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Ebay Buyer In America

Hi, I would like some help please. I have sold an item on ebay uk postage £3.50. Someone has bid and won and that person is in America. What can I do as it is going to cost more than £3.50 to post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Comments

  • soolin
    soolin Posts: 73,412 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Just send an invoice shoiwng the correct post and packing charges to the US, buyer cannot expect to get it at the UK cost.

    Also, if you don't want to sell overseas then reset your seller preferences to exclude bidders from countries that you do not ship to.
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  • First of all find out how much postage to the states will be ( check on royal mail price finder) then email him with the cost of postage explaining that although it was actually an auction for uk bidders you will gladly post to him for the extra cost of the shipping. If he agrees to this then all fine and dandy - if not then you may have to either report him as a non-paying bidder or just cancel the transaction and relist your item - just as happened to me recently with a buyer from Portugal who expected the same postage fees as i had stated for the UK.
    Also in future you may want to edit your buyer requirements in seller preferences to exclude bidders from countries to which you are not willing to post to as this seems to be quite common problem.
  • looie
    looie Posts: 706 Forumite
    thanks for the quick reply, i thought there might be some way round it but i was just a bit unsure. Next time i will take your advice about shipping overseas.
  • looie wrote: »
    thanks for the quick reply, i thought there might be some way round it but i was just a bit unsure. Next time i will take your advice about shipping overseas.

    You're nuts if you decide to just sell in the UK.
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  • looie
    looie Posts: 706 Forumite
    could I ask one more question, me being a bit thick. how do I change my seller preferences to maybe block us bidders in the future. I am still quite new to ebay. I have only ever posted to uk and european countries before.
  • YOUNGE1
    YOUNGE1 Posts: 367 Forumite
    You can invoice the buyer with a couple of options eg surface mail/airmail and let them make the choice and explain in the message to seller part that costs to USA are obviously more than £3.50, and that you have checked the correct postage to USA with Royal Mail and have given them the options. Also if the purchase is over the customs limit (about £20) inform them that they are liable for these costs.
  • looie wrote: »
    could I ask one more question, me being a bit thick. how do I change my seller preferences to block overseas bidders please. I am still quite new to ebay

    Why not sell overseas? It's hardly rocket science.
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  • On your "my ebay" page click on "site preferences" (should be on the list on the left hand side), then look for "buyer requirements" - click edit and it will give you various options such as blocking buyers with unpaid item strikes and blocking bidders from other countries etc.

    Like the man said above sometimes it pays to sell outwith the UK but it depends on what you are selling, ie really bulky heavy items not so good but smaller goods like rare books, console games or cds etc may net you more cash if you sell internationally.
  • chja
    chja Posts: 913 Forumite
    Why restrict your market place to the UK ?

    More overseas buyers are bidding due to the value of the £ vs $ or euro. With the Royal Mail website you can easily work out the cost of shipping overseas and the standard proof of posting insures you to £36. I normally quote the most expensive postal zone as "sellers standard international rate".

    I've had less hassle from overseas buyers than I have UK based ones.
  • chja wrote: »
    I've had less hassle from overseas buyers than I have UK based ones.

    Same here.

    Tonight so far I've sold to Sweden, Eire and Israel as well s the UK.

    Limiting yourself to the UK is nuts
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