24 years on ebay. I've never encountered this.
I was watching an item.
The seller sent me a offer.
I accepted the offer.
Now when I go to pay, it turns out the seller does/will not ship to Hawaii.
When I try to pay I get this message...
If I try to request order total, I get this message...
The option to cancel the sale is not there.
I messaged the seller about this, asking to cancel the order but he keeps asking me for the order number.
There is no order number as far as I can see.
Maybe because it hasn't been paid for yet?
In the meantime the item remains in my shopping cart and I have no way of getting rid of it.
Any ideas?
24 comments
airsheep
·2 years agoSadly, a "Does not ship to AK/HI" does not keep those items from appearing in lists when I search. Same thing for "Local pickup only" because 99 times out of 100 I can't pick it up; I wish it did.
marnotom!
·2 years ago@ajs_coins_and_alchemy, I've realized I'd forgotten to add a very important point to my previous post. If the seller has set their blocks correctly, I shouldn't even be seeing their listings if I search for them. (That's why I asked you earlier to do a keyword search.) The only way to actually bring up that red message is to search by item number or change my "ships to" location after viewing the listing with a "ships to" location that would be valid for the listing, which may not even be possible if, say, the seller ships internationally.
I'm gathering that you're able to see listings even when your "ships to" location is set to your PO box and you even see a shipping price. It's only when you attempt to bid, purchase, or make an offer that you get a message like the one @inhawaii received. Am I understanding this correctly?
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years ago@marnotom!
marnotom!
·2 years ago@ajs_coins_and_alchemy
As I noted earlier, I think the crux of the issue is that creating an exclusion list and creating a block list are separate actions. Shipping destinations can be excluded but I don't believe that's all a seller needs to do to prevent bids or purchases from individuals with shipping addresses in the exclusion list. The seller has to use Buyer Requirements to actually block those bids/purchases as well.
Here's a listing where the seller has PO boxes on their exclusion list. What do you see in the "shipping" section of the listing? Can you find the item with a basic keyword search?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225532954097
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years agoOk. Then you're point is it's not a "glitch", it's a seller who did half the necessary work (exclude, not block). I then argue, if what you say is true, that is a flaw in the system, and it should not be a 2-step process (exclude - block), as you will inevitably have individuals facing what inhawaii has faced, and creating problems. I believe, it SHOULD be the case (if it isn't) that exclusion of buyer's primary address is an auto-block.
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This is clearly designed to prevent the issue inhawaii faced ... however I will raise the point, to be fair, it says "block buyers whose primary shipping address is in a location I don't ship to" ... it does not specifically/clearly state whether "don't ship to" means the primary shipping address is not on the "included" list, or if it is on the "excluded" list. One can forego including/excluding a given location, so it's not on either list.
What's your point? I switched my default to PO Box to "test" whatever it is you want me to test. Yes it shows up in keyword search. What do you want me to "see" or not "see" in shipping section ...????????????? I see the shipping section. What's supposed to be special?
It's a BIN listing. The issue would only arise in an offer/bid scenario when attempting to commit to a purchase w/ default set as PO Box.
******Edit to add, the new payment pre-authorization system does require address prior to commitment to purchase, so anyone subjected to pre-authorized payment will be allowed to select an approved address prior to committing to purchase the same way any BIN listing works. I am not subjected to auction pre-authorization, so I would have this issue bidding on auctions with PO Box default.************
marnotom!
·2 years agoFlaw or not, @ajs_coins_and_alchemy, I believe it's been set up like this for years if not a couple of decades. I'm not sure what the rationale for this double-process is, but at any rate it may date back to when international addresses and the only thing that could be blocked at the listing level and exclusion lists weren't a thing.
It's been a while since my wife and I sold anything on eBay, so the "included" list is new to me. Is this list created by the seller or is it automatically generated by eBay? I thought it was the latter and it only pertained to listings using the GSP in the past and eIS in the present. I've never seen a listing that states that the seller's shipping locations include PO boxes or Alaska/Hawaii.
So I'm gathering that you don't see anything like this on the listing page that pertains to PO boxes:
I would imagine the way this seller has set up their "ships to" locations would prevent not just BIN purchases but also bids. Not sure about offers.
In fairness, it's probably not possible for eBay to set sellers up with this sort of block for buyers with PO boxes as their primary or default shipping address if the computer subroutine is checking for ZIP codes. I'm likely wrong about this, though.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years ago@marnotom!
For the record my use of the term "included" list I mean "Ships to" list. I say included as its simply the contrasted oposite of the excluded list. You "included" it on your Ships To list.
You're right about listing inclusion not specifically including PO box/Hawaii/Alaska. I believe they only can fall on Excluded lists and are assumed included in US if not specifically excluded? Idk i didnt think that part through before. So of course a PO box or Alaska/Hawaii would NEED to be on an excluded list otherwise are presumed included. I am aware though that an Included list can say "United States" only, and Excluded list would only specify the countries that we're not allowed to sell/ship to (Russia, Venezuela, North Korea etc etc etc).
