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German to USA eBay Help, Please

  1. arturo7 Aug 23, 2020

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    Today I won an eBay action from a seller in Germany. We're having an issue completing the transaction.

    When I try to pay I get this message:

    Unfortunately, this seller will not ship this item to CA, United States. Here is what you can do:
    • Update your shipping address and try again.
    • Please contact the seller to request order total.
    I've been in contact with the seller. As agreed, €10 was added to the total to cover shipping. We're not sure how to resolve the issue and we seem to have a bit of a language barrier.

    The listing says "Ships to: Germany" I'm guessing this is the root of the problem. There were no other bidders on the watch, so I am assuming the seller wants to make this work.

    Any suggestions are appreciated.

    It is a modest watch but I reeeally want it.

    Thank you
     
  2. WatchCor Aug 23, 2020

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    As far as I understand the issue lies in that the seller has excluded US as destination for the sale(or listed GER as the only destination). That is slightly odd that you managed to actually win the auction because in those cases the auction system doesn't allow to bid for the item.

    I've had this issue once. I requested the seller to consider shipping to Finland and he did agree. Once he updated his listing the deal went through without a any issues.

    But yeah, the language barrier issue issue is something I cant help with and often times is very very frustrating.

    Good luck.
     
  3. rootbeer7 Aug 23, 2020

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    Does the seller have another point of contact? Perhaps an email address of a business. Usually the problem is centred around who pays for Customs if any additional cost.
     
  4. mayankyadav Aug 23, 2020

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    Never deal with the sellers or buyers outsid6 ebay ecosystem.
     
  5. Marsimaxam Aug 23, 2020

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    Contact eBay support for help as seller is obviously willing to ship to California
     
  6. JimJupiter Aug 23, 2020

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    I can help with the language barrier if needed.

    Nico
     
    Edited Aug 23, 2020
    DaveK and janice&fred like this.
  7. Jonathan40 Aug 23, 2020

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    You can type what you want to say into google translate and put it into the sellers language. You can copy what they say into google and covert for you. Not perfect but pretty close. I’ve used it a few times selling overseas and it seems to get the job done.
     
    Shabbaz likes this.
  8. Shabbaz Aug 23, 2020

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    I've had this several times. I think the seller needs to change something in his ebay settings. And you can use google translate for translation. It’s very good and I use it a lot. Although a couple of weeks ago I accidentally text a french estate agent: I'm naked" (while I wanted to say: "I'm home"). Not sure how google did that...
     
    kkt, DaveK, Archer and 3 others like this.
  9. rootbeer7 Aug 23, 2020

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    Not for transaction, but maybe for contact. The messaging service on eBay can be a bit clunky.
     
  10. Davidt Aug 23, 2020

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    He may need to delist the watch as a buy it now, replicating the auction price, but adding US to the list of destinations he will ship to.

    Then you could cancel the original auction transaction and buy it under the new listing.
     
  11. Syrte MWR Tech Support Dept Aug 23, 2020

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    I would tell the seller to contact Ebay’s customer service in Germany so they can help him fix his settings to accept your purchase.
    They should have a phone line.
     
  12. Oku Aug 23, 2020

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    Calling ebay yourself is a bit tricky, at least in Germany as you have to choose the topic in advance. Usually, the problem you have is not listed and you need to choose one where ebay thinks that it is appropriate to give you the telephone number. If the wrong topic is chosen, ebay won't give you a number.

    @arturo7
    Googling the number leads to
    033203 851134
    Be aware that it can be outdated.
    As ebay is interested in selling fees, I am sure they will help when the seller calls them.