Germany is Excluded In Business Policies Yet Sale Just Completed
Summary: intimewithmusic reported an issue where a sale to Germany was completed, even though the country was set to be excluded in their eBay business policies. ricarmic suggested checking if the buyer’s registered country matched their shipping address. brettjet38 contributed that they had similar experiences with German buyers getting through the exclusion list, suggesting a potential eBay glitch. marnotom! and intimewithmusic discussed further, leading to the discovery that intimewithmusic had mistakenly set up a business policy that didn't exclude Germany when modifying shipping options under certain criteria. hansatrade shared a related issue with an Israeli buyer, highlighting broader challenges with eBay's exclusion and shipping policies.
Hi All,
Did anyone else have this happen? A sale to Germany completed yet I've had the country excluded in my
business policies since the start of the packaging issue. I checked and Germany is still excluded in my Ship To locations. The item is a small metal piece about 1.5 inches long. I suppose I should report it to eBay and cancel "Due to problem with address". Just checking to see if it's just me this time around.
Thanks!
hansatrade
·2 years agoA similar situation here. A buyer from Israel purchased an item. I am not able to send the invoice, getting this error:
Also the buyer cannot pay, even after I added him to the buyer exemption list.
I need to wait 4 days to cancel the transaction for non-payment.
marnotom!
·2 years agohttps://community.ebay.ca/t5/Announcements/Updates-and-seller-protections-for-shipments-impacted-by-events/ba-p/500150
hansatrade
·2 years agoYes, I know. It's why I am surprised the transaction went through. Buyer's address was in Israel.
intimewithmusic
OP2 years ago@marnotom! , @ricarmic , @brettjet38
Figured it out thanks to marnotom! It was ALL my fault... Maybe my mistake will benefit someone else.
In the words of Adrian Monk "Here's what happened!"
After eBay introduced Canada Post domestic "Expedited Lite" I changed the business policy on my listings that weighed under 200 grams. I made a lot of changes so instead of copying the regular policy for Expedited I created a new one and I goofed.
I forgot to add Germany to the exclusion list when I implemented the Expedited Lite policy. The item in question weighs 100 grams. Although I don't have many listings under 200 grams they have been eligible for purchase in Germany since I made the change.
Thanks marnotom! I owe you a beer...
marnotom!
·2 years agoThis is weird. I picked one of @brettjet38's listings at random, and I can't get Germany to come up on the drop-down list of shipping locations. I then viewed the listing on the eBay Germany site and there's a "Shipping cannot be calculated. Please enter a valid postcode" message rather than a "does not ship to Germany" message in the shipping section.
@intimewithmusic, I just checked a few of your listings at random and I don't see Germany on the exclusion list for any of them. You have several other countries/regions excluded, but Germany isn't one of them.
intimewithmusic
OP2 years agoHi @marnotom!
Thank you for checking on that.
I use business policies for everything. I checked in there for an eBay policy duplication with an error in it but everything with my policies are fine and the one attached to the listing is accurate. As shown in my screen shot Germany is definately excluded.
It would sure be great if eBay reopened Germany or else the government back pedaled on the packaging rules. Maybe they could learn how to recycle...
brettjet38
·2 years agoSo, it gets more concrete...
I had at least two Buyers in Germany registered in Germany able to purchase items I have listed, and I have Germany on my no Ship list.
In my case, I refunded the purchases as "Problem with the Address" which technically it is, to an address in a country I do not sell/ship to anymore. I explained to both Buyers the reason why and pointed out my no-ship list.
I have read about this happening before in another post on here last year, so I guess it is an actual eBay glitch.
Wonder how many others have had the same issue, one buyer. Both were Buy it Now with Best Offer Listings and both Buyers were able to use the Buy it Now option. Both ship-to addresses were in Germany and not a forwarder in the USA.
ricarmic
·2 years agoI think it must be sporadic though, I lost a couple of regular buyers from Germany when I added it to my no ship list, so theoretically it is working sometimes, unless it is simply coincidence that they dropped me at the same time I dropped them so to speak.....
intimewithmusic
OP2 years agoI think it's been about 2 years since registering became mandatory. I had a lot of sales to Germany before I excluded them back then. This is the first breach I've had.
intimewithmusic
OP2 years ago@brettjet38
So I'm not alone in this...The worst part other than losing the sale, is Germany is a great market for sales. It makes me wonder why "The World's Largest Marketplace" can't reconnect us to this large lost market.
ricarmic
·2 years agoIs their registered country Germany? I've had folks who are in different countries than their country of registration purchase stuff before, ie their ID shows registered in a country that I don't ship to yet they are shipping to a country other than their registered country.
My "wonder" is if the reverse is true their country of registration is NOT Germany but their shipping address is....
intimewithmusic
OP2 years agoHi @ricarmic
Thank you for your response. I thought of that too but the shipping address is indeed Berlin. Not sure how it slipped past my exclusion list. I contacted eBay via chat. Their advisement is to contact the customer with an explanation then cancel the order using "Problem with buyer's address" as expected so that is what I will do.
I told eBay I didn't know the time difference there or if the buyer speaks English. The contact is just to cushion the blow I suppose. Frankly I was tempted to just ship it and move on. The EU thing is such a shame.
I hope this "Exclusion of the exclusions" is a one-off and not the next repetitive glitch.
Thank you!
ricarmic
·2 years agoHi! If you click on their ID what country does it show there tho? I suspect it ISNT Germany....
intimewithmusic
OP2 years agothanks
Location: Germany
Member since: Apr 06, 2003
ricarmic
·2 years agoHmm well I guess that puts it into "glitch" territory after all!!!
intimewithmusic
OP2 years agoYep, sometimes "Listing is a glitch waiting to happen"... ;>}
Donovan sang it best,
"Oh no, must be the season of the glitch
Must be the season of the glitch"