Why can I not buy these items? What does this error message mean?

[cloverthefox88]

I want to buy items from a seller in Belgium, despite the listings being visible through a search, not being marked as out of stock, and having multiple watchers / multiple "in carts", I get this message before the pay screen. Why? Searching the error code, I found another person posting on the forum with the same issue, but they never got an answer.

[mudshark61369]

@cloverthefox88 ,

Your profile shows that you are registered in Ireland, yet you have posted on ebay's U.S. based site ( ebay.com ) Community. 

You need to log out and manually log back in to your home site either

( pages.ebay.com/ie/ ) the Irish site or ( ebay.co.uk ) the U.K. site. Once you have done that you should be able to make the purchase.

[cloverthefox88]

I always use ebay.com, I have always bought on ebay.com, this is the only time that this issue has occured. Ebay accounts are not location locked. I can buy from any international ebay website with no issues. Belgium is in the EU, Ireland is in the EU, there are no problems with me buying from eBay from Belgium. Very unhelpful response.

[cloverthefox88]

The screenshot in my first post also uses the UK version of eBay, after I tried via the .com version, I checked the .co.uk version, same result. Here it is on the .ie version.

[mudshark61369]

@cloverthefox88 ,

If you are buying from a Norway based seller from the U.S. site, but have a primary address registered in Ireland the info is not matching up. Copy the listing  title or the ebay item number Log into your home site paste it to a search, which should display the listing, then try to pay from there. 

[wastingtime101]

Hey @cloverthefox88 . That's gotta be frustrating. You're correct that site doesn't matter in this situation. You should be able to purchase on any eBay site displaying the item, especially the .com site since this is where the seller listed the item.

I checked the set up and the listing does include shipping to Ireland.

I added to my cart and did not get an error on the checkout page. (Don't worry, I had no plans to purchase the item, just running a test to help you.)

Do you get the same error when you add a different item from that seller to your cart and go to the checkout page?

Have you ever purchased from this seller in the past? The error message is definitely not the same as the one shown to blocked buyers, just wondering if you were ever able to successfully complete a purchase from this seller before.

Edit: Have you tried logging out and using Guest checkout?

[mudshark61369]

@cloverthefox88 ,

I'm just waking up, and just realized  the Price for the item is in U.S. dollars?  It should be showing in Euros or Pounds in order for you to pay.  Click on the See details button to the right of the Shipping cost.  If it shows United States in the Country box, use the down arrow to switch to Ireland then it should display the price in euros or pounds and you will be able to pay.

[cloverthefox88]

I can buy items whether the price is in euros, pounds, dollars or any other currency. The price automatically converts to euros after I have selected my payment method. I never use ebay ie because it is not very good, in fact, nobody I know uses it, we use either ebay com or ebay co uk, or in some cases the app (but I find the app to be useless as it lacks so many features present on the site) I can sign in with this eBay account on any international version of eBay and, as long as the seller ships to my country, I have no issues with buying from them. If a listing cannot ship to Ireland, I will not even have the option to buy it, as big capitalised red text saying "DOES NOT SHIP TO IRELAND" shows in place of a shipping cost, as well as if I try to buy the item, a popup with "This seller does not ship to Ireland" will appear and prevent me from purchasing. In this case, a shipping cost is present as the seller CAN ship to Ireland, yet this error message shows up when I try to purchase the item.

I first noticed this after I had added the item to my cart, calculated the cost of all items in my cart, and when I clicked "go to checkout", I noticed the total cost did not match with my calculations and that there was one less item included, this item. I contacted the seller twice and got no response. The only theory that I have is that the seller has blocked me, but I find that unlikely as I have had no dealings with them before this.

Also, Mudshark, I am sorry for saying you were unhelpful in a previous reply. I get that you are just trying to help, I am just not good at interacting with people, I immediately regretted saying that, I am just a sad and angry stranger. I feel really bad. 

