Seller Fees
To start off I do eBay as a hobby. I've been a member sense 2002 selling various items.
I only do domestic shipping USA, Canada the rest I have excluded so my shipping preference's are set.
So the way I understand this is a buyer in a country I don't ship to can't bid or buy an item period...
Not the case, I just sold an item to a bidder in Brazil who has an Florida address but is registered in Brazil.
The Florida address is like this, example:
John Doe/Polo Doe (Polo Doe is Brazil) <-Bidder (John Doe is the shipping address) the { / } care of I guess.
1234 Some where Rd
Florida... Bla Bla
So when I look at my eBay Fees I was charged $9.50 because the bidder is registered in Brazil, i don't think they live at the Florida because I'm shipping it to John Doe and never did John Doe bid on this item.
So with the excluded countries that I don't ship to really doesn't mean a thing, they can still bid or buy items because they somehow have a US address and eBay puts extra fees because they live in a different country.
This is the first time I've delt with this situation in all my years selling on eBay, just don't think it's right.
Yes $9.50 wouldn't have been a factor if it sold to a US buyer and I would of had $9.50 more to my total sale.
Wounder how much eBay is making just because bidders/buyers can do this all because they have a US address.
ltldpr
·2 years agoHappened to me too, but with a buyer was from Canada who had it shipped to a friend in Florida where she spends time over the winter.
It wasn't $9.50, but was $1.50 or $2.50. Can't remember exactly which.
I don't think it's cool either. I think that if the registered address is outside of the country, the sale shouldn't go forward UNLESS eBay waives the fee (since it's being shipped to the US). OR we should be able to invoice the buyer for the additional fee.
That's not how it works, though. eBay is not going to waive the fee, probably due to currency exchange or some such and it's probably against a rule that I don't know about to charge the buyer for the foreign buyer fee.
I wish we could block BUYERS from outside the US, not just SHIPPING outside the US, due to the fees.
We don't get a chance to accept or decline the transaction and take the fees into consideration. We don't even know what the fee is until after the fact. It's just sold, and then the fees are added to all the other fees.
Yes, we can cancel the sale, and take a hit for it, unless I don't understand how cancellations affect a seller's account. Doing it "due to buyer's address" might not incur a hit, but if the ship-to address is in the US . . . ugh!
Hate it!
reallynicestamps
·2 years ago@pjcdn2005 Thank you for the correction.
I think the term I was looking for was the "international fee" charged by card processors.
monroe67
·2 years ago"This is the first time I've delt with this situation in all my years selling on eBay, just don't think it's right.
Yes $9.50 wouldn't have been a factor if it sold to a US buyer and I would of had $9.50 more to my total sale."
What you described is eBay's International Fee, and it works precisely as you've described.
You are a US-based seller. People from all over the world can choose to buy things on eBay from sellers who also live all over the world.
When a buyer whose eBay registered address is not in the USA (e.g. Brazil) buys something on eBay . . . .
from a seller whose eBay-registered address is in the USA . . . .
regardless of the buyer's delivery address . . . .
eBay charges an International Fee to the seller.
Whether you think the International Fee is "right" or not makes no difference.
If it helps you any, eBay buyers located in other nations do pay freight forwarding companies to, well, forward their eBay purchases to their homes or offices in Europe or South America or Asia.
"Wounder how much eBay is making just because bidders/buyers can do this all because they have a US address."
eBay's International Fee for US sellers selling on eBay's American ".com" site is 1.65% of the total amount of the sale. If your International Fee was $9.50, the total amount of your sale was probably around $575.
monica-sells
·2 years ago...not defending the platform, just pointing out that...
since you sell to canada, that country would also incur the "international fee"....no?
so you were aware of that 'fee'
If your registered address is in the US and you offer eBay International Shipping - opens in new window or tab for your eligible listings, you won't be charged an international fee when your eligible item sells.
If you're not using eBay International Shipping to ship your item, we charge an international fee if either:
This fee is calculated as 1.65% of the total amount of the sale and is automatically deducted from your sales.
If your registered address is not in the US, please refer to the fee page for your country or region of residence for your international fee information.
I don't imagine anyone 'likes' the fee...but we factor that 'risk' into the pricing
nighthawk_tn
OP2 years agoNo I was not aware of that fee at all.
Maybe it's somewhere in eBay policy.
So tell me what is this free used for?
Who get this $9.50 in my case.. eBay?
Setting up shipping preferences that I don't ship to should be what it says.
They can't bid or buy if they live in a different country period. But since they have a US address that makes it ok.
monroe67
·2 years ago"No I was not aware of that fee at all.
Maybe it's somewhere in eBay policy."
The description of eBay's International Fee can be found in the User Agreement, under item 5, Fees and Taxes. You can find the User Agreement in the smaller print at the bottom of every page when you are using a desktop computer to access eBay.
In the second paragraph of Item 5 (Fees and Taxes), you will see the words "selling fees", underlined and in a different color. That indicates a hyperlink: When you click anywhere within those two words -- "selling fees" -- you will be taken directly to a more detailed description of all of eBay's selling fees.
