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Preventing overseas bidders.

Why is it when you list a firearm related item and put not for export or domestic shipping only you still get bids from out of the US? Haven't sold many items but am getting tired of having to delete these bids on some of the items listed. Do people not read the ads or are they just hoping that you will ship it anyway? I have no export license and have no intention of getting one. Thanks

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Preventing overseas bidders.

you don't know until they try to pay whether the item will be shipped domestically or not.  They could be mailing to a US friend/relative or to a reshipper........  hoping to get it that way......

Message 2 of 6
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Preventing overseas bidders.

Go to Account Settings > Site Preferences > Manage Shipping Settings. There's a setting to exclude international shipping locations. You can exclude specific countries or all international locations. There's also an option to choose "no international shipping" on the listing form, but I'm not sure whether it comes up when you have all international locations blocked.

Message 3 of 6
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Preventing overseas bidders.

@moparclan1 

 

If you have all your exclusions set properly, you can prevent bidders or buyers from out of the US   EXCEPT for those that get around the blocks by using a reshipper or other such address in the US.   Since you still accept PayPal, you can prevent these people from PAYING (not bidding) , by selecting in the PayPal preferences to "deny payments from non-US paypal accounts"  or something like that. 

Once you are enrolled in managed payments you will no longer have that option, and it will be back to the "wack a mole" approach.  

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Preventing overseas bidders.

 and put not for export or domestic shipping only

 

Was thinking about this some more.  Once you set your exclusions, you should not really have to babysit your auctions for this problem.  There was a seller here the other day that spoke  about this issue, since he had products that were not allowed to be exported as well.   I am not going to look for it since the boards are sort of in "broken" mode right now, but his answer to the issue when he got a bid or buy from someone using a reshipper address, he would simply cancel the sale with the reason "problem with the buyer's address."  The question might be is that necessary?  

Recently, ebay's stance on reshipper addresses has changed.  They explained that the use of such an address by an international bidder did not infer that the product was indeed purchased for export.  In fact, ebay says that it might be purchased by a buyer that works at the facility or by someone that uses that address to store parcels to be picked up later.  Indeed, this was in reference to seller protection policies and not particularly applicable to your situation, and eBay's opinion is not law. 

It might be a good idea for you to check with an attorney who could provide you with the necessary information about this (probably/really might be/really is going to be exported) export situation and your role or liability, in light of the fact you will be shipping to a US address. 


@moparclan1 

Message 5 of 6
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Preventing overseas bidders.

I saw a report from the BATFE that said it is not allowed unless you have and export license. So Ill do as I did the last few time and just cancel the bid. Thanks for all the help. 

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