Buyer in Channel Islands unable to pay

[caerleon1959]

I have had an issue with a buyer being unable to pay as they say I do not post to Channel Islands.  I have not excluded CI from the domestic postage locations that I send to.  I sought help yesterday and was told that I have excluded Guernsey and Jersey.  I only use Royal Mail so it is not a courier issue as RM treat these islands as domestic mail.

 This is the first time I have needed to post to CI since SD was made mandatory for private sellers.  I have tried cancelling initial listing and re-posting in case there was a glitch.  I suspect I have lost this buyer but am looking to resolve for any future potential buyers.

[susapric-68 · Accepted solution]

Check Europe on your exclude list, For some reason eBay have added Guernsey and Jersey to Europe section so if you have excluded all of Europe you would have excluded them at the same time. Just untick them

[caerleon1959]

Thanks so much! 

[7203paul]

Thanks for this solution.  Would be better to get EBay to correct their software as I am based in Guernsey. I bought a £100 item and was charged £50 for delivery of a small parcel that should have cost less than £5!  I think many Channel Island buyers have now sadly given up using EBay

[encorecollect]

Hi, I am wondering if anyone able to solve this problem with Channel Islands. I have a buyer from Channel Islands wanting to make a purchase but Ebay would not let her. I tested on my end and its true, inputting Channel Islands postcode will give this message on the postage section "Will post to United Kingdom. Read item description or contact seller for postage options." I tried everything from creating postal rate table relisting, nothing. I would hate to lose out on any future potential buyers.

[xyz307xyz]

You will likely also need to specify a postage option for Europe (or Worldwide).

See https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Technical-Issues/Guernsey-buyer-Had-enough/m-p/7890964#M33216 

[sonofgod68]

They certainly don't make it easy!!!!!   so frustrating to purchase something!

[waiferthin]

I am currently having this same issue with a buyer who lives in Jersey. I do not have any excluded countries in my preferences. EBay told me to ask buyer to ‘request total’ so I could create an invoice, however buyer have said they do not have this option and I am unable to create an invoice. Has anybody found a solution to this problem?

[sonofgod68]

sorry pal, Im having issues just trying to purchase a item!! its a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[encorecollect]

Im so sorry to hear this, it is frustrating for both buyers and sellers. I opened another thread like this and there was only one advice that really worked for me was to put your potential buyer ID on exempt buyers list. Below is the link

https://www.ebay.co.uk/bmgt/ExemptBuyers

Hope it helped cause it did for me!

[dogboy.76]

I am a buyer in the channel islands and I am unable to pay, I contacted an ebay agent, it seems there is a fault in the simple delivery system that means we are not allowed to pay the seller, even though they are willing to post to us. I can still buy from business sellers who use regular postage. It is a great shame as I have been a loyal ebayer for 18 years and buy a lot from them.

The agent said they may fix the fault but it could take months, ebay don't seem very concerned, perhaps we are too small a market to be worth bothering with? They also said the isle of man and scottish islands may be effected.

After years of using the site happily I am now very concerned. The simple delivery system is certainly not simple!

[4_bathrooms]

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@dogboy.76 wrote:

The agent said they may fix the fault but it could take months, ebay don't seem very concerned, perhaps we are too small a market to be worth bothering with? They also said the isle of man and scottish islands may be effected.

I wondered if Simple Delivery was limited to the UK but according to the Simple Delivery terms and conditions:

"The Services are available on ebay.co.uk where the item location is in the United Kingdom. The Services offer domestic labels for delivery within the United Kingdom or to the Channel Islands only, international delivery labels are not available."

I find it interesting the Channel Islands should be included as an available delivery locale but not the Isle of Man. My gut feeling is eBay messed up and didn't realise that unlike Royal Mail couriers charge a premium to deliver to the Crown Dependencies, Scottish islands etc. 

[xyz307xyz]

You can (need to*) ask the seller to:

 specify a Europe or Worldwide postage rate., i.e. not use Simple Delivery.

 ensure they don't have channel islands in their blocked destinations.

It may help if they also put you on their buyer requirements exemption list.

(*) Based on when I looked at it a few months ago.

[dogboy.76]

I thought that simple delivery was compulsory if you didn't want to be a business seller (and pay business seller rates). Is this not the case?

[xyz307xyz]

Ebay doesn't include CI under the UK postage rate, so no - for sending to CI.

(Based on when I looked at it a few months ago.)

(When I said "specify a Europe or Worldwide postage rate., i.e. not use Simple Delivery." I mean not use Simple Delivery for the Channel Islands. If that item sold to a UK buyer /address they would need to send Simple Delivery.

[lik.rhian]

I recently sold an item to a CI buyer and just used one of the workarounds previously published on these forums and it worked fine. Of course, there could be a bit of an issue if ebay discovered this but I don't see how they could complain when their own system doesn't work

[dogboy.76]

These workarounds are all good ideas but ebay should fix their software if they want channel island buyers to keep using ebay. If I have to contact every seller after every purchase and ask them if they don't mind trying these workarounds I am soon going to stop buying.