 02:34:46 AM
Now I do ship to outside of U.S on most of my stuff, but I had some widgets that "legally" I cannot ship outside of U.S either by the rules of the postmaster, or the widgets manfactuer, or the law of that particular country. I always made sure I mention on each widget at my auction which ones can be ship to what country. I do my research.
Well for some strange reason I had 2 oversea bidders this week on widgets I don't ship outside of U.S (I unfortunatly had a buy it now so I couldn't cancel their bids), and one is VERY determand that I complete the transaction, even though I told him I will be breaking their countries rules or the rules of the U.S post office if I do.
the other fellow keeping emailing me in some odd language (my computer can't seem to translate it!), and I have NO IDEA what he is saying, BUT I did see the word Euro-cash!
And to top it off, despite my auction stating I only accept payment in U.S currency IF outside of U.S, both are saying they will only pay by Euro-cash! Last time someone send me Euro-cash, when I cashed it at my bank, there was a 20 dollar charge my bank slapped me, so that's why I only deal with U.S dollars for international bidders as stated in my auction's TOS.
what should I do?I do NOT want to break any laws and rules, (in fact didn't these bidders BROKE my TOS for bidding on a ship to U.S only auction AND demanding to pay by Euro money?) one of these guys actually have 30 positives and 6 negatives (ironically all the negatives are from U.S sellers, and positives are from his country)other is a newbie.
Of course only if the 6 American sellers filed FVF then he would be NAU'ed but thats another issue. )
Should I report them to ebay?Or since Meg did away with human CS, no one will listen? I am not afraid to file FVF on them if I have to (I think I can mention they didn't comply with my TOS, but isn't that asking them to send me payment, which is moot, for i can't send them the item anyway?).
Really confused, again I do not wish to break International or post office rules. Any advise would help. Thank you.
[ edited by ironking on May 14, 2002 04:14 AM ]
posted on May 14, 2002 06:37:17 AM
Don't back down!
You had it stated in your TOS that you do not send internationally. If they do not understand that and the fact that it is against the law thats their problem. File the FVF stating the reason why but also mention that it is against the law to ship this item out of the U.S. to cover your butt with Ebay.
posted on May 14, 2002 07:33:11 AM
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
I use the above for all my translations and to email in another language. Prior poster is right eBay is in USA money not something else unless you said you would take it. If your listing said USA only etc. I would copy paste and email that and move on.
posted on May 14, 2002 03:44:07 PM
Babelfish is great but I'd be careful before I rely on it to complete a transaction...it is just too inaccurate.
On your insistent bidder (who apparently speaks English?) Have you asked them if they can supply you with a U.S. address to which you can legally ship the purchase, and who would then be responsible for shipping it on to him? If that is a possibility, I would also insist that the intermediate shipper provide you with some acknowledgement of receipt.
On the Euro-cash issue, I've only dealt with this once. I finally told the bidder (who spoke excellent English, thank goodness) that I would only accept an amount that covered the original bid, the shipping and the fee to exchange the currency (and I didn't "shop around" for the best rate, either. It nearly doubled the final price.) Then I said, "That's the deal. I'm not a bank, and the terms of my auction were clear." I offered to call the whole transaction off and fortunately, she accepted...this one would have been more trouble down the road, I'm sure.
The frustrating thing is that I don't see a way to keep this from happening in the future unless eBay starts "encoding" bidders' IDs with their country of origin and allows sellers to automatically block ids that aren't from one of the specified zones. I'm sure there is a way to do it, but don't see much motivation on eBay's part to take the time to write the code.
Maybe the only solution is to not use BIN on items that can't be sent overseas. But even then, you're not protected against snipers.
(And before the international bidders start yelling, let me add that I happily take international bids if they are willing to abide by my terms and the laws of our respective countries. I get the impression this seller has the same policy.)
posted on May 14, 2002 04:24:10 PM
Best to just file for your fees and let ebay know that the bidders did not follow your tos, thats all you need to cancel this deal.
Do not waste your time on back and forth emails with them.
posted on May 14, 2002 04:49:36 PM
"Babelfish is great but I'd be careful before I rely on it to complete a transaction...it is just too inaccurate"
I have never found a translator program that was very accurate but considering the garbled English I get at times it works well. It is a nice tool and free.
posted on May 14, 2002 05:10:55 PM
Now I always wondered how that works for when I file NPB, there is a section saying "bidder did not comply with my TOS", now if I file that would it be similar to "both parties agreed to not complete transaction" and you get credit for the FVF instantly, or it will be like any other NPB, and yu must wait 10 days to ile FVf to get your fee's back?
posted on May 15, 2002 09:37:12 PM
File the bidder did not comply with the terms of the auction. Yes, you will have to wait the 10 days to get the refund. All of those options are simply words to ebay and really don't mean a whole lot. In this case, I would not leave feedback however. No need to stir the pot with the other party.
Good luck
posted on May 18, 2002 02:35:41 AM
Well looks like I will get my fvf fees back on the 7th day for one of them. He is now NAUR'ed! Seems like he was bidding on other U.S only auctions, and guess sellers must have filed a complaint on him!
