Receiving Payment from International Ebay Bidder

[Brob1]

I had a fixed price Ebay auction which ended yesterday.  My auction settings specificy no international bidders.  The bidder is from China but uses a "care of" shipping address in Portland Oregon so technically there is a U.S. shipping address and it bypasses my excluded bidder settings.  The buyer is saying Paypal is not allowing them to pay.  They are telling me that Paypal says I do not allow international payments.

I thought all accounts (mine is a personal account) could receive international payments?  I realize the fees could be different than the 2.9% + .30, but the buyer says they have even tried paying in USD and they get messages saying the receiver does not accept international payments.

Ebay support said it is a buyer issue, but the buyer is telling me it is my PayPal setup.

Any thoughts?  Thanks.

[lancelotme]

Log into your Paypal account and look at your options,you may be blocking intl payments

[Brob1]

Since I only have a personal account, I do not see the seller settings/options.  Apparently that is only available in business accounts. 

I spoke to Paypal and they said my settings are to disallow non-us addresses.  However, this buyer has a ship to in Portland, so even though they are in China it should still go through for me.

Paypal suggested it is a buyer issue.  I see that this person has been buying other things on Ebay...so it seems they are not having these troubles with other sellers.

I'm guessing this is going to be an issue that goes back and forth for a while and I will lose my buyer.

[lancelotme]

you could email other sellers and ask how they manage to accept payment from a buyer based in China with US address?

Or could it be you have a personal account,do you accept credit card payments?

I know with business account,you can accept credit cards.

most sellers have business accounts

[lancelotme]

it may be worth your while to learn the difference btween business and personal account.

[Brob1]

Personal accounts accept debit and credit card payments just like a business account.  With respect to receiving money, the main difference is a business account also allows bank account payments.

I've had this same paypal account since 2001 and have not had any problems.

Also, I believe the buyer is trying to pay with USD funds held in the Paypal account. 

I just don't see how this should be complicated.

Paypal support suggested it is a buyer issue, nothing on my end.  Same thing Ebay support suggested....which probably means it will ultimately be my issue.

[lancelotme]

Personal accounts accept debit and credit card payments just like a business account.  With respect to receiving money, the main difference is a business account also allows bank account payments.

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I dont understand why personal account would not allow bank account payments?

Paypal uses ACH to retrieve payment from buyer bank account and it costs them nothing in fee

why not ask the other sellers what does it take to accept payment from this Chinese buyer?

There are 2 places on Ebay where you can block buyers from overseas countries,one is in your listing,another is in MY Ebay.

In Paypal,you can specify currency you would accept?

[Brob1]

I'm not sure on that either, but it should have nothing to do with my account type.  Personal can accept both international payments and various payment types.

In My Ebay, I have NO shipping exclusions set.  However, in most of my auctions, I specifically turn international shipping off.  The auction specific setting SHOULD override the My Ebay setting.  Either way, the shipping exclusion should not come into play since the address is in the U.S.

Based on what Ebay and PayPal have both said, it has nothing to do with me...but that still does not help.  If I was the buyer, I would not want to jump through all the hoops just to purchase a $20 item.

I'll report back if/when this is resolved.  Thanks.

[lancelotme]

I looked into my Paypal account and found this ,may be it will shed some light in your case-

Payment Receiving Preferences	Back to My Profile

Note: If you are using IPN, you must update your scripts to handle payments in currencies other than U.S. Dollars. Learn More
For the items not sold on eBay, Only allow payments from the users with confirmed address.  Yes  No  Ask Me Allow payments sent to me in a currency I do not hold:  Yes, accept and convert them to U.S. Dollars. Additional charges apply.  No, deny the payments  Ask Me, decide accepting or denying each individual payment Block accidental payments: You may prevent accidental payments by blocking duplicate invoice IDs  Yes, block multiple payments per invoice ID  No, allow multiple payments per invoice ID Block payments from users who: Have non-U.S. PayPal accounts Initiate payments from the Pay Anyone subtab of the Send Money tab (If checked, you may enter an Alternate Payment URL for your buyers.) Alternate Payment URL:                          (optional) Block non-U.S. shipping addresses Block the following payments: Pay with eCheck or German bank transfer for all website payments except eBay.NOTE: You may not block eCheck payments on eBay. Block payments from Student account users under 18 years old:  Yes  No, allow payments from all Student account users
Display "Add Instructions to Seller" text input field:  Yes  No
The Credit Card Statement Name is the name that will appear on your customers' credit card statements.

[lancelotme]

Block payments from users who:
Have non-U.S. PayPal account

------------------------I have a business account,do you have this option in your personal account?