USA auctions only, not so simple afterall! (1 Viewer)

[Iron Brigade]

During my most recent eBay listings I sold 6 out of 7 K&C sets. I listed them or so I thought for USA sales only. I established USA postal service only and noted in my description of sets that I am going with USA buyers only. On one of these items I noticed that there was a bid from an asian country. I E-mailed the person who submitted the bid that my auction was for USA buyers only via E-mail E-mail system. I also advised him that if eBay did accept his bid and he gave an USA address of an friend, relative, etc I would still honor his bid. This person from Asia did not win the item in question in any case. Then today I got via eBay an E-mail from this person that was of the most horrible nature and I will not repeat here. I reported this person to eBay who said they will give him a warning.

When I called eBay back a little later to ask why this person's bid was accepted by eBay in the first place I was told that when going to the "Sell an item" section that you have to use the "Avanced Listing" Option to get to a section where you can delete nations and or regions you do not want to sell to. Otherwise eBay will still accept their bids regardless of what you say about shipping methods and in the description about no non-USA sales. Was I the only one who did not know this information until today?

"Iron Brigade"

 

[OzDigger]

I do know about the feature but the Asian guy should not have bid based on what you stated in your description.

 

[PanzerAce1944]

I do know about the feature but the Asian guy should not have bid based on what you stated in your description.

Its all the sellers fault isn't it ! E-Bay needs to level the playing field again instead of everything being as lopsided as it is now.

 

[OzDigger]

Its all the sellers fault isn't it ! E-Bay needs to level the playing field again instead of everything being as lopsided as it is now.

You got that right. I had issues with some Asian (and African) buyers several years ago but the country exclusion feature soon put a stop to that.

 

[Iron Brigade]

Dear "OzDigger" & "PanzerAce1944":

Thanks for your input on my eBay selling problem. I starting selling on eBay on my own in August 2005. I used two eBay consignment sellers the end of 2004 into July 2005. It seems that one is never able to keep up with all of the changes eBay makes, not to mention all the "fine print" data that one is not aware of until it comes up at some point. I had to delete my two eBay K&C auctions (the two sets that did not sell in past weeks) that I had up for auctions again since yesterday so I could start over with new listings to select the areas of the world I want to not accept bids from. At least I seems as though I got it right. When I started on my own selling on eBay I was selling to within USA only, then by the end of 2005 I went worldwide. However, since last year I am going back to USA only to keep life simple for a guy who wants to enjoy his retirement and his toy soldier hobby!!

Best regards, "Iron Brigade" / Gary

 

[glossman]

Dear Gary,

I am sorry to read that you have had an unpleasant eBay experience with an Asian bidder. The "horrible" reply back by this person was uncalled for. I hope the bidder was not from my country. If he is, please email his eBay User ID to me.

Best Wishes, Raymond.

 

[Iron Brigade]

Dear Gary,

I am sorry to read that you have had an unpleasant eBay experience with an Asian bidder. The "horrible" reply back by this person was uncalled for. I hope the bidder was not from my country. If he is, please email his eBay User ID to me.

Best Wishes, Raymond.

Hello Raymond:

I have sent you a regular E-mail message which discloses the country this "crazy" would be buyer came from as well as the message he last sent to me via eBay's E-mail message system. Thanks very much for your support as well!

Best regards, Gary

 

[wds0855]

Thats very good info, i was never aware of that advanced listing option either.

walt

 

[Gideon]

you can create a regional exclusion list in the advanced settings and you can also define which countries you won't ship to in the shipping preferences section.

here's the thing which is kind of confusing - maybe this is what happened to you:

when you go to ebay.com, you land on the american site. if you go to ebay.co.uk, you'll land on the UK site, ebay.de is the german site and so on. so, even though you state that an item will only go to usa customers, a user can still log in on any of the international sites and bid. if the user was on the ebay.hk site or the other asian equivalents, they would not have seen your listings as you specified only domestic shipping.

thing is that many ebay users have figured out that really great stuff is on country specific sites so they (and me included) will go to internation sites, sign in, use a translation service and bid on things we want. usually there isn't a problem. though I did have an interesting experience once with a german wwii photo album where I sent a money order to germany and they returned my money in us currency, saying "Onkle Hans no go US. US kill Onkle Hans. Hell you go!"

just to clarify one more thing, you really should create that bidder exclusion. if someone from another country bids, they pay and you refund their payment, you'll likely have to file a cancel transaction to get your fees back. if the buyer wants to be a jerk, he'll say that he wants to continue with it forcing you to have to pay the final value fee.

 

[Iron Brigade]

Thats very good info, i was never aware of that advanced listing option either.

walt

Hello Walt:

Thanks for your message above. I am glad to know I was not the only one to be unware of the "Advanced Listing" option relative to excluding nations from bidding on my USA sales only. I have since been told that option may not stop 100% of non USA buyers from placing bids.

"Iron Brigade" / Gary

 

[Iron Brigade]

you can create a regional exclusion list in the advanced settings and you can also define which countries you won't ship to in the shipping preferences section.

here's the thing which is kind of confusing - maybe this is what happened to you:

when you go to ebay.com, you land on the american site. if you go to ebay.co.uk, you'll land on the UK site, ebay.de is the german site and so on. so, even though you state that an item will only go to usa customers, a user can still log in on any of the international sites and bid. if the user was on the ebay.hk site or the other asian equivalents, they would not have seen your listings as you specified only domestic shipping.

thing is that many ebay users have figured out that really great stuff is on country specific sites so they (and me included) will go to internation sites, sign in, use a translation service and bid on things we want. usually there isn't a problem. though I did have an interesting experience once with a german wwii photo album where I sent a money order to germany and they returned my money in us currency, saying "Onkle Hans no go US. US kill Onkle Hans. Hell you go!"

just to clarify one more thing, you really should create that bidder exclusion. if someone from another country bids, they pay and you refund their payment, you'll likely have to file a cancel transaction to get your fees back. if the buyer wants to be a jerk, he'll say that he wants to continue with it forcing you to have to pay the final value fee.

"Gideon":

Thanks for your commments. It makes me all the more certain to just list for USA sales only on eBay at least normally. The few extra dollars one might make sometimes by going with world wide eBay sales is not worth the problems that can come up from time to time.

"Iron Brigade"

 

[William S. Grey]

A similar incidence happened to me. I posted in my description that I do not accept overseas bidders, No overseas bidders please! My auction was for a WWI Trench Lantern, well a bidder in France was the highest bidder and it took me a long time to work things out with eBay and the bidder. That's when I learned that you can check off an exclusions list of where you don't want to sell to. Look carefully when you work up your listings and you'll see it. Be sure to click all the regions where you don't want to ship to, and confirm it. Hope this helps. Bill www.eastcoasttoysoldiershow.com

 

[Iron Brigade]

A similar incidence happened to me. I posted in my description that I do not accept overseas bidders, No overseas bidders please! My auction was for a WWI Trench Lantern, well a bidder in France was the highest bidder and it took me a long time to work things out with eBay and the bidder. That's when I learned that you can check off an exclusions list of where you don't want to sell to. Look carefully when you work up your listings and you'll see it. Be sure to click all the regions where you don't want to ship to, and confirm it. Hope this helps. Bill www.eastcoasttoysoldiershow.com

Bill:

Thanks for your above noted comments.

Gary