ebay and rejected shipping address - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2021, 10:24:45 am
content: I'm quite sure that at first I wasn't able to buy since the seller didn't send to my direction.So I sent a message and asked if they anyway would like to change their mind.Then later when being online I got a discount offer for the very same item.Of course I accepted it.Yet shipping costs was not there.Ok, I requested them as advised by ebay.No answer.Any idea what the initial situation of discount offer was?I'd say it was an ebay hickup.Yes, I chatted with the out sourced help but they were pretty busy and not really interested about the nuances.I've also sent feedback but it's pretty one directional.Generally, almost working systems are quite annoying.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2021, 10:18:05 pm
content: I recently ordered a pair of 300mm long MGN12 linear rails with MGN12H carriages (two rails, two carriages).Since I don't want to deal with Finnish Post extra charges etc. mess when ordering anything from outside the EU, I limited my search to items within the EU.The prices shown for the item, even when sorting the list by Price+Shipping:LowestFirst, were completely off. Even though basically all I looked at was from the same seller, from the same location (Czech Republic), the price shown at the item listing had very little correlation to the price shown after clicking the "Buy it now" button!I ended up paying 28.83€, for an item with free shipping and price listed as 27.67€; the price shown on the "Buy it now" page was 23.25€ + 5.58€ VAT24%.Black Friday week plus recent VAT collection changes causing eBay hiccups, maybe?

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 08:42:14 am
content: My interests usually dissapear when ticking "local" zone.Old multimeters are even more rare.And then there are those AC issues, I'm learning .de and .fr ebays, but then there are "nationalist" Germans and French.And then courier issues, best I've seen recently was (item + 5x shipping) + 24% VAT, so 100 is actually 744, I didn't order.Also, free shipping and free international shipping seems to be different.I've seen many times how free shipping is not free here, so one must remember to stay in and give away one's soul.There must be an indicator somewhere but I've not seen any, nor searched really, I just put everything to cart, there all expenses are visible, well nowadays occasionally excluding VAT.Though one shipping from Japan stayed free and was also a bit "cheaper" when it came but that's currency exchange thingy, papers had USD amount.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 05:43:10 pm
content: Anyone else (outside Finland) seen eBay hiccups recently?I would be surprised to find out these were anything specific to recipient being in Finland.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 07:32:14 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on November 26, 2021, 05:43:10 pmUnfortunately, ebay seem to have intentionally changed the way prices are shown and calculated. There are a number of COMPLICATIONS (such as various discounts, in complicated ways, some not especially obvious), I may not cover all of them.Was it a multiple choice auction, like this one:https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393478928684QuoteWhat it does is shows the LOWEST cost item, and then when you choose the item, the price shoots up, which I think stinks of bad business practices (I.e. Until the item is specifically selected, it should say a price RANGE, such as £21.00 .. £44.00 or whatever the max price can be, NOT £21.00 which can easily confuse buyers).So, the (default) £21.00, becomes £21.50, as soon as you select 300mm length.Some sellers seem to EXPLOIT this feature to try and get more customers (I'm being nice, and NOT saying CON buyers).E.g. a classic example (hypothetical).Let's say an Arduino board goes for (cheap version), £3.00 including postage.They put a pull down menu, with a USB lead for £1.99 (default), Arduino £4.99 (too expensive), and maybe other options.So, the 'sort by price' listings, shows Arduino for £1.99 (which is a LIE), as it is ONLY the USB lead on its own, which is £1.99tl;drEbay have either seriously messed up, or have started encouraging/allowing bad/misleading business/pricing practices.Unfortunately, Amazon (UK at least), also seem to be doing a similar thing. E.g. The current Black Friday sales. But in Amazons case, it is only BEFORE you see the listing, once there, it is more straight forward, price wise, than ebay. Because they DO show the price range, in a more clear fashion.Edit: typos and improvements.Arduino typical example here:https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265366521662Which seems to be able to potentially fool people into thinking they are getting one for £1.99 whereas the price jumps up to £4.90 when you choose Nano, or potentially more for other versions.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 08:47:47 pm
content: Quote from: MK14 on November 26, 2021, 07:32:14 pmYes, but like I explained above, the price shown on the page after selecting the item, was completely different to the price I was shown when I had clicked on the "Buy it now" button!(It was not an auction, either. I've never seen this kind of price change on eBay, and I've bought stuff since 2013 from there.)I haven't received the rails yet, but if they're okay, I'm quite happy with the price and the seller; the listings were fine. I don't believe this is any shenanigans by the seller, (a Chinese seller with 100% reputation over almost 5000 sales, with these items at least in the Czech Republic) – I don't think sellers can do anything to cause that kind of price change on eBay at all. I believe it is more likely a hiccup on the eBay systems instead, probably related to the recent VAT changes (in July 2021), and perhaps related to the issues m k wrote about in the initial post. That's why I posted, but hesitate to provide a direct link.Besides, if the rails are okay, at this price they're a find, and I'll probably get another set just-in-case. Any kind of external link would most likely push the price up.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 08:58:33 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on November 26, 2021, 08:47:47 pmSorry, I made a mistake. I meant "Buy-it-now" style of listing, NOT auction.I meant (was thinking), of 'auctions' in the general sense/meaning, which could be auctions and/or buy-it-now style listings.My mistake

