Changed auction to BIN and EIS started working

[argus_museum]

@wastingtime101 and other Experts,  elizabeth@ebay  kyle@ebay @mikesmilitarymachines 

I recently got the enrollment letter from EIS.  After making sure that my seller profile was in order,  I put up three auctions (vintage cameras). None showed up with international shipping. This morning I changed one to a BIN. As per the title, that one now has all the EIS destinations.

Sellers should not have to guess which listing qualifies for EIS and which one doesn't. If auctions are excluded in certain cases, that should be acknowledged and the boundaries should be described. There must be a way to do this without compromising eBay's proprietary policies.

Mike

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

I've posted about this a few times before @argus_museum and yes, some sellers may see restrictions on format, price, etc. I agree, the policy pages are vague.

First discovered the auction restrictions here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/EIS-not-showing-up-on-listings/m-p/33940417#M455223

Copy/pasting my last post on this topic:

Sellers must meet all eligibility criteria (items located in US, seller registered in US, above standard rating, low/avg service metrics, policy compliant). Read more on the help page:
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-international-shippin...

Item or category could be restricted either by general restrictions like hazmat, or by country-specific import restrictions. There is a partial list on the help page, but import restrictions are fluid so the list is not comprehensive. https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-international-shippin...

More info about listings and item eligibility can be found here:
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-international-shipping/faqs

Limits are often placed at the account level. There's fine print in the help pages and terms of service that says eBay can restrict sellers, and there was a different discussion on this forum where an eBay rep confirmed some sellers' items are restricted based on value. $2,500 in help pages is the program max, but not necessarily an individual seller's max limit. Maybe that's why auctions are problematic for some sellers - no set value.

Help page fine print tells us eBay can place any level of restriction based on undefined performance standards:

"Transaction limits may apply to some accounts." which is very vague and "eBay may also require that you meet certain minimum performance standards before making your listings available to Buyers through the Program."

Many features on eBay operate under similar types of restrictions: promoted listings, seller protections, listing limits, etc. As with many policies, eBay doesn't publish specific details so sellers can't skirt around the restrictions.

[mikesmilitarymachines]

I’ve had all my items for buy it now for the past 10 years, worked flawlessly before but not working now.

[argus_museum]

@wastingtime101 ,

CC: elizabeth@ebay  kyle@ebay @mikesmilitarymachines 

Thanks for your detailed reply on this and all the other replies you have made on this topic.

One of your replies in the first link gets to the problem clearly: "Yeah, auction format is not supposed to interfere with EIS eligibility, but it appears to be doing just that for the OP. "

The other links (export restrictions, seller qualifications, ... ) apply equally to BIN and auction listings. Since the exact same seller/item works as a BIN but not as an auction, these are not the problem.  The determining detail is BIN vs. auction, yet eBay says that "should not" make a difference.

Either eBay doesn't want to say or the previous source was misinformed.

Mike

[wastingtime101]

---

@argus_museum wrote:

The determining detail is BIN vs. auction, yet eBay says that "should not" make a difference.

Either eBay doesn't want to say or the previous source was misinformed.

---

eIS has gone through a lot of evolution in the past 12 mos so when we got the info about auctions it was probably accurate, then things were later altered/refined. I assume eBay keeps it vague intentionally.

Look at category limits. Sellers almost never think about category limits - they focus on their overall account listing limits. Category limits exist yet they're entirely invisible until you run up against them.

Look at payment holds. Some obvious reasons for holds in the help pages, but eBay does not reveal details behind why some accounts will see holds on every return filed and others won't. Obviously has something to do with seller performance and history, but specific details aren't revealed.

eBay applies all kinds of limits and restrictions we have no visibility to, and with all the eIS listings we've reviewed from sellers on this forum and that vague terminology in the help pages, it's become pretty clear eIS has similar restrictions.

We may discover bits and pieces that affect whether or not eIS appears on listings, but I assume it'll mostly stay hidden so people can't get around the restrictions. The program is still evolving so I'm sure that's another reason to keep the policy pages vague.

[argus_museum]

Well said @wastingtime101 .

[wastingtime101]

Not all sellers' auctions are restricted, Mike, so you may find your auctions become eligible at some point in the future.

This account specifically is much newer than your argy_eyes account so it'll take time to build up your seller cred.

[mikesmilitarymachines]

My honest opinion after dealing with this for nearly 6 months now is that Ebay does not care. I have spoken with numerous reps on this and I’m told the same thing each time they are aware of it and will get back with me shortly and have a fix for it and none of what they say ever happens or do they follow through. Honestly, I’ve given up on them fixing this. 

[marnotom!]

My poorly-developed hypothesis about why eIS doesn’t apply to auctions is that it has something to do with the final price of the item not being known.  If the item should somehow get bid up past the $2500 limit, it can no longer be forwarded through the service.

I don’t think it’s a matter of eBay not caring about the issue, @mikesmilitarymachines .  I think it’s more that this isn’t a high priority to fix seeing as auctions make up something like 15% of eBay listings now.  The fix will probably get bundled in with a few others at a later point in time.

[mikesmilitarymachines]

The problem I have with your comment is the fact that I don’t do auctions my store is all BIN. Previously when the system was working flawlessly, I was averaging 4 to 5 sales between models and patches per month. I have done zero since February.

[marnotom!]

---

@mikesmilitarymachines wrote:

The problem I have with your comment is the fact that I don’t do auctions my store is all BIN. Previously when the system was working flawlessly, I was averaging 4 to 5 sales between models and patches per month. I have done zero since February.

---

Well, eBay tells me that you have 298 listings up right now when I use a Canadian postal code as my ship-to location when browsing.  eBay also tells me that you have 298 listings up right now when I use a US ZIP code as my ship-to location when browsing.  That tells me that nothing should be hidden from me or anybody else with their shipping location set to Canada.

However, some of your older listings state "Ships to: United States" and have no international shipping rates provided.  Not sure if that was set by you or by this nefarious glitch, but if you haven't looked into that I would give that angle a shot.