European bidders who drive up the price of US only auctions

[esquire]

Caveat: I'm not an Euro basher or an ugly American. I just want to vent on a simple rule that many ebayers do not follow.

I am beginning to notice more and more of a trend of European bidders who completely ignore an auction's terms wherein in states "US Shipping only." Now, I am not talking about instances where the bidder emails the seller and asks for permission to bid first. I am talking about bidders who simply bid regardless of the auction terms. I am tired of getting shafted by higher auction prices because some Euro bidder bids on an item that he can not get. Last time I was burned by "Coryoon" an ebayer from Germany with private feedback who outbid me on a Jag CD. Auction ended and of course the seller would not sell to him. A second chance offer was made to me at my highest proxy. However, but for Coryoon's bids, I would have won it at a lower FAV. It seems that the same bidders keep appearing over and over and they not only bid high, but they bid often on many items, particulary TurboGrafx 16, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A and Atari Jaguar items.

Now, the sellers are partly to blame, especially as in this case where the bidder emailed the seller, the seller said no and then did not block him from bidding. However, I think ebay (which obviously has a conflict of nterest due to higher FAV = more $ for them) should make region blocking for US auctions wherein the seller states "US shipping only." But I suppose that's a pipe dream.

[Cmosfm]

This has happened to me before, I never ship to anything other than US and Ive had bids from europe, canada, australia....even though its clearly stated in my auction. Then the sellers get mad because I wont ship it to them. I don't like to fill out customs forms, nor do I like to play "guess the postage amount" for shipping to other countries. I hate people who dont read auctions...

....don't get me started on my "PAYPAL ONLY" I slap 4 times on the auctions I list, and one out of twenty times I get some newbie moron saying "I dont want to use paypal, I can send a Money Order tommorow". I then commence to leave negative feedback for them. That may make me seem like an ass, but the first thing it says on my auctions is "PAYPAL ONLY!" its also the last thing it says, its also in my rules stating that disregardng this WILL result in negative feedback, and its in my shipping policy too. So only a idiot would look over this. But yet, they still do.
:angry:

[hydr0x]

it's because there is NO reason to not ship outside of the us and most of the us-only-shipping sellers are ignorant *censored*

[esquire]

it's because there is NO reason to not ship outside of the us and most of the us-only-shipping sellers are ignorant *censored*

There are plenty of reasons not to ship outside of the US. First and foremost, I cannot track an item through the USPS once it leaves the country. Moreover, privacy laws in countries like Germany prohibit me from getting personal information on an ebay member to confirm their address. Also, opportunities for paypal fraud run amok outside the US (not saying that it does not occur within the US as well, but at least I can address my grievances through the local law enforcement agency or in a court of law).

Moreover, I simply don't like to ship outside the US for simplicity reasons, as stated in Cmosfn's reply. I see plenty of Euro auctions that state shipping to UK or European mainland only.

Just becvause you don't believe in a seller's policy, doen't give you the right to break it by bidding.

[jonjandran]

it's because there is NO reason to not ship outside of the us and most of the us-only-shipping sellers are ignorant *censored*

Well one reason would be that Pay-pal would not help us if the buyer did a charge-back because non-US buyers don't have Confirmed addresses .

[Queen Of The Felines]

@Hydrox: What pisses people off the most is the fact that, even though you think there's no reason to not sell to you, you are completely ignoring the seller's requests. Basically it sends the message "Fuck you, I'm bidding anyway whether you like it or not."

It's just manners.

Edit: Yeah, and what they said.

Kristine

[Mayhem]

I've bid on lots of "US only" auctions and it's been fine, the seller has been perfectly willing to send abroad. Guess I've been lucky there. Many times they are willing and just forget to tick the correct box to say so when putting the auction up. So the only real times I take it for granted now is when the seller specifically states the same thing in the auction text.

As for confirmed addresses via Paypal, now that they've expanded to more currencies and regions, those places can also have confirmed addresses. My address here in the UK is now "confirmed" for example, so hopefully less to worry about!

As for tracking, you can sometimes track foreign parcels through the country of destination's national postal service website. I know you can do that with Royal Mail/Parcelforce here, you can put the US code in and it will spit out the new UK one that it's been transcribed to for example IF the parcel has been received by them.

