Bids from Buyers in Countries I Don't Ship To

[jt-libra]

Twice this past week I've received bids from countries I don't ship to -- Korea and Finland.  The one from Korea I didn't notice until after the auction had ended and the one from Finland is still active.  There have been a couple of occasions where buyers registered in other countries are shipping to the U.S. but the one from Korea was not.  So we cancelled the transaction.  I have to contact the one from Finland tonight because there is only 20 hours left in the auction and with the time change, my message will likely get to her too late to cancel the bid.

My settings are clear -- I ship to Canada and the U.S. only.  Has this been happening to anyone else?

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Before y'all start, seller is in Canada.

Check your listings. This is a problem the Americans have been having. First I have heard of it in Canuckistan. Check to see if ebay has "modified" your exclusion list.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Sorry, I thought I wa son the American board, ignore the first sentence.

[jt-libra]

I did check my Site Preferences in both .ca and .com after the Korean transaction, and it does show a block for bidders having a primary shipping address in a location I don't ship to, among other blocks.  However, I was just checking a few individual listings and I see that that block is not included with the others I have selected.

Oh man, now I'm going to have to revise each of my listings manually to include that.  I don't know how or when that happened -- I'm presuming just very recently.  I'll make sure to check the location of bidders until I can change them all.

[jt-libra]

"I'll make sure to check the location of bidders until I can change them all."

But I don't know how that will affect the BIN listings.  I have Immediate Payment Required so the buyer wouldn't be able to pay for the item without a shipping charge showing.  I don't know how that will work.

Right now I have the flu and a cold, so I won't be revising these listings in the next day or two.

By the way, Kalvin, is this something that can be rectified by eBay?  I'm thinking that I can't be the only one who had their settings modified.

[rose-dee]

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@jt-libra wrote:

I have Immediate Payment Required so the buyer wouldn't be able to pay for the item without a shipping charge showing.  I don't know how that will work.

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Hi 'jt' -- So sorry to hear you've got the 'flu.  I don't know whether this is of any help, but if you decide you want to go through with a transaction anyway, even if it's involving a buyer in a country you don't normally ship to, I found out by trial and error that you can change your "ship-to" exclusion list in the midst of a transaction, which will show a shipping charge and allow the buyer to process payment. 

Although you usually only ship to the US and Canada, I wouldn't be too worried about Korea (South Korea, I assume!), or Finland, as long as the buyers are willing to pay for the shipping.  Or is that the problem, that they aren't seeing a shipping charge (or the proper shipping charge)?  

I'm not sure because I've never had to try it, but you might be able to check and revise (if necessary) the ship-to destinations on your listings using the bulk editor.  It's worth a try before going through them one by one.  How tedious, and what a pain.  If this problem is popping up on .com as Mr. E says, maybe we're not far behind.  

[cumos55]

You do not have to revise each listing individually.

It can be done under Site preferences > Shipping Preferences >Exclude shipping locations from your listings.

Once this is done, then all listings are covered, unless you have set up a unique listing with a unique exclusion list for one listing.. 

Some sellers assume that if they state they only ship to Canada and the US... that is enough.

One has to set up the exclusion list in order to make everything work ... The exclusion list is what stops people from bidding and buying.

The exclusion list works if the person from an excluded country does not have a US or Canadian ship to address.

Many Canadians have a US address,  and in so doing they can buy from US sellers that do not ship to Canada.

A person with a forwarding address is covered by eBay buyer Protection  up to the US or Canadian address,  the address on eBay that should be the same on the Paypal account, and not for that subsequent trip to the buyer destination country.  

The Paypal account should not have the  buyer's address, the ship to address,  as one outside of Canada and the US...... 

[jt-libra]

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@cumos55 wrote:

You do not have to revise each listing individually.

It can be done under Site preferences > Shipping Preferences >Exclude shipping locations from your listings.

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Good morning, cumos.

I didn't think that selecting countries I do not ship to was necessary under Site Preferences > Shipping Preferences ...... if I was already blocking buyers from those countries.

