Israel eBay Blockade Continues

[coopers_basement]

eBay implemented a "temporary" pause on sales to Israel on Oct. 13 due to "most major US shipping carriers are experiencing disruptions in service into the country". But all the major carriers have resumed shipment to Israel except for the area immediately surrounding Gaza. It's one thing if eBay doesn't want it's shipping service to operate there, I can even see some sellers not wishing to take a risk on delayed shipments, but it's quite another if they're blocking the rest of us from shipping to a country that is not being sanctioned by the US. Are they planning to continue this for the duration, which could be another six months or a year? Are your colors showing, eBay?

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Temporarily-pausing-US-international-shipping-to-Israel/...

[12345jamesstamps]

If there is a delay in your item getting to Israel...are you OK with refunding the buyer with no MBG.

I have had a lot of buyers in Israel. But I do not want to have to refund buyers if my shipments do not get there in time. And not every buyer is honest....someone might blame such a crisis as where is my item. And then the refund problem begins. 

I had great buyers from Russia as well. But I don't go saying "are your colors showing".

Perhaps sell some of your items on other platforms that allow it.

[coopers_basement]

Not every buyer is honest, but neither is eBay - I had a shipment to Russia that was caught up in the outbreak of the Ukraine war, sent using eBay International shipping. It was eventually delivered, but eBay didn't give a **bleep**, they issued a $200 refund to the buyer, and the buyer never even filed a claim, eBay just wanted to clear the books. And the Russia situation was due to US sanctions, so it was mandatory, this isn't.

I have a request from a repeat buyer, so yes, I'll trust this buyer. It should be my call, not eBay.

[israelstampsnet]

I agree. Seems kind of weird that if ebay is not allowing shipping to Israel, they allow people in Israel to make a purchase anyhow. But if you try to send the buyer an invoice, ebay message says Your buyer is in a country that you do not ship to."

That's not true. I can ship there through my own means if I want to, but ebay wont allow me to send the customer an invoice.

Something not quite jiving here, ebay.

All that being said, I DO know for a fact that mail to/from Israel is taking well over a month either way, so I have CHOSEN not to sell to israel for the moment.

Just canceled a bunch of orders from Israel. 

[buyselljack2016]

Not sure that eBay would have the ability to "code" to allow shipping to some addresses in a country, and not to others.  

Could you just imagine what would happen if they tried?

[coopers_basement]

eBay certainly has the ability to code certain postal codes, they do that for the US whenever a disaster strikes.

If the USPS or other carriers (FedEx, UPS, etc.) are willing to accept shipments and sellers are willing to ship there, there is no reason to not allow sales to Israel. None. If sellers don't wish to take the chance, that's up to them. There is no risk to eBay to allow sales between parties willing to engage. Something smells about this blockade.

[moriah2]

I live in Israel and have been receiving mail regularly for the past couple of months including packages ordered from the UK and US including Amazon and other stores. I don't know why Ebay is excluding Israel when others have not.