I was not aware that I would be charged an international transaction fee when I ordered a small item that would ship from Pomona, California. The eBay Managed Payment window accepted payment with a credit card to the seller account located in Hong Kong and an international transaction fee was posted to my credit card account in addition to the original amount. My complaint is that the Managed Payments Window did not disclose that an international transaction fee would be imposed because the sellers account was offshore. My impression was that the credit card payment would be to ebay and that they would deposit amounts to the seller account. Are sellers who accept only PayPal able to somehow bypass eBay payment processing? The item shipped from New Jersey, thousands of miles from Pomona. The item shipped from New Jersey, closer to Pomona than Hong Kong, but in the United States, as advertised.
I would expect eBay to impose foreign transaction fees on sellers when paying to offshore accounts, not to unsuspecting buyers without disclosure. If eBay intends to indirectly impose foreign transaction fees on buyer’s credit card or PayPal transactions, the item should be in the same country as the payment account. Otherwise, then US eBay should not be allowed to request payment from US buyers in a foreign currency. Although eBay remains a market facilitator, handling payment processing means that eBay is paid by the buyer and eBay pays the seller. There is no room here for eBay to pass foreign currency fees to buyers of US items. If fees are to be passed on to buyers, amounts should be visible and affect search results ordered by price.
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