Why not post outside the UK?

[VerityBrulee]

I have been buying on ebay for years, mostly from the UK and US. I live in Dublin. Recently I have been missing out on items as the seller specifies UK only postage and so my bids are not accepted by ebay. This has happened 3 times in the last week, and the sellers have missed out as on each occassion my highest bid has been far higher that the amount the item sold for.

This seems to be a new policy on ebay's part, previously I presume the UK and Ireland were considered the same for bidding purposes. Now when I am interested in something I have to contact the seller beforehand and ask them to change the listing. Some do and some don't, but it's their loss as they would get more for the item if the let me bid.

I'm just posting about this as I presume a lot of sellers don't realise they are missing out in this way.

Sellers make a choice not to sell outside the UK.

They don't want the hassle of an item not arriving and subsequently getting an INR filed against them.

I only sell to the UK but do put any would be bidders on my excemption list if they contact me and want to bid.

Some sellers to don't know international postage costs and are too lazy to find out what they are!

Thanks - I've sent a few bits to Ireland and the postage isn't much more than UK. Will go and see if I can exempt Ireland from buyer restrictions.

does Ebay automatically disallow non-uk bidders when the seller lists an item, or does the seller have to select "uk only"?

I've just listed a bunch of items where postage was capped at £1. I didn't put "UK postage only" in my description. If international bidders win the auctions am I obliged to post it to them for £1? Oh ARSE

I do as Fabby does, I also check their feedback before, I had a lucky escape with a Malaysian lady who wanted to bid on a Karen Millen dress of mine, she gave multiple negs for cotton threads hanging out, so I had a lucky escape there !

I have just heard from my BIL in California that their christmas presents arrived on 27th January and were posted well before the deadline of 4th December.

Things like that kind of put me off sending abroad.

Hero - you can amend your listing if you havent got any bidders, put something like international bidders please contact for a price.

thanks RunforFun - I've amended my listings. I could have been stitched up like a kipper otherwise