mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
I list all my items as shipping only to the US, but people from eastern Europe buy items from me and have them shipped to forwarding addresses. Risk of scams aside, I keep getting stuck with extra $30-$50 fees. I sell in the electronics category where the margins are already very anemic and this just makes it works.
how do I stop this?
thanks
There are two different issues here and sellers, even seasoned sellers often get this wrong.
When you list your items on Ebay USA, a buyer can NOT EVER come in and purchase from you and pay with anything other than US dollars. They aren't allowed to pay you in a different currency. The currency you get paid in as a seller is driven by the site you post your listings on. So there is NO NEED to block buyers from purchasing from you using some other currency, they just simply can't do that in the first place.
Now what you are actually referring to is when you have an International Buyer [account registered in another country] and they purchase from you. The ship to address doesn't matter. It could be in the USA or to an international address if you allow for that. The fee you were charged above will happen every time you have a Buyer that is registered in another country, EVEN if they have you ship the item to a US address.
I find this rather interesting and many sellers seem to think this is a new fee. It is not. We have paid it for YEARS. Even when we were in PayPal. This is NOT a new fee to MP or because of MP.
In PP prior to August 2, 2021 we paid 1.50% for this international fee and we paid it for YEARS. MP is slightly higher at 1.65%
Don't confuse any of this with Currency Conversion rates. That is a different fee and only applies when the funds have to go through the exchange rate, which is nothing any of us here needs to be concerned with unless you post listings on other Ebay sites.
@mam98031 wrote:
When you list your items on Ebay USA, a buyer can NOT EVER come in and purchase from you and pay with anything other than US dollars. They aren't allowed to pay you in a different currency. The currency you get paid in as a seller is driven by the site you post your listings on. So there is NO NEED to block buyers from purchasing from you using some other currency, they just simply can't do that in the first place.
This is not correct. Even if the foreign buyer has a US address and pays in USD, eBay will still stick the seller with the fee. There is no exemption for the currency of payment.
@pewpew123 wrote:i didn't ask about why it happens. i know why it happens and i don't care about the reason. my question was is there is a way to opt out.
so i guess the actual answer is cancel orders if you can.
From the title of your thread you are not seeing the difference. So if your title is incorrect, I couldn't possibly know that.
Foreign currency is NOT INVOLVED in the transaction you screenshotted. It was because the buyer is registered as an international buyer. They did NOT pay you in foreign currency because the CAN'T. Ebay doesn't allow it. The fee you paid is NOT a currency conversion fee. That is a different fee and it would be around 4% if memory serves me.
The currency in which a seller is paid is DRIVEN by the site in which they create their listings on. Not by the buyer that purchases from them, no matter what country they are in.
So there IS a difference between what you state in your title and what you are seeing for the type of transaction you have in your screenshot. The 1.65% fee is merely because your buyer has their account registered in another country. They paid you is US dollars.
@friskya wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
When you list your items on Ebay USA, a buyer can NOT EVER come in and purchase from you and pay with anything other than US dollars. They aren't allowed to pay you in a different currency. The currency you get paid in as a seller is driven by the site you post your listings on. So there is NO NEED to block buyers from purchasing from you using some other currency, they just simply can't do that in the first place.
This is not correct. Even if the foreign buyer has a US address and pays in USD, eBay will still stick the seller with the fee. There is no exemption for the currency of payment.
Yes exactly like PayPal always did as well. This is NOT a new fee. We have always paid it. For some reason sellers are paying closer attention to the fees they pay in MP and are assuming things are new fees when they are just like they always have paid.
I have no answer for why these same sellers did not realize they paid these fees in PP. But we all did.
Silly as it is some sellers have come to the threads upset because MP forces them to pay a FVF on shipping. This was a new discovery for some sellers. Even though it is a fee we have paid for over 10 years.
@bimm_corp wrote:>I don't want to pay the fee
Doesn't matter.Even if the foreign buyer has a US address and pays in USD, eBay will still stick the seller with the fee.
Just for clarity on your statement because some are confused by this policy. You are referring to the International buyer having a US ship to address. This fee is imposed ONLY because the buyer is registered in another country. It is NOT driven by the ship to address.
And YES Ebay will "stick you" with this fee just as Paypal always did. This is not news.
@north40sales wrote:I definitely get what you are saying here.
