posted on November 14, 2004 06:27:40 PM
I have a block on int'l bidders and state clearly in my auctions that I only ship to the Continental U.S. A U.K. bidder won my auction! What is up with that and what do I do??? Thanks.
posted on November 14, 2004 06:30:06 PM
Happens all the time. Technically I guess that you can refuse them. OTOH, if they are paying a good price: determine shipping fairly, advise them of the cost, and accept only BidPay for payment.
posted on November 14, 2004 06:32:55 PM
Send them an email & ask them to withdraw their bid. Explain that you DO NOT ship overseas. I had this happen not too long ago with a biddeer from Australia. Worked out for me. The bidder aplogized & withdrew his bid.
Life Is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine
posted on November 14, 2004 06:38:28 PM
Interestingly, on the item at the end of the auction, it stated she was in the U.K.; the end of auction email that I got from ebay indicated that she's in Vegas. ??? So, I emailed her and asked what her correct location is. Who knows? It just gets more weird every day. Thanks for your help, though.
Jenny, I'd wait to hear from her. I had a bidder whose location showed as international. Turned out they were indeed living here in the US but hadn't changed their location w/eBay.
Still, it's curious eBay's EOA shows Las Vegas. Must be there's more than one place to change a location.
posted on November 15, 2004 08:42:41 AM
I would wait until the auction ends, send her your notice and see what happens.
Many foreign buyers have contacts or relatives in the US and that is why you should wait. Since yours item is not a gift they might have to pay duty. If a relative lives in US you would send it to them and then they would mail it as a gift and zoom past customs. I have had several foreign buyers like that. I had no problems
_________________
To Quote John Kerry in his concession speech. "But in an american election, there are no losers, because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all wake up as Americans
posted on November 15, 2004 09:27:49 AM
My experience has been very good with overseas buyers. In fact, recently the buyers from UK and Sweden are the buyers who are not afraid to out bid the US buyers. I have sold to South America, Japan,Australia, New South Wales, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Neitherlands, France, UK and once to China and Singapore. My point is that Paypal and Money orders work. Yes there is always a risk. The only time I was burned is when a buyer who paid did not except the Canadian Customs fee, rejected the package and I had to pay a customs broker $35. to get the merchandise back and refund the buyer for the refunded merchandise. The broker sent the bill months after i had already made the customer refund.
In PayPal you can except Euro's, pounds, canadian dollars etc. by specifying that you except that form of payment. I would recommend Paypal if you are already using them. Also you can get instant exchange rates online.
posted on November 15, 2004 09:47:47 AM
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. What I really don't understand is that besides stating clearly in my auctions that I only ship in the Continental U.S., in my ebay preferences bidders are supposed to be blocked "in countries to which I do not ship." What's the point of doing that if it doesn't work?
posted on November 15, 2004 09:48:52 AM
Last week I had one from U.K. and one from Australia. Both winning bidders, both shipped to USA addresses. Both left Positive feedback within the week. Strange but true. I have also sold to a Japanese buyer and shipped to a USA address in the past. I think that they are doing this just to confuse poor, confusable Kevin. Oh well, the payment is in US dollars so I take it and smile.
Kevin
posted on November 15, 2004 10:13:46 AM
Jenny, does it actually say, "blocked"? I am wondering if that means in preferences your listing doesnt show up on any other ebay site except ebay USA? But even so, if somebody is looking for something specific and does a google search, lots of ebay listings show up especially through those "compare online prices, web sites" so if even if its not ebay USA theres usually always a clickable link to the listing.
