Ebay highest bidder comes from abroad

macfly

Thanks for that. The seller has a point. Using that drop box should bar international bidders. There's no need for ebay to read the listing, software could do that. I've been using ebay as a business seller for years, and I wasn't fully aware of that.

Westin

I think you are now being very rude about the Dutch. I have sold and posted many items to Holland and as yet never had a problem and always received nice positive feedback - unlike many UK buyers! You report he also paid you promptly - again unlike many UK bidders! His English is probably far better than your Dutch.
May be he is on holiday and hasn't checked emails. If however he doesn't reply I believe you should post it taking a small loss on the transaction , rather than just relist or 2nd chance.

*_ash_*_2

Hi,

I have had a similar case once in ebay,(long time back) i was a new seller and not ready for international postage and i know i had lots of different ideas like what if they say they dont receive, and i dont know the country postal system, heard of italy stories before that items get lost blah blah...
I had a listing which was won by someone in france, and i was disappointed and i didnt know why and how (i didnt know you have to block and thought uk only would be enough) but i want to build a good feedback system, i want buyers to trust me, and in business if you are serious and want it long term, you will have to bear loss sometimes, and yes it was free postage too. So i just send by small air packets and within 4 days i received feedback too...I was so happy and forgot that i had send this for free! ..the feedback is so much worth than the postage...which also build my confidence and start selling stuff internationally charging the right postage costs and infact my sales went up and got more profit then selling in uk itself.
Remember your stuff sells for more internationally then in uk iteself, if you bare loss today, tomorrow you will only get profit. I had sent to many european countries including holland and they always give feedback, infact there were so many uk buyers which never gave one even after requesting so many times!

theonlywayisup

Unless you send something via a reliable tracked method within the UK, you should not have any reason to fear international parcels up to the value of £46 as you have EXACTLY the same protection as plain first or second class in UK. IMHE buyers from non domestic countries tend to be more truthful and reliable than those from the UK.

macfly

That's equally as daft as someone believing foreigners are less honest. People are basically the same in all relatively wealthy coubtries. Some good, some not so good.

Hammyman

I send mine by DHL for international. Fully tracked to the door and you even get the name of the person who signed for it.

theonlywayisup

Hammyman wrote: »

I send mine by DHL for international. Fully tracked to the door and you even get the name of the person who signed for it.

Thats fine for something over £46, but for less, it's overkill.

Your laptops should go that way, but a piece of £5 clothing (not sure what this thread started at) would be a bit pointless.

Macfly, what I was trying to say, is that I find Non UK buyers just as reliable as UK buyers, or even slightly more so. That's my experience. I have not ever had an INR from an international buyer and I post about 150 a day, 45% going non UK. Those that are over £100 (which would equate to £46ish wholesale) go via courier.

terra_ferma

macfly wrote: »

That's equally as daft as someone believing foreigners are less honest. People are basically the same in all relatively wealthy coubtries. Some good, some not so good.

..and in less wealthy countries they are all scammers? :eek:

macfly

Where did I say that there are no scammers in wealthy countries? That would be the only way you could derive your comment from my post.
Most crime studies show that deprivatiion is a key factor in crimes of property. Hence more such crimes in countries where 95% of the population is impoverished.
Or, without bothering to look at that, how many ebayers post to Africa?

ironman1

You really do learn quite alot from the posters on this site. The majority seem to think they are right and no one can dare argue with them.

I always hold my hands up when I'm in the wrong. In this case my 'crime' is not blocking foreigners from buying my items on ebay. I honestly thought the 'UK Only' option would be enough. To be honest I'm still confused as to why ebay put it on there. There is no point at all. But why should the seller be expected to know this exactly?

At the end of the day it's all been blown out of proportion. It's a few quid but the principle is the Dutch fella should know better than to bid for something where it's clear the seller wants to post to the UK only. At least send a two second message offering extra postage costs or even just ask if it's possible to ship abroad. Whether it allows him to buy or not shouldn't be here nor there. Its just something I personally wouldn't do.

It's interesting that every time I ask the up themself posters on here if they would do this (bid for an item where it clearly states it's not available to sell to their country) they fail to answer a simple question.

That for me tells its own story and everything I need to know...