KrazzyKats • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1998
albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
I sold a low-cost item and needed to drill down into the order details to understand the additional charge for the international fee.
This explains the reason for the charge.
The buyer is registered in Austria, yet the item is being shipped to Ohio.
Had this been a high-value item, I would be concerned about the unexpected international fee, but .22 isn't a big deal. You don't know unless you check the details. I do not wish to verify the location of each buyer to cancel these orders.
It should be the buyer's responsibility to pay the international fee, not the seller who was unaware of the additional charge.
Don't worry, .22 cents won't even leave a scratch on me... meow!
1 BEST ANSWER
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This isn't new. If the buyer's account is registered in another country we are charged the 1.65% fee, regardless of where the item is shipped to.
Since Ebay became our Money Processor, they have been charging that fee. Before that, we paid it to PayPal when they were our money processor. You've been paying it for many years to either PayPal or Ebay.
FYI, if the item is actually shipping internationally if you use EIS, there is no international fee, it is one of the perks of the program.
Why would you consider cancelling a sale because of an additional 1.65%. You can't even do a Promoted Listing for that low of a fee. I suppose on principal you might want to do it, but it is highly likely you have been paying this fee for many years, you just didn't realize it, so clearly it didn't hurt you much.
If you were to cancel it, you would need to take a Defect for it as it would be your issue, not the buyers. But if it is worth it to you, then you need to do what is best for you.
@krazzykats wrote:I do not wish to verify the location of each buyer to cancel these orders.
Would you really cancel an order over a 1.65% fee?
@krazzykats wrote:It should be the buyer's responsibility to pay the international fee, not the seller who was unaware of the additional charge.
Maybe it should be the buyer's responsibility to pay the international fee but ebay makes it the seller's responsibility and it's in the TOS:
Receiving payments from international buyers
If the buyer pays in a different currency, the payment will be converted to the currency of your payouts. As currency values can change, it’s important to note that the currency exchange rate will be captured at the time of sale and can be viewed in the order details. This exchange rate will apply in the event of a refund.
When you ship internationally, an additional international fee applies.
eBay's transaction fees will be deducted in the buyer’s payment currency, before being converted to your payout currency. If you receive a fee credit, it will be converted from your buyer’s payment currency to your payout currency. See our fees article for more information on the currency conversion charge.
It would be preferable to have the option to accept charges or not. I like knowing all my fees up front and center, and this particular fee was not.
Indeed, I would use the buyer's address as the reason for cancellation seems appropriate, if the fee amount was exorbitant.
Add 1.65% to 13.25% = 14.90% of the total sale price.
This sale was small, so the $ amount is really not an issue.
The buyer is located in a different country but is shipping to a U.S. address.
I think this added fee is rather obscure.
eBay allows you to block shipping direct to international locations, but they do not allow you to block sales to international buyers.
If you cancel using problem with address, it can catch up to you when eBay changes it to an out of stock defect because eBay does monitor for misuse of address and buyer requested cancels. They even have AI doing it now according to recent reports.
Possibility of an international fee is clearly stated on the fees page:
Let's look at a $200 transaction.
To Washington state with 10% sales tax, fee on tax is approx $2.65
To Oregon freight forwarder with no sales tax but an internationally registered buyer, international fee is approx $3.30
Difference of less than a dollar.
To Oregon local with no sales tax, that's $2.65 less in fees than the WA resident.
You never truly know your total fees upfront so your cost structure needs to include all variables.
When you run a transaction report through the payments page, it includes a column for the international fee. You can run reports for the last 3 calendar years, total up that international fee per year and average it out. Then get the average for your annual transaction count. Divide the fee by the tx count and that gives you the number you'd have to increase every one of your item price to charge buyers for the international fee upfront. I'm guessing you'd come up with a fraction of a penny based on your sales volume.
Do the same for losses on returns, and other costs. Then add all those penny fractions together and see how much you need to increase all of your item prices to cover the costs.
I meant that I wasn't aware of the international sale at the time it occurred. I don't usually check the breakdown of each sale right away.
However, if someone is registered on eBay outside the US and there's an associated international fee with their purchase, I would prefer to be informed about it before finalizing the sale and allowed the choice.
In my case, I processed the sale as that fee was small.
A $1000 sale would incur an additional $16.50 fee, just to point it out.
This isn't new. If the buyer's account is registered in another country we are charged the 1.65% fee, regardless of where the item is shipped to.
Since Ebay became our Money Processor, they have been charging that fee. Before that, we paid it to PayPal when they were our money processor. You've been paying it for many years to either PayPal or Ebay.
FYI, if the item is actually shipping internationally if you use EIS, there is no international fee, it is one of the perks of the program.
Why would you consider cancelling a sale because of an additional 1.65%. You can't even do a Promoted Listing for that low of a fee. I suppose on principal you might want to do it, but it is highly likely you have been paying this fee for many years, you just didn't realize it, so clearly it didn't hurt you much.
If you were to cancel it, you would need to take a Defect for it as it would be your issue, not the buyers. But if it is worth it to you, then you need to do what is best for you.
