eBay

sherri1970wahine · ‎01-06-2018

Hello all,

I had a buyer contact me today saying that they could not purchase an item and that when they tried to complete their purchase, they got the message, "The vendor cannot accept payments at this time." Say what? What in the holy heck does that mean? Didn't Paypal just give themselves a raise recently? Coincidentally (or not) I didn't sell anything all day on the account in question. Does this mean that my account isn't working? All payments are up to date, no problems with the account, feedback all good--so it isn't an issue of me being in trouble with eBay or anything. Anyone else ever had this happen? Do I need to call someone? If so, what department would I even ask for?

This is kind of upsetting, and I have never had this happen before. The only thing I can think of is that I recently changed the shipping on the item in question to include International first class shipping--could that have anything to do with why this is happening? The buyer is in Switzerland, and I OK'd shipping to Europe when I was doing the listing. Is there another place on eBay where I need to check or uncheck a box to allow International shipping? Sorry--I don't know too much about International shipping, but I am trying to learn--First class International seemed to be a good start, but can anyoe think of something I might have done wrong? It's either my error, or eBay just doesn't want me to make any money.....thanks in advance for any advice.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-07-2018

@sherri1970wahine wrote:
Thanks for the response--I did what Emerald said to do, and it did work--the buyer was able to purchase from Switzerland. Could it be that by adding the foreign currencies, I somehow turned off the block (if I had one on)? I didn't see anything on my Paypal account that asked me if I wanted to block foreign currencies. Can you tell me where that block would be please? And you are correct, I am a little confused at this point!

I'm confused too. 🙂 What did you do that Emerald said to do? Did you add Swiss francs to your Paypal wallet? Did you do something else?

castlemagicmemories · ‎01-07-2018

Do you owe Ebay any fees?

That could be a reason.

Could be your email address. Could be a Paypal glitch, I understand they have been having problems in the last few days that were severe.

sherri1970wahine · ‎01-07-2018

HI there--no--my account is just fine--I don't owe eBay any money--it isn't a problem with me being in trouble with eBay or anything. The email address wasn't the problem either. I don't know if it was a glitch, I guess that is what I am trying to figure out. Thanks for the input. 🙂

sherri1970wahine · ‎01-07-2018

HI there--Yes, I added the Swiss franc to my wallet, and then the buyer was abe to pay. I was wondering if that removed a block (that I didn't know I had, or where I can even find that option on Paypal), or if that doesn't make a difference at all. I understand what you are saying, that adding foreign currencies to your wallet might be for other types of merchants (people with their own websites, etc.) but for future reference, I guess I am just wondering if this was, in fact, a glitch? If I don't need to have those other currencies in my wallet, then I would prefer not to have them added--just seems kind of silly, and like it could possibly cause some kind of issue down the road. The idea of paying to convert currency is really troubling as well.

As I said before--the little details here on eBay can be so important--and I admit that I am a little nervous about changing anything about my business model. The only reason I want to try International is because I have had people ask me to sell to them in foreign countries and the transactions have worked out wonderfully--so I thought I could make some more things available Internationally. However, if I am going to do International shipping, then I want to do it the right way--and I have honestly been researching and reading about it for weeks, but it's hard to bring all the information together. Then you run into a weird situation like I had today, and it just leaves me puzzled. Now I have more questions than I ever did, but I do appreciate any help or suggestions that anyone has--thank you so much for your input.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-08-2018

What currency is the payment that you received? If it was in $US then adding swiss francs couldn't have had anything to do with the situation..I would say it was just a temporary glitch. It sounds like you've had other international transactions without any other currencies being checked off so there is no need to have that you accept them. I accept only US and Canadian dollars and have had no problem with receiving payments from any other countries. I've also never had to pay currency exchange for any sale that I made regardless of where the buyer was but you do pay slightly extra for accepting money from a non US Paypal account and there is no way of getting around that if you want to sell internationally. I'm not certain of the Paypal rates for US accounts, it used to be 2.9% for domestic and 3.9% for international transactions but I think that it is 4.4% for international now.

Some sellers will tell you to stay away from international or tell you to use the gsp...that's up to you. Right now it looks like you are using the gsp for all international and if that works well for you that's great. If you ever want to consider sending some ofyour lighter and less expensive items internationally and listing them without the gsp, you could start another thread about that. You'll find that there are lots of different opinions about that too. 🙂

You asked about finding the blocking non US accounts etc...sign into Paypal, under selling tools on the left side click on seller preferences. In the middle of that page you'll see block payments, click on update and you will see the different choices there.

pyrabluestudios · ‎01-08-2018

It's a glitch, plain and simple. I've had it happen a few times. Had a Buyer contact me, like your's did you with the same comment. Ebay and PayPal couldn't find anything wrong with my accounts or settings. It was simply a phantom problem.
I was still having other orders come in. It's like it just strikes at will. Completely annoying!

d-k_treasures · ‎01-08-2018

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@d-k_treasures wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@emerald40 wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I don’t know why that would happen but I do know that blocking or adding foreign currencies wouldn’t do anything as far as ebay international buyers go. Buyers are required to pay in the same currency as the listing so even if you blocked foreign currencies that wouldn’t affect payment.

What would affect international buyers is if you are blocking non US PayPal accounts. Where is the buyer registered?
Works for me. Since I added those blocks I had 3 who bid but could not pay me.
As I said in my post, blocking non US PP accounts does block international buyers. But the foreign currency block isn’t necessary and doesn’t help you because you will always receive $US for an item listed on .com even if you don’t have that block enabled. That block is likely for sellers with their own site.

