buyer from country I don't post to?

[qball28]

I've got a buyer from a country (Singapore) I don't post to. It says in his profile that he's in Singapore, but my listing says posts to australia. I was hoping another buyer would bid over him, but he's the only one and only about 5 hours left. What can I do, can I just end the listing, I read in another post that I can't cancel the bid if it's less than 12 hours to go. I looked up postage to Singapore ( as I thought it would be cheap as it's less distance to Singapore than sydney from perth by 25 km😃) but it's pretty expensive, and I put only $5 postage. Do I email him saying postage is more if posting to Singapore? Or what?😃

[digital*ghost]

You can cancel the bid, you just can't end the listing now that there is less than 12 hours to go (you can if an auction hasn't received any bids, but once it has, even if you cancel them, the auction can't be ended when there's 12 or less hours left).

Best thing to do if you definitely won't post to Singapore, is put the buyer on your blocked bidder list, then cancel the bid - you can send a message to explain why if you wish. Although, it's also possible they are wanting to send the item to an Australian address anyway. 

For future listings, go to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences > Buyer Requirements, and activate the block on buyers with a postage address in a country you don'tpost to, otherwise they'll be able to bid even if you don't provide postage options to their location. 

[black*poppy]

Totally agree ^^^.  Do that.

Just to answer the other part of the question, if you haven't put international postage in the listing, which you haven't, then the buyer would have to wait until you invoice them with the postage included before you can send it. It doesn't default to domestic postage.

There is the slight possibility that the buyer might be buying for someone in Australia?  I guess you could email to make sure he realises he's buying from Australia, if you want to go to that effort.  Not betting you'd get an answer within the next 5 hours though.  

[jensmanchester-australia]

Often, even if a buyer is registered in another country, they have the parcel sent to an address in Australia.

I would email the buyer and ask if the parcel is going to an Australian Address before cancelling any bids.

[black*poppy]

OP could be in for a late night then.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I had someone bid on an item a few months back and when I did the usual feedback check, I noticed they were registered to the UK. I spent the next few days asking around about the best and cheapest way to send a tracked item to the UK.

I finally found out and when they won the auction, they were actually in Australia. They had moved here but kept their UK eBay account. All that effort for nothing! It didn't matter though because tracked postage to the UK was going to cost a small fortune!

It's possible that the OP's buyer is the same. They may well have moved here but kept their foreign account.

I found just having the buyer requirement block wasn't enough, you also need to tick all the countries you don't post to in the postage section. Site preferences > postage preferences > exclude postage locations. 

Edited to add: If the buyer is in Singapore and they don't want to spend that kind of money on postage, be very careful about a cancellation. I do believe that you get defected for using the "doesn't ship to buyers location" option.  I would use the 'other' option if it's still available.

[qball28]

Na, I just cancelled the bid.😀

[qball28]

I used that explanation ( don't post to Singapore) doesn't stop them from bidding again as I had to cancel twice, what if he does it last second and I don't have time to cancel. And it won't let me block him as it says invalid I.d every time, I enter it right!😒

[phorum_junkie*]

I found just having the buyer requirement block wasn't enough, you also need to tick all the countries you don't post to in the postage section. Site preferences > postage preferences > exclude postage locations.

I have never created an exclusion list and have never had a problem with anyone bidding who had a non Australian primary delivery address. I have had a couple email me and ask if I will send to them as they have been unable to bid so obviously it works OK for me.

[qball28]

I canceled the bid, losing ended without bidders, ( someone else must want it😒) now that bidder emailed me, asked why I canceled his bid, I said, his profile says he's from Singapore. He emails back saying he's in perth and forgot to change settings ( convenient 😒) I don't really believe him as I looked on facebook with that name ( not a common name) and it comes up, and it says he lives in Singapore. I might tell him, I will resist it, but with $33.50 postage ( that's how much it is to Singapore with tracking, $26.50 without tracking) 😀