Help Buying an Item

[venom786]

I would very much like to buy an item on eBay. 

However, the seller does not ship to the UK.

I was wondering if someone could purchase it for me, and I would buy it of them.

[mudshark61369]

@venom786,

You are not likely to get a person from this site to act as your trans-shipment agent.   You could set up an account with an agent in the seller's country, add their address to your ebay list of addresses make it your default, and for this transaction only transaction switch your country to that of the seller's.  However trans-shippers do charge a fairly hefty fee.

You could also try messaging the seller not from the listing, but by going to their feedback profile page and clicking on the Contact Member button, Select this is not about an item, in case the seller blocks communications from those blocked because they live in a country I do not ship to.   Then ask if they will ship to the U.K.?   Some make exceptions.  Though these days, given the closed borders shipping might take much longer than usual or the seller will only ship domestically within their country. 

Good Luck

[janet9988]

You are not allowed to exchange any kind of personal contact info on ebay so it would not even be possible to ask someone.

[euphrosyne-aglaia]

Hi, thank you for your advice.

Do you have a company in mined that you could suggest I use?

Additionally, would you know of any eBay members that might be able to help me?

[mudshark61369]

@euphrosyne-aglaia,

No I do not know of any trans-shipping / shipping forwarding service companies You can search for them online. 

  As for any eBay member helping you, that probably will not happen.   They would become the buyer and then would have get the shipping info and money to ship to you. If there is a problem they would have to wait for the item to be returned to them before they could file a claim so it could be returned and a refund processed then they would have to send a refund to you.  That is asking a lot of a stranger. 

[mudshark61369]

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@janet9988 wrote:

You are not allowed to exchange any kind of personal contact info on ebay so it would not even be possible to ask someone.

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@janet9988,

One does not need to exchange detailed information in order to ask a seller if they would agree to ship to another country, the U.K. in this case.  The specific address would be included on the payment information.

[janet9988]

I would very much like to buy an item on eBay.

However, the seller does not ship to the UK.

I was wondering if someone could purchase it for me, and I would buy it of them.

This is the question I was responding to. This buyer is asking us if  someone can purchase the item for them and they could buy it from them.

[canarykim_usa]

I’d like to know why a seller might be unwilling to ship to the UK.  Could someone enlighten me?

I’ve shipped to the UK many times, though not as a seller through e-Bay. Maybe that is what makes the difference?  It’s essentially the same process as shipping anywhere else.  You go to the post office, you hand over your package, you pay the fee and the post office does the rest.  It costs a little bit more and it takes a little bit longer but so what?  If the buyer is willing to pay the postage fees (or the fees for whatever service is used) and additionally, compensate the seller for any inconvenience (which can be incorporated into the listing), why wouldn’t the seller be willing?

The U.S. Postal Service even offers free online tracking for lightweight international packages to the UK.  They also offer Priority Mail International with up to $200 insurance. Sometimes you don’t even have to go to the post office; you can arrange to have your packaged picked up.

If I couldn’t persuade a seller to ship to my designated location, I think I would just move on and look for an alternate product closer to me.

But, in order to answer the original question, I think it would help if we knew what product we’re talking about.  How big? How heavy? How expensive? All that makes a difference to feasibility.

[socalboomer50]

Why don't you use a freight forwarding company in the U.S. that ships to the UK.  Then you can have the item shipped to you.  However, be aware that eBay's Money Back Guarantee is void when a package is reshipped and if there is any problem you will be responsible for paying the return shipping.