If all fails, I can just get them to send it to QoF now :D

And then try to get the item(s) out of her hands :P

[hydr0x]

no confirmed adresses? all ebay-de-members have a confirmed one!!

when signing up to ebay you have to use an confirmed email-account , only providers and a few others like web.de are allowed, all those already have adress confirmation!! if you use other email-accounts like gmx or whatever, ebay will send you a letter (yes, not electronical) and you'll have to use the code in it to sign up

so, as you can see, any adress is confirmed (of course there are always ways around something like this)

[jonjandran]

no confirmed adresses? all ebay-de-members have a confirmed one!!

when signing up to ebay you have to use an confirmed email-account , only providers and a few others like web.de are allowed, all those already have adress confirmation!! if you use other email-accounts like gmx or whatever, ebay will send you a letter (yes, not electronical) and you'll have to use the code in it to sign up

so, as you can see, any adress is confirmed (of course there are always ways around something like this)

A Pay-Pal confirmed Address. :roll: x_x

[Raccoon Lad]

it's because there is NO reason to not ship outside of the us and most of the us-only-shipping sellers are ignorant *censored*

I find that odd coming from a German, as my experience is most German eBay sellers won't ship outside of Germany, and almost none ship outside of Europe.

[hydr0x]

it's because there is NO reason to not ship outside of the us and most of the us-only-shipping sellers are ignorant *censored*

I find that odd coming from a German, as my experience is most German eBay sellers won't ship outside of Germany, and almost none ship outside of Europe.

that's not true, almost all sellers with a lot of items ship worldwide, and for most smaller sellers who are not doing so the reason is the language, it's a pain in the ass to get your money if something happens if you hardly speak any english ;)

[esquire]

it's because there is NO reason to not ship outside of the us and most of the us-only-shipping sellers are ignorant *censored*

I find that odd coming from a German, as my experience is most German eBay sellers won't ship outside of Germany, and almost none ship outside of Europe.

that's not true, almost all sellers with a lot of items ship worldwide, and for most smaller sellers who are not doing so the reason is the language, it's a pain in the ass to get your money if something happens if you hardly speak any english ;)

Bullshit. I just went to ebay.de, searched for Amiga computer software, and lo and behold the first 5 items say shipping to Deutschland or Deutschland and Europa only. I am sure the remaining items are just the same.

http://listings.ebay.de/aw/plistings/list/category4598/index.html?from=R4

[anagrama]

Agreed, German sellers do seem to be the most insular in Europe - I see a lot more German auctions that don't ship worldwide than I do for UK, French or Dutch ones.
The US still seems to be the worse though, as I re-discovered when trying to get my Secret Santa's present.

[dave2236]

My personal account isn't a confirmed address and I use it all the time.

I ship internationally all the time and have never had a problem. Out of the last 150 auctions almost 40 games went overseas.

[hydr0x]

Agreed, German sellers do seem to be the most insular in Europe - I see a lot more German auctions that don't ship worldwide than I do for UK, French or Dutch ones.
The US still seems to be the worse though, as I re-discovered when trying to get my Secret Santa's present.

sure about france here???? french auctions almost never ship worlwide, they also almost never have their auction text in another language than french

uk and netherlands is obvious as uk sellers of course don't have the mentioned language problem and dutch sellers also don't have them as they learn english much better than germans due to the fact that all movies are only shown in english opposed to germany where all movies are dubbed

[kevincure]

I guess it's your choice, but I never understood why anyone wouldn't ship international on anything of value. Not only do I gladly ship internationally, I mark in my auctions that I can understand Spanish and Chinese. I get an email every five auctions or so in one of those languages, and ship a good one in ten outside of the US. The auctions that sell internationally invariably end for more than I was hoping to get - for instance, I got 110 bucks for my mint boxed Dreamcast BBA from a guy in Spain. If I sell anything PSX or DC (what I specialize in on ebay) to a non-American, I always follow up asking them if they want anything else in particular; for some reason (and I noticed this when I was in London), Europeans and Asians are way overcharged for American PSX/DC games, even common ones. It's an easy way to pick up extra money.

