Scammers bypassing country restrictions

[jumba]

I had someone buy a few items off me.

Straight after the auction ended they asked for combined shipping so i knocked £2 off. Total was £6, reduced it to £4 but they wanted it lower to 2.85 which i refused as i send things recorded.

Eventually they paid for the items and about 3 weeks later open up an item not received case.

I google their address and they've had it sent to one of those shipping companies located in the UK.

They are located in Eastern Europe, one which i have blocked. Yet because they've given a UK address (this shipping address), they were allowed to bid?

They paid in one invoice so i sent in one package and have one tracking number which shows delivery to the verified paypal address aka the shipping company.

My Qs are:
1)is one tracking number sufficient for two items? i have the invoice showing weight ect

2)How can i stop these countries from bidding on my items when i already have these countries blocked?

3)is it against ebays TOS to be registered in one country but to have items shipped to another country by using these shipping companies?

Anyone else been in a similar situation?

[oompaloompa]

The reason sellers block countries is because they want to avoid that country postal service, selling internationally generally or customs etc. If you send to a mailing centre in UK, then you are basically sending to UK and your job is done, it is like selling to a UK person in terms of INR, you have sent to registered address and you are covered.

The tracking should cover you for both items if bought together, it may take explaining on a case and /or escalating. It is a small purchase so you are not out much even if you lose, but you will probably win this one.

It is not against TOS.

Have you thought about GSP, if you want to sell abroad, again sent to UK and then it is ebays problem if it does not turn up after that.....

If you do not want to sell abroad, then fine, but you are technically not selling abroad if it goes to UK address......no idea how a SNAD return would work though in this case......I agree that could get messy.....

I am actually surprised you track such small sum items....

[jumba]

Well exactly - I'm trying to avoid issues with these countries postal systems but by them bypassing these rules, I'm still getting issues! Now if the shipping company have sent on the item and its "gotten lost", the issues just come back to me as they have no recourse with the shipping company (or very little i suspect). Its just silly of ebay to let these issues fall straight back onto the seller when i've done my part in the transaction!

It should be against TOS to use shipping companies to bypass postal regulations unless the seller posts abroad or uses the global shipping programme.

[quest]

small advice.. if you have have 2 cases opened from same buyer, upload same info into each case, so ebay reps can see situation. they review each case separately.

[dallis]

Had to laugh aloud when I read "eb reps... review each case separately".

More like "EB bots close each case in the favor of the buyer separately... "

[Bunneh]

if the tracking shows it has been delivered and signed for,
the ebay rep will check the area sorting office matches that on the tracking and
will decide in your favour.

doesnt matter if he lives in spain, ireland or Japan, they go based on the sorting office that is on the delivery address given and if thats what the online tracking shows.

[dallis]

All this talk about EB reps... the automated system takes care of 99.9% of disputes.

If you call in you may be able to get a better response, that said, though, it takes 2-3 weeks to most of those countries in the best of times

It probably just hasn't arrived yet. Email the buyer directly and explain the situation.