Ebay Charging Sellers who Ban International Sales International Shipping and Currency Exchange Fee

[kbcate]

If Sellers set up listings to NOT sell or list internationally, ebay should respect this. Unfortunately, ebay does not. Ebay allows international buyers to bid on items specifically set up NOT to sell or ship internationally. To add insult to injury, ebay will IMPOSE international selling fees on the seller that has specified NO International sales/shipping. Also, if a buyer's address is in Canada, for example, and ships to an address in the U.S. the seller is still stuck with an International Fee and currency exchange since not USD from ebay. This is wrong on so many levels. When is the winning bidder not the highest bidder? When the seller incurs international fees that they purposely set up listings to avoid. The Seller loses, not ebay. That is why this practice continues.

How SHOULD EBAY FIX THIS? Ebay needs to start respecting Sellers' rules in listings- no international means no international. Ebay should CHARGE THE BUYER the international fees, including exchange rates when the address on record is out of the U.S. with a shipping address to the U.S. All of this ebay "talk" about protecting Sellers is hollow when basic business practices and common respect is not employed.

Can someone from ebay address this? 

[slippinjimmy]

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@kbcate wrote:

Thanks for the reply, but you stated, "that is a choice that some sellers wish to make but its sort of hard to avoid". My point is that it should avoided, as the listing was set up to do so. Ebay should CHARGE THE BUYER the shipping and or currency exchange rates. Period. Pretty easy. Ebay will still make their money (that is the point, right?) and the buyer will have their parameters respected. Seller protection can occur in many ways. Unfortunately ebay does not craft policies this way.

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This extra charge is NOT related to currency exchange. Currency exchange IS something that is completely paid by buyers, a buyer in Germany who hold Euros will pay a conversion fee to convert their Euros into US Dollars when they purchase from a .com listing.

The additional fee is applied to payments using non-US credit cards, this has been standard policy for credit card payments since at least the 1970's when I had my first merchant account.

Note that PayPal always had a similar (slightly lower) fee but in the case of PayPal they charged the fee even if a buyer used a PayPal balance where no credit card was involved (just like they charged sellers the same fee regardless if it came from a credit card, PayPal balance or bank transfer. This was actually the "secret sauce" that made PayPal what it is today, all those payments from a balance that cost PayPal NOTHING yet they charged the same fee as when a buyer used a credit card which did result in fees for PayPal.

While this situation occurs mostly when foreign buyers use a US shipping address it can also happen if an y of the MILLIONS of temporary residents (eg: snowbirds from Canada) who live in the US but use their Canadian based credit cards or PayPal account. It's is a large number of people because it includes tourists, foreign students,  temporary foreign workers etc.

[pjcdn2005]

To clarify, there is no currency exchange fee being charged to the seller...the buyer does pay  for any  currency exchange fees.  You are always paid in the listing currency so there is no conversion required on your end.

The only time a US seller would pay currency conversion fees is if they list on another ebay site as then they would be paid in the listing currency of that site.  In order for ebay to deposit that money into a sellers US bank account, they would have to transfer the money into US dollars so then there would be a conversion fee.

For those who didn't know, Paypal   charged a 1.5% for international transactions....domestic transactions were 2.9% and international were 4.4%.  However, if PP was being used the seller could block non US Paypal accounts. The problem with that though is the customer could still make the purchase if they had a US address..but they couldn't pay. 

[pullulate93.123]

Yeah I've had this problem before, someone that is not BASED in the USA will send an offer but will have it reshipped, big headache for sellers who don't want that and post it, but fees for ebay so that's how it is. I've noticed russian sites reposting my pictures and with a link to the ebay auction in their site, so if the buyer does not read english(headache 1) or doesn't care(2) or knows the loophole(3), they will just buy. I've thought of just putting in the pics itself no international BASED buyers, sale will be canceled etc it's worth the lost fees depending on the sale price is of what you're selling. Look I don't really have a problem selling overseas but with ebay policies it's just not worth the added risk end of story.

[kensgiftshop]

@kbcate 

Until they come up with a system that blocks foreign currency like Pay Pal had, there isn't much we can do.

[sell-more]

I wish Ebay would just pass the cost onto the BUYER at the time of payment.   I cancel most my orders and I tell the buyer I am not paying the international fee that i as a seller gets charged.  I rather lose the sale than be jacked $..  I keep complaining to eBay on every international buyer using a USA address.  Eventually maybe they will listen to us if we all squawk about it (but highly unlikely as they hate sellers)

[pudlet66]

I, too, noticed the international fees on my invoices over the past few months. Not a lot but enough to notice. I called eBay and had them credit me the fees. I do not sell outside the US due to issues I've had in the past with missing packages. As a seller, how am I to know if someone is using a forwarding address outside the US or something else if I do not sell outside the US. So, I reviewed all my past invoices, called eBay and had them credit me every single one (and they did on the next invoice).  It's not much but the principal of the thing - if I can't tell why the fee is occurring at the time of the sale, then why am I getting charged this fee after the sale. 

I know it's a pain but review your invoices, calculate the fees plus item numbers and have eBay credit you back. Perhaps that way they will change their programming and fix this.

[gcelectro]

You are not getting negative feedback for the cancelled orders? 

[gcelectro]

Most of my buyers are international buyers using shipping forwarding services in the US (I only ship within the US). PayPal was 3.9% for international buyers vs 2.9%. So the extra fee (almost 2%) compared to how it was before is now starting to cost me a lot of money as each item I sell cost thousands of dollars. I will just raise my prices..just wish I had known that.

[tjnnewf]

Can't you say no international shipping, if winning bid is outside of USA, a $500 shipping fee is added, that

should stop them from bidding.

[pjcdn2005]

PayPal has charged 4.4% for international sales for a while now...an extra 1.5%.  MP charges 1.65%.