International account living in United States
Summary: bark-n-bite expressed frustration about being charged international fees by a platform due to buyers having foreign-registered accounts while shipping items to a U.S. address. benzexpert explained that the use of freight forwarders can result in transactions being classified as international. monroe67 and others discussed scenarios like individuals using U.S. addresses temporarily but having accounts registered abroad. The conversation explored eBay's fee policy intricacies and debated the validity of filing a class action lawsuit, with several users explaining that the fees are tied to the buyer's account registration rather than the shipping destination. Some participants suggested accepting the terms or seeking alternative platforms.
Why is it that a buyer with a valid address in the United States is continuing to have a registered account in a foreign country yet lives in USA. So an item sells to a New York address yet I have to pay fees for a international buyer because his account is listed as living in INDIA??? Not the first time this has happened to me, myself a very low volume seller. My opinion just another scam for unnecessary fees for the crooks. A class action lawsuit should be filed because this BS adds thousands in their pockets that shouldn't be!
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month ago · EditedThe terms of the agreement you agreed to in order to sell on Ebay allow Ebay to charge whatever fees it chooses.
Either accept the fees as they are or find another place to sell.
You can either play by the rules which are publicly available or take your business elsewhere.
Ebay pays lawyers to make class actions suits unlikely to succeed, and few lawyers will agree to any lawsuit which you are not paying for in advance. A contingency payment arrangement is highly unlikely.
I found a better site to sell on some years back and stopped selling on Ebay. When things changed on that site around the time of the covid lockdowns, I left that site and returned to Ebay.
You can do the same if you can do better elsewhere.
eoma689485
·1 month agoeBay charges an international fee (typically 1.65%) whenever a buyer’s registered account address is outside the United States, regardless of whether the final shipping address provided at checkout is a domestic U.S. location (such as New York).
The international fee exists because of the higher back-end costs associated with processing foreign transactions. Even though the package is mailed to a New York address, the underlying transaction remains international.
imac7065
·1 month ago · EditedYou gave the robotic response without addressing the post .... if the buyer is in NY, the item is shipped to NY... and pays in USD... there is no international processing
monroe67
·1 month ago"eoma's" first paragraph is an accurate statement of eBay's method of determining when their International Fee applies.
Even if it seems robotic to you, it is true.
The nation of the buyer's eBay registration address is the key factor.
NOT where the buyer is sitting when he/she completes a purchase on eBay.
NOT whether the buyer pays in US dollars or, say, euros if that buyer is sitting in France or Italy.
When a buyer buys something listed on ebay.com, which is eBay's USA site,
and that buyer's eBay registration is in a nation other than the USA,
eBay's International Fee of 1.65% will apply.
Regardless of where in the world that item is to be mailed by that US seller on ebay.com.
Period.
imac7065
·1 month agotelling someone that something exists doesn't tell them why... ebay doesn't pay an international fee if the item is processed domestically with USD... that's a literal fact.. why do they still charge the international fee anyway? That's the crux of the question and you (just like the first person) only told them what the fee is. Imagine going to a car dealership and being told "you can buy this red car"... ok what's the make, model, year, is it new or used? "its a red car" ......
eoma689485
·1 month agoActually, that isn’t quite how it works. While the item is being shipped to New York, we can’t automatically assume the buyer or their bank is located in the US.
On eBay, a buyer can be registered anywhere in the world and have their item shipped to a US address—whether that is a friend, a relative, or a forwarding service. The key indicator here is that eBay applied an international fee to the transaction. eBay only charges that specific fee when the buyer's account or funding source is registered outside the United States. Even though they paid in USD, the underlying payment originated internationally, which is why the fee was triggered.
dbmm-media
·1 month agoA class action lawsuit should be filed
let us know how that works for you
theteamsetguy
·1 month ago · Edited@bark-n-bite ,
If you feel you have been damaged why don't you do it? You just have to find an attorney that will take the case. It won't cost you anything because class action case attorney only get paid if they win.
If you file the case you can be the lead plaintiff which means you will get a five figure check while the rest of the class get $2.00. Your lawyer will probably get a seven figure payday.
monroe67
·1 month agoIt seems highly possible, to me, at least, that an Indian businessman or scientist or artist or even a diplomat might be working -- and thus living -- in New York City on a temporary basis.
He may have been an active user of eBay's Indian site for years.
He may see no reason to create a new eBay User ID for the year or so that he is living in NYC.
Thus, he buys on eBay using his one and only eBay User ID, and has his purchases mailed to his home in NYC.
Perfectly valid.
ALSO:
eBay does not and will not participate in Class Action lawsuits.
fullers_uk
·1 month agoWas the sale in $USD? what currency did the buyer pay in, Rupees ?
monroe67
·1 month ago · EditedAn eBay seller in the USA, on ebay.com, will not know the original currency of the purchase.
Do eBay sellers in the UK, on ebay.co.uk, know whether any buyer's payment started out as Euros, or US Dollars, or Canadian Dollars, or even as rupees ??
fullers_uk
·1 month agoNo.
benzexpert
·1 month ago · EditedQuite a few years back, Ebay was happy to inform me that I had an
'above standard' seller rating for intl shipments.
At the time I was Top Rated and was not selling anything internationally.
It threw for a loop for a moment, but here's the deal.
People buy stuff and use freight forwarders. But because they are physically located outside the USA, and even though you didn't ship outside the USA, it's considered an intl transaction. Some people don't like shipping to freight forwarders. I don't know why.
I think it's great! If there's a return they have ship from USA so you are never held hostage by return shipping. Also buyers who aren't shipping to address ebay has on file, ie in another country, they lose some buyer protections, so you aren't on the hook for anything that happens once it lands at the FF usually in Florida or Washingon for Canadian sales.
bark-n-bite
OP1 month agoI know all about international shipping it all goes to Chicago Miami or somewhere in California..... NOT an apartment in New York City!
monroe67
·1 month agoObviously you do NOT "know all about international shipping."
It is entirely possible that an eBay buyer who lives in India has a former school friend or a business colleague or a relative who lives in New York City.
That NYC resident may have agreed to serve as the USA mailing address for eBay purchases made by the Indian classmate/colleague/relative.
That NYC resident may then forward those items on to the buyer in India.
In such a situation, yes, eBay's International Fee DOES apply.
theteamsetguy
·1 month ago · Edited@monroe67
Most likely the case. The buyer is very likely a former H1B Visa holder whose 5 years was up and had to move back to India and has to wait for another company who will sponsor them before he/she comes back. Over 70% of the H1B Visa holders are from India.
Many H1B Visa holders keep their accounts in Indian Banks because they know they are in the country permanately.
monroe67
·1 month agoI highly HIGHLY doubt that eBay either knows or cares whether any eBay user holds a US visa of any type.
In at least 10-12 years of occasionally incurring eBay's International Fees -- studying eBay's International Fees -- trying to help others understand eBay's International Fees in these forums . . . .
This is the first time I have seen anybody try to add an H1B Visa into the explanation . . .
Let alone try to suggest that any eBay buyer "probably" holds any type of Visa . . . ..
I am done with this thread.