Are disclaimer letters valid?

[hamsterstamps]

I just noticed this disclaimer on an ebay listing from an experienced commercial seller:

BUYERS FROM ITALY PLEASE NOTE

Because of a substantial loss of mail through The Italian Postal Service, we will ship only under the following condition :

We must receive an eBay message/email from you stating that we will not be held responsible by eBay/PayPal or yourself for any loss through the mail.  Unfortunately, we must have this policy because too many packages are being lost.

Will ebay/Paypal/a credit card company on a chargeback actually accept one of these letters in a non-payment dispute?

[reallynicestamps]

Nope.

The seller should be setting his Seller Preferences to Block automatically any bids from Italy.

If a bid slips through, the seller is allowed to refuse the bid, when these Blocks are in place.

If an winning bidder wants shipping to Italy, the seller is allowed to refuse to ship and to refund any payment, when these Blocks are in place.

Sellers can add report such a bidder as an Unwanted Bidder, when these Blocks are in place.

EBay has also recently introduced a service that either a buyer or a seller can cancel a winning bid within a very short period (less than an hour I think).

From a public relations and marketing point of view, I wonder if huge red notes like that would be more likely to turn off other bidders from dealing with what appears to be a paranoid* seller. Even if they are not in Italy or of Italian descent or very fond of linguine carbonara.

*And yes, the Italian postal and customs system mishmash is internationally notorious.

[recped]

*And yes, the Italian postal and customs system mishmash is internationally notorious.

Mostly for problems that happened more than 5 years ago. I feel better about shipping to Italy than to Germany these days.

[cumos55]

This is a game of 

Seller says.... Buyer says...

and eBay and Paypal set the rules of the game.... and sometimes  the credit card company joins the game.

The only way a seller should play this game is block specific countries.....  and prevent anyone from a blocked country from buying.

The action is ... block a country... and NOT just say ... ship to????

[cumos55]

and it has already been noted....

Anything in bright red... a disclaimer or anything else... will turn off buyers.

and sometimes  it is an invitation for a buyer to cause trouble..... buyers from anywhere and everywhere.

There are buyers that will look to cause trouble.... whether deliberately or just because that is who they are... 

[mr.elmwood]

Disclaimers such as that are evidence of a seller who is other than emotionally grounded. That is vindictive and aggressive. They seek to finger point and externally blame.

I ship anywhere. Sometimes I restrict only because I know where my market is and some parts are just easier to ship to certain places. Loss rates for "missing" parcels is so low. I spend far more on bubble wrap.

To include bold buyer requirements in a listing? No. That is unprofessional. It is also unenforceable.

[hamsterstamps]

Thanks all for your responses - just what I thought.  I too ship everywhere (including Greenland and Ascension Island!) and have not had many problems.  I had just never seen anyone try this practice before and way curious as to it's legality.  The seller has 10,000 feedbacks and not many negatives....

Cheers all!