I've only had one minor problem, and it was with that BBA I sent to Spain. It was sent Global Priority, and the guy never got the package. After two months of waiting, he finally got a "final notice" that he had a package waiting at the Post Office - they'd apparantly neglected to give him the first couple notices, but all worked out well in the end.

Here's the ground rules:
1) On anything of very high value (100 bucks +), I would insist on shipping EMS or private carrier that offers insurance globally. It's not much more for many types of things, like games.
2) On smaller items, be clear that you can't offer insurance internationally and that once the item is send, you can't offer recourse if anything happens. Also mention that everything you've sent has arrived all safe (as it nearly always does).
3) If their country doesn't have Paypal, insist on an Intl. Money Order sent insured (nearly all airmail can be insured for the right price).
3) Make sure to mention if you can answer questions in a foreign language. If I'm looking on the Dutch ebay, for instance, I can more or less understand what the seller has written (as anyone can who speaks English and knows some German, since Dutch is about as easy as it comes for a second language if you know German or English). Nonetheless, I would have a tough time resolving complaints and asking questions if the seller didn't note they spoke English. The same reasoning applies to your bidders.

I can understand not wanting to go out of your way for the intl. buyer, but it's really no more risky than domestic and you're throwing away free money if you don't sell globally.

[Achika]

I can understand not wanting to go out of your way for the intl. buyer, but it's really no more risky than domestic and you're throwing away free money if you don't sell globally.


I see it being a MUCH higher risk, especially if the buyer uses Paypal. Say they never got it? Then I'm out the money and the item. Not too many people want to pay for registered mail with airmail shipping, because that bumps it up to near-EMS rates. Besides, even if I did have a tracking number, I'm SOL with the "unconfirmed address" bit on PayPal's seller protection policy..

I've had great transaction with Europeans, but it's the rest of the world that is giving me trouble. :o

[esquire]

kevincure wrote:

I can understand not wanting to go out of your way for the intl. buyer, but it's really no more risky than domestic and you're throwing away free money if you don't sell globally.

You are missing the point of this thread altogether. It's not whether or not sellers should ship internationally. It's about international bidders who completely ignore a seller's terms and bid on the auction anyways. It's no different than a seller stating than people with zero feedback should not bid without first emailing the seller and getting permission to bid, and some noobie decides to bid on it anyway.

What would be cool if ebay could do regional blocking on auctions, thereby locking out bidders from certain areas so the sellers could prevent having to deal with someone who decides to bid anyways and ends up winning the auction, causing headaches for the seller in having to either relist or make a second chance offer.

[LazingBlazers]

Eh... what the hell? If some guy bids on your auction who's not from the States, just kick back and crank the S.O.D. Then send them an email saying that, "Sgt. D is comin' for you!"

[necavenue]

This really annoys me, I noticed French people love to bid on my items the most even though they are US only.


Also, I find it odd that Ebay does not block bids from International bidders on US only auctions, they can however block people from using BIN if your auction is "immediate payment required".


Try reporting International bidders that bid on your US only auction, and you'll get a reply that actually has a part that tries to talk you into allowing them to bid.

[Marco_K]

As a non-US citizen I bid on US-only auctions all the time. On some occasions, the seller turns out to not have a problem shipping overseas after all. On other occasions, I just have them send the package to US friends of mine, who then ship it to Europe.

I know a lot more European collectors who do this. So, as for the topic starter's complaint, your price may have gone up by bidders who would actually not have broken any auction terms. Unless, of course, the auctioneer for some reason didn't want a non-American to end up with his goods.

Cheers,
Marco


Off topic: I don't understand why people wouldn't want to ship abroad. It might be more of a hassle, but in the good ole capitalistic US of A, (the chance of) more profit usually takes care of that. The internet made our world so much smaller, why would you want to broaden the gap again?

[Mayhem]

Because as stated, many sellers would rather have less money than more hassle...

[LazingBlazers]

Because as stated, many sellers would rather have less money than more hassle...

The sad thing is that it's not a hassle at all. If one can calculate postage on Domestic Shipping, they should be able to do it for International Shipping as well. Plus, if you've ever bought anything from Abroad... it's only fair to return the gesture.

That's exactly why I ship Worldwide.

[Mayhem]

It's pretty easy for me here to send anywhere in the world really. Might as well open up potential sales to as many people as possible...

