Seller refusing to sell the item

[pdrsaturn]

Hi everyone, I would like to hear some opinions and hopefully leanr the best steps to take before contacting the costumer support yet again, after two recent problems I've had with two different sellers from Spain that both gave me permission to bid and postage costs PRIOR to the end of the auction, but then refused to sell and upened unpaid item claims...

I am registered in Portugal since the very beginning. I found this seller that ships all the items he currently is selling to any country. However, the particular item I wanted to get was listed to Australia only and it's the collector's edition of a videogame that was only released in Australia but the region is free and even if it wasn't it's still Region 2 (same over here). Since the auction was near the end (a few minutes left) and I could provide an australian address to the seller if he didn't want to ship, I still decided to bid and discuss things with the seller. It was the only edition I could find for such a price.

Unfortunately for my disappointment, he is refusing to sell using the argument that I could find the item cheaper locally because the postage to Portugal is too much. I already told him I am willing to pay the postage costs he asked me and gave him the option to post to Australia like he states in the auction.  I don't want to cancel the sale though. I have a secondary address for the country he ships to. I explained everything I could to him and tried to work out a deal but after a couple of messages he stopped responding.

The thing is... the item he's selling is used and the price in a local store in Australia for a brand new is at least twice as much. I'm guessing he wants to cancel the auction because the price didn't match his expectations and the only argument he's used so far is "the postage is too much". But does it matter, if I already said I will pay for it? I tried to further question the seller to see if there was any other valid reason behind, maybe related to the fact that I am registsred in Portugal or something. But he doesn't reply...

What is your opinion on this? Thanks in advance.

[pdrsaturn]

Nevermind, I'm getting a little tired of having so much problems with ebay that I don't want to damage my account in any way, so I just decided to cancel the transaction even though the seller didn't reply. This is now sorted as I agreed with the request of cancelling the transaction. I've had enough of spanish fradusters sellers for the last couple of months, I don't want further problems but I am quite disappointed for losing the item.

Thank you very much.

[dylan11235813]

I have no idea what the rules are for where you are registered with ebay.

If you have a valid address that they post to then you should be able to pay and supply that address through paypal.

The seller could just say they posted it and then wait for you to open an Item Not Received case and then just give a refund. Basically if the seller doesn't want to send they do not need to, all you can do is leave feedback (unless they win the unpaid item case I believe).

But it sounds like you bid on an item and then contacted them to ship too a country they do not.

I am no expert so all that I have said could be wrong

[pdrsaturn]

They do ship worldwide, just not that particular item. I wasn't expecting them to ship to Portugal in first place, but to Australia instead... well it doesn't matter, it's now gone :(.

Thank you.

[patchoo78]

So you bid on an item which you knew wasn't going to be shipped to Portugal and then go on to say that you knew they wouldn't ship to Portugal.. Then you say that it's the seller frauding you??

Sorry, but this is completely your fault.. The time to ask questions is BEFORE bidding to ask if they ship to your country..

The seller is under no obligation to ship to anywhere other than what is on the listing regardless of whether you would pay the cost...

You're lucky the seller gave you the option to cancel the transaction, if it were me I would have opened a Non Paying Bidder dispute.

[foxette-in-sox]

If seller only ships to Australia & you have an Australian address registered with both ebay & Paypal,seller doesn't have particular bidders blocked ie countries I don't post to,simply bid & make sure address shows as Australia on ebay checkout-simple.

Seller will have to post to Australia & as long as they don't have international bidders blocked,you don't even need to become involved in any correspondence with them unless they specifically contact you.

[the3coopers]

There was no need to cancel the item. All you needed to do was go through ebay Checkout and PAY for the item, and have it delivered to your Australian delivery address.

[phorum_junkie*]

My advice is that if you want it sent to an Australian address and the postage information is for delivery to Australia then you just change your delivery address in checkout to your Australian one and the correct postage quoted in the listing should show and you make payment using Paypal then the seller either has to send to the Australian address or risk a dispute and a neg.

[i-once-was-bump]

pdrsaturn you might have confused the seller with your emails.

In your OP you start off talking about sellers in Spain and I can't figure out what they have to do with this purchase as I get the impression the seller in this case is in Australia.

Most sellers are wary of buyers asking them to change the postal address after the auction finishes and as you are in Portugal the seller might have been exercising caution.

It would have been best if you hadn't complicated things by contacting the seller but you should have just paid with Paypal and at the time of payment state where you wanted the item posted. When going throught the payment process there is an option to change the postal address.

[pdrsaturn]

Hi. I'll leave this last message just to clarify a couple of things.

The part I wrote about the spanish sellers was confusing, I admit that. That had nothing to do with this particular case. I was trying to make a comparison with something that happened very recently but nevermind, that was pointless.

As for this particular seller, yes you are right. All I needed to do was to pay with paypal and he would receive an Australia address as the shipping address in the payment confirmation e-mail. I always ask sellers if they post to me before bidding but this is one of the few times I did not ask for several reasons you can probably guess.

Since all other items he's selling are available to worldwide buyers (Portugal included) I just asked if it was okay for him to send to Portugal and if he refused he could simply post to Australia. That's basically what I said to him. I didn't expect this question would confuse the seller or make him quit the sale. I guess some people selling on ebay have zero tolerance towards their buyers.

That's it, this issue is already solved so there's no need to talk about it any further. Thanks for your opinions to those who answered.