Cannot place an offer or check out on Garmin GPS watches

[objecttothat]

If I attempt to buy it now or place an offer on a Garmin GPS watch (e.g., #335824791310) I get an error "Unfortunately, this item isn’t available for purchase in your location.{e264029-1259530x}". This is the case with multiple listings for similar Garmin watches from different sellers. I contacted the seller for that item and he said he had received offers on that listing so it's not everyone who is getting this error. I don't get this error on listings for Google Pixel Watch 3 or other listings.

[objecttothat]

Here is a screenshot of the error.

[mudshark61369]

@objecttothat,

Since you are registered in the U.S. and so is the seller of the listing # you posted, I can only come up with one reason why you are getting the message.

   That would be if you have a stored address on this account for a foreign friend or relative, and you used it for another purchase but made it your primary ship to address and did not make your home address the primary one again after the purchase. Check your account to see if that is the problem.

If that is the case you would not be able to buy anything from any U.S. seller who does not ship outside the U.S., until you make your home address your primary one,

[objecttothat]

Thanks for the answer. My primary billing and shipping address are in the US. I do have a few addresses in my address book which are outside the US but they are not default.  I also don't have any PO Boxes setup. If this is caused because I have international addresses at all in my address book that is clearly a programming error.

Over and above that, the listing I referenced does ship internationally with the exception of a few countries. eBay's decision to not offer any real support contact options is really annoying.

[woodland_gnome]

Or if your IP address indicates you are ordering from a country where there are export/import restrictions from US (or whatever country the item is in) to there (including US).

[objecttothat]

The item is in Albany, Georgia. The shipping address is to Hillsboro, Oregon.

Below is the ships to and the excludes countries. I am not in any of the excludes countries. To be safe, I removed all addresses from my address book that are international addresses, but that didn't change the error.

Ships to
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U.S.), Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Excludes
Barbados, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Libya, Martinique, New Caledonia, Reunion, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Venezuela

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@woodland_gnome wrote:

Or if your IP address indicates you are ordering from a country where there are export/import restrictions from US (or whatever country the item is in) to there (including US).

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This is an interesting suggestion. Could occur if the OP is using a VPN. I have no clue whether Ebay actually checks IP addresses, but I doubt they do.

[ittybitnot]

@objecttothat 

Contact eBay via one of their social media portals, and politely ask for their assistance.  Unlike the outsourced foreign call center reps you get in a call back or chat, they can usually help you.  

I had a similar problem when I was looking at a listing, and wanted to know if the seller used EIS.  I changed the country on the shipping page to France.  When I was done I did change it back to the US, but forgot to input my Zip Code.  Needless to say my buying  opportunities went downhill from there until I fixed it and included both United States AND my Zip Code. 

If that doesn't help, here are the above mentioned links for additional help: 

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/ (use the blue message button)

OR one of these:

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

https://x.com/askebay

Good luck, and do let us know what you find out. 

[objecttothat]

Super.  I sent them a message.  I will post back what they say.

[krazzykats]

I'd like to know if you can logout and buy the item as a guest. 

If you do, keep track of the order# in case of any issues. 

[objecttothat]

I contacted eBay and they researched it. They weren't completely transparent about their operation but they did tell me that "it's a combination of the brand (Garmin) and my location" but they said that it's operating by design and not a bug.

So, I am traveling internationally right now and even though my shipping address is in the US, they are basing the block based on iplocation.  I have tried using two different VPNs but they either flagged my account from previous logins or are able to still detect my location with the VPN.

From their response, I now understand that it's specific to Garmin though.  The thing I don't understand is that I'm not traveling in a country that is on the exclusion list from the international shipping and I'm not aware of export restrictions on Garmin GPS watches. Not to mention I'm not even trying to ship outside the US.

It doesn't look like eBay is interested in budging on this but I wish they would restrict based on shipping address, not on user location.

[mudshark61369]

@objecttothat,

"So, I am traveling internationally right now and even though my shipping address is in the US, they are basing the block based on iplocation."

If you tried to make the purchase while out of the country, the IP address you were logged in with, is probably the reason why there was a restriction.  eBay would go by that IP because there are many foreign buyers who use U.S. based Freight Forwarding Services  in the U.S. to get around sellers who do not ship outside of the U.S.restrictions.   Most likely the country you were in at the time has a restriction on those purchases.