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2021, 10:41:29 pm
content: I don't want to hijack m k's thread! I just believe what I've seen are somehow related, indicative of some kind of a hiccup in eBay's systems.Quote from: MK14 on November 26, 2021, 08:58:33 pmI understood/assumed you meant "listing" instead of "auction", there. I added that part to indicate it was not a case of an auction where I mistook the current bid as the buy it now price.Below are the pertinent parts of the screenshots. They contain enough information that anyone can find the item if they want to, but please don't post a direct link to the item: that will just pump its price up. As I said, I do believe this is an eBay issue, and not something the seller is doing or causing to happen.Essentially, the numbers don't match up no matter what you do. If the base price indeed is 23.25 €, then what the heck is the 26.67 € shown to me on the item page? It's 19% more, but VAT in Czech Republic is 21% and 24% in Finland. And this is ebay.com, not ebay.de, so assuming German 19% VAT makes no sense either.Basically, I think the hiccup is in how eBay handles countries within EU right now.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 12:12:53 am
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on November 26, 2021, 10:41:29 pmThat makes quite a lot of sense (i.e. ebay messed up and/or the hugely confusing and differing VAT rates, caused issues).Now that Paypal is no longer part of ebay, and the EU changed the rules on VAT, so that the suppliers are suppose to register and handle the VAT for the EU (and separately the UK, if applicable). Things have got more complicated, than perhaps they were, a few years ago. Hence even more pressure on ebay's software development team.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 01:36:05 am
content: EDIT: Disclaimer. I KNOW you mentioned the same (or similar) details in your previous posts (Germany, DE, 19% etc), but I calculated them independently, to try and figure out what was going on.I managed (just now), to find your seller (and I'm respecting your wishes and NOT linking to it).But, when going between the pages, I managed to get it to change price as well. My price is a bit different, because I think I had a slightly different listing, but by the same seller.On the initial price page, after the initial buy-it-now pressed, page, the tiny text was saying it includes VAT.But on the next page, when the price dropped, it changed the explanation text (in a tiny font), fromQuotetoQuote.In my case, I presume the price change is because the UK VAT rate (20%) and czech republic vat rate is 21%.So, 21% was perhaps, 25.04 + 21% = 30.2984 (with no rounding).So, 20% for UK, would now give 25.04 + 20% = 30.048 (with no rounding)**************************************************************************So let's check your figures.23.25 + 21% = 28.1325 (but the image says 27.67 which would be 19%)23.25 + 24% = 28.83 = what it says on your second image page**************************************************************************So it looks like they used 19% VAT initially, rather than the 21% it should of been.BUT Germany has a VAT rate of 19%.So it looks like it got confused (bug) or something on ebay's part.Speculation.If you used the .DE website (re-reading the thread, you stated you DIDN'T do that, but the thread OP, did/does, which confused me), maybe the first page was in German VAT units (19%), and the next page in the destination VAT rate of 24%.EDIT: To OP. Sorry, I've been hijacking your thread!