Scroll through this info on Selling Fees, until you get to the heading International fee. This is what it says:
"International fee
If your registered address is in the US and you offer eBay International Shipping for your eligible listings, you won't be charged an international fee when your eligible item sells.
If you're not using eBay International Shipping to ship your item, we charge an international fee if either:
This fee is calculated as 1.65% of the total amount of the sale and is automatically deducted from your sales.
If your registered address is not in the US, please refer to the fee page for your country or region of residence for your international fee information."
"So tell me what is this free used for?
Who get this $9.50 in my case.. eBay?"
Someone else may be able to tell you what the international fee is used for. About who gets that $9.50 from your recent sale: yes, eBay retains those nine dollars and 50 cents.
"Setting up shipping preferences that I don't ship to should be what it says. They can't bid or buy if they live in a different country period."
This is eBay's website, eBay's business, eBay's playground, eBay's system. Corporate eBay has arranged this system the way they want it to be.
Any buyer's shipping address is not always necessarily that buyer's residential (living) address.
For example, lots of Americans have their eBay/QVC/Amazon purchases delivered to their work addresses.
American sellers on eBay are allowed to say they choose not to ship to, say, Brazil, or any South American nation, or any European nation, or that they will ship only to, say, France, Argentina, and Japan but not to Spain, Portugal, Italy, South Korea, or any other hypothetical combination of countries. But that means only shipping.
When eBay gives the buyer's shipping address to an American eBay seller, and that address includes a location in Florida or Delaware or Hawaii or any of the 47 other United States, eBay does expect that seller to ship to that sold item to that USA address within that seller's specified handling time.
"But since they have a US address that makes it ok." Precisely. This is the way corporate eBay designed and operates their business as a marketplace for other sellers to connect with potential buyers around the world.
If I recall correctly, earlier today I calculated that, in order to be charged an international fee of $9.50, the total amount of your sale would have been around $575. Can you find a good use for whatever profit you actually received from this transaction, after eBay's standard Final Value Fees (FVFs) and this international fee? Aren't you glad you were able to sell the item to someone who apparently needs it or can make good use of it?
klhmdg
·2 years agoIf it is a foreign currency conversion fee..
It doesnt matter if they live in the US or use a freight forwarder.
Had the buyer been a foreign student and used a CC from China and you shipped to Montana... Currency conversion fee.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoI'm going with currency conversion fee
If you look at your Canadian sales you would see it there too, since we have a different currency (formally also called the dollar, but we refer to it as the loonie).
 
The same happens when you travel outside the USA and use your credit card to buy your lunch. The merchant is charged a currency conversion fee.
pjcdn2005
·2 years ago@reallynicestamps
It is not a current conversion fee. Sellers are not affected by the currency a buyer uses as the buyer pays those fees. If the item is being shipped within the US it is based on the registered location of the buyer.
For example, I have both US and Canadian currency in my PP account. If I buy something from a US seller on .com and pay from my PP US$ balance, the seller will pay an international fee because I am registered in Canada. If I pay them from my C$ PP balance, they will pay the same fees as if I was paid in $US.
One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post is that an EIS shipment will not be charged an international fee.
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoThere has always been an international fee charged when a buyer’s registered address is in another country or if the item is being shipped outside of the country. PayPal also charged this fee but because it was just added to their other fees, many people didn’t notice it. The difference with PayPal however is that sellers could block buyers payments for buyers that were registered outside of the US. eBay doesn’t allow that.
Afaik payment processors always charge an extra fee when a buyers is outside of the country.
The fee has nothing to do with currency exchange. The buyer always pay that fee, not the seller.
wastingtime101
·2 years ago^^^ This is correct @nighthawk_tn .
As you've just discovered, you can block shipments to international locations, but you cannot block purchases from international buyers if they have a US address.
Here's info from the eBay fees policy page:
I did not to check and see if you're enrolled in eBay International Shipping (eIS), but enrolling in eIS (which does not add the international fee) gives buyers an alternative to using a US freight forwarder so they may choose that option, thereby saving you the 1.65% fee - plus you get the benefit of a boatload of seller protections with eIS.
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoWas the additional fee a currency conversion fee?
mtgraves7984
·2 years agoWow. I've shipped to freight forwarders a lot of times, but have never incurred any additional fees. Hmmm... 🤔
monroe67
·2 years ago"Wow. I've shipped to freight forwarders a lot of times, but have never incurred any additional fees. Hmmm..."
I don't know how you managed that.
Many freight forwarding companies are located in Delaware, Oregon, and Montana, where there are no state-wide sales taxes. It's my understanding that at least some freight forwarding companies in Florida are also exempt from Florida's state sales taxes.
Almost by definition, eBay sales by US-based sellers that are sent to freight forwarding companies are virtually always -- well -- forwarded to buyers who actually live in countries other than the USA. AND those transactions are subject to eBay's International Fee.
The only criteria for the incurrence of eBay's International Fee are addresses of eBay registration and addresses to which the seller ships the sold item. (The use of foreign banks or credit cards have no effect on eBay's International Fee.)