I did like you suggested and in the Shipping and Payments section, it now shows:

Item location: Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Shipping to: Canada, United States

Excludes: New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Guadeloupe, Marshall Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Gambia, Malaysia, Mayotte, Taiwan, Poland, Suriname, Oman, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Middle East, Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Senegal, Armenia, Bhutan, Uzbekistan, Ireland, Qatar, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Netherlands, Burundi, Slovakia, Iraq, Equatorial Guinea, Slovenia, Thailand, Aruba, American Samoa, Sweden, Iceland, Macedonia, Liechtenstein, Israel, Kuwait, Belgium, Algeria, Benin, Russian Federation, Oceania, Antigua and Barbuda, Italy, Swaziland, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ukraine, Singapore, Panama, Burkina Faso, Jersey, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Reunion, Djibouti, Chile, Puerto Rico, China, Mali, Croatia, Republic of, Botswana, Cambodia, Portugal, Indonesia, Malta, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Paraguay, Cayman Islands, Saint Helena, Cyprus, Rwanda, Seychelles, Australia, Bangladesh, Austria, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Gabon Republic, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Norway, Kiribati, Turkmenistan, Greece, Grenada, Haiti, Yemen, Afghanistan, Montenegro, Africa, Mongolia, Nepal, Bahrain, Bahamas, Asia, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, United Kingdom, Dominica, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Angola, South America, Southeast Asia, Western Samoa, France, Mozambique, Namibia, Peru, Central America and Caribbean, Guatemala, Denmark, Vatican City State, Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone, Nauru, French Guiana, Anguilla, El Salvador, Guam, Micronesia, Dominican Republic, Cameroon, Guyana, Azerbaijan Republic, Macau, Georgia, Tonga, New Caledonia, San Marino, Eritrea, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Morocco, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belarus, Europe, Mauritania, Belize, Philippines, Uruguay, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Western Sahara, Congo, Republic of the, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Spain, Estonia, Montserrat, Korea, South, Zambia, Somalia, Vanuatu, Ecuador, Albania, Monaco, Guernsey, Ethiopia, Laos, Niger, Venezuela, Ghana, Cape Verde Islands, Martinique, Moldova, Madagascar, Lebanon, Liberia, Bolivia, Maldives, Gibraltar, Libya, Hong Kong, Central African Republic, Lesotho, Nigeria, Saint Lucia, Mauritius, Guinea, Jordan, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Chad, Andorra, Romania, Costa Rica, India, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Netherlands Antilles, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Lithuania, Trinidad and Tobago, Palau, Malawi, Nicaragua, Finland, Tunisia, Luxembourg, Uganda, Brazil, Turkey, Barbados, Germany, Tuvalu, Jamaica, Latvia, Egypt, Niue, Honduras, Brunei Darussalam, Virgin Islands (U.S.), South Africa

To me, this looks cumbersome or unappealing to potential buyers.  I don't see that in many of the listings I look at.  I haven't used that preference over the years and I have not had the problem with buyers from other countries.

What I did do was review a few random listings this morning and I noticed that the "Block buyers who:   have a primary shipping address in countries that I don't ship to is now back.  Then when I removed the shipping country preference (shown above), the primary shipping address block was still in place.  So it must have been an eBay glitch.  But thank you all the same for mentioning the shipping preference I wasn't aware of.  That's probably more suitable for sellers who do ship to more than Canada and the U.S., but still want to exclude a handful of countries.

[jt-libra]

Hi rose-dee.  Thanks for your comments.

I prefer not to sell outside of North America altogether.  Competition for cosmetics is so stiff and there is very little leeway in price variations among sellers. There are so many sellers who can ship designer cosmetics to people in foreign countries for much less than I can. And after my experience in dealing with people in these countries, explaining over and over again why postage is so high to their countries and why shipping takes so long and worrying about whether my DSR's were going to be dinged because of shipping delays and such, I just decided to stop.

I'm sure I could sell a lot more but my communication level is high enough with North American buyers alone. I simply don't want to spend any more time on eBay than I already am (which is already too much LOL). I believe you're right though that a shipping location can be added while the auction is still active.

[pierrelebel]

"I prefer not to sell outside of North America altogether"

If that is what you want, you should block continents instead of countries.  Block Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, Central America, etc.. The list will be much shorter!

Do NOT block North America but block Mexico

[jt-libra]

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@pierrelebel wrote:
 

If that is what you want, you should block continents instead of countries.  Block Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, Central America, etc.. The list will be much shorter!

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That's what I did Pierre.  But it didn't matter whether I chose to show countries or hide countries, all the countries were shown in my listings, so I selected nothing in that section just as it had been for years.  I have my block buyers from countries I don't ship to back in my individual listings so I should be okay.

