Ebay Restricted item?

[Iridescentone]

Thank you both for your service to your country!

And to you as well.

 

[fakeneckplate'65]

So can I sell an all " rosewood " bass, made of plywood, for $10,000 & we'll both pocket the money & the bass will be in a warehouse somewhere to be wood-chipped?

 

[Turnaround]

Rickenbacker uses Caribean rosewood which is not a restricted species

All rosewood (Dalbergia) is listed under CITES. It cannot cross international boundaries without special permission and documentation.

However, "Caribbean Rosewood" is not Delbergia but a different species. But if the wood is perceived to be Rosewood it's bound to get tangled up in international red tape.

 

[StayLow]

eBAY CS told the OP about the "fragile issue", so it's not conjecture. More like a big company with lots of people handling shipping and customer service who are not all on the same page.

Yes, and until then it was pure conjecture. Seems beyond odd to start a thread before even calling. Then he called and reported getting an answer that on its face makes no sense at all so it's reasonable (for someone) to follow up and I did. Still no clarity on why a Rickenbacker shipping box would claim it contains glass though.

Nothing in this thread gives me pause about shipping internationally, unless it's an already-known-to-be-restricted item such as (unfortunately) rosewood, yet some people are swearing off it. And for what it's worth my numerous personal and business calls to eBay and Paypal have always been answered and resolved quickly, courteously and reasonably. Just saying, for balance.

 

[Jeff Scott]

All rosewood (Dalbergia) is listed under CITES. It cannot cross international boundaries without special permission and documentation.

However, "Caribbean Rosewood" is not Delbergia but a different species. But if the wood is perceived to be Rosewood it's bound to get tangled up in international read [sic] tape.

Yes, and that is one of the (many) key flaws to CITES.

 

[Michael Schreiber]

Thank you both for your service to your country!

Thank you, as well!

 

[Lobster11]

Somethin' ain't right here. As others have pointed out, this policy would be just too easy to scam. All you'd need is a partner overseas, and you could "sell" them anything, at any price you chose (or up to whatever the limit is, if there is one), and then just ship it to them in a box labeled "Fragile" and/or "Glass." You'd get whatever money you asked and your partner would get refunded. I've got to think that the folks at eBay are too smart to fall for that, and even if they weren't there are so many scammers in the world that they'd find out the hard way very quickly. There has to be something more to this....

 

[Teijo K.]

Somethin' ain't right here. As others have pointed out, this policy would be just too easy to scam. All you'd need is a partner overseas, and you could "sell" them anything, at any price you chose (or up to whatever the limit is, if there is one), and then just ship it to them in a box labeled "Fragile" and/or "Glass." You'd get whatever money you asked and your partner would get refunded. I've got to think that the folks at eBay are too smart to fall for that, and even if they weren't there are so many scammers in the world that they'd find out the hard way very quickly. There has to be something more to this....

I agree. At some point I thought it was about the Rickenbacker. I happen to know that none of the American shops sell them to Europe because Rickenbacker has forbidden it.

 

[Ric5]

All rosewood (Dalbergia) is listed under CITES. It cannot cross international boundaries without special permission and documentation.

However, "Caribbean Rosewood" is not Delbergia but a different species. But if the wood is perceived to be Rosewood it's bound to get tangled up in international read tape.

So I should have sold one of these ...

 

[Michael Schreiber]

So I should have sold one of these ...

View attachment 2766635

Don't - they might think, the body's made of Rosewood...
Just kidding. Great bass! \m/

 

[Lobster11]

I agree. At some point I thought it was about the Rickenbacker. I happen to know that none of the American shops sell them to Europe because Rickenbacker has forbidden it.

