Sold item to USA buyer and when he paid his address had changed to Switzerland

[red27pete]

The other day I sold a Hockey card to someone who's shipping address was to COM-C in USA and when he paid his mailing address had changed to Switzerland, and my items state clearly that I don't ship outside North America.  Has anyone else had this happen?

[pocomocomputing · Accepted solution]

I checked 3 listings at random and I do not see in the description any thing saying you do not ship outside Canada and the USA.

The listing shipping and Payments tab has Canada and the USA as shipping options. That is not good enough to stop a buyer from outside those countries from buying.  You need to set up shipping exclusions and that will block buyers from outside Canada and the USA from buying.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/pay/shipping-costs.html#where

Specifying where you ship

You can exclude certain regions or countries from the places you're willing to ship to. In your case, you can block everything except Canada and the USA.

Excluding shipping locations:

1. Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. You may need to sign in.
2. Click the Account tab.
3. Click the Site Preferences link on the left side of the page.
4. Click the Show link to see the Shipping Preferences section.
5. Click the Edit link next to the option to Exclude shipping locations from your listings.
6. On the next page, select certain countries in a region, click the Show all countries link next to that region's name.
7. If you want to apply these exclusions to your current listings, select the Apply to all current live listings option.
8. Once you're finished, click the Apply button.

The above should stop most buyers from outside Canada and the USA from buying.

As for the current issue, you can cancel the sale with reason that you do not ship there. However, I am not experienced in doing this so please wait for more help from forum members on this.

[pjcdn2005]

He shouldn't have been able to pay unless you sent him an invoice that showed his Switzerland address? Or was he able to pay without an invoice from you?

I wouldn't hesitate to send an item to Switzerland.

[ricarmic]

Agree with PJc: Especially since it should go in a normal #10 envelope so shouldn't have customs problems.....

[femmefan1946]

Lettermail to Switzerland would be between $1.20 and $1.80 more than to a US address.

At minimum wage that is about 10 minutes of your time.

Don't waste more energy/time/money/ stewing about this.

But correct your current and future listings to reflect your shipping preferences.

Oh yeah, you don't ship to the eBay address but to the Paypal address. You can request that the buyer add his US address to his PP account.

[pjcdn2005]

Oh yeah, you don't ship to the eBay address but to the Paypal address.

To be specific, the ship to address should be whatever is on the payment information sent from paypal. That information should also be the same as what is showing on the order details page on ebay.

[maximus7001]

As long as the item weighs 30g or less and fits through the 5mm slot it can be mailed for $2.50 in stamps to any location outside of Canada/USA. There is less risk going to Switzerland that there is to USA. Tell the buyer that ebay only allows you to ship to his paypal address and after he fixes that and pays you for the correct postage then mail it to him.

Shipping to Canada and USA only for low risk low price items does not make good business sense. If we did that we would have went broke a decade ago.

[pjcdn2005]

Tell the buyer that ebay only allows you to ship to his paypal address and after he fixes that and pays you for the correct postage then mail it to him.

There is no point in requiring the buyer to change their ebay or paypal address if the item is being mailed without delivery confirmation.

[femmefan1946]

You're right as usual, but it does say to the buyer something between "I am a very helpful seller and this is useful information for you " and "Okay, buddy, but I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday and I've got my beady eye on you. "

[toff3]

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@maximus7001 wrote:

As long as the item weighs 30g or less and fits through the 5mm slot it can be mailed for $2.50 in stamps to any location outside of Canada/USA. 

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I can't believe I'm reading this.

Send merchandise abroad by Letter-post??!! Horrors! This is against all regulations of Canada Post.

Sorry, that hockey card has to go by Light Packet, with a properly completed customs declaration, at a mere $7.50.

Tom

[pjcdn2005]

And everyone knows how you love Canada Post and their regulations. lol

We need a sarcasm smiley here.

[toff3]

When all is said and done, it isn't funny.

Two identical mail pieces, transmitted by identical means. The difference in postage: 300%. That's THREE HUNDRED PER CENT.

It's beyond grotesque.

Tom

[ypdc_dennis]

International - Lettermail vs Light Packet (2015 rates)

Lettermail rate using stamps:
000-030g ..  2.50
031-050g ..  3.60
051-100g ..  5.90
101-200g .. 10.30

Light Packet
000-200g ..  7.50

Under 100g Light Packet is more expensive, but becomes 37% cheaper over 100g

[toff3]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

International - Lettermail vs Light Packet (2015 rates)

Lettermail rate using stamps:
000-030g ..  2.50
031-050g ..  3.60
051-100g ..  5.90
101-200g .. 10.30

Light Packet
000-200g ..  7.50

Under 100g Light Packet is more expensive, but becomes 37% cheaper over 100g

___________________________________________________________________________

And in the weight range 201 - 300 g, a Light Packet is nearly 80% cheaper than a Letter. But when the weight is over 300 g, miraculously, the rates are essentially the same.

For a 201-300 g Light Packet it's $11.50 vs $20.60 for an O/S Letter in the same weight range - a 79% difference in favour of Lt Pkt.

A 301-500 g Lt Pkt costs $21.00, almost the same as a Letter ($20.60) - a 1.9% difference in favour of Letter-post.

Has anyone heard of a more bizarre pricing structure for identical mail pieces?  How can Canada Post realistically expect anyone to follow their regulations in respect of Letter-post and Light Packet items weighing less than 300 g?

Tom