We are bidding on items in the U.S. and live in Canada, we have a U.S. mailing address

[ym1813]

We are bidding on items in the U.S. and our bids are being refused even though we have a U.S. address to ship to. We live in Canada do we have to change our paypal home address to get our bids accepted? We have tried contacting the seller and they are not always available to contact.

[scifan57]

Your bids are being blocked based on your country of registration. try using the ask a question link in the listing to contact the seller and see if he would be willing to place you on his blocked bidder exemption list. You should be aware, however, that some sellers also block communication with bidders/buyers on theis blocked bidder list. It that's the case here, you will have to look for another seller.

[dmil8030]

Hello 'ym1813',

As scifan says, you will have to find some other sellers.  Some sellers ship only to certain countries, or within their own country.  They can set up autoblocks from bidders outside their "ship to" zone.  Your ebay ID is registered in Canada, and so you are blocked. 

A seller cannot ship to an address other than your registered paypal address (not without losing that seller protection) and you cannot add a foreign address to a Canadian paypal account.  You may find sellers willing to ship to another address if you ask, but most will not.  Adding alternate addresses to your ebay makes no difference, - sellers are leary of being asked to forego what little protection they have.

When you attempt to contact a seller and get that "unavailable" message, -- that is ebay's idea of a polite refusal.  Poorly chosen words, in my view, because it implies you could try again later.  What it really means is that the seller has not only blocked bids from your country but blocked questions as well.  It means the seller is indeed aware that other countries exist but has chosen not to do business with them.  You will have to find another seller.

Happy hunting. 🙂