Why am I not allowed to purchase items from the USA anymore, what is going on?

[alex4303]

Hi there,  I'm wondering what's happening because I tend to buy certain computer parts that exist only in the USA.  There's certain parts which aren't available in the UK because the USA has a lot more items.  There is one particular seller that I like in the USA and now I'm being denied to buy from them?  Everything was fine back until about October 2023 and then something changed.  Now the Global Shipping won't allow me to buy things and have it delivered to my UK address.  I'm trying to understand what is actually happening but have looked online and can't seem to find the answers that I'm looking for.  There's a great many different items which you can literally only get in the USA like when parts aren't being sold anymore so you have to look on ebay as nobody else has them.  Rare things tend to be in the USA and certainly not in the UK so what are you supposed to do about this and when will things eventually return back to normal again?

[douglaspuglas]

Is it just the one specific USA seller you can't buy from or all of them?

If it's just one they could have blocked you.

[m25jet]

There are a few instances that come to mind when such problems may arise.  The first of these would be due to payment problems - if you have had two or more instances of non-payment for items bought or won during the past twelve months then the Unpaid Item Strikes would be preventing you from purchasing anything from any sellers who have the option activated on their account to prevent anybody with two or more Unpaid Item Strikes on their account within the last twelve months from buying from them.

In the event that the above does not apply to you then it may be the case that the sellers in question only wish to sell nationally and have opted out of selling to overseas buyers.  Alternatively, if they are selling to overseas buyers then perhaps they've chosen not to sell to UK buyers for some reason.  Therefore, if you don't have any reason to believe that you've been blocked for the reasons set out in the first paragraph it may be worth contacting the sellers via the Ask Seller A Question link and asking them whether they would be prepared to post the item to the UK, especially if they do not appear to  have an international postage option specified.  I once saw an item I wanted to buy which was being sold by an eBay seller in the USA, but he had set his account up for national selling only.  I asked him whether he would be prepared to sell the item for the full asking price (there was also a Best Offer option on the listing) to me in the UK, and if so, how much would he want for the postage?  The seller replied to my query, quoting me an acceptable amount for the postage and so I bought the item, paid the seller via the invoice that he sent me and ended up getting the item I wanted, even though I couldn't purchase it prior to contacting the seller.  Therefore, try getting in touch with the seller and see if you can sort something out - you may well end up with the item you want as a result, whereas if you just give up you could well end up looking for another similar item for a lot longer.

[alex4303]

It is everybody in the USA that sells computer parts.

[m25jet]

You mentioned in your original post on this thread that the Global Shipping Programme won't allow you to buy things and have them posted to your UK address.  If this is indeed the cause of the problem then perhaps it would be worth contacting the sellers based in the USA who are selling the items that you are interested in, explaining that you would like to purchase an item from them but that the Global Shipping Programme is preventing you from doing so, and then enquire as to whether they would they be willing to list the item on eBay outside of the Global Shipping Programme so that you could buy it from them.  If the seller agrees to do so then once the Global Shipping Programme listing has been taken down by the seller and replaced on eBay by a new listing for the same item that includes an international postage option but is not using the Global Shipping Programme as the means of despatching goods to buyers based outside of the USA then perhaps you will then be able to purchase the items you want.  Although there is no guarantee that it will work it's certainly worth a shot, just in case it does end up solving the problem that you are experiencing.

[zoomingmouse]

I don't know if it's still the case, but if your seller posts using GSP, there was a problem with it excluding UK buyers from buying items in some categories from the USA.

[alex4303]

I'm not talking about certain sellers.  The whole situation is that for some reason somebody in the government in the UK has decided that all of sudden certain products like computer parts for example are now not to be allowed to be purchased from the USA.  All the other countries are accepted as normal but when it comes to the global shipping, people in the UK aren't allowed to use that service depending on what it is and the government have decided that computer parts can't be allowed to be shipped into the UK.  It is something to do with the conservatives and it's politically driven, not just one or a few sellers it's the whole lot of them in the USA.  My question was originally why is this happening and why has Rishi Sunak allowed this to happen to ebay.  The point I'm making is that computer parts and if you're a repair person in the UK you must rely on buying parts from the USA as there is a vast many things which you simply can't get anymore like parts which have been phased out of production and can't be bought on the UK Ebay because nobody sells them and in the USA they have all the parts you'll ever need.  You've got to understand that if these parts can't be bought for whatever reason and why Ebay is blocking purchases from the USA then why is the reason this is happening and what is the entire UK supposed to do when it's not possible and no you shouldn't have to contact each seller to request alternate shipping methods you should just be able to click on the item and buy it as simply as that.  Everything was fine until all this started in November 2023 but now the whole thing has been turned upside down and to be honest I'm not very happy about it especially because I repair and work on computers myself so if I need a spare I'm not able to fix whatever machine I need to work on simply because Rishi Sunak has said that I can't import from all those ebay.com sellers and no I'm being denied my freedom to get what I want in the world and choose to purchase a required part in my own way, these things you just can't get in the UK and it has been this way for a great many years.  Before November 2023 everything was fine and worked perfectly but since government changes have been made the whole thing is a mess...  It is a national situation and involves everybody in the UK.

[zoomingmouse]

Hi, can you post a link/announcement etc with that information as I can't find it, thanks

[peterc1112]

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Certain-countries-excluded-from-Global-Shippin... 

[vanyaqurl]

There are many items that are no longer offering shipping to the United Kingdom. It is either a site error or the UK is being deliberately excluded from US sales.

[vanyaqurl]

It isn't just computer parts. It might be a blanket block, I have checked other items as well to no avail.

[brizbucket]

I'm getting this problem too trying to buy motorcycle parts.

Global shipping listed as going  to just about every country  except the UK. 

Seller has know idea why.

[unorthdoxcleric]

I don't know what's going on either but I have the same problem buying Toys from USA. Every other country seems to be listed except UK. The Sellers don't seem to have a clue what's going and seem to think I am some sort of Scammer trying to get them to do something other than what EBay allows

[m25jet]

Have you tried other options to ascertain whether or not it is a problem specifically affecting eBay, such as seeing whether you can successfully purchase identical items via other sites, such as Amazon?  Personally I'd try all the possible avenues that may be open to you, rather than depending exclusively on eBay for all of your online purchases.  Alternatively, if the companies offering the items for sale that you have been attempting to buy have their own websites, perhaps it would be worth trying to purchase the item directly from them if you are repeatedly coming up against obstacles every time you attempt to purchase the items via eBay.  It may not work, but if you don't bother to try it then you'll never know whether you could have got the items you wanted via some other means.

[peterc1112]

No because these items are out of production and can't be purchased from official retailers anymore.  They are only available on Ebay and nowhere else.  For example if you buy certain parts and the retailers don't sell them anymore due to being phased out then it means you have to buy them privately from Ebay and it's usually in the USA where these things are located, simply buying somewhere else you won't find what you want.

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

Buying from abroad now is so expensive I never do it.

Also my sales to abroad have died a death.

Brexit, high postage charges and VAT killed them all.