WHY IS EBAY CHARGING INTERNATIONAL FEES WHEN AN ITEM IS SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES?

[marviolet]

A buyer sent an offer on an item and I accepted.  The buyer purchased the item and I shipped the item to the address eBay has on file in the United States.  I was unaware the buyer's registered address was in China until I viewed my "Fee Details"  and noticed that I was charged an International fee.  How is it I am charged an international fee?  What is happening?

[ittybitnot]

@marviolet 

Your buyer used a payment source that was not US based.  eBay allows them to use a US address (i.e. freight forwarder) to bid or buy your items even if you do not wish to sell/ship internationally.  

Here is a rather lively discussion on the topic:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Seller-doesn-t-want-to-sell-out-of-the-USA-but-buyers-use/td-p...

[marviolet]

I think sellers should be made aware that a buyer is registered in another country thereby giving the seller an option.  I should not be charged an international fee.

[donsdetour]

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@marviolet wrote:

I think sellers should be made aware that a buyer is registered in another country thereby giving the seller an option.  I should not be charged an international fee.

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But but eBay get lost money in such a deal ,that allows sellers not to take international transactions man....

Of course it should be an option for the seller. Some things are not worth the risks to sell in such methods.

[monroe67 · Accepted solution]

"A buyer sent an offer on an item and I accepted.  The buyer purchased the item and I shipped the item to the address eBay has on file in the United States.  I was unaware the buyer's registered address was in China until I viewed my "Fee Details"  and noticed that I was charged an International fee.  How is it I am charged an international fee?  What is happening?"

Did your buyer ever contact you to tell you about any problem?  
My selling ID has sold maybe close to 10 items over the years to buyers with registered addresses in Russia and sometimes China or European countries.   And I have never, ever, not one time had any negative feedback or other bad consequences from any of those sales.  

I am not delighted with Russia as a nation these days, based on what I see in the news, but I have found that my Russian buyers are regular people just like most of us, who buy things from me that they can't find in their country.   And truthfully, I haven't had any Russian or Ukrainian buyers since their problems started earlier this year.  

To your question, how is it you are charged an international fee, the simple answer is that eBay charges this fee because they can.  And it is described in the User Agreement.   There's a link to the User Agreement at the bottom of every page, when you're on a computer as opposed to a phone.  

Once you open the User Agreement, go to Item 5, Fees and Taxes.  Within the second paragraph, you'll see the words "selling fees" in a hyperlink, underlined and/or in a different color.  When you click on that hyperlink, you are taken to Selling Fees.  Scroll through that document until you see the heading, "International fees."  

Here (in green) is precisely what the User Agreement (for US eBay sellers) says about International Fees:

If your registered address is in the US, we charge an International fee if either:

• The delivery address for the item (entered by the buyer during checkout) is outside the US, or
• The buyer's registered address is outside the US (regardless of the delivery address for the item)

This fee is calculated as 1.65% of the total amount of the sale and is automatically deducted from your sales.

I've also italicized one very important word in that quote:  address.  The one and only determinant factor in whether eBay imposes the international fee is address.  The location of the payment source (bank or credit card company) means nothing.  Lots of people who post here seem to get this detail about the international fee wrong.  

[marviolet]

The bottom line, I have stopped selling overseas for some time now.  There is no way of knowing it is an overseas buyer when the address is in the U.S.  I think eBay should alert the seller that the buyer is registered overseas and let the seller make the determination if they want to be charged the international fee.  If I wanted to continue to sell to overseas buyers, I would have checked that box.  

[allonsy]

To my reading - no one yet has answered the WHY eBay is charging the international fee.  "Because they can" is not helpful but I guess it really may be the answer.  I would like to hear ebay's reasoning for the fee.... Does the fee attempt to cover some additional cost that Ebay is trying to recoup?  For example - are there more claims when buyers use freight forwarders that ebay ends up being on the hook for because the item does not get to where it is supposed to go?  And why charge the seller the fee - why not the buyer ?

[soh.maryl]

Because the sale is going to an international buyer who apparently uses a freight forwarder? And regarding freight forwarders, the buyer is "off the hook" once the item arrives at the address of the freight forwarder.

[marviolet]

I stopped selling to international buyers sometime now because the shipping cost became too prohibitive. Some would argue that the buyers are paying the cost, but it seems unreasonable to me when the cost of shipping an item is more costly than the item.  Another concern is having to pay for an item to be returned if something goes wrong in transit.  As a result, I only ship here in the U.S.  There is no way I can determine if a buyer is using an address in the U.S. but the buyer's address is registered in another country.  I do believe that eBay should alter the seller and give the seller the option to accept or deny the sale. 

[marviolet]

Knowingly selling to an overseas buyer is not the issue.  I have sold items to overseas buyers before.  The issue is being deceived into selling to someone with a USA address and then finding out later that the buyer is registered in China.  I was only made aware of this when charged an international fee by eBay.  There should be some way of letting the seller know this fact before the transaction is completed and not having to find out later.  

[lepke1979]

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@allonsy wrote:

To my reading - no one yet has answered the WHY eBay is charging the international fee.  "Because they can" is not helpful but I guess it really may be the answer.  I would like to hear ebay's reasoning for the fee.... Does the fee attempt to cover some additional cost that Ebay is trying to recoup?  For example - are there more claims when buyers use freight forwarders that ebay ends up being on the hook for because the item does not get to where it is supposed to go?  And why charge the seller the fee - why not the buyer ?

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It's an interchange fee. I believe it's to help cover the cost of going through international banks.

[marviolet]

If that is true, why should the buyer be responsible for that fee?

[lepke1979]

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@marviolet wrote:

If that is true, why should the buyer be responsible for that fee?

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Buyer pays conversion fee (unless their card gives that for free). Seller pays interchange/foreign transaction fee. It's just how the industry works. Although the fee does seem higher after doing a little searching. But that could be because of PayPal.

It's no different than if I walk into a B&M in Canada or Mexico. They might not know my card is registered in the US when I buy something. But their processor will charge the fees on the sale.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@marviolet wrote:

There is no way of knowing it is an overseas buyer when the address is in the U.S.  I think eBay should alert the seller that the buyer is registered overseas and let the seller make the determination if they want to be charged the international fee.  If I wanted to continue to sell to overseas buyers, I would have checked that box.  

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Of course you can see where the buyer is registered. 

Click on the buyer's ID and go to the feedback page. Right under their ID is their country of registration. For example, I can see that you, @marviolet are registered in the US: 

[marviolet]

I meant why should the seller be responsible for that fee?