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 05:05:26 am
content: The key thing is that the price/VAT shifting between the item page and the checkout page indicates something is wonky about the way eBay handles EU countries right now.Is it related to the "won't deliver to Finland, but will offer a discount to a buyer contacting about shipping to Finland anyway" issue OP described?I think it is; somehow eBay is failing to handle EU countries correctly in its interface.Now, back to OP's topic. Has anyone had similar experiences on eBay recently? Or something that feels might be related, especially shipping issues? Other than delays, of course, as it is late November AKA Package Season right now.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2021, 01:27:48 pm
content: (I can widen the topic)There is also a general toll.Here it can start happening when item price exceeeds 150 euros.The price is without extra costs and toll varies between product categories.I'm quite sure that that kind of nuance is globally excluded.Not a biggie though, if the toll is not a biggie.Bigger issue is that rejection.You have made a committment but can't fulfill it.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2021, 09:42:33 pm
content: Quote from: m k on November 27, 2021, 01:27:48 pmA very long while back. Foreign transactions on ebay, was usually/sometimes, fairly quick, cheap, easy and fairly straightforward. Small/light items, could be bought from many US ebay sellers, such as components, in small packet form, for around $8/$9 extra, and could have arrived within around a week.Very heavy items were (arguably) too expensive for fast air-freight, e.g. old but good analogue/crt oscilloscopes.But there was fairly reasonably priced (but very slow), 'ship' (rumored to still be air-freight), low cost delivery, but which took around 6 to 8 weeks to arrive (customs permitting).Ebay sellers were often nice, honest, friendly and easy to deal with, then.Also, components were usually genuine new old stock (none of those potentially fake/rejected/reused/scam Chinese components).Low cost items were normally always free of any VAT or import duties, below a given threshold (in the UK).Expensive items, in theory, had reasonable custom charges added to the total/bill, when it arrived.These days, it has become a nightmare (opinions may vary).Many sellers (ebay) refuse to deal with people in the UK (even big established companies can refuse non-VAT registered, individuals, these days, there have been thread(s) here about it).We now have crazily over-complicated VAT rules, crazy rules insisting that the tiny (relatively) seller has to register with the UK (or EU for EU countries), just for YOUR transaction, and fill out many pages of complicated info, just to supply you with your $1.99 transistor (which is completely mad/crazy).No longer any minimum (free) thresholds, so your bargain $0.99 packet of transistors, needs to go through tons of hassle, for the $0.19 VAT bit.Postal charges have gone through the roof (too expensive, but not always, it depends on the countries involved, other factors and what one thinks as too expensive), as you just said, on higher total amounts, extra import duties (on top of the VAT and other possible add-ons to the bill), can/will also apply, which also has complicated rules associated with it.The carriage companies (UPS/DHL etc), can than add on eye wateringly high additional fees, for processing all these extra charges, which can also add e.g. another $20 to the bill.The uncertainty of how high/huge the total bill payments are going to be, makes it very difficult to work out if an apparent item is a bargain or going to be too expensive (overall) or not.Not long ago, we (in the UK), could buy a bewilderingly large range, of amazingly cheap (electronic) items from China/Ebay. E.g. 4 or 8 digit, 7 segment LED display, with Arduino ports built in for next to nothing, including free postage. E.g. $1.99 each (estimate). Or even a complete MCU mini USB powered development board (such as a blue-pill or similar), for something like $8 or $16 (version dependent, (ST) 8 bit cheap, 32 bit arm more expensive) for 10! of them, including postage. I.e. around $0.80 each (if buying 10 at a time) for a complete ST 8 bit MCU board, with reasonably specifications.Whereas nowadays (after all the VAT changes), many of the (from China) items seem to have disappeared, and the (total including postage) prices seem to have doubled or more, in general (maybe not in every case though).