[bjk7382]

I have had people from overseas win my auctions when they clearly say that I ship to the us only. I don't get pissed about it though. I just hate dealing with quoting shipping, I just state it up front and it is always reasonable to domestic buyers.

[Griking]

You all seem to be ignoring the main reasons that people here say that they don't ship internationally.

1) Paypal will not offer seller protection for items shipped outside of the USA.
2) There is no way to confirm delivery of an International shipement without spending an arm and a leg to do so. It's just not worth it.

It's not that I'm lazy or that I have a problem with foreign people. While I'm willing to take a risk with inexpensive items I refuse to do so for more expensive items. I'm just not willing to take the hit if the package somehow gets lost in transit.

[jonjandran]

I don't think they get it Griking. :roll:

They'll probably just keep bidding and pissing people off. :angry:

[LazingBlazers]

You all seem to be ignoring the main reasons that people here say that they don't ship internationally.

1) Paypal will not offer seller protection for items shipped outside of the USA.
2) There is no way to confirm delivery of an International shipement without spending an arm and a leg to do so. It's just not worth it.

It's not that I'm lazy or that I have a problem with foreign people. While I'm willing to take a risk with inexpensive items I refuse to do so for more expensive items. I'm just not willing to take the hit if the package somehow gets lost in transit.

I agree with those reasons completely. That's exactly why I don't accept PayPal from non-USA bidders. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to sell stuff to International bidders. Hey, I respect peoples' personal policies... but the shipping quote reason that's been mentioned is just lame.

[Achika]

Well, I swear I mentioned those reasons back on the other page, but oh-well.

[Griking]

Well, I swear I mentioned those reasons back on the other page, but oh-well.

You did, I was just commenting that it seems like nobody was paying attention to these valid reasons.

[punkoffgirl]

And the whole thread was supposed to be about people not respecting the SELLER and their SELLING TERMS. So.. you're in Europe, or elsewhere, and you're one of the people that bid on auctions even when they say "US only". And without asking first. And so, what you're doing, in the cases where the seller sticks by the terms they have set, is driving up the price for the next highest bidder. They only get an offer based on their highest proxy. And you're ignoring terms of an auction just because you don't "understand" why people don't want to ship outside of the US. I'm sorry, no offense, but that's pretty ignorant. What's so hard about asking the seller in the first place and not ruining the auction for everyone else, just on the off chance that they might say, "Okay, I'll do it this time."

[Griking]

I say next time someone out of the USA bids on an item which clearly said USA shipping only you accept their bid and then procede to quote them like $40.00 for shipping and handling

I guarantee you that person wont bid on another of your auctions again.

[Iron Draggon]

I just wanna find a seller who will ship a copy of 3D Achterbahn Simulator to the US, and so far I haven't found one. None of the sellers on Ebay.de will send it anywhere outside of Germany besides Europe, and Amazon.de is just more of the same. So no, I don't feel very sorry for European bidders who can't find a US seller who will ship what they want to Europe. It's tit for tat, I say.

[hydr0x]

you mean 3D Achterbahn Simulator for PC??? afaik that's crap, but i think i could get my hands on it, interested??

[Dr. Retro Gamer]

I say next time someone out of the USA bids on an item which clearly said USA shipping only you accept their bid and then procede to quote them like $40.00 for shipping and handling

I guarantee you that person wont bid on another of your auctions again.

A negative bit of feedback for being a rip-off seller would swiftly follow. LOL

[Griking]

I say next time someone out of the USA bids on an item which clearly said USA shipping only you accept their bid and then procede to quote them like $40.00 for shipping and handling

I guarantee you that person wont bid on another of your auctions again.

A negative bit of feedback for being a rip-off seller would swiftly follow. LOL


And a negative would be returned as well as a non paying bidder report.

Besides, you shouldn't be bidding on auctions that don't state the shipping charge up front.

If you don't want to pay out the nose for international shipping then don't bid on auctions from people who clearly state that they don't offer it.

[Mayhem]

Besides, you shouldn't be bidding on auctions that don't state the shipping charge up front.

If everyone followed that, then no one would bid on my auctions as I never state the postage in the auction (simply because it would take too long to list them all!). If people want to know what it costs, I tell them to send me a msg asking as such...