Grrrr!!! Ebay rant!

[Guest]

[Boggle]

  I've been keeping an eye on a base set on ebay for about an hour, as it was something i wanted at a good price, when i get one of those new ebay messages come through with a question about one of my auctions. This is the question:

Do you accept cash? You know, when you send money?

  Fair enough,i suppose, so i start to reply when i spot the awesome feedback score of -2!! Yep, this person has bid on two previous auctions and paid for neither! Now this put me off somewhat so i went back to watching the base set only for the auction to have ended while i was wasting my time with this other person. Aaaargghhhhhh!
Ok, rant over, i feel better now!
(btw, if anyone on here is the minus 2 person, sorry!! )

[Luluhime]

I can't say I've had the exact same experience, but I do tend to watch an auction within about 10 minutes of it ending, then get carried away looking at something else, only to go back and see that's it's ended. >.< It's a slam my head on the keyboard moment!

[Boggle]

Ah yes, been there, got the t shirt! Usually something i've been watching for days as well!

[Morningangel-Iola]

Why do some Uk sellers insist on listing in $s? Is my money not good enough hurrumph. Ebay works it out for you anyway if I went to a US listing it would convert it to £s in a box underneath. Therefore it would work the other way round a US buyer would see the $ equivilant (or Euros for European countries)

Shutting up now

[Boggle]

I've seen a few of these myself, and i dont bid on them because i get put off by the issues of payment. Do they want dollars or pounds? Whats the shipping in, dollars or pounds? Too much hard work for me!  

[Morningangel-Iola]

Don't think they want us in the uk to buy it.

[kbmum]

Maybe it has something to do with currency conversion fees?  As a US buyer, if I pay for an item in pounds, PayPal charges a fee for the currency conversion.  So, a UK seller might want payment in US dollars so that he or she can use that currency to buy items in the US and not incur the conversion fee.

Or, the seller is trying to make it easier for US buyers to bid on his/her items.

[Anna]

I used to get frustrated too until I found a currency converter in a google search.  I use it all of the time now.  It's real helpful for people like me who are lousy at math!  Here's the link:

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

[Boggle]

Ha! Their cunning plan has worked! I wont buy any of em!  

[Morningangel-Iola]

Well I have bought things in dollars and the fee isn't that bad. And if I won would I have to pay in dollars and pay a fee   I just they they want to aim it at you guys because they think you've got more money.

[Boggle]

One thing i find strange though, the exchange rate favours the pound over the dollar. Being in the UK surely it makes more business sense to list in sterling?  

[Nienna]

What was the base set you were watching Boggle?
Anything interesting?

More sellers over here are listing in dollars purely to try and sell their items to the US market.
It's exactly the same with Euros and the continental European market too.

I'm not bothered what currency I pay in ... I've even used Australian Dollars on occasion, though it's only recently that PayPal have allowed you to use it.

[Boggle]

Only a Buffy season 6 set, but it was going for £2.20! Bargain
I've started to bid on a few US items now, purely cos i can bid higher for less money effectively!

[Morningangel-Iola]

I try not to bid of US things incase I get too excited and end up paying import tax  

[Boggle]

I havent been stung yet, although i havent bid on anything really high value. Lots of people tick the ahem "gift" ahem, box as well. Dont know if that helps or not.

[Nienna]

Know what you mean there!
Most US sellers will do that and you can always ask politely if they would do it for you ... the ones who won't usually state it plainly in the listing, but it doesn't harm to check first ~ that's what the 'ask a seller a question' feature is for after all.

It does take a bit of getting used when you're bidding in dollars too .... the sums you bid look horrendous till you do the maths .... that's when you have to watch it in case you do get a bit carried away.

[Morningangel-Iola]

No it doesn't. I got stuff from Hottopic and they always say its gift (I think you can get a higher value as gift) but as soon as you go over £18 something they slap on a charge and then so do parcelforce and before you know it your paying £40 odd! Of course its easier to do with the pound so good against the dollar and mum told me they are planning on putting import tax on everything that comes in soon  :'( I wouldn't mind so much if I could by the stuff over here but I can't.

[Nienna]

hmmmm ... I think we need to keep an eye out for this proposed import tax on everything coming into the country.

Do any of our establised sellers know anything about this at all?
There may not be much information about it at the moment because there's a Budget coming up soon and who knows, perhaps a General Election .... so anything like this would be considered a hot topic to be avoided at all costs!  

I've never been quite sure how much legally can be brought into the country from abroad anyway ~ whether it's listed in dollars, sterling, euros or any other currency.

It's worrying all the same.

[Morningangel-Iola]

And the website is as clear as mud  

[Luluhime]

I've bought loads of things from the US, and never had a problem. I actually like doing it, especialy as it's almost $2 to the £ so things tend to be alot cheaper. My first POA hobby box came from the US, and although the slip wasn't marked as a 'gift', the seller wrote on the front that it was only worth $10 so I never got charged anything extra.