Mail fowarding Companies

[onlinesto35]

There is  a reason We block international bidders!  Why does ebay allow a  workaround using a mail fowarding company.  So many sellers have been scammed by these, the boards are full of them, when will Ebay allow us to block Mail fowarding address!!

[brightlightbookseller]

They likely never will.  You don't block international bidders, btw, only international shipping addresses, because that's all eBay lets you block.

[luckythewinner]

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@onlinesto35 wrote:

There is  a reason We block international bidders!  Why does ebay allow a  workaround using a mail fowarding company.  So many sellers have been scammed by these, the boards are full of them, when will Ebay allow us to block Mail fowarding address!!

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IMHO eBay will never allow sellers to block "mail forwarding addresses" because they have no incentive to do so.

First, any address in the USA can theoretically act as a "mail forwarding address" because all it takes is a friend or family member to agree to do it for a buyer.

Second, if eBay have sellers that ability then they would have to monitor shipping addresses and try to root out every re-shipper's address. The re-shippers would inevitably stay one step ahead by creating new PO boxes and drop addresses, and eBay would as usual get blamed by sellers for not being perfect.

Third, there are plenty of sellers who routinely have absolutely no issues with re-shippers whatsoever.

Fourth, the risk of fraud comes with every eBay transaction. The boards are also full of sellers reporting fraud from transactions where a re-shipper was not involved.

[lakefor94]

Ebay won't be cutting off an avenue to the bank.

[klhmdg]

My guess would be never -

You can block shipping to a foreign address but not an international buyer. So no work around at all. As long as they can ship to a US address there is no issue.

I have been selling for quite a few years and had many shipments to a FF and never one scam.

[dbfolks166mt]

     It's not so much a workaround as it is a cost saving measure for a LOT of international buyers. I have no problem with freight forwarders what I have issues with is eBay waffling on their own policy whereby once the item is delivered to the FF'er the buyers MBG coverage ends. It's a policy they rigorously applied when they came up with the EIS program which in essence is a freight forwarder. 

     Either stand behind the policy or take the ambiguity out of it. All a seller should have to do in the event of a eBay claim for INR, NAD...... is to respond to the case showing the item as delivered and stating it was delivered to a FF. 

     The use of FF'ers has also become a way for Russia to get around the sanctions. The items either flow from a US, or other country FF'er to a Chinese based freight forwarder located in China who then forwards the items on to the buyers in Russia. I have had a number of international sales where I am pretty confident the items found their way to Russia. I would also assume that EIS is being used as a portal also. 

[toysaver]

It not just scamming that is an issue.  Packing for international mailing can be more intensive and may cost more.  There is also the possibility the freight forwarding service will open, inspect, repack and possibly damage the item. 

Years ago the original wording for blocking customers was if they live in a country you don't ship to.  It was re-worded to say that you can block them if they don't have a shipping address in a country you don't ship to.  This created the loophole.  I doubt the freight forwarding community has enough clout to have greased any hands but eBay itself wants the sales.  

I have cancelled many a sale citing something is wrong with the buyer's address without repercussion.   I follow up with everything I've stated here.