International Customer Fee (WHAT A RACKET)

[jplme38]

Finally after 34 days & 5 listings later I sold the camera that started this fiasco! Problem now is the gut punch when the bill was delivered & almost $100 in fees! Read everything carefully & although high I was prepared for the 12.9% of total, what slapped me silly was the 1.65% international buyers charge because the customers home address is international but I am shipping to US Address (most likely a FF) If eBay must charge this frivolous fee, then it should fall upon the buyer’s end, if not then the seller must be notified of said fee so they can accept it or refuse the sale! I would have refused the sale if I were informed of this fee. This screams sleazy, lo-rent, grifter type fee scheduling. 

[m60driver]

Given that you are a new seller who sold an expensive item to an international buyer, the added insignificant fees for an international purchase should be the least of your worries at the moment.  It is time to get down on your knees and pray to Baby Jesus that you do not get scammed and lose the camera and the money.

[jplme38]

Thank you very much! My sentiments precisely! I am surprised this scenario is so taboo and has yet to rise to a civil action. I will say this, when eBay made the choice to sever ties with PayPal & become their own in-house financial institution they open themselves up to adherence to the Expedited Funds Availability Act, Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, and maybe the Truth in Savings Act because in retention of a consumers deposited funds sounds strangely like a savings account which the bank of eBay must issue an apr/apy for said held funds since they wanted to control all facets of money. 

[aeparts1]

Hey, if you are lucky, maybe the buyer uses one of the freight forwarders that is in a sales tax free state, like Delaware. If that is the case, you saved paying 12.9% on the sales tax, & that will help to take the sting out of the 1.9% international fee.

Of course, if you shipped to a sales tax state you are out of luck.

[chapeau-noir]

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@heckofagame wrote:

I like freight forwarders. Once the tracking shows delivered, you are done. You don't have to worry about the international travel or customs. 

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I'm fine with freight forwarders also (1.65% hardly feels like being sucker punched), but recall that the item had to be shown to have been forwarded (i.e., changed hands) to a different address for it to be considered out of our hands, due to the 0.00001% chance that someone at the FF company may have ordered the item for themselves.  Big discussion that went round and round with Trinton (who was just the messenger at the time). The thing is, these items are often pre-packed into container shipping and then sent on - I've never been able to tell if the item has been forwarded or not.

[wrong66]

Consider local pick-up if it bothers you that much. Problem solved!

[mam98031]

@jplme38 

If you were a seller during the time that PayPal was our money processor, we had the EXACT SAME fee with them too.  It is NOT a new fee.  Some sellers just noticed it because the fees in MP are so transparent.  

If you aren't aware of what fees you are responsible for, a simple review of the Seller Fee policy page will help you.

[mam98031]

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@heckofagame wrote:

Good grief. Nothing new here. Payment processors have been charging an international fee for a LONG time. They used to call it an exchange rate.

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The "exchange rate" is a separate fee and runs around 4%.  But if the seller posts their listings on the US site, they can ONLY be paid in US dollars.  So this isn't anything most of us will ever have to be concerned with.

@heckofagame 

[mam98031]

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@jplme38 wrote:

The point is not why the fee is being charged, the operative point is I blocked shipping internationally specifically to avoid international headaches, including fees, thus incumbent upon eBay to make sellers aware of the fee prior to finalizing the sale. 

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There is no such block in Ebay.  And you don't have any additional problems selling to an international buyer with a US ship to address.  Your responsibility as a seller ends at the address you shipped the item to as long as it was the address on the payment by the buyer.  

[mam98031]

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@jplme38 wrote:

Not why I am upset, international exchange rates are inevitable & unavoidable (WHEN SELLING INTERNATIONALLY) 

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@jplme38 

This is NOT true unless you are creating your listings on other international Ebay sites.  The currency you get paid in is driven my the Ebay site you post your listing on.  So if you created and posted your listing on the US site, then you can ONLY be paid in US dollars and you will not be charged any conversion fee on any international transaction.

But if you post your listings on the site in Germany or Australia, etc.  Then the currency you are paid in will be the currency of the country site you posted on.    

[mam98031]

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@buyologist-3 wrote:

"No blocking either."...

