Bidders from places I don't ship to. What's up with that?

[clutchc]

I checked all the places I don't ship to when I prepared my offer.  But ebay continues to let bidders from one of those places bid anyway.  And that bidder is highest bidder,  What do I do if that bidder wins?  And why doesn't ebay police that so they can't bid?

[rosszonebricks · Accepted solution]

It's likely they are able to bid because their shipping address on file is within your allowed area(s).    I don't do auctions but have similar 'Only USA' type shipping restrictions set up, and end up selling to buyers located outside of the USA quite often.  They just provide a shipping address that IS within the USA (usually Deleware, Florida, Oregon, which are top locations for freight/package forwarders). 

From what I understand, there is no real way to prevent this as the restrictions set are only for where you *ship* not restricting to buyer's location.

P.s.  I used to have that same Asus motherboard... man that takes me back. 🙂 

[albertabrightalberta]

I've sold many items to buyers who are located outside the US but who use freight forwarders. I've never had a problem and once tracking shows delivery to the address items are shipped, I have seller protection! 

[nobody*s_perfect]

The bidder/buyer block is based on the bidder's primary address on file with eBay, not on their country of registration. As others have noted, it's common for overseas buyers to use a freight forwarder when purchasing from sellers who won't ship outside the US. 

[clutchc]

Thank you both.  I didn't realize it worked that way, never having done that myself before.  I'll rest easier for a bit now.  On the other hand, the winning bidder may be another deadbeat that doesn't pay (both have "0" by their name and have the same resent ebay signup date.  I've had a lot of those).  But at least I learned some vital info from you folks.  Than you.