Point being there can be a huge gap between included/excluded where tons of countries can just be not specified on those lists. I never put Canada on my excluded list up until a certain time, so I did receive several offers from Canada while it wasnt included/excluded (dont ask me what my block settings were or weren't at that time, ive got no clue LOL). So if a country is not "included" on (Ships To:) list, and is not explicitly on the excluded list, it can fall into limbo essentially. Does that get covered by the block setting, as I don't "ship to" that country? That's more or less what I was getting at. For an excluded country to require second step block sounds crazy or faulty to me, so thats why I wondered/proposed if the block was to cover the limbo countries that weren't already actively on the excluded list and weren't included on the Ships To list. That would make a lot more sense to me.
Correct, I didn't see that on my shipping page.
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Okay, your 2 last comments about Blocking BIN and using zip codes I don't agree with.
If my default address is excluded (PO Box, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, whatever) I do not beliebe I am blocked from making a purchase (in any case) as long as I am required to provide an address prior to commitment to purchase. Let's be very clear on the difference between commitment and payment. Also, I can't speak to block buyer requirements on this, only excluded shipping location b/c I can't know whether a seller has block setting or not, only exclusion.
If my default address is excluded...
In a BIN listing (assuming IPR) commitment/payment are synonomous. I can add a BIN item to my cart, select my alternate address and pay (commit). That's fine.
In a Bid/Offer listing, if it has pre-authorized payment settings, I'm required to provide a payment method and a shipping address PRIOR to making my bid/offer (commitment), therefore I can provide an alternate approved address prior to bid/offer.
In a Bid/Offer listing, if pre-authorized payment settings are NOT in use, I will be prevented from bidding/offering BECAUSE my default address is excluded, and I am attempting to bid/offer (COMMIT) w/o putting forth an APPROVED primary address to ship to.
The key here, if your default is excluded, you're allowed to purchase, w/o changing your default, if you provided an approved address prior to commitment. This is enables in BINs, and pre-authorized payment auctions/offers. This is NOT enabled in traditional bids/offers w/o pre-auth pay and thus requires default change.
Lastly, they do not go solely off zip codes. EBay is fully aware of a PO Box address and I did attempt to make a pre-authorized pay offer on another one of that sellers listings (who excludes PO Box) and it allowed me to go through the motions of making an offer as long as I provided an alternate address at time of offer in pre-auth window.
kalyoth
·2 years agoIt actually popped up withing first 5 years of the site opening. Exclusions to Hawaii involve shipping time & past history of terrible local post office handling / fraud. Over time, many of the older sellers have excluded them for these reasons. The extreme temps & weather conditions also have not helped as many products won't survive the trip, making restrictions even worse shipping certain items.
Sadly, not every location in the world is entitled to equal price savings.
vintagecraze50
·2 years agoIt’s kinda stupid to exclude the islands. I ship there all the time. Priority Mail costs about 8 bucks with ebay labels gets there super fast and not that expensive.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years agoSounds like an ebay glitch that you were even able to accept the offer in the first place ... I am unable to bid/buy/offer on items That exclude p o box shipping If po box is my default shipping address.
Items don't get assigned an order # until order is placed (paid).
Must ship to contiguous US (48 states).
Happy Thanksgiving all!
marnotom!
·2 years agoIt may not be a glitch, @ajs_coins_and_alchemy, although I'm not sure why you get prevented from making purchases with a PO box as your default address but @inhawaii doesn't with a HI address. To me, it would make sense that someone who has additional addresses on file that would meet the sellers terms would be able to bid/buy/offer as they can change their shipping address to one of those addresses just before making payment.
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years agoThere was a time where I was completely unable to bid on a seller's auctions and I got the message that they don't ship to my address and I needed to change my default/primary shipping address. (I had multiple addresses on file, only 1 fell on their excluded list, PO Box.)
@marnotom! Just because you have mutliple addresses on file does NOT mean you should be allowed to bid/buy because you can change the address in the end. Bidding/buying is, of course, a committment to purchase
.. So technically you're committing to buy and that includes having it shipped to you. In @inhawaii case, if his default is his home in HI and his extra addresses are his loved ones in New York. How would inhawaii ship his item to himself if that means he can only ship to the mainland and then re-ship or forward to himself? Its not like "oops" its my HI PO box let me ship it to my HI home.
I understand the premise of your argument, but I don't believe it holds that much water ... because you EASILY lead yourself into a situation where you're committed to buy something you can't reasonably ship to yourself. And even if you have multiple addresses and even if they are addresses that qualify, that doesn't mean they are viable options. Having an acceptable/viable/shippable addresses as your DEFAULT address is an affirmative or positive action that confirms you will be able and willing to ship/accept this .... not to mention the shipping cost presented at time of accepting offer is presented based on default address ... IDK I just see a ton of problems if you let someone commit to a purchase if their default is on the "excluded" ship-to list and they dont realize they'll need to pick an alternative, especially when Hawaii might be excluded so the next best option is 100's of not 1000's of miles away
marnotom!