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Does this mean sellers are forced to sell internationally?  I didn't want to sell internationally for the hassles, either, also because ebay cannot help if there's a problem.  Did I misunderstand you?

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NOPE.  It means that international buyers with US ship to addresses can purchase from any US seller.

That isn't the same as shipping internationally at all.  The seller is only responsible for the package to the US address on the payment.

This isn't a problem.  I know that you look for them at every turn, this simply isn't a problem and is covered clearly in the MBG.

Exclusions and special coverage when the buyer doesn't receive an item

Items collected by a third party on behalf of the buyer	Not covered
The buyer arranged their own shipping method, such as a courier pickup	Not covered
The buyer provided an invalid or incorrect address at checkout	Not covered
The item was sent to another address after original delivery	Covered: The item was forwarded as part of an eBay program such as: Global Shipping Program eBay international standard delivery eBay Authenticity Guarantee Not covered: The buyer used third-party freight forwarding or mail redirection

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

[mam98031]

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@jplme38 wrote:

Thank you very much! My sentiments precisely! I am surprised this scenario is so taboo and has yet to rise to a civil action. I will say this, when eBay made the choice to sever ties with PayPal & become their own in-house financial institution they open themselves up to adherence to the Expedited Funds Availability Act, Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, and maybe the Truth in Savings Act because in retention of a consumers deposited funds sounds strangely like a savings account which the bank of eBay must issue an apr/apy for said held funds since they wanted to control all facets of money. 

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"Taboo", what the heck do you mean.  This has been a policy for many years.  In your Site Preferences under Buyer Requirements it states it too.  Up thread I gave you a picture of the Buyer Requirements and I posted the part of the MBG that protects sellers on these shipments.  

I think because this is new to you that you are trying to make it out to be something it simply isn't.

Ebay is a Corporation and therefore can set their own rules.  They neither seek or require the permission of the members to set any rule.  Besides not everything is a law suit simply because you don't like it.

This would NOT be different if PayPal was still the processor.  As I said before and others have also, in PayPal we had the SAME kind of fee.  So if you are going to seek out a law suit, you might as well name PayPal too, however it isn't likely you will ever even find a lawyer to take the case as neither company is doing anything illegal.

[dbfolks166mt]

     You are of course aware that several of the Delaware are ran by Russians. You can check the website for Onex Global Inc. for one. 

[dbfolks166mt]

I'm fine with freight forwarders also (1.65% hardly feels like being sucker punched), but recall that the item had to be shown to have been forwarded (i.e., changed hands) to a different address for it to be considered out of our hands, due to the 0.00001% chance that someone at the FF company may have ordered the item for themselves.  Big discussion that went round and round with Trinton (who was just the messenger at the time). The thing is, these items are often pre-packed into container shipping and then sent on - I've never been able to tell if the item has been forwarded or not.

     EXACTLY and this has been eBay's of waffling around what their MBG states. No where in the MBG does it say the seller has to prove, which is just about impossible, that the FF sent the item forward. 

     Like a lot of other things eBay missed when they moved to managed payments dealing with international sellers was one of them. With PayPal regardless of whether the buyer was using a FF or not you could block foreign sales irrespective of the buyers shipping address. 

[dbfolks166mt]

If you were a seller during the time that PayPal was our money processor, we had the EXACT SAME fee with them too.  It is NOT a new fee.  Some sellers just noticed it because the fees in MP are so transparent.  

If you aren't aware of what fees you are responsible for, a simple review of the Seller Fee policy page will help you.

     You can be totally aware of the fees you are responsible for. I am 100% cognizant of the fee structure and how it is applied. The problem with the freight forwarder situation is there is no way to predict when it will hit and there is no way to block it. Even if you do not sell internationally until eBay fixes it's software this will continue to get automatically tacked on regardless of what the seller attempts to do to prevent it. Prior to MP you could block it through PayPal. 

[mega-ma-roo]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@jplme38 

If you were a seller during the time that PayPal was our money processor, we had the EXACT SAME fee with them too. 

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But at least PayPal gave sellers the option to block payments not in the seller's currency. I wish we still had that option.