Buyer can't pay in Seller's Currency — Need Suggestions

[conspiratorist]

Hello,

I'm a seller on ebay.ca, and a buyer located in the US recently  purchased an item from me. They're having payment issues, and they're getting an error saying, "error can’t pay with this currency". 

I'm wondering if there's anything I can do for the buyer, or if it's solely on their onus to solve. I've asked the buyer what payment method he might be using, but they've not replied yet. I need some help figuring what the problem might be or if it's already a lost cause. 

Thanks!

[reallynicestamps]

I don't think your buyer is in the USA.

The Managed Payments system allows customers to pay with Visa, MasterCard, Google Pay and Apple Pay.

All of those are available in US dollars and work smoothly with Canadian dollars.

Have you ever used a Canadian credit card while touring the USA?

(What doesn't work is Discover cards which are US only. )

Do you have the customer's address? Google it. It may be a freight forwarder in the USA .

That is NOT a problem.

Forwarders are second only to USPS mailboxes for security.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

The customer may be using a card that does not have a US or Canadian equivalent.

Or none at all and is just fooling you.

Do NOT text.

Do NOT give your Paypal address.

Requests for either of these are red flags for a SCAM.

You will get a fake message telling you that you are paid and you should ship now.

Don't.

[reallynicestamps]

And don't ask for the buyer's address. Even to check about being a forwarder or being in the USA.

[motomike_canada]

I've had this a number of times, from US buyers...

A few of them were because their bank had locked foreign currency transactions; another was trying to use a pre-paid card that wasn't able to be used outside the USA. I'm sure the other few were variations of this. 

A couple of the buyers worked to resolve the issue on their end. 

rant

IMO, eBay should be accepting transactionsn in the buyer's home currency, same as shopify does.   On top of the above issues, I frequently get buyers in the USA not understanding that $20CAD only costs them ~$15USD and either complain about the price, have left negative, think it's a double-charge on their statement since there's two lines (one for the transaction, one for the currency conversion) and do a chargeback... or not buy the item at all.  It's a bunch of nonsense that could easily be solved on eBay's end.

They wanted to take their 3% of all incoming monies, but created a whole host of other issues that we didn't have when payments were managed by PayPal. 

/rant

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@conspiratorist wrote:

Hello,

I'm a seller on ebay.ca, and a buyer located in the US recently  purchased an item from me. They're having payment issues, and they're getting an error saying, "error can’t pay with this currency". 

I'm wondering if there's anything I can do for the buyer, or if it's solely on their onus to solve. I've asked the buyer what payment method he might be using, but they've not replied yet. I need some help figuring what the problem might be or if it's already a lost cause. 

Thanks!

---

@conspiratorist 

Besides the Discover card not working with Canadian sellers, they recently added Venmo. That too will not work in Canada. 

[kawartha-ephemera]

If the sale is worthy of a little extra effort, you might consider offering the buyer an alternative means of purchasing the item in $US. Message the buyer and communicate the following.

1. Explain to the buyer that the item purchased was listed on EBay Canada, therefore the item was priced and sold in $CAD. Since payment in Canadian currency is an issue for the buyer, empathize and offer an alternative means of purchase in $US.

2. In order have the buyer repurchase the item in $US, you would have to ask the buyer to request cancellation of the ebay.ca sale. Assuming the buyer is amenable to a cancellation of the original sale and repurchase in $US, offer the following solution.

3. Once cancellation of the original sale has been confirmed, sign-in to ebay.com and relist the item there in $US. Once the listing is active, inform the buyer their item is now listed on ebay.com in $US, and provide the listing's ID number.

Would relisting on ebay.com be worthwhile? Perhaps completing a $300 or $400 CAD sale might warrant offering the buyer a solution to their payment problem. The offer would need to include firm $US pricing for both the item and shipping. Selling fees on eBay.com may be slightly higher or lower for the shipping component, that fee would be based on shipping cost to USA addresses. There is also the additional selling cost of currency exchange.

[conspiratorist]

Interesting, but nothing of the sort was asked of me other than if it was possible to pay in USD. According to the buyer, they'd tried using their credit card, paypal, and ebay gift cards and nothing was working. Their address was a US address (it was in the order details), but I can't say if it was a freight-forwarding address. 

[conspiratorist]

That's definitely a possible solution. I'd have to consider the fees, like you mentioned, before going that route.

[reallynicestamps]

but I can't say if it was a freight-forwarding address.

Google Maps Street View will show if it is a residential address or a plant /business near the airport.

Don't worry about the Yelp reviews.

EBay is no longer accepting American Express cards.

As a onetime B&M retailer I am not at all surprised.

[marnotom!]

