I've been happy with most of my ebay experiences so far, but I'm getting concerned at the growing number of Americans who are denying international shipping, or worse, prohibiting international bidding altogether which would bar any possible negotiations after an auction's close. Once, I've tried to make a bid at the last moment (sniping), but as soon as I attempted placing my bid, ebay disallowed the bid from going through because the user apparently prohibited international bidding. I was disappointed, because nothing in the item description mentioned a barring of international shipping, nor was there any real competition for the item I was trying to bid for (only one person bid on it beforehand). In other words, everything appeared perfectly normal.
Now I have to make some initial bid beforehand to see whether or not the seller turned on the feature that disallows international bidding. If so, I'd have to negotiate well before the auction ends to see if the seller would put me on an exception list. Most sellers are negotiable, but overall this is a hassle for me and an extra step that Americans don't need to take. Apparently, I've read that many American sellers don't have great experiences with international buyers, so they eventually enable this feature because they can't be bothered to handle with such issues. It's unfair to international buyers like me who can make perfectly normal transactions however.
As for other things like shipping times, shipping prices, item quality, and general communication of the seller, I've had experiences of varying degrees of quality, but just about all of them are fine. The only other issue that might come to mind is shipping prices; while it's expected that shipping from the US to Canada would cost more, some sellers only provide a premium option of shipping, despite similar items that I've purchased from other users came in much cheaper shipping forms and in perfect condition. Sometimes, shipping can be $20+. A bit too exorbitant I think. Especially if the item is tiny or lightweight.
