Have you ever been blocked by an E seller here?

Just curious Bob.
On what side of the tracks does your statement of pettiness fall?

Happened twice to me in the exact same circumstances even though I was polite amd respectful in the private inmail.

Audiogon support staff quickly remedied it after some basic Q&A and investigation.

+1 on also never thinking about them as a potential for my future buying.

I will say also that if a dealer or distributor has these abilities on this forum at all, that is the base of the issue to begin with.  Audiogon used to be a hobbyist forum....boy do I miss those days!

Refusing to sell internationally as most sellers do on Audiogon is not the same as blocking but the result is the same.  I have had some successful purchases from the USA but many more lost purchases because sellers only sell to the USA or Canada. Perhaps someone can explain why as payments are secure via Paypal and the only extra effort required by the seller as I understand it is to fill in a brief customs declaration form.

Refusing to sell internationally as most sellers do on Audiogon is not the same as blocking but the result is the same.  I have had some successful purchases from the USA but many more lost purchases because sellers only sell to the USA or Canada. Perhaps someone can explain why as payments are secure via Paypal and the only extra effort required by the seller as I understand it is to fill in a brief customs declaration form.

Were you prepared to pay the outrageous costs associated with shipping?
For whatever reason shipping anything outside the USA is just ludicrous pricing.
It is far, far, far cheaper to ship same item from England to USA than the other way round ( just as one example).

And I also buy a lot of good stuff from Japan at free shipping.

I just don’t get why the USA is not geared up to do affordable out of USA shipping.

That is the main reason I do not ship anything out of the USA, usually when you tell the buyer how much ,they just disappear anyway ( rightfully so imho).