·2 years agoBut isn't changing their address what @inhawaii was directed to do when they tried to pay for the item? That script wouldn't be there if that wasn't allowed, @ajs_coins_and_alchemy.
Actually, I'm now wondering if what may have happened is that the seller set up their Exclusion List without actually indicating on their Buyer Requirements that they wanted to block as well as exclude. We non-US buyers sometimes run into this with "Ships to: United States" listings that still allow purchases from buyers with their primary shipping address located outside of the US. If I'm searching for an item, an item with blocks for buyers with Canadian addresses won't show up in the search results. Is that the same for blocks on buyers with PO boxes, AK/HI, and military addresses?
In the early days of eBay, my wife would have items sold by sellers unwilling to ship to Canada sent to her aunt in California who would then forward them to her. Now, many international buyers make use of package or freight forwarding services that do the same thing for a fee.
I think it's more problematic if a someone who has been away from eBay for a while purchases an item only to find at checkout that their default address is out of date. Shouldn't the buyer be allowed the opportunity to fix that? Even if it turns out that the new address unbeknown to the buyer (because they had no reason to look at the exclusion list at the time of purchase) is one that the seller can't or won't ship to?
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years ago@marnotom!
ajs_coins_and_alchemy
·2 years ago@marnotom!
Here, I just googled the question "Can I bid on an eBay item if my default address is excluded".
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/UX-bug-when-bidding-on-items-with-shipping-restrictions-and-a/td-p/30304322
I found this thread within 30 seconds. It's very long and rambling, but the OP has pretty much this exact problem, discusses what they face, and provides their own solution (exactly as I have already presented).
The OP on this thread spends time each year living in Germany and US. Their default address is Germany since they spend more time there, so when bidding on a US seller's item who only ships to US (excludes Germany), they are unable to finish a bid submission, as eBay blocks them from submitting the bid and gives them a red flag saying the seller won't ship to your primary/default address (please talk to seller, blah blah blah). The OP then explains how they must do a "work around" and change default in order to be able to place the bid.
^^^This is exactly what I'm talking about. This has been my experience. This is why I'm shocked inhawaii ever made it to check out on a committed purchase (accepted offer) as their default is excluded.^^^
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Quote from thread's OP:
"When I attempt to bid on an item from a US seller that only ships to the US ... [sic] ... I then place a bid and ebay lets me go through the bid submission process (even showing US shipping) but finally errors with: "the seller does not ship to germany...contact seller...blah blah blah."
I can work around this by going into my ebay settings and temporarily changing my default shipping address in order to complete the bid."
toomuchstuffagain35
·2 years agoIt seems to me that ebay is at fault with this one.
They shouldn't send offers that go against the seller's shipping settings.
4pawsup*
·2 years agoMaybe the seller does not know that in 1959 Hawaii became a state of the USA. Wow i did not know you could exclude states you do not want to ship to. I thought if you sold in the USA it meant all of the USA.
On a nother note
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.
inhawaii
OP2 years agoI don't even bother arguing/explaining that to some sellers anymore.
I used to, but I gave up.
I believe this particular item costs the same to ship Ground Advantage from NY to Hawaii as it does to ship from NY to CA.
toomuchstuffagain35
·2 years agoThe ONLY states you can exclude are Hawaii & Alaska, but that's really only an issue of the item has to go ground.
inhawaii
OP2 years agoI guess I shouldn't watch/accept offer for items that don't ship to Hawaii.
They offered, I liked the price, I accepted.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoI'm glad you got that sorted out. Too bad you couldn't get the item you wanted.
I had something similar a couple of weeks ago, but the UK seller had blocked purchases outside of his allowed shipping area. That's what your seller should have done. I asked my seller if he would reconsider shipping to the USA. I'd been watching the items for a long time before he sent out an offer. He said No, sorry.
Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. I'm sure you're a lot warmer than where I am.
janet9988
·2 years agoEbay sends watchers offers and claims they only send it to eligible buyers. Sellers can not see who the watchers are.
I guess ebay needs to fix this.
lacemaker3
·2 years ago@inhawaii
Try going to your purchase history, this item should be in your unpaid items. There's a button to click at the top to show unpaid items only if you don't see it right away. If the transaction has an order number, it should be shown there. (I don't have any unpaid items there to check, but all of my paid items show the order number on this page).
If there is no order number shown there, send the seller the item number, and tell him that there is no order number because you haven't been able to pay for it.
https://www.ebay.com/mye/myebay/v2/purchase
inhawaii
OP2 years agoI checked my purchase history.
Every transaction has a order number EXCEPT this one.
Again, I assume it's because I haven't paid yet?
I reached out to the seller again with just the item number.
Hopefully that's enough.
Have a great Thanksgiving!