Selling on eBay

[Qwin]

I don't sell much on eBay and get troubled by overseas bidders who I don't want to ship to and who have spoilt auctions in the past. Even though I have said "Will ship to mainland UK destinations only".

I just discovered today that you can block bids from other countries.
In your accounts settings you can set countries you don't want to post to.
There is also a setting to block bids from countries I don't want to post to.
So you can be selective, or just block everyone outside mainland UK, including Channel Isles, Highland Islands etc if you so wish.

If like me you don't trawl through the ebay account settings, you may also be unaware of this, so it may be of help.

[Audio Al]

I gave up as a seller on ebay years ago just to much aggravation from buyers , eBay support buyers not sellers

[struth]

I stopped too. Yup I knew you could block as like you I had issues with this and ebay support informed me how. Also wise to opt out of the international seller postal service(forgot its right name now)

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Your hesitancy to sell to overseas is a missed opportunity to sell IMO. Providing tracked shipping is the key to gain confidence to sell worldwide.

[struth]

Your hesitancy to sell to overseas is a missed opportunity to sell IMO. Providing tracked shipping is the key to gain confidence to sell worldwide.

I agree to a point but having had some poor issues from overseas buyers i was becoming stressful(for me)

[Spectral Morn]

I don't sell much on eBay and get troubled by overseas bidders who I don't want to ship to and who have spoilt auctions in the past. Even though I have said "Will ship to mainland UK destinations only".

I just discovered today that you can block bids from other countries.
In your accounts settings you can set countries you don't want to post to.
There is also a setting to block bids from countries I don't want to post to.
So you can be selective, or just block everyone outside mainland UK, including Channel Isles, Highland Islands etc if you so wish.

If like me you don't trawl through the ebay account settings, you may also be unaware of this, so it may be of help.

Pet hate UK sellers blocking other parts of the UK. In my opinion its as likely to get destroyed going from your house a few miles up the road as it is coming to me in NI. Pack it right and its not an issue.

NI is part of the United Kingdom, postage here, using parcel force or the post office costs the same as any other part of the UK. I hate that NI is being discriminated as I am sure Scottish people also dislike.

I will be frank, its discrimantory and retail law is now clamping down on charging more (when it costs no more) or excluding other parts of the UK. Private sellers aren't covered, I think they should be.

Collection only sales are also a pet hate of mine, but those who didn't bother keeping packing or not capable of packing, those I will concede the not posting, so therefore excluding highlands, islands and NI.

Not wanting to sell outside of the UK/ or Ireland I can understand. I think the Ebay sellers settings allow you to prevent bidding from areas you don't want to sell to.

[Audio Al]

Packing , I can top anyone for bad packing

I bid on and won a Nikko Amp

it arrived in a bin bag nothing else just a taped up bin bag ,

How the hell do people think this is adequate packing

[Lawrence001]

I stopped too. Yup I knew you could block as like you I had issues with this and ebay support informed me how. Also wise to opt out of the international seller postal service(forgot its right name now)

Actually I've had some good results from eBay intl shipping (GSP). Had one return but I refused to provide an intl return label as I only sent it to the UK and that was between him and ebay. This meant it was cheaper for me than a UK return would have been (ie. It only cost me shipping one way).

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[AJSki2fly]

If you do decide that you want to sell an item overseas then the eBay Global shipping plan I have found to be quite good from a sellers point of view. The purchaser pays the total shipping to where ever this is calculated at POS, which is the cost of the seller sending the item to the eBay depot, and the added cost of eBay onward shipping it using their couriers, So you send it to the eBay depot and then onward it goes. The beauty of this is that once eBay has it in their hands it is eBay's and the couriers responsibility. I have had one item go missing and one that was destroyed in customs (odd as it was just a CD, I suspect the purchasers did not collect it in time), in both cases the purchasers contact me and I referred them to eBay as it was Global shipping and eBay refunded them fully, presumably getting the cost from the courier.

[Qwin]

I've had bad experiences selling abroad. Probably 30% of the total went wrong, so no more. On the other hand, UK sales gone wrong, a couple of percent, if that. I don't include N. Ireland/highlands in my blocking, I just mentioned you can block them if you want to.

First it costs a fortune to send fully insured, which would put a lot of buyers off.
Second, countries like Italy are a joke, they think it's their birth right to steal what ever is in the postal system. I sent three parcels to Italy and only one arrived at it's destination. Many sellers now list the countries they will not post to, the same names crop up time after time, there's a reason for that.

Cross boarder shipping can use multiple services, who all blame each other when things go wrong. I sent a large package to Portugal that went via Germany and three different couriers, it took 2 months to sort that one out and I ended up out of pocket.
Ebay definitely supports buyers and leaves sellers hanging.

Having said that, they are not concerned about fraud or con merchants, so long as they get their cut.
I spotted a con-man in Poland wanting £25k for his immaculate E-Type Jag.
Full set of restoration pics, bills and ownership documents supplied. I noticed some discrepancies in the paperwork and contacted DVLA, due to data protection they could not discuss, but did say the car was in the UK not Poland as advertised. Contacted the Police, they couldn't do anything as a crime has not been committed till some poor sod parts with his cash. eBay were not interested in what I had to say. I did a bit of digging and found the UK owner had put all the pictures used in the add on his blog (Doh!). The V5 was a forgery using an outdated format, which is what caught my attention.

Lastly as a private, non commercial seller, I have the right to sell to whoever I like, or not as the case may be.
There are plenty of commercial restrictions based on territories, regional product variations etc, so restricting buyers by location is commonplace anyway.