eBay

knifeaholic · ‎01-27-2024

I don't ship anything directly to locations outside of the USA - however, as far as I know, I am enrolled in the eBay International Shipping (EIS) program.

I get a fair number of questions from overseas buyers as to whether I ship to their country.

How does the EIS program work from the buyer's perspective - does a buyer have to specifically enroll in EIS in order to take advantage of it?

I have pictured the EIS as being "transparent" to the buyer - seems like I may be wrong about that.

Anyone else experienced this?

crazystuff4sale · ‎01-27-2024

Buyer doesn't have to enroll in anything.

If you offer EIS on your listings it will be shown as 'eBay International Shipping' on your listing with a calculated rate to the buyer's country.

Here's an example:

US $11.05

Canada

eBay International Shipping

Authorities may apply import charges upon delivery

Estimated between Tue, Feb 13 and Wed, Feb 21

It's pretty straight forward for the buyer and seller.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-international-shippin...

You might still get buyers contacting you to ask for cheaper shipping. I tell them I only use EIS.

sapphire_studio · ‎01-27-2024

When they ask you about whether you ship tp their country they are either a country that's excluded from EIS or most likely they are fishing for you to ship to them directly so they can get a better deal.

comicscauldron · ‎01-27-2024

They are asking you because EIS is 100% trash for the buyer

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎01-27-2024

EIS eliminates all sorts of buyer fraud and keeps sellers from getting dragged into the buyer's fraud.

Quite common is a request for a false value on a customs declaration or identifying the shipment as a gift.

Also common is persuading a seller to ship without tracking, increases the seller's risk.

marnotom! · ‎01-27-2024

I'm in Canada and I can see 762 or so of your listings, @knifeaholic.

The problem is that you're primarily selling items that most forwarding services like eIS wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Forwarding services tend to shy away from items that can be potentially weaponized or used as a weapon.

eIS can restrict the shipping destinations of items as its AI sees fit and sellers can also exclude international destinations of their choosing when using eIS. Your non-knife auctions basically show North American shipping only; I'm not sure why they won't ship elsewhere. Your knife listings have a huge exclusion list attached to them (see previous paragraph) but Canada isn't on it. On the other hand, there's no shipping rate provided by eIS for them, either, and there's a note in the shipping section that states that you "may not ship to Canada" and to contact you for shipping rates, so this may be why you're getting the queries you are for them.