So I just did a little Googling. I'm sure the official policy must be laid out in detail somewhere, but I didn't find it in the few minutes I searched. I mostly found threads in the eBay community forum, and everything I read said the same thing. Evidently there is a very detailed list of what particular items or components cannot be shipped to what particular countries as a consequence of trade agreements and other legalities. I read numerous reports by people who got the same kind of "restricted item" message that our OP did for sales involving everything from laptop computers (which evidently can't be shipped to China) and to jewelry (of which certain types evidently can't be shipped to France or the UK). In every case I read about, the buyer was refunded, the seller kept the payment, and the shipper kept the merchandise (which they evidently sell at auction or something to recoup at least some of their losses).

I was kinda surprised that nobody in any of these discussions ever brought up the idea of how "scammable" this system appears to be, but it sure seems to me like it would be. (Of course, it might be that eBay users aren't dumb enough to discuss this openly in an eBay forum.) In any case in which the buyer paid a price that was well above what the merchandise was actually worth, the seller would make out like a bandit and the shipping company would eat the difference. If you knew that you couldn't send silver jewelry to the UK, for example, you would just need to arrange for someone there to buy some cheap silver jewelry from you via eBay at a ridiculously inflated price, and you'd make a bunch of money off the deal.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that anyone should do this: I'm just mystified that eBay would be involved in a system that was so readily "scammable." There must be lots of scam artists who have figured this out, and I don't understand how eBay and the shipper protect themselves from this.

 

[bholder]

So I just did a little Googling. I'm sure the official policy must be laid out in detail somewhere, but I didn't find it in the few minutes I searched. I mostly found threads in the eBay community forum, and everything I read said the same thing. Evidently there is a very detailed list of what particular items or components cannot be shipped to what particular countries as a consequence of trade agreements and other legalities. I read numerous reports by people who got the same kind of "restricted item" message that our OP did for sales involving everything from laptop computers (which evidently can't be shipped to China) and to jewelry (of which certain types evidently can't be shipped to France or the UK). In every case I read about, the buyer was refunded, the seller kept the payment, and the shipper kept the merchandise (which they evidently sell at auction or something to recoup at least some of their losses).

I was kinda surprised that nobody in any of these discussions ever brought up the idea of how "scammable" this system appears to be, but it sure seems to me like it would be. (Of course, it might be that eBay users aren't dumb enough to discuss this openly in an eBay forum.) In any case in which the buyer paid a price that was well above what the merchandise was actually worth, the seller would make out like a bandit and the shipping company would eat the difference. If you knew that you couldn't send silver jewelry to the UK, for example, you would just need to arrange for someone there to buy some cheap silver jewelry from you via eBay at a ridiculously inflated price, and you'd make a bunch of money off the deal.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that anyone should do this: I'm just mystified that eBay would be involved in a system that was so readily "scammable." There must be lots of scam artists who have figured this out, and I don't understand how eBay and the shipper protect themselves from this.

I'm fairly certain eBay isn't exposing itself to scam risk here, just not sure how they do it. They certainly don't seem to mind auctions ridiculously inflated prices, that's for sure. I'm betting they do some sort of value assessment on the item to prevent scams - but only when it's their money at risk, of course.

 

[gln1955]

So I just did a little Googling. I'm sure the official policy must be laid out in detail somewhere, but I didn't find it in the few minutes I searched. I mostly found threads in the eBay community forum, and everything I read said the same thing. Evidently there is a very detailed list of what particular items or components cannot be shipped to what particular countries as a consequence of trade agreements and other legalities. I read numerous reports by people who got the same kind of "restricted item" message that our OP did for sales involving everything from laptop computers (which evidently can't be shipped to China) and to jewelry (of which certain types evidently can't be shipped to France or the UK). In every case I read about, the buyer was refunded, the seller kept the payment, and the shipper kept the merchandise (which they evidently sell at auction or something to recoup at least some of their losses).