It probably has to do with the fact that much of the American banking system is still pretty primitive compared to those of most other western nations.

My recent purchases from American sellers have given me the option of having the currency converted by eBay or my credit card issuer. I’m surprised but not surprised that American buyers don’t seem to be offered a similar choice.

Perhaps these blocks on foreign currency purchases instituted by US financial institutions and money handlers are ham-handed fraud protection strategies.

[dhslk]

Hello. I just lost a $250 sale and over an hour of my time (and the buyer's time) with this same issue. The buyer got to the page where they could choose the currency they wanted to pay with, but, no matter which currency they chose, they couldn't pay. We tried various ways around it, until they were fed up and bought from a US seller for more money. I contacted ebay and they said that the issue was with the buyer and their bank. The buyer provided a screenshot of their completed sale with the other seller, so I don't know if it's because of the currency page on ebay providing some sort of warning to the bank (eg. maybe they think I'm in Russia or something), or if it's because I am located in Canada rather than the US.

My sales have plummeted to the US, so is this a US banking system issue, or an ebay-created problem?

[dhslk]

...and couldn't ebay at least create a pop up to the buyer, if this happens, recommending payment options that WOULD work for purchases from Canada?

[marnotom!]

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@dhslk wrote:

My sales have plummeted to the US, so is this a US banking system issue, or an ebay-created problem?

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I’m going to guess the former, based on reading other discussions on eBay.com and some non eBay-sites. See my earlier post.

[dhslk]

In the past, Paypal would have buffered this problem, correct? Shouldn't ebay's payment system be doing the same, acting as an intermediary? This is nuts.

I just accepted an offer a few minutes ago from another US buyer. Let's see if they are able to pay me.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@conspiratorist wrote:

Hello,

I'm a seller on ebay.ca, and a buyer located in the US recently  purchased an item from me. They're having payment issues, and they're getting an error saying, "error can’t pay with this currency". 

I'm wondering if there's anything I can do for the buyer, or if it's solely on their onus to solve. I've asked the buyer what payment method he might be using, but they've not replied yet. I need some help figuring what the problem might be or if it's already a lost cause. 

Thanks!

---

@conspiratorist 

Is it possible buyer is trying to pay using Venmo. It's accepted in the USA but as of yet not in Canada as an approved payment method.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/paying-items/paying-venmo?id=5462&st=3&pos=1&query=Paying%20with%20...

Even American Express will be an issue later this month. Discover is no longer avalable for Canadian sellers

Beginning on August 17, 2024, American Express will no longer be accepted as a form of payment for checkout or selling fees on eBay. For more information see FAQs here.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

All you can do is instruct them to contact eBay directly and to also contact their bank based on eBay's instructions. Buyers don't always understand that the individual sellers have no control over the payment process. It's one thing to provide a quick and easy fix if you already know the answer, but this is the kind of issue where they need to contact an appropriate eBay CSR. 

Otherwise, you could ask them to try a different payment method. 

If they still cannot pay, tell them to let you know that they would like to cancel the transaction because they cannot pay. Then you can cancel. 

[marnotom!]

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@dhslk wrote:

In the past, Paypal would have buffered this problem, correct? Shouldn't ebay's payment system be doing the same, acting as an intermediary? 

Buyers can still use PayPal to pay for eBay purchases.  The payment will still be handled by Managed Payments rather than transferred to your PayPal account, however.  I guess I assumed your buyer didn’t have a PayPal account, otherwise I would have suggested that you ask your buyer to try paying that way.

[dhslk]

And I had another US customer yesterday whose offer I accepted, on a different item. They had't paid in about an hour, so I sent them an invoice, in case the (ANOTHER ebay 'glitch' going on for years) ebay invoice was confusing them with non-US shipping options showing in addition to the correct US shipping options.

They paid at about the same time, then sent me a nervous 'rant' about 'was I a scammer because they had paid (presumably tried to pay) at least six times'. I am guessing that they kept trying to pay the original invoice unsuccessfully, then were able to pay the one that I generated (or perhaps they finally managed to pay the ebay invoice, only to receive mine a minute later).

I am more and more certain that there is some sort of major issue going on, where many US buyers are unable to complete payment. I only knew about it because of 'make an offer' being a 2 step process.

What is going on, ebay? I am sure it is something that they are doing to send some sort of false alarm to the payment provider.

[recped]

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@dhslk wrote:

 in case the (ANOTHER ebay 'glitch' going on for years) ebay invoice was confusing them with non-US shipping options showing in addition to the correct US shipping options.

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I had that issue years ago but I was able to make it go away.

Post a screenshot of your shipping setup, I don't remember what I changed but I can check and compare to see if there is a difference.