Why does eBay not allow sellers in the U.S to ship to me in the U.K?

[billymac231]

Hi all.

I am a collector of models and I have found eBay to be very useful in locating rare items in far-off locations. I have long collected model racing cars, and I have now begun collecting model buses.

Yesterday I tried to buy a particular model bus, the subject of which was local to me when I was growing up in the 1960s, and the bus model in question was being offered by a seller in the United States. No problem, I thought. But when I clicked the 'Buy Now' button, I was not allowed to continue because an eBay pop-up banner told me that "Unfortunately, this seller won't send this item to Cheshire, United Kingdom. You can:
- Update your delivery address and try again.

One of the other options was to contact the seller, but when I did so he was completely unaware that he 'wouldn't send the item to the UK'. He subsequently came back to me to inform me that UK as a destination had been deleted from all the items he was selling by eBay without his knowledge.

He came back to say "Ok the official explanation is that eBay is blocking certain categories - including toy cars - due to new safety regulations in the UK. Apparently they are blocking everything in the category regardless of whether it is really meant for children or collectors."

Now, I am not aware of any 'new safety regulations' in the UK concerning model buses, so I want to know precisely why eBay is blocking shipment from the US to the UK.

I am also rather vexed that the eBay pop-up message implied that the seller wasn't willing to ship to the UK, when the truth was that it was eBay itself that was responsible for the problem.

I would have liked to speak with someone at eBay, but all I was offered was FAQs that weren't relevant or 'asking the community'.

Can anyone throw any light on what eBay is up to here, because it makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

[*vyolla*]

The seller is shipping via eBay's Global Shipping Programme, and they've not added the UK for some reason that particular item. I don't know what the reason would be, perhaps some potential lead paint issue?

The seller could, if they wish, add their own shipping method and price to their listing (not something they'd likely want to do though). 

[john1297576]

I suspect that you would find the reason in the link below. As rules can vary between countries and no doubt continually changing Global Shipping takes the easy option of banning ALL.

I am sure that seller could sell direct outside GSP, but many do not want the hassle.

https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/chemicals-waste/what-we-do/emerging-issues/global-alliance-elimi...

[billymac231]

Thanks for those replies, which are interesting. The seller didn't specify that he was using GSP, and he was certainly very surprised that the UK was missing from his available destination list. Whether he would be able to add it back in is another question.

The link to lead paint was interesting, and the title of the section entitled 'Model Law' was a bit alarming in view of my hobby, but of course it had nothing to do with models at all.

It is possible this is the reason, but if it is I would ask why shipping to all other countries apart from the UK is allowed. And in any case the model in question, being first produced as recently as 2007 I believe, would surely not have been painted with lead paint.

[*vyolla*]

Sometimes there's no logic to a scenario. 

If the seller isn't using the GSP and had set a shipping method and price to the UK then you wouldn't be seeing that message.