Can I set up a local Ship To purchase in another country?

[itsjustasprain]

This is my situation which Id like to describe BEFORE I get into it in case I will not be able to complete the transaction. Let me take this one point at a time.

1 - I am in the US. I found an item in England that I want to buy - but the seller does not ship to the US.

2 - I cannot even SEE the item unless I log into ebay.co.uk first and the seller states flat out in the description that he will not ship international. So this is definitely local to the UK only.

3 - I have a relative in the UK who can ship the item to me if I have it sent to her. (This is a small cheap item with zero risk and no chance I would need to return it. No worries on that.)

4 - I think my main questions here are - if the UK seller doesnt ship intenationally or even list his item internationally - am I going to get stonewalled in Paypal somehow and not be able to send my payment to him? Since I can log into ebay.co.uk I assume that i can bid there although I have not tried yet.

Can I set up a Ship To address to my relative in another country to send with my payment? Even if its a local address for the seller? Everything about my Paypal account is US based although I dont know if that matters.

Maybe Im overthinking this but I dont want to leave the seller hanging or get into a mess with this. Thanks for any input...

[missjen831 · Accepted solution]

You should be able to add your relatives address as the ship to address and payment should go through fine as long as the seller hasn’t blocked non-UK accounts assuming they have the ability—the way a US seller can block payments from non-US accounts. 

[mr_lincoln]

@itsjustasprain  I actually had a transaction with the reverse ... a US car part on Auction with bids.  I got a message from a Buyer in Switzerland wanting the item but not being able to bid because I was not offering international shipping.  Since the item had a bid already I could not turn on international shipping.  They said they had a relative in the US so I suggested they change thier shipping address to the US relative's ... they made the change, placed thier bids and eventually won the auction.  It was an over $ 230.00 item.  While I do not know the final shipping arrangement from their US family member I would bet good money on their relative shipping it to them as a gift which may have reduced duty and customs costs ... but again, that is just a guesitmate on my part. 

Is your relative able to purchase on eBay UK?  I think you have some options here ... you can always send your relative $$ via PayPal if they have an account ...

[itsjustasprain]

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@mr_lincolnwrote:

Is your relative able to purchase on eBay UK?  I think you have some options here ... you can always send your relative $$ via PayPal if they have an account ...

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Hi - thanks - she cant do much on line beyond emailing and does not do Ebay at all. But she has no problem with fielding a package and sending it over here and we ship gifts ect. back and forth all the time. Paying her for her postage is no problem but the whole Ebay involvement is up to me to arrange, so that all she needs to do is stick a new label on the package when she gets it and send it on to me.

[lancelotme]

assumimg the UK seller does not block non UK paypal payment,you would cost her more fee as Paypal will take 4.4% instead of 2.9% plus transaction fee as your Paypal account is  not UK based.

If the item is listed on Ebay UK,it wil be in GBP so when you make payment,you will pay Paypal a 3% exchange conversion for converting your US $ TO GBP.

[itsjustasprain]

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@missjen831 wrote:

You should be able to add your relatives address as the ship to address and payment should go through fine as long as the seller hasn’t blocked non-UK accounts assuming they have the ability—the way a US seller can block payments from non-US accounts. 

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I realized just now that I never posted any followup on this. So I can now report that everything went completely fine and I got the item a few days ago. Thanks for everyones help!

[mr_lincoln]

@itsjustasprain

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@itsjustasprain wrote:

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@missjen831 wrote:

You should be able to add your relatives address as the ship to address and payment should go through fine as long as the seller hasn’t blocked non-UK accounts assuming they have the ability—the way a US seller can block payments from non-US accounts. 

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I realized just now that I never posted any followup on this. So I can now report that everything went completely fine and I got the item a few days ago. Thanks for everyones help!

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Thanks for the update ...