Seller doesn't ship to Australia

[book-of-hezekiah]

A new one one me - a seller on Australian eBay doesn't ship to Australia!

I have thought about why this might be and I think a reason might be is ebay gives excellent exposure but they just want to ship nearer to home.

Anyway, I would like to ask the seller if they will let me bid but I would like to ask for the help of the good folk here for some assistance as to how to word the request.  I usually come across as sounding like "You are wrong, stop being wrong. Do what I want!" and of course I don't want to sound like that. I also don't want to sound wishy-washy "maybe, could you, but only if you like, possibly, please, let me bid..."

Is this a pleasant and non-threatening way: Hello, I am from Australia. I see at this time your items are not posted to Australia. Do you have an option to allow postage to Australia? Thank you.

Thanks everyone!

[lyndal1838]

That is an odd one........

I would say something like.....I would like to bid on your item and wonder if you would consider posting to me in Australia.  If so, could you give me a postal quote to postcode xxxx.

[book-of-hezekiah]

Thanks Lyndal, that is a really nice sentence.

I do believe I will use it!

[toothless_hogg]

Does it say they won't ship to Australia in the description, or is it in one of the other sections?

For the last month dozens of my customers, including many returning customers, have been seeing messages their I don't ship to their country. Literally someone who lives only a 15 minute drive from my house is being told I don't ship to their country.

Ebay has a serious glitch on this issue, I think with the mobile app.

[book-of-hezekiah]

I just got a lovely reply at this crazy late time!! What service 🙂 The seller yes to posting to Australia, but no quote... I will have to ask again...

The body/description of the ad doesn't mention anything about postage one way or the other.

The main section near the top, under the bidding box and the shipping show how they don't ship to Australia.

[*tippy*toes*]

There was a glitch awhile back where Australian sellers were showing that they don't post to Australia and when you contacted them, they said they only post to Australia, not overseas at all. As the seller is in China, might be worth sending another message to let them know that when they put in their postage exclusions, they've included all locations in Australia. It does seem strange that as they are saying in the exclusions they don't post to anywhere in Aus that it's showing up on Aussie eBay.

What happens if you change your location to say the US or NZ in the postage section? Does it give you a postage cost then? I think even if you did try to bid, you'd get an error message saying the seller doesn't post to your location, therefore the bid is not accepted.

[i-once-was-bump]

Buyers usually get that message because the non existent ebay glitch strikes when purchasing the last item from a multiple item listing.

So if seller has had 10 items and 1 remaining, when you buy that last one you will get the 'don't post to Australia' message.

It happens to most sellers and has been happening for many, many months but we can all take comfort in the fact that ebay say this glitch does not exist.

[i-once-was-bump]

Have you thought about maybe googling this issue and see where it is a frequent topic of discussion and the reason for the frequency of this discussion is becasue ebay refuse to accept it exists.

[lyndal1838]

Bump. long time no see.  How are you?

[gec2002]

Yes you are absolutely correct about the last item, I think it also ties in with the use of "Use the out-of-stock-option".  If you check your own postage and Payments and it says Seller does not ship to that address (even if a correct australian 4 figure postcode), if you enter a 5 figure American Zip code, such as 20565 it will accept it.  Talk about American centric