need help with a seller fee question

[gentle_offers]

I do not wish to sell outside the USA - & my acct restricts selling outside of United States. 

I recently had a purchase form someone with a US shipping address.  Ends up he is out of the country so eBay charged me an international selling fee even though my account says I dont sell internationally and I was not & did not ship internationally.

The first person I spoke to in customer service said she would speak to the finance dept and put me on hold.  A while later a second person answered and said "what's up?" - ( the first had disappeared somewhere)  and  had no idea what I had talked to the first about and was really unprofessional.  She literall ytold me "that's the way it is"  and hung  on me when I said I needed to speak to someone who could give me a better answer than that.  The first person had told me she could have it removed. (I have both people's names and time of conversation noted)

I called again twice and was hung up on after holding for someone new.

Any one know how I can reach a professional person at eBay?  email address? 

Thanks!

[fern*wood]

Where are you getting a phone number for eBay to call?   What you described is a freight forwarder.  I don’t know of any way to block those.

[ebooksdiva]

Your buyer has made a legitimate purchase using a freight forwarder.  You were charged 1.6% international currency exchange fee because the buyers bank is outside the US. 
You won't be shipping internationally you would be shipping to a US based freight forwarder. The freight forwarder then ships the item to the buyer outside the US.

I had buyers like this quite often without any problems. Now I ship with eBay's International Shipping program so I don't receive any more international fees. I ship to eBay's hub they handle the rest including any returns or cases. 
So, just package up the purchase and ship it.

[susanb1872]

You might want to check out this recent post that discussed this topic in great detail:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Extra-Fees-On-Shipping-To-USA-Forwarding-Companies/td-p/348715...

[a_c_green]

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@susanb1872 wrote:

You might want to check out this recent post that discussed this topic in great detail:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Extra-Fees-On-Shipping-To-USA-Forwarding-Companies/td-p/348715...

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It might be worth mentioning that the Subject line of that link is a little misleading: the extra fee is applied because either the buyer's registered address is outside the U.S. or because the Ship-To: address accompanying the payment is outside the U.S. It has nothing to do with forwarding companies here in the U.S.

If the Ship-To: address is a domestic U.S. destination then it does not matter whether it's a freight forwarder; the identity of that domestic address does not enter into whether an International fee is charged.

[kensgiftshop]

Sorry, but you can't stop International buyers buying from you if they use a US freight forwarder.

[12345jamesstamps]

Addresses in Florida, Delaware Oregon, etc. can be 'freight forward'.

I haven't had any problems with those addresses.

I usually just ship everything out.

I hope it wasn't for those pair of shoes at $1300.+.

Something like that I might cancel sale as problem with the address.

I would check buyer feedbacks and how long they been with eBay and what else they purchased first before I would cancel the sale.

[wastingtime101]

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@gentle_offers wrote:

I do not wish to sell outside the USA - & my acct restricts selling outside of United States. 

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Hi @gentle_offers . It's not possible to restrict selling outside the US. eBay doesn't allow that. Sellers are limited to restrict shipping outside the US.

eBay encourages international buyers. It doesn't violate policy for international buyers to use a US-based freight forwarder, or to purchase items and have them shipped direct to friends/family in the US.

The 1.65% international fee is spelled out on the fees page and as another poster noted above, it applies when the buyer has a registered address outside the US or their shipping address is outside the US.

eBay CS is not going to help you with the transaction because the buyer didn't violate any policy. If you cancel the sale using a false reason you will be violating policy and putting your account at risk. If you cancel the sale you have to use the "out of stock" reason, since it's your refusal to ship, and it will result in an account defect. Bear in mind using a false reason like "problem with address" or "buyer requested" is monitored by eBay and I've seen sellers have actions taken against their account when found abusing the cancellation process because they didn't want to ship to freight forwarders.

I understand you may be nervous over those $1k+ shoes. If that's too big of a risk for you then you shouldn't be selling that particular item online. A US buyer can cause the same problems as an international buyer. Maybe you want to take the out of stock defect then sell the shoes locally, sticking to lower value items here on eBay. That's a decision you'll need to make and one single defect will not ruin your account.

[monroe67]

"The first person I spoke to in customer service said she would speak to the finance dept and put me on hold.  A while later a second person answered and said "what's up?" - ( the first had disappeared somewhere)  and  had no idea what I had talked to the first about and was really unprofessional.  She literall ytold me "that's the way it is"  and hung  on me when I said I needed to speak to someone who could give me a better answer than that."

This eBay Selling Community Forum is 10,000,000% better at giving good, correct, and true answers than any "eBay phone number" for "eBay customer service" you might find through Google.  

Unfortunately for you and all sellers who find out about eBay's International Fee by suddenly finding that fee in one of their transaction details -- yes, that is the way it is.  

eBay US-registered sellers are charged an International Fee of  1.65% of the total amount paid by the buyer when the sold item is either (1) sent to an address outside the United States or (2) sent to an eBay buyer with a non-US-registered address, regardless of the shipping address.  

That second possibility is precisely what happened to you, the OP.  

This is spelled out in the User Agreement.  A few other people in this thread have provided a link in earlier messages.  It's happened to millions of other eBay-US-registered sellers.  

[gentle_offers]

Thank you everyone for the various replies.

I spoke to someone, finally, who was super helpful and professional, so there's a positive. It simply took a few tries more than I would have liked.  

They said I could indeed cancel said  order as having trouble with the address and do so without getting dinged by eBay.

My experience with eBay to date has always been quite positive when I have called in the past so I dont want to leave the impression that I think the service is bad.  Overall, it is not.  I am also a buyer and have been very pleased.

Chers and thanks again.

[gentle_offers]

Just fyi, I am not going to be reading further replies so if you would like to talk amongst yourselves, it's all good.  

Thanks again.

[doc-holmes]

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@gentle_offers wrote:

Thank you everyone for the various replies.

I spoke to someone, finally, who was super helpful and professional, so there's a positive. It simply took a few tries more than I would have liked.  

They said I could indeed cancel said  order as having trouble with the address and do so without getting dinged by eBay.

My experience with eBay to date has always been quite positive when I have called in the past so I dont want to leave the impression that I think the service is bad.  Overall, it is not.  I am also a buyer and have been very pleased.

Chers and thanks again.

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The person who gave you this info is incorrect. The buyer could report you if you do this. 

[wastingtime101]

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@gentle_offers wrote:

I spoke to someone, finally, who was super helpful and professional, so there's a positive. It simply took a few tries more than I would have liked.  

They said I could indeed cancel said  order as having trouble with the address and do so without getting dinged by eBay.

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Sounds like that CS rep gave you a one time courtesy pass. I wouldn't expect that on future transactions.

You said it took a few tries so it sounds like other reps gave you correct advice and the last rep may have gone rogue.

FYI kyle@ebay - can you have this CS contact reviewed just to make sure the rep is following eBay internal policies? Perhaps eBay grants a courtesy pass every now and then, which is great for this seller, but if the rep gave the seller wrong info saying it's OK to cancel an order to a freight forwarder using 'problem with address' then that rep needs coaching so they don't keep steering sellers into a situation that will result in seller penalties for abusing the cancellation policy. Thanks in advance!

[luckythewinner]

I do not wish to sell outside the USA - & my acct restricts selling outside of United States.

Your account restricts shipping outside the USA. It does not restrict buyers who are registered outside the USA. 

eBay charges an international fee if either

• the delivery address is outside the USA, or
• the buyer's registered address is outside the USA

If a buyer with an address outside the USA purchases your item and provides a USA ship[ping address, you will be charged an international fee. You do not need to talk to anyone at eBay because you cannot block this from happening.

If this is a deal-breaker for you, then the only way to prevent it is to stop listing on eBay.

[fern*wood]

Sounds like the OP will only listen if they hear what they want to happen.