Quote:
Originally Posted by
knowsnothin 
I mean no disrespect, but if the auction terms are as you stated, I don't see how he violated the terms of the auction.
If you said buyers need to contact you for a "shipping estimate," and he did not, all that means is he does not care how much shipping to China costs. You can charge him or her as much as you like for shipping, but you also have to follow through on your auction.
Actually, it seems that estimated shipping costs to China are not the problem here. From what you wrote, if the auction winner contacted you as you requested, you would not have provided the promised shipping estimate at all. Instead, you would have refused to ship to China, as you are now doing.
To repeat what someone else wrote, why do you care where you ship to if you are paid in full prior to shipping?
No disrespect taken, as you ask valid questions. However, the problem, as I see it, is that he has already demonstrated an unwillingness to comply with the terms of the contract. I didn't list China as a shipping destination, and I included specific instructions for overseas bidders. Had he contacted me before the end of the auction, I might have agreed to ship to China. But he didn't, and that sends up a red flag.
In general, any sort of refusal to comply with the terms of a transaction makes me suspicious, but doubly so when the buyer has zero track record. I'd be just as suspicious if it were a zero-feedback domestic bidder who had written me after the auction to say that he didn't have PayPal and needed to pay with a wire transfer or somesuch. Well, no. You either agree to the terms of the auction or you don't. I don't like auctions that require money orders, so I don't bid on them.
With any auction, there's a possibility that the buyer will hit you with a chargeback, or that they'll claim the package never made it to them, or they'll argue that something's wrong with the item. The perils of international shipping then add to the risk, especially in countries with less reliable mail systems. As such, being able to trust the buyer is extremely important, and I'm nervous to trust a zero-feedback newcomer to eBay who won't comply with the terms of the auction. He's probably an honest, upstanding guy, but I have no way of knowing, and would prefer not to risk several hundred dollars to find out.