author: perdrix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2021, 05:36:44 pm
content: Write to you MP - I did. I needs LOTS of us to do it though.David

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2021, 06:22:18 pm
content: I'm thinking the seller.Yee-haw, somebody just bought my barn filler the rodents nest.Watta, some foreigner nerd tries to make an ornament from my cultivator.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2021, 09:36:27 pm
content: Quote from: perdrix on November 29, 2021, 05:36:44 pmThanks, that is a very good idea.Quote from: m k on November 29, 2021, 06:22:18 pmIn all fairness to the seller (in your opening post), they seem to have intentionally disallowed foreign dealings. Which is fair enough, as it is their decision, and changes in VAT etc rules plus the difficult/challenging situation we are in, make such a decision, not too unreasonable.So, it would seem to either be a fault (bug) in the ebay (software/web) system, weakness in the ebay system (NOT making it clear, it was a foreign buyer), and/or confusion/mistake on the sellers part.Another possibility, is that ebay could be blocking the message(s), you have sent them. Ebay seems to get funny with some types of messages, and blocks them (possibly silently from the buyers point of view).E.g. because it thinks they are trying to do a transaction outside of ebay (and hence would cause ebay to not get all their fees).

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2021, 06:37:53 pm
content: Intentional or not but no arguments, they are preferred to use their things as they like.The item is actually still hanging in my shopping cart, longer than it should.That reguest of new total should time out in 3 days but that seems to be a no issue for those help desk folks.My guess for now is that seller has never been present yet and ebay is waiting patiently.And if I want the item away from my cart I have to tell the help desk person that I don't want to buy it anymore or find a local middle man and reroute.I'm also quite sure that at some point I saw a message that said that after I've paid the item I'll get the contact details and can then arrange the rest.Never done that before and no idea how the transaction is forwarding but contact details must include more than street address, so blocking messages in this frame is a bit far, it's of course also possible that all messages are blocked.But since I can't pay the plain item anymore something has happend somewhere.One other possibility.Boy and a girl broke up and it's girl's account containing boy's stuff.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2021, 10:56:41 pm
content: It can be quite tricky for an ebay seller to price up selling an item abroad, especially if they didn't specifically allow for the option of international buyers, in their auctions.Maybe it is taking some time (till they next go to the post office, to have it weighed and priced up), and they didn't see any need to notify you of how it is progressing. Maybe they should of, but many ebay sellers, probably don't.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2021, 05:13:14 pm
content: I received my pair of 300mm long MGN12 rails with MGN12H carriages, and a quick inspection says they're perfect for my needs. (I don't have a surface table or a measurement surface to determine linearity and flatness.) Definitely worth the price, too. Even got a dozen or so spare ball bearings for each carriage, if I lose any.The price, however, has hiked up by half in the meantime.Same seller does have other similar listings, however, for just a couple of euros more.When I check other Chinese sellers with stock in the EU, they show exactly the same kind of price fluctuation, if the initial price claims (at the end of the Shipping and payments tab) to include VAT. It looks like when the seller price ought to include VAT, the shown price instead has VAT 19% applied instead of the VAT 24% in my case. I don't know if the seller or eBay should know the VAT to apply, so; at least I now know the prices shown on the item page do not exactly reflect the cost. Just need to be careful to not accidentally confirm a buy when checking the exact price...

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2021, 12:48:32 am
content: That's not very good. It should tell you the price on the earliest/early pages, and not be changing like that, as you progress through the buying process. Alternatively, it should be displayed, in a way that explains what is happening.E.g.Item #123456789 ***£19.39**##***WARNING: Price is only APPROXIMATE, and may goupordown, once thefinal destination(and hence specificVATrates), are applied.Which some websites (e.g. Amazon) do perform. Such as when there is a discount, which depends on the quantity and other qualifying rules, so it marks the price up in such a way, that it explains it.