How To Exclude International Buyers?

When selling stuff on ebay I specify 'no international postage', which I would have thought would stop any international buyers, but they still manage to get through somehow.

These are bulky lots that would cost a lot to post, rather than it being some prejudice on my part against buyers abroad.

Is there something I'm doing wrong here?

Steevh, you have the option to exclude countries and continents. It is a bit cumbersome to arrange these settings, but I have not had a problem of this kind since doing it.

Ok, I'll try that for next week's sales.

Although I have to say, it seems like a major design fault by ebay.
Logically, it seems to me that not wanting to offer any international postage means that you don't want any international buyers.

If you have your listing defaults set to domestic shipping only, *AND* you have the setting in the "Buyer requirements" section "Block buyers who have a primary shipping address in a location I don't ship to" set, you should not get any international bids or purchases.

You may still get purchases from international buyers who have merchandise shipped to U.S. addresses or use third-party intermediaries, however for your purposes, those are considered domestic shipments, as your obligation is to confirm delivery only to the U.S. destination as specified in the payment.

EDIT: I just saw that you are located in the United Kingdom. While my post was written with U.S. ebay in mind, presumably the same settings and restrictions exist on UK ebay.

It is, of course, your choice, but you're losing business. My primary delivery address is in Australia, but I have a delivery address in the UK as well. Because you're blocking international buyers, I won't even see your items

Different business models and risk tolerances for different people.

I sell internationally by default, but for certain items, it's domestic shipping only:

1. For bulky or heavy items, international shipping through USPS has just gotten insane. To most countries it costs far more to send there than it costs the recipient to send here. Rather than risk negative feedback due to buyers' dissatisfaction with shipping charges (even though the fault is not that of the seller).

2. For items above certain dollar thresholds I will only ship domestically, due to risk of loss. Even though I use 3rd-party insurance coverage, it's just not worth the risk. Tracking of international parcels is far too inconsistent and haphazard. Interestingly enough, I've had far more claims of nonreceipt from buyers in Europe (specifically Italy, Spain, and Germany) than from so-called "under-developed countries" in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. I think that both (1) theft and (2) limited or no parcel scanning, at the local level in these countries has a lot to do with it.

My risk tolerance is pretty high, although I'm not selling the crown jewels. I've been pretty lucky with international items (although I don't send a huge number). Only one package - to Japan - went astray, and that eventually turned up. At times, the presence of an international bidder has made a very material difference to the selling price. Once the weight goes above two kilos, I am, for all practical purposes, outside the Royal Mail system. I've shipped heavier things to Europe using other parcel services, but the quotes for more distant destinations usually deter bidders.