I don't sell international on eBay because many items I have fall under the ITAR restrictions and I do not have the correct licensure from the US Commerce Department to export them.
I wish that the US Only restriction that I have on my listings would keep foreign registered buyers from being able to bid on my listings, but they seem to have found a way to bypass that and utilize eBay's freight forwarder.
I've sold a lot of things over the years and I've serviced many international buyer shipping to a US address, some even freight forwarders. Especially when I use to sell fragrances. I did not find any of these transactions any more problematic than a US buyer. In fact historically buyers that I deal with that give me the most issues are usually Seasoned US sellers too. But that is just my experience.
I personally don't mind paying the fee, I enjoy the sale much more. Sure I don't like giving up 1.65% of my profits, but I still have a profit, I still have the sale and I still have the cash. So it works for me.
@pewpew123 wrote:I list all my items as shipping only to the US, but people from eastern Europe buy items from me and have them shipped to forwarding addresses. Risk of scams aside, I keep getting stuck with extra $30-$50 fees. I sell in the electronics category where the margins are already very anemic and this just makes it works.
how do I stop this?
thanks
Unfortunately at this time the only option that you have available as a seller to use is to cancel the transaction and choose "problem with buyer's address" as the reason for the cancellation.
This has always worked well for me in the past.
On another account I sell exclusively witinin the Coin and Paper Money category, as well as the Bullion category.
I do not ship any of these items outside of the USA, period. Full stop. Many of those items can not be legally shipped to other countries, and I have no time nor the inclination to vet foreign buyers for those types of items. And like you I do not care to take the risks that are involved with selling higher dollar coins and or bullion to buyers located outside the USA.
So because of that I canceled 14 transactions that occurred like this in 2020 with that account using "problem with buyer's address". I canceled even more transactions like that in 2019, and I have never received any sanctions from eBay, whenever i have done this in the past.
IMO eBay could and should make this extremely simple for sellers by creating and enabling a function within a seller's selling preferences that allows any given seller the ability to choose whether or not they are willing to accept the additional 1.65% in International Transactions Fees.
And if eBay were to do something like this it would also eliminate disappointed buyers who receive these types cancellations from sellers by letting the buyer know in advance within the listing that this item is not available for purchase by them.
But that is just my opinion.
I think you have some misunderstandings. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with where the product is getting shipped TO. NOTHING. It could ship to the USA, it just doesn't matter.
The ONLY requirement to get charged this 1.65% fee is that the buyer has their account set up as an international account.
This fee is NOT a currency conversion rate as that is more in the 4% range on top of the 1.65%.
Sellers that have their listings set up to ship to the USA only can also get International buyers that use a USA ship to address. You can't block them.
I don't know why the 1.65% fee would make you want to cancel the sale. While you earn slightly less on the transaction than you normally would, the sale takes place and you have the money. These buyers in my experience do NOT create additional troubles for the seller. In fact my most difficult buyers are those that are seasoned US sellers.
You gave up 14 sales. IMHO that is ridiculous. It is highly likely not a single one of them would have been any kind of problem.
@north40sales wrote:I've sold a lot of things over the years and I've serviced many international buyer shipping to a US address, some even freight forwarders. Especially when I use to sell fragrances. I did not find any of these transactions any more problematic than a US buyer. In fact historically buyers that I deal with that give me the most issues are usually Seasoned US sellers too. But that is just my experience.
I personally don't mind paying the fee, I enjoy the sale much more. Sure I don't like giving up 1.65% of my profits, but I still have a profit, I still have the sale and I still have the cash. So it works for me.
Glad international sales work for your items. Some of the items I sell simply cannot be exported due to ITAR restrictions...so I keep my listing as US only.
Now there have been some that a buyer has gotten around that using eBay's freight forwarder, so I can only assume that eBay holds the correct US Commerce Dept licensure to export those items.
NO that is NOT what I said. This is why so many are confused about this. Just because an International buyer is purchasing from you or me does NOT mean I'll be shipping internationally. So before you get overjoyed for me, kindly read what I wrote. I've even highlighted it so it is easier to find.
Ebay has NOTHING to do with Freight Forwarders. Ebay doesn't export these items from a Freight Forwarder. The Freight Forwarder does that, it is why they are in business. Once a seller ships to a freight forwarder it is no longer that seller's responsibility to have appropriate licenses for exporting and Ebay isn't involved in this part of the process at all, so they would never be required.
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