[cloverthefox88]

I don't understand what you mean. The seller is in Belgium, not Norway, as far as I can tell, and I am in Ireland. I use the ebay . com website all the time as it is the easiest and gives me better results than the ebay ie (some times I use ebay .co .uk if I am specifically looking for things from the UK, but with recent UK taxes on shipping to Ireland, I have not been buying much there). I also use an ebay search website called picclick which has sites for every version of eBay all around the world and I simply swap the country code in the url's that I get from that site to the . com version, since then it gives me the site in english and will have the prices listed in dollars, which I would consider easier to guess the conversion to euros than, for example, SGD, which can make prices appear inflated due to the lower value of the currency.

[mudshark61369]

@cloverthefox88 ,

Don't worry about that reply, I've developed a thick skin when it comes to responses on these boards.  One thing I didn't think to ask was, are you using the app or do you login the classic way?  I never use the app myself because of its glitches.  

Did you check the See details button to see if United States showed in the popup? If it does, then use the drop down button to select your country then try to pay.  You might also try paying directly from the listing not from the Cart. 

[cloverthefox88]

As far as I can tell, I did not have any dealings with them. I am aware that I might have had dealings with them through another account / another name, but I really do not know. I have generally been as polite as I can be with people I buy from, and I give positive feedback to everything upon arrival, except for times where I am really not pleased with the item (off topic example, I received damaged stamps, got a refund, left neutral feedback explaining things) I did buy things from belgium a while ago that arrived and I gave positive feedback, the only thing I could imagine is maybe they blocked me because of my username or profile image not sitting well with their worldview? But apparently, this message does not match the message for a blocked buyer (I wouldn't really know, I am pretty new to buying on ebay, as evidenced by my low user score)

I will check if the error effects every item from this seller and I will update. I asked a family member if they can try to buy the item and see if they get the same error, I am awaiting their response. 

[wastingtime101]

---

@cloverthefox88 wrote:

I will check if the error effects every item from this seller and I will update. I asked a family member if they can try to buy the item and see if they get the same error, I am awaiting their response. 

---

Yeah, keep us posted on that, and as suggested upthread using Guest checkout and using the app are 2 more paths to try.

[terrycece62]

Have you tried to do checkout for this item more then once?-- could be just a glitch in the system

if so and you are still receiving this message you have more then likely been blocked from buying from this seller so just buy item from another buyer as message direct you to do

good luck to you

[cloverthefox88]

The screenshots in my images are all from me trying to buy directly from the "buy it now" button, it momentarily takes me to the payment method selection screen, but before it loads, takes me to the error screen you have seen in the screenshots. I never use the app because it lacks features like video listings and more that I would find useful, I always use the website itself. I don't quite know what "logging in the classic way" is, but I logged in once and never logged out, I don't really know if that is normal or expected, I get logged out randomly some times and just log back in by pressing the button. 

After I tried to buy this item in my cart the first time, it was excluded, then when I had paid for everything else in my cart, I still had this, and after trying, it gave the same message, so it doesn't matter if I use the BIN or checkout options.

The reason I am so particularily annoyed about this is that while there are a few (not many) other listings of this set, the prices are insanely expensive for what it is, and this particular listing is more than reasonably priced. 

I had actually also theorised that maybe this seller had been banned/suspended, hence "Items from this seller are unavailable", but as other people can buy from them, the problem is only effecting me, which is even more annoying. 

[cloverthefox88]

Other listings for this particular set that I have found cost $30+ +shipping, so I do not think that will happen. I like to keep my stamp purchases around €5-10, unless I know that the stamps are in fact very valuable (even then, I would never pay CV prices)

There are not many listings for this set available in MNH condition (all 6 in the set), and what is there is hugely more expensive than this listing (no, they shouldn't cost that much), hence my annoyance. 

Other users say this is not the usual blocked buyer message and I cannot think of any reason I would have been blocked other than very far reaching theories.