eBay would not ship ancient coins to Germany

[Victor]

I used the eBay International shipping program to mail some coins to Germany; which were returned to me yesterday. I called eBay support; which was as productive as banging my head against a wall. Today I got this message from them--

"Our shipping partners have notified us that the package cannot be delivered due to Restricted/Prohibited Item. These issues can include custom restrictions, country sanctions, brand restrictions or eBay program restrictions."

I have mailed many ancient coins to Germany and these coins are certainly not restricted. This is an example of an overzealous/ ignorant eBay worker. Lesson learned--do not use the eBay International shipping program...or at least be prepared for random returns.

Below are the two coins.

[KostasAlexander]

That is extremely frustrating! Was your client understanding?

[Victor]

I emailed him, but he never responded...hopefully only a language barrier problem, since I messaged him in English and he might not be familiar with translator tools.

edit-- I just heard back from him and he said he has had this happen several times already.

[Heliodromus]

On a perhaps related note, the other day I received a coin in this eBay-marked bubble envelope, a first for me. I wonder if this is part of eBay's shipping program, or are they just selling shipping supplies nowadays?

How does the program work anyway, I assume it's still the seller doing the actual envelope stuffing and bringing to the post offfice ?

 

[Victor]

That envelope is one you buy yourself...I once bought eBay stickers for shipments, thinking it might help in customs, but never used them.

When you use the international shipping program, you package and print of a label with a mailing address in Kentucky. There is a reference number on the label which gets sorted eventually to the buyer. The nice thing, is that they guarantee the shipping, which means no lost package claims and no negative feedback for anything shipping related, like long delays.

[Heliodromus]

So you mail it to eBay in Kentucky then they readdress or repackage and forward to the buyer ?

Does this customer's shipping payment also cover your shipping to eBay, or do you ave to pay for that part ?

How much does this cost either for domestic or, say, europe ?

[Victor]

Yes, I think they put a new address label on it. I don't remember how the payment worked out, I may have had to pay a couple of bucks for shipping. I do remember that the price for the customer was no more than regular International shipping that I use for my non-eBay orders, in fact, I think it was a little cheaper, so around $10-15, depending on the country.

[Heliodromus]

Other than the Germany annoyance, it sounds a decent service for the peace of mind of no claims.

[Victor]

Yes, it's the best way to ship international...I wish I could ship all my sales that way.