I was kinda surprised that nobody in any of these discussions ever brought up the idea of how "scammable" this system appears to be, but it sure seems to me like it would be. (Of course, it might be that eBay users aren't dumb enough to discuss this openly in an eBay forum.) In any case in which the buyer paid a price that was well above what the merchandise was actually worth, the seller would make out like a bandit and the shipping company would eat the difference. If you knew that you couldn't send silver jewelry to the UK, for example, you would just need to arrange for someone there to buy some cheap silver jewelry from you via eBay at a ridiculously inflated price, and you'd make a bunch of money off the deal.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that anyone should do this: I'm just mystified that eBay would be involved in a system that was so readily "scammable." There must be lots of scam artists who have figured this out, and I don't understand how eBay and the shipper protect themselves from this.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense. And why would eBay want to keep all this merchandise that they then need to sell, hoping to get enough to cover their loss? Why not just send it back to the seller and be done with it. Moreover, why can't they flag the verboten shipment before the seller actually sends it out?

 

[bholder]

Yeah, that doesn't make sense. And why would eBay want to keep all this merchandise that they then need to sell, hoping to get enough to cover their loss? Why not just send it back to the seller and be done with it. Moreover, why can't they flag the verboten shipment before the seller actually sends it out?

Yeah, there shouldn't be any surprises like this.

 

[Ric5]

Yeah, there shouldn't be any surprises like this.

Ya ... the buyer just wants this bass .... not a refund ... I may have to make another if the bass does not come back to me ...

What a mess

 

[bholder]

However it works, I'm pretty sure eBay isn't opening itself up to being scammed - I'm fairly certain their lawyers can beat up our lawyers.

 

[Teijo K.]

However it works, I'm pretty sure eBay isn't opening itself up to being scammed - I'm fairly certain their lawyers can beat up our lawyers.

Pretty sure yeah. I mean my lawyer is a fictional character, so it is pretty darn difficult to get him actually do anything about this.

 

[Teijo K.]

Ya ... the buyer just wants this bass .... not a refund ... I may have to make another if the bass does not come back to me ...

What a mess

Well at least you can make another if that happens, so there is that.

 

[The Bass Clef]

So I just did a little Googling. I'm sure the official policy must be laid out in detail somewhere, but I didn't find it in the few minutes I searched. I mostly found threads in the eBay community forum, and everything I read said the same thing. Evidently there is a very detailed list of what particular items or components cannot be shipped to what particular countries as a consequence of trade agreements and other legalities. I read numerous reports by people who got the same kind of "restricted item" message that our OP did for sales involving everything from laptop computers (which evidently can't be shipped to China) and to jewelry (of which certain types evidently can't be shipped to France or the UK). In every case I read about, the buyer was refunded, the seller kept the payment, and the shipper kept the merchandise (which they evidently sell at auction or something to recoup at least some of their losses).

I was kinda surprised that nobody in any of these discussions ever brought up the idea of how "scammable" this system appears to be, but it sure seems to me like it would be. (Of course, it might be that eBay users aren't dumb enough to discuss this openly in an eBay forum.) In any case in which the buyer paid a price that was well above what the merchandise was actually worth, the seller would make out like a bandit and the shipping company would eat the difference. If you knew that you couldn't send silver jewelry to the UK, for example, you would just need to arrange for someone there to buy some cheap silver jewelry from you via eBay at a ridiculously inflated price, and you'd make a bunch of money off the deal.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that anyone should do this: I'm just mystified that eBay would be involved in a system that was so readily "scammable." There must be lots of scam artists who have figured this out, and I don't understand how eBay and the shipper protect themselves from this.

You’d think that ebay would protect themselves from the loss and just return the merchanise to the seller instead of letting them keep the money, since there’s no shipping restriction to return the item as long as it hasn’t left the country. Why wouldn’t ebay just say to the seller “oh you can’t send that there, so here’s your item back, sorry” and refund the final value fees? Very strange that they eat the loss.

 

[Ric5]

You’d think that ebay would protect themselves from the loss and just return the merchanise to the seller instead of letting them keep the money, since there’s no shipping restriction to return the item as long as it hasn’t left the country. Why wouldn’t ebay just say to the seller “oh you can’t send that there, so here’s your item back, sorry” and refund the final value fees? Very strange that they eat the loss.

I can see how they may want to confiscate illegal items ... but this was just a freaking bass guitar