Managed Payments International Fee for US Buyers

[vintageindiana]

I have been selling on Ebay for years and this a new one to me.  Ebay charges an International Fee of 1.65% even if item is shipped to and from the US.  The seller's ship to address was in Oregon.  Because the buyer opened the Ebay account overseas, even though they live in the US, Ebay charges the SELLERS an International Fee on sales.  First, sellers have no way of knowing where the seller opened their account before the item is purchased.  Second, sellers have no way of blocking buyers who have opened their account overseas.  Third, according to eBay customer service rep the only option is to cancel the order which would be a defect on the seller's account.  The customer rep said this is simply part of selling on eBay.   Has anyone else run into this?

[ittybitnot]

 The seller's ship to address was in Oregon.

@vintageindiana 

Just another popular location for freight forwarders.  You are being charged the international fee because the payment is from a non-US account be it PayPal, c.card etc. 

Even if you only accepted PayPal, they charge a higher percentage for same.  PayPal has an option to block payments (not bids or sales) made with non-US instruments.  Managed payments does not have that option. 

[redmodelt]

Then there is the fee charged by your bank for moving the money to the non US account when buying. Item was bought then shipped from California warehouse to Oregon but the payment went to China. Item was payed for using my Northwest based bank debit card.

[luckythewinner]

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@vintageindiana wrote:

Has anyone else run into this?

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Yes, it has been discussed here many times. 

PayPal has the same sort of fee - if a PayPal account was created in another country, there is an additonal international fee applied. 

I think PayPal's fee added another 1.5% (4.4% instead of 2.9%). PayPal also did not care where you are shipping the item. 

[gracieallen01]

ebay isn't the only place to charge more for an International payment.  Even the USPS charges more for an International Money Order than they do for a Domestic Money Order - because of processing and exchange rate.  Nothing has changed.

[glasser]

I believe some of these forwarders actually have relationships with eBay and show listings in other languages--like Japanese--so the buyer maybe purchasing in another country.

the 1.6% fee is not bad if it opens up new markets. I sell about 50% international on eBay and gladly pay the fee to be exposed to markets way out of my reach normally. PP does charge more as well. 

For international that's the cost of doing business. 

There should be a way, if you want, to exclude international buying if the fee applies not just through the ship to country parameters. Selling internationally through a forwarder is one of the easiest ways to do it.

[1tuna]

I have been selling for many years and new that I had to pay extra when I shipped out of the country

I have penty of sales out of the country...I also never realized that the extra charge was applied to the reshippers.I thought it was stricly for international sales.

my sales would not be so hot if I did not have all the international buyers that I do.

the small fee that is paid is just a tradeoff of doing buisness with foreigners who are eager buyers.

getting in the way of an eager buyer does not make sense to me..i like to roll out the red carpet for my buyers

[monroe67]

On a certain category of items my selling ID often lists -- usually a bid on the first day has meant a buyer is Russian or sometimes Chinese.  I'm always happy to hear that "cha-ching" from my cell phone!  

As long as the ship-to address is here, within the USA, I am also happy.   Including territories such as Puerto Rico and APO/FPO addresses.  The only non-USA nation I send to is Canada.  

I have understood that the larger PayPal fee (4.4% rather than 2.9%) had to do with the currency of the payment as it was received by PayPal.   I don't think it is related at all to the address of the buyer or the ship-to address.   PayPal received the payment in Russian rubles?  PayPal fee is 4.4% (plus 30 cents, of course).      

[pjcdn2005]

It has nothing to do with the currency used.  For example, I have a Canadian Paypal account but I sell on both .com and .ca so have both currencies in my account.  If  purchased from a US seller I would pay in $US however they would still pay Paypal and now eBay an international fee because my account is not in the US.  When a different currency is used the buyer pays for the exchange, not the seller.

[vintageindiana]

Thank you for your comment.  My opinion is that the buyer should be paying these International fees not the seller.  Sellers have no way of knowing where the buyer opened their account before they buy the item.  Maybe eBay should have the option for sellers to block buyers who have not opened their account in US.   

[vintageindiana]

Thank you for your response.  My opinions is that the buyer should be paying this international fee instead of the seller. Sellers have no way of knowing where the account was opened or blocking these buyers before the item was purchased.    

[vintageindiana]

Thank you for your response.  Think the buyer should pay these international fees.  I have no knowledge over where the buyer opened their account or where the item / payment goes prior to item being purchased by the buyer.  If they buyer is is using a non US account then they should pay these international fees .... not the seller.  Or give sellers the option to block non US  accounts not going through GSP.  Just my opinion.