[rose-dee]

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@jt-libra wrote:

Hi rose-dee.  Thanks for your comments.

I'm sure I could sell a lot more but my communication level is high enough with North American buyers alone. I simply don't want to spend any more time on eBay than I already am (which is already too much LOL).

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I completely understand, 'jt'.  With outrageous shipping prices to Europe and beyond, I've started to consider whether it's worth it anymore to ship outside Canada and the U.S. for the few rare sales I now get from Europe.

You know, considering what you've described in this post, it may be that the problem was just another stupid eBay glitch.  They've been happening everywhere these days.  Hope it's been sorted out now and that you're feeling better soon!

[recped]

I think it's ridiculous to pay $15 to ship a $5 item............

EVERY week I sell $5 items and buyers pay $15 for shipping, they seem happy enough so I'm certainly not going to start making decisions for them especially when it means money out of my pocket.

There are plenty of reasons why you might not offer International shipping but high cost isn't really one of them. Let buyers decide for themselves what they are willing to pay.

[tobyshitzu]

Intl shipping cost is a bit of an issue for Canadians being unlike Americans ebay chooses to count those dsrs against us the same as domestic ones.  So if it is causing low shipping cost dsrs, those sales could cost more then they are worth when only 3 a year increase the FVF on all sales by 20%.   if they'd protect us from that like the Americans then I'd agree its not an issue

[jt-libra]

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@recped wrote:
 

There are plenty of reasons why you might not offer International shipping but high cost isn't really one of them. Let buyers decide for themselves what they are willing to pay.

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That's a reasonable statement; however, I was finding that it was in fact the shipping cost that resulted in too many buyers e-mailing me asking me why the cost was so high; or could I reduce it by sending it by a slower method, that type of thing.  Or when I did sell internationally, the dreaded "where is my item" e-mail.  Some sellers have no problem ignoring these types of questions, but I'm not one of them. I always took the time to respond.  In short, my eBay life is less stressful when dealing with North Americans only.

[femmefan1946]

 or could I reduce it by sending it by a slower method

 My usual answer to that kind of question is to note that the service used includes Air Mail and insurance (and tracking if it does). Then I offer a Mutual Cancellation if they would like to end the transaction.

My reasoning is that some of the buyers are just startled, not having noticed the shipping cost when they bid. Dumb but BDR (Bidders Don't Read-- my new mantra). 

Some of those will suck it up and pay, some will agree to the cancellation. It stays friendly.

Some do not respond or pay. I open an Unpaid Item Dispute. They get a Strike and cannot leave feedback.

But some of those requests are from scammers who know that cheap Surface shipping means that they can open an Item Not Recieved dispute, get the money back and still have the item arrive eventually.

Some sales are not worth having.

[cumos55]

I ship worldwide...

My exclusion list as shown on my listings

Excludes: Africa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Middle East, Oceania, Southeast Asia, South America, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Bermuda, Greenland, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon

[northern*electric]

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@cumos55 wrote:

I ship worldwide...

My exclusion list as shown on my listings

Excludes: Africa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Middle East, Oceania, Southeast Asia, South America, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Bermuda, Greenland, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon

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Why exclude Australia, Belgium and New Zealand? I don't know about Belgium, but Australia and NZ have been 'safe' for me so far..

[femmefan1946]

I don't think Australia is part of Oceania. But New Zealand is. (The powerful Maori lobby wanting to connect with their ancestral Melanesian and Polynesian brethern?)

I've sold to Polynesia / French Caledonia with no problems, including fairly quick delivery.

[cumos55]

Surface mail to Australia and New Zealand usually took about 8 to 12 weeks.

This was well beyond the 45 day time period for filing a non-receipt with Paypal or eBay.

Everyone appeared to file a non-receipt... I had three within two months ... and I just gave up shipping to Australia and new Zealand.

Buyers from certain European countries  were very touchy about non-receipt.....  while others waited no matter what.  

At first it was the Mediterranean countries... Spain, France, Italy and Greece....  and then Belgium ... One just gives up trying to please buyers from these countries....

As eBay's rules changed  so did my ship to countries....

Australia and New Zealand are a part of Oceania ... Check the exclusion list

Today International shipping would be quite expensive.... and in the long run... It is easier to block than to put up with difficult buyers.....