I list on 2 different Ebay sites and in 2 different currencies and regardless of where the buyer is located I receive payment in the currency of the site the item was listed on. If you purchased an item I listed on .ca, you would pay the equivalent in $US but I would receive Canadian dollars even though my PP account allows any currency.

It doesn’t ‘hurt’ to have the foreign currency block on but it doesn’t help either so suggesting that people use it just confuses them as to how Ebay works.

If you don't have that block, you, the seller will be paying the currency conversion fees. When the block is set, the buyer pays, which is what you want - why would you want to also pay for the currency conversion when you are already paying 4.4% to PP for an international payment?

That doesn't happen. You don't know me but you can believe that I would have noticed had I been paying extra fees for the last 10+ years Buyers always pay the currency exchange fee if they pay in a different currency than what the listing was done in. That's how it works when you are paying through eBay, I believe that the send money function in Paypal works differently and I imagine that different retailers do things differently than on ebay do PP has different options.

The area that I think that you are referring to is copied below. I have the last option checked off because it seemed to be the only one to apply to me yet I have never been asked to accept or deny a payment from any buyer in any country. That is because the money is automatically converted (at the buyer's expense) to the currency that the listing is in. If you are saying that clicking on the first choice means the seller pays the conversion fees..I don't see that in any of the information. But as I said earlier, I don't think clicking on any of those choice applies to selling on eBay.
Allow payments sent to me in a currency I do not hold:
Yes, accept and convert them to U.S. Dollars. Additional charges apply.
No, deny the payments
* Ask Me, decide accepting or denying each individual payment

Which tells the buyer that they need to pay in USD.

Why would you want to pay for the currency conversion PLUS the extra 1.5% PP charges for international payments(4.4% vs 2.9%)?

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-08-2018

@d-k_treasures wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@d-k_treasures wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@emerald40 wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I don’t know why that would happen but I do know that blocking or adding foreign currencies wouldn’t do anything as far as ebay international buyers go. Buyers are required to pay in the same currency as the listing so even if you blocked foreign currencies that wouldn’t affect payment.

What would affect international buyers is if you are blocking non US PayPal accounts. Where is the buyer registered?
Works for me. Since I added those blocks I had 3 who bid but could not pay me.
As I said in my post, blocking non US PP accounts does block international buyers. But the foreign currency block isn’t necessary and doesn’t help you because you will always receive $US for an item listed on .com even if you don’t have that block enabled. That block is likely for sellers with their own site.

I list on 2 different Ebay sites and in 2 different currencies and regardless of where the buyer is located I receive payment in the currency of the site the item was listed on. If you purchased an item I listed on .ca, you would pay the equivalent in $US but I would receive Canadian dollars even though my PP account allows any currency.

It doesn’t ‘hurt’ to have the foreign currency block on but it doesn’t help either so suggesting that people use it just confuses them as to how Ebay works.

If you don't have that block, you, the seller will be paying the currency conversion fees. When the block is set, the buyer pays, which is what you want - why would you want to also pay for the currency conversion when you are already paying 4.4% to PP for an international payment?

That doesn't happen. You don't know me but you can believe that I would have noticed had I been paying extra fees for the last 10+ years Buyers always pay the currency exchange fee if they pay in a different currency than what the listing was done in. That's how it works when you are paying through eBay, I believe that the send money function in Paypal works differently and I imagine that different retailers do things differently than on ebay do PP has different options.

The area that I think that you are referring to is copied below. I have the last option checked off because it seemed to be the only one to apply to me yet I have never been asked to accept or deny a payment from any buyer in any country. That is because the money is automatically converted (at the buyer's expense) to the currency that the listing is in. If you are saying that clicking on the first choice means the seller pays the conversion fees..I don't see that in any of the information. But as I said earlier, I don't think clicking on any of those choice applies to selling on eBay.
Allow payments sent to me in a currency I do not hold:
Yes, accept and convert them to U.S. Dollars. Additional charges apply.
No, deny the payments
* Ask Me, decide accepting or denying each individual payment

Which tells the buyer that they need to pay in USD.

Not on eBay as buyers have to pay in the listing currency regardless. Well actually they pay in their own currency, paypal changes it to the listing currency and the buyer pays for the conversion.
How do you explain that even though I have 'Ask me' checked off that I've never been asked to accept or deny a currency? I've always sold internationally so I'm pretty sure that buyers would ask to pay in their own currency if that option was available to them. I'll answer that....I haven't been asked because that section doesn't apply to eBay.

I have listings on .ca...all of my coin listings. You can try buying one and I will cancel it but you may end up being out a few cents because you will pay in US dollars and will have to pay the conversion fee to change it to Canadian so that I can be paid. Then when I refund you, you will have to pay a conversion fee to change it back again to US $.

Why would you want to pay for the currency conversion PLUS the extra 1.5% PP charges for international payments(4.4% vs 2.9%)?

Why ask me the same question that has been asked and answered in another post? I don't pay for the currency conversion fee, the buyer does. Please show me where it says that the ebay seller will pay the currency conversion fee if they don't check off deny payment in foreign currency? Failing that, please show me at least one post when a seller has commented that they had to pay the conversion fee.

I see the 'advice' posted to sellers all the time on the boards that they should block foreign currencies but that doesn't mean that the advice is correct. I'm not sure why you are so certain that I don't have a clue what I am talking about. I have no reason to make up things.