Why did someone in Germany manage to buy my UK only item?

[Namechangearoonie123]

Someone in Germany bought something. I didn't know they were in Germany. They then emailed asking for an invoice.

I said they could just pay. They then said as they were in Germany I needed to recalculate the postage and send the invoice.

I said my preferences were set to UK/domestic postage only (they are) and I apologised, said I wasn't posting internationally. And I relisted the item.

Why are they being allowed to bid/buy when my preferences are set correctly?

So annoying isn't it.

eBay need to make it clearer/impossible to bid if you don't fulfil the criteria.

Why couldn't you have just sent it to Germany??

People in other countries can browse ebayuk just like we can browse eBay.com

Because it's a preference I'm allowed to make. It is not possible to send tracked to most countries, EBay would refund if the buyer claimed they didn't receive it.

And I don't want to send anywhere apart from UK. I'm selling clothes that I'm literally making 10/20p on, I'm not queuing up to wait for it to be weighed when I can just drop them off and the post office does it for me

Why if you can set preferences does it then allow people to bid?

What's the point of setting preferences?

Sometimes it's not convenient to send things abroad if it's a piece of furniture or exceptionally heavy for example.

I once sold a full size pram stating collection only. Ended up going abroad and cost me a flipping fortune in wrapping and really inconvenient in arranging postage etc. I wouldn't do that again, I would relist.

did you send a cancellation request to get your fees back?

I didn't, just clicked relist. There isn't an option on the mobile app to send a cancellation request and my laptops not working to log into the full site.

The buyer prepared to pay postage though? I would have just been a good sport and just sent it.

If I want to buy an item from another country I always email the seller to check they send to the UK. I think that's just basic manners.

People get round it by registering an address in the Uk as their primary address. Then the 'block bidders from countries I don't ship to' doesn't work. Then when asking for an invoice they change. The shipping address to overseas. Drives me INSANE... I only ship to the UK and make this very clear on my listings and T&cs