Hi Guys and gals,
I need some advice as I am relatively new to selling on ebay...

Someone from Chile used Buy It Now to purchase one of my items (rubber Soundwave) even though I explicitly stated in the blurb I only ship to US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK unless they contact me first for correct shipping (since being in Hong Kong it can't use the automatically calculate shipping option). They've paid for it and the base shipping.

The shipping to Chile is over twice the price of the item + listed shipping combined so I have messaged the buyer to let him know this and that I had stated he needed to contact me first before buying. He has not replied.

The user is brand new to eBay, has a 0 rating and bid on my most viewed/watched item.
Whilst I would like to think the best of people I can't help but wonder if I am being scammed.

My question is: do I have to ship to him and take the burden of the cost even though I specifically had it noted in my auction that a buyer needed to contact me first?
What is the best way for me to handle this?

 

There is an option under seller preferences to prevent buyers from countries you don't want to ship to from bidding. It is likely it was not selected.

I would contact the buyer and explain the situation. Having zero feedback does not necessarily mean its an automatic scammer, could be someone new to surfing on eBay or using a proxy service to make the purchase.

If the buyer tries to guilt you into shipping and making you eat the costs, I would just contact eBay directly to resolve the issue.

 

Thanks for the advice. I was kind of hoping to give people worldwide the benefit of the option to buy, but now that this has happened I think I will restrict my auctions to those only in the countries I can offer the discounted shipping for...

Are eBay understanding in these kinds of situations?
I am more than happy to issue this person a refund for the misunderstanding. I have sent the buyer a second message giving him the option of paying the extra shipping or me cancelling his purchase and giving a refund.
Does a situation like this penalise my rating?

 

eBay should be understanding, but sometimes they side with the buyer if the terms of sale is not correctly advertised. They will likely direct you to the settings section to set your listings to only allow buyers in countries you will ship to bid.

Go to My Account, under the Site Preferences tab, there is a section called Buyer Requirements where you can set this up.

Would it penalize your rating? Only if the guy leaves negative feedback, which eBay can remove if you opt to cancel the sale.

 

Thanks so much for your advice. I've given the buyer 24 hours to reply and let me know what he wants to do. Then I'll contact eBay and see what they say.

Sadly, I'll set up my preferences to restrict to US, UK, Canada, Oz and NZ from now on. Sorry rest of the world. Lesson learned. :/

 

I'd also like to point out that just because a buyer is international, does not mean the cost is higher. I've sold things all over the world, MOST countries are covered under EBays international shipping policy, where you only have to cover the shipping cost to a distribution center in the US. The buyer covers the shipping charges from there.

Just something to look into

 

I'm sorry but i agree with the others...I would contact ebay about it.
you taking a that much of a hit just to complete a sale that you should not have to complete due to the buyer not reading the auction is just bad business sense.

And it is a chance that it was just a mistake...but lately with all the crap ebay buyers are pulling (trying to get refunds after shipping. not paying for items, trying to cancel bids after the auction is over, etc) i would not doubt that it might be someone trying to pull a fast one on you.

 

That's not what the OP is referring to. From his post he is not enrolled into what you are describing, which is eBay's Global Shipping Program.

You have to be enrolled in eBay's program in order to take advantage of this coverage.

This program, which is optional, allows the seller to ship the item to eBay, and then eBay will send it out to the seller. The pros is obviously eBay handles the deciding of the final shipping cost, and the seller only has to worry about shipping to the center.

The cons, and I can say this honestly as I do use the program for certain items, is that eBay will only use USPS Priority Mail to ship, which does drive the cost up, plus they do not mark shipments as gifts, thus charging an additional fee for customs. International buyers often shy away from auctions which use the program due to the higher costs.

 

As Omega mentioned I am not part of the Global Shipping Program. I'm relatively new to EBay and still learning the ropes. The other thing is, being located in Hong Kong I also don't have access to all the options those of you in the US do. I use the US site to add/manage my listings (because Hong Kong eBay doesn't have an english language option and I'm a kiwi girl who can't read any Chinese - I only live here) but several of the options are blanked out or come up with red "unable to do this" blurbs.
I only have 2 choices for postage values (both have to be flat rates) - one for shipping to the USA and one for the rest of the world which is why I have tried to cover myself by including specifics in my blurbs about shipping for those living everywhere else.
The postal costs I list are the cheapest and fastest (outside of Speedpost/Priority) but are limited to only a select few countries (which are where most of my sales seem to be coming from) and that is what I use in my listings.

As for resolution:
I was lucky. After lining up the options the buyer asked me to cancel the purchase and paypal automatically refunded him.
It still seems a bit odd as the buyer ignored my messages until I set a time limit before I would take it to eBay but I am relieved with the outcome.

I want to thank you guys for your advice. I really appreciate it.

 

Glad you have a good outcome Bladestorm
(That's a pretty decent game too if you haven't played it before)

And thanks for clarifying the global shipping program Omegax80. I knew there was something special I had to do, but don't sell enough to know exactly what it was called.