International shipping using UPS airway bill?

[jvonheimburg]

Hello,

I've listed my very first item up for auction on ebay (some higher-end inline skates).  I live in the US and set it up to only ship to the US.  I received the following message from a user who looks like they are based in Norway:

"Hello, i would like to bid for your Evo skates, but wondering if i win, would you ship skates to Lithuania?  I could arrange UPS airwaybill since i work in UPS, so you just stick airwaybill on a box and drop in your nearest UPS office. Let me know if that is not a problem for you, so could know should i continue bidding or not."

I've got so many red flags going up but thought I'd lean on the experience of this group...is there any way this is not a scam?  How would you respond?

Thanks.

[1tuna]

If you only ship to the USA then stick to your guns.I would never let a foreign buyer induce me to use a shipping account to ship that belonged to them.

whats in it for you besides a sale?   maybe you do not  need to borrow troube as they say.

good luck selling,ebay rules all!

[southern*sweet*tea]

NEVER let a buyer handle shipping, no matter if they're foreign or domestic.  It can go haywire quickly. The biggest scam is that the label is either paid for without the employer's knowledge, or it's paid for with a stolen credit card. UPS gets the chargeback and YOU get a gigantic overseas shipping and brokerage bill - we're talking hundreds of dollars.

Could the buyer be legit? Absolutely. Could the buyer be a scammer? Absolutely. Would I do it? No.

[penguins_dont_fly · Accepted solution]

"Dear Buyer: Thank you for your interest in our item. We are sorry, but we do not ship internationally."

Neve use somebody else's UPS/FedEx account.  The Shipper of Record (the account holder) can reroute the package to anywhere they want.  It ends up being delivered to a different zip code and the buyer can claim INR and win.

Or if it is a hijacked account or stolen card, you can end up with a huge bill when the charge is refuted by the real account holder.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Holy smokes, I completely forgot about the redirection aspect!

[penguins_dont_fly]

---

@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

Holy smokes, I completely forgot about the redirection aspect!

---

The "shipper of record" is also why I have my own FedEx and UPS accounts instead of using eBay labels to ship via those methods (which I do very rarely)

It is virtually impossible to get FedEx or UPS to talk to you if there is any sort of problem with a shipment .. because eBay is the Shipper of Record, not the seller.  It may cost a tiny bit more, but it's worth it for my own peace of mind.

[pburn]

So this exclusion to the buyer protection aspect of eBay's MBG wouldn't apply?

Not covered

The following scenarios:

"The buyer arranged for courier pickup, their own shipping method, or freight delivery of the item"

I've never run across a thread where this has been discussed, so I'm interested in other members' interpretations or experiences regarding that clause . . .

[southern*sweet*tea]

---

@pburn wrote:

So this exclusion to the buyer protection aspect of eBay's MBG wouldn't apply?

Not covered

The following scenarios:

"The buyer arranged for courier pickup, their own shipping method, or freight delivery of the item"

I've never run across a thread where this has been discussed, so I'm interested in other members' interpretations or experiences regarding that clause . . .

---

My interpretation: That applies to an item where no shipping method is present, namely local pickup. That's for BUYER protection.

My concern here is SELLER protection.

If a seller goes outside their shipping method to use one provided by the buyer, the seller loses all control of the shipping process because they are not the shipper of record. A buyer can change the delivery address, pay for shipping with a stolen credit card or use that shipping label without permission. This can open the seller up to a whole host of bad things, like false INRs and chargebacks that the seller WILL lose, guaranteed.

My take, others may differ.