A new (French) Ebay problem?

[Steve]

The message from Ebay was something like

Unfortunately this seller won't ship this item to UK. you can:
-update your shipping address and try again
- please contact the seller to request order total

updating the shipping address to one in France may work though just add confusion. Asking the seller to send an "order total" just sends you into an unsolvable loop.

easiest is for the seller to mark/accept the item as paid and you send the money directly in paypal

Agreed. It's a slight technical flaw in Ebay but no doubt largely exacerbated when a seller goes in to a tail spin trying to change their account settings / listing to accommodate but ultimately fails. I always thought that a transaction and accepted bid / offer meant there was no confusion and a sale was guaranteed. Obviously I was wrong but having been on Ebay over 21 years now I'm not surprised I'm testing its limits.

We are trying to secure the deal with PayPal as you say but it does involve one or both of us exchanging email addresses which is a big no-no with Ebay. It's real cloak and dagger stuff now!

Steve,

If you can't get it sorted out let me know.

Sincerely,

Garret

Hi Garret,

Many thanks but unfortunately I can't get it sorted out. The seller has gone very quiet despite offering to send a PayPal invoice. I have even managed to defeat the Ebay robots in their attempts to stop him having my email. Alas, no joy though as the seller is now not responding!

If you can help please let me know! Many thanks


Regards,

Steve

[Sidewinder]

Kind of on the same topic - not sure where/how ebay gets their postage costs?

[Steve]

I might have a breakthrough at last as the seller has understood my coded email address and tried to make contact. Unfortunately the email went straight to my junk folder. I hope that's not an omen!

As he hadn't replied via Ebay I had no way of knowing until now if he'd understood it!

[Steve]

Kind of on the same topic - not sure where/how ebay gets their postage costs?

That's probably from the algorithm used by the Ebay Global Shipping program. It is based on the postage the seller is charging to send it within their own country and then Ebay automatically adjusts it to allow for overseas shipping. Its a very "hit and miss" approach in my understanding but Ebay is a massive company so presumably it makes profits and losses over millions of shipments and it all evens out in the end?

[CarlosV]

Seve, I had the same issue more than than once. In both cases, the solution I successfully found with each seller was to cancel the sale, and then the seller issued a direct offer with the agreed price and correct shipment country included. For some reason, once the ad is posted on eBay, it is either impossible or too complicated to add countries to it, even for experienced sellers, as was the case with one of them.

[phonodesbois]

Seve, I had the same issue more than than once. In both cases, the solution I successfully found with each seller was to cancel the sale, and then the seller issued a direct offer with the agreed price and correct shipment country included. For some reason, once the ad is posted on eBay, it is either impossible or too complicated to add countries to it, even for experienced sellers, as was the case with one of them.

International shipping costs from France are extremely expensive. Without insurance, the shipping cost to send a 5.1kg parcel to Canada ( same for the US or other foreign countries) is 133.80€.... So add insurance, eBay fees, packing material and you get an astronomical price!

[Steve]

Seve, I had the same issue more than than once. In both cases, the solution I successfully found with each seller was to cancel the sale, and then the seller issued a direct offer with the agreed price and correct shipment country included. For some reason, once the ad is posted on eBay, it is either impossible or too complicated to add countries to it, even for experienced sellers, as was the case with one of them.

International shipping costs from France are extremely expensive. Without insurance, the shipping cost to send a 5.1kg parcel to Canada ( same for the US or other foreign countries) is 133.80€.... So add insurance, eBay fees, packing material and you get an astronomical price!

No Ebay fees anymore.

[phonodesbois]

Well, on November the 24th, eBay.fr was still charging fees to the vendor, including on shipping cost...