Auto-population of country of origin in fine jewelry and my current solution.
eBay is auto-populating country of origin for all new listings to accommodate international shipping requirements. This is problematic for me but I seem to have found a solution at least for my situation.
The problem:
The problem with the auto-population is that the selected country is a "best guess" by eBay's listing program and may or may not be correct. In my case with pre-owned fine jewelry I am only able to determine where an item is made perhaps half of the time. On those items I typically put the country of origin in the item specifics at listing time. However on the items that I can not determine, I leave it blank (which worked before) but the listing tool started auto-populating it and there was nothing I could do to delete that field. This "best guess" as far as where an item was made might be fine for international shipping requirements, however if the guess is wrong it is an issue both for buyers and for authenticators with authenticity guarantee. I don't think saying "that incorrect info was forced into my listing by the listing tool" will make everything OK with a buyer or with an authenticator who can not verify the country of origin specified. So although I love eBay's international shipping program and have made made many international sales through it...those sales are simply not worth the can of worms having incorrect info in my listings will open.
My solution: I went into my shipping preferences and un-enrolled from eBay's international shipping program. Then also in shipping preferences I went to "exclude shipping locations" and excluded all international countries. I waited a day for the the changes to take effect. Now for new listings I am once again able to leave country of origin blank if I do not know it. Listings that were newly created during the last week or so when eBay started auto-populating country of origin are still forcing auto-population, so for those listings I am ending them and using "sell a similar item" to create a new listing. This is working for me at this time - hopefully no new changes will break things again.
I am sad to leave eBay's international shipping program which is really great. I will re-enroll in the future if eBay provides a way to only enroll items that I know the country of origin for. Right now as far as I can tell it seems to be all or nothing.
gurlcat
·7 months agoI just discovered this by accident a moment ago.
You can select some/all your listings from the listing view in Hub, click Edit -this goes to your bulk edit page, and right at the top is a new box stating exactly how many of your listings have no COO at all, and how many have been filled by eBay. If you check either box, the screen below populates with exactly the listings that pertain to that selection.
You can do what you want from there, but at least you don't have to open up each listing individually to see that item specific.
civicwagonparts
·7 months agoI was using the EIS, where I ship it to the eBay hub here in the 'States and eBay handles it from there.
Who actually signs the Customs Form on EIS shipments? Does eBay sign the customs form on the sellers behalf? Are the sellers liable if the incorrect COO is filled in?
Does eBay take responsibility for the shipment after it arrives at the hub?
I opted out of EIS for now, and went through all of my listings.
Volkswagen has plants all over the world, and uses local parts based on location.
Here are three examples of incorrect VW parts:
eBay automatically filled in COO Germany, pics show part stamped "made in Mexico".
ebay.com/itm/267341751198
eBay automatically filled in COO Mexico, pics show part labelled "made in Germany".
ebay.com/itm/267389832369
Another filled in as COO "Germany", pic shows the label, "made in Mexico".
ebay.com/itm/257096930185
christworks
·7 months ago@kyle@ebay Thank you!
ed8108
·