mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@mam98031 wrote:
@mega-ma-roo wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
@mega-ma-roo wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
If you were a seller during the time that PayPal was our money processor, we had the EXACT SAME fee with them too.
But at least PayPal gave sellers the option to block payments not in the seller's currency. I wish we still had that option.
EBAY will NOT allow ANY buyer to pay for a listing created and posted on the US site to pay in any other currency other than US $$s.s
I was not clear enough in how I stated what I wish we had the ability to do and your statement is only partially correct. Yes, the ultimate payment on eBay.com is in US dollars, but international buyers can pay in their own currency (this should be obvious) and they are responsible for the conversion charge (which is a good thing).
What I wish we had is the ability to block buyers who are outside the US, period. The old PayPal system was not perfect (there were, and are, international buyers with accounts in US dollars), but it did stop a lot of the freight forwarding buyers. I don't want or intend to get into a discussion on freight forwarding and why it is or is not a good thing, I simply prefer not to deal with buyers who use those services. That should be a seller's choice and the current situation with managed payments does not give us that choice.
No they can not. I've sold for over 20 years and no buyers can not pay listings created and posted to the US site in anything other than US dollars.
Same is true for other countries. If you post your listing on the site for Germany, Australia, etc, the currency you pay the seller is the currency of that country.
If a buyer has to convert some money to pay a US seller, that is completely different and the conversion fee is never charged to the seller. The buyer has NO choice but to pay in US funds. Which you agree with above, so I'm unsure as to why you are arguing this point.
I went to ebay.co.uk to see how it would work for me to purchase something listed there and listed in Great Britain Pounds (GBP). I selected to pay from my PayPal account, which obviously is in US Dollars. When I get to the point of paying, this is what I see:
As you can see, I have the option to pay in US Dollars and I am shown the conversion rate if I do that. I am sure this is the same situation a buyer from the UK buying on ebay.com would have. They would have the option to pay in GBP and not in US dollars. I assume this holds true no matter what currency the buyer is using and they would have the option of paying in their currency which is what I said.
You are missing the point. The seller will receive the currency for the country in which the listing is posted on for Ebay. While you may want to submit your payment in USD for a site that requires a different currency, the seller will NEVER know that. What they get it payment in the currency of the country. That is because Ebay requires it.
It doesn't matter to the seller if the buyer had to pay a conversion rate and/or a conversion fee, if that is the case. The Seller will only receive payment in the currency of the country in which they have posted their listings / for example the US Ebay site.
@mega-ma-roo wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:You are missing the point.
It's ok, I often miss the point.
But, you did say " I've sold for over 20 years and no buyers can not pay listings created and posted to the US site in anything other than US dollars." and that is not correct. I said earlier that "the ultimate payment on eBay.com is in US dollars, but international buyers can pay in their own currency" and that is correct, as I showed on the UK site where I was able to pay in US dollars.
NO it is correct. If they are using a different currency, they have to exchange it BEFORE submitting payment to the Seller as those of us here listing on the US site can ONLY be paid in US dollars. The seller NEVER sees or has any access to whatever the buyer did to convert currency.
This happens because as I have consistently said, buyers can NOT pay us in anything other than US dollars. And that is a fact, even by your own examples. The money the buyer receives is US dollars.
@pinkcarnation wrote:I've come into this discussion late so please bear with me.
The only way I found out about the international fee to the seller was by pulling a complete sales file from ebay as you may know a report in cvs. format. There I saw the fee on two sales. Until seeing this post I have not found in the FAQ any mention of the international fee.
What is the fee for??? I have read the thread but do not see the reason the fee is charged. My best guess is its an exchange rate related fee.
Also a side question $100 fee seems outrageous. I cant do the reverse math to figure out at 1.6% how much the camera cost. That might be none of my business, so no offense meant.
As for FF freight forwarders I have just encountered one for a sale that is supposed to be going to Russia and cannot ship due to war embargo. OMG what a mess they are!!!! I believe another discussion should cover this topic.
thanks in advance on help
PinkCarnation
Reading the thread will help you in better understanding this as it has been addressed in the thread. It is NOT a new fee and is one you have ALWAYS paid, even when PayPal was our processor. It is a 1.65% fee if the buyer's account is from another country.
@firejake2003 wrote:The destination address is not what dictates an international sale. It's the address attached to the credit card/payment source, which is a foreign address and the currency is converted to US dollars by ebay so it can be deposited to your account. The currency conversion and additional processing involved with international accounts is why we all pay an additional fee. Again, the shipping address has no bearing on that.
It is driven by the country in which the account was set up in and only that. Has nothing to do with ship to addresses at all.
@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.
Exchange rate is a whole different fee and it is not a fixed rate. It is addressed in the User Agreement.
@stephenmorgan wrote:There is way more involved to an International Shipment than just the additional 1.65% fee.
This issue could mostly be resolved with one change to policy instead of the false narrative where many believe they will not ship internationally. A option that states "Do not accept International Payments from the countries you selected to not ship to."
We already have the ability to do that block. It is in our Site Preferences under Buyer Requirements. Second item below.
@mega-ma-roo wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
@stephenmorgan wrote:There is way more involved to an International Shipment than just the additional 1.65% fee.
This issue could mostly be resolved with one change to policy instead of the false narrative where many believe they will not ship internationally. A option that states "Do not accept International Payments from the countries you selected to not ship to."
We already have the ability to do that block. It is in our Site Preferences under Buyer Requirements. Second item below.
We obviously do not have the ability to do that block. After following this entire thread it should be clear that "Do not accept International Payments from the countries you selected to not ship to." is not the same as "Block buyers whose primary shipping address is in a location I don't ship to."
All a buyer needs to do to get around the current block is use a freight forwarding service. What some of us want is to block those buyers as well those that are paying in what eBay considers an international payment.
What I would really like to see in addition to the current primary shipping address block is an additional block for "Buyers not registered in the United States". That would take care of the problem, but I don't see eBay ever giving sellers that option.
I'm not sure what more I can say to you as we simply don't seem to communicate well. If you are talking about a block that prevents any buyer with an international account from purchasing, then you are correct. Ebay has NEVER had any such block. Nor have I said they did.
We have always had the ability to block international buyers with a primary ship to address in a country in which the seller does not ship. That block is alive and well, as is shown in the pic I posted in post 58.
Yes some international buyers use freight forwarding services and some don't. I don't think anyone has argued that point. But it is NOT to "get around the current block", it SATISFIES the current requirements. The buyer isn't doing anything shady. Freight forwarding isn't a bad word or bad thing. It is usually something that some sellers are scared of because it is an unknown to them.
Wow, that would cost many sellers lots of perfectly good sales. As I've said before we have all kinds of people here in the USA. From all walks of life and for all kinds of different countries. There are many international buying accounts that the person that owns that account is here on a Visa. Whether that is for education, work, extended vaca, medical reasons or whatever it is for, they are in the USA for an extended period of time and therefore they have things shipped directly to them at a US address. Eventually they will go back to their country, so why would or should they be forced to open a US account so they can purchase on Ebay.
Let me ask you. Have you had a bunch of issues with Freight Forwarders? If so, what kind and what has happened to sour you on them? I have far more problems with US buyers, especially those that are sellers too.
