I've been away from Ebay for a long time as a seller. I listed a Deardorff, making it as clear as I could that I wasn't shipping it except to the US or Canada. As the last minute I have a Chinese bidder. Anybody else had this problem and if so, what's the best thing to do? Thanks.
Kevin
A Chinese bidder from China or USA?
In the specs for the listing, you can limit bidders to the locations you will ship to and accept bids from. If you do that, Ebay will not allow a bid from unapproved geography.
I'd make sure he pays the full load for shipping as well as the inconvenience in filling out the custom forms at the post office. If he won't pay, cancel the sale. Just my two cents.
Keith Pitman
You do not have to sell to a buyer who has a shipping address which is not part of your listing terms (must be in the countries you ship to details when you set up the original listing). You cannot be faulted, no negative feedback or defect can be recorded.
If the item has not yet been paid for go to the order details page and click the "resolve a problem", follow the instructions form there or call Ebay SC, day time, on a weekday (so yo can speak to a US based agent), and ask for guidance.
If it has been paid (which could not be possible as you do not have international shipping listed), then you need to first refund the payment in full and then follow the above.
If you had international shipping as an option, you have to sell, and ship to your buyer or you will be at fault.
On a side note, i will offer an opinion even though it was not asked for, there is no reason not to sell to china. Just as many bad buyers in who happen to not speak english reside in NA, and many more nice buyers who speak excellent google translate english do not live here. If buyer is willing to pay for shipping (use USPS Priority Express mail international for some kind of signature confirmation, though not in china, or PM me on how to ship with DHL Express for a better rate then USPS), then why not? DHL takes care of all customs release and hand delivers anywhere around the world in 2-3 days, with signature. Paypal/Ebay offer the same protection for domestic sales as it does for international ones...
Good luck!
Offer to ship it to any address in the U.S. the buyer chooses (after the funds clear).
Best regards,
Bob
CEO-CFO-EIEIO, Ret.
Thanks for the pointers. I just asked for shipping address, always possible there will be a US address for that. So I'll find out.
If you're wondering how it can be done, I had one this month buying one of my items with a US address, then paying with Paypal with an address in China. I assumed the US address was a shipping service, for those sellers who won't ship outside the USA. As it happens, I'm more than happy to ship directly to China, however eBay calculated shipping to the US address, which was half of what shipping to China costs. A quick message and request for additional funds resulted in instant payment of the difference, but I suspect the buyer would have accepted shipment to the US address had I made a fuss. Obviously it would have cost him more, as he would have then paid for the shipping service to re-label the parcel and ship it to China. I believe some of the services inspect the item as well, due to the previously short inspection window eBay gave for returns.
I suggest contacting the buyer if you don't want to ship to China, he/she may have a shipping service or may know of them and be amenable to using one. However, and I don't care how many times I repeat this, over the years I have had far more problems with US buyers than with Asian buyers; if I were going to block one country from my auctions, it wouldn't be China.
if you go to the post office, you are not only wasting your time, you are also paying almost 30% more then you would have by printing the shipping label from the comfort if your own home, have ebay upload tracking info automatically, and order a USPS mail carrier to your door to pick up the package.Originally Posted by Keith Pitman
Ebay allows for multiple addresses. It is easy to have one with a US address, and then follow up after winning a sale with another address, perhaps in another country. In some cases the ebay system will catch it and not allow the buyer to change it, but sometimes it will allow and ask you to provide actual shipping cost to your buyer.
My best buyers for have been from Chinese who worked through a broker located in the USA who specializes in crazy expensive stuff for their Chinese constituents. The point is to deliver only to buyers with a USA shipping address. The deal terminates at the delivery point. One that I followed because I though he was out of his mind was located in a cheap industrial complex in LA and he had a tremendous volume, all through the 'Bay.
So, for those who beg to ship to China or any place outside of your declared shipping area, either ignore them or have a cut-n-paste that suggests "Please work though a USA resident broker." I ignore them. Thankfully, none have bid and won anyway which is simply a brief nuisance.
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I have sent stuff to China many times. Never a problem.
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