Blocking bidders from certain countries/areas

[design.fort]

Hi all,
I'm listing my items for sale and I created exclusion lists for certain areas and countries. Yet, I keep getting bidders from these countries. I set my exclusion list up in the Shipping preferences AND the listings themselves. I specifically exclude Asia in my preferences as I had multiple bad experiences. Yet bidders seem still be able to bid. I think I'm going crazy. Is there something I forget or another way these bidders can circumvent the shipping preferences?

Thanks in advance for any help

[ypdc_dennis]

There are lots of buyers who use freight companies in the USA or Canada as their buying address -- reshipping a bunch of purchases together to their country can save a lot of money.  Seller's obligation ends when the item is delivered to the reshipper's address.

[reallynicestamps]

Check those addresses on Google Maps.

I think you will find that most of them are industrial park addresses in the USA, and are freight forwarders.

Those are very safe to ship to, almost as safe as Post Office boxes.

As dennis says, your responsibility for delivery ends on the forwarder's doorstep.

You may however want to switch to Tracked Shipping, which is more expensive in order to prove delivery.

If the buyer changes their address from a North American one to an Asian (or any overseas) one, you can cancel the purchase without penalty as "Problem  with Address".

[reallynicestamps]

Please note: I will only ship to Canada and the US. No exceptions, due to multiple negative experiences. I also reserve the right to cancel bids from bidders that have negative feedback. I also might contact zero feedback bidders to confirm their identity.

I charge a flat shipping fee of Can$40 for all of North America. Canadian bidders can contact me as there might be a cheaper shipping option available. Your parcel will be carefully and properly packaged, insured and a tracking number provided.

Could I make two suggestions?

The first is to lose all of that. The Shipping tab covers everything there and it is negative enough to turn off some otherwise "acceptable " buyers. It also excludes Japanese and South Korean buyers who are generally known for their honour and honesty.

The other is to forget using Auctions.

From constant reading of the Canada and US Boards it is evident that there are more problems with Auction Listings than with Fixed Price and you now seem to have enough experience to know the going value of your cameras. Why make the buyer wait around and why be willing to settle for the opening bid, when there is only one bidder?

You can also add Immediate Payment Required, which seems to deter many scammers of the "text me your PP address" variety, if you have been plagued by those.

[design.fort]

Well, that's only partly true, though. I had bad experiences with those "middlemen buyers" before. They are located - let's say in China - and have a US shipping address. I shipped to the US and I thought everything was done. Four weeks later I got a reply that the item was "not as expected" and they want to return it. Now I had to wait another 5 weeks for item to be shipped back from China, go through customs etc. and I had to refund the money.

Weeks and weeks of fun and waiting. I was naive enough to think, that with setting my shipping preferences to Canada and US only, the buyers registered in other areas of Ebay are blocked. But obviously that's not the case. I'm at a loss. 

[marnotom! · Accepted solution]

---

@design.fort wrote:

I was naive enough to think, that with setting my shipping preferences to Canada and US only, the buyers registered in other areas of Ebay are blocked. But obviously that's not the case. I'm at a loss. 

---

Blocking or restricting shipping locations is not the same as blocking or restricting buyers based on their location.

You can do the former on eBay, but not the latter.  If you're unable to work with this, you may need to find a more restrictive venue for your items.

[design.fort]

Thank you! That's all I wanted to know. Armed with this info I can now choose what items I can or cannot sell on Ebay.

[femmefan1946]

They are located - let's say in China - and have a US shipping address. I shipped to the US

And at the doorstep of the US address your responsibility for delivery ends.

That is more than half of Disputes, slow or non-delivery.

However, no matter what the shipping address, China or just down the street, the seller remains responsible for Not As Described disputes.

And in most cases must pay return shipping if she wants it back before refunding.

But.

You can refuse to refund until you do have the item back.

You only have to pay return shipping from the address you shipped to-- which is the freight forwarder in the USA.

Still not great, but the chances of the complaining buyer being able to arrange that before the deadline ends is very low, even if he is willing to pay for shipping to the US address for forwarding to you.

Now I had to wait another 5 weeks for item to be shipped back from China, go through customs etc. and I had to refund the money.

So the customer was unhappy enough to go to all that trouble? Sounds like a genuine complaint to me, rather than a scam of some sort.

Particularly if the customer paid the return shipping.

[ziro_uk]

So let me get this straight, if I ship it to an address at the end of my street and then the buyer wants to return it from the moon, I have to pay the cost of shipping from the moon simply because the buyer claims it's not as described?

[pjcdn2005]

No. If you read the post again she said "You only have to pay return shipping from the address you shipped to-- which is the freight forwarder in the USA.".
 If you shipped to a buyer on your street then you would be responsible to pay return shipping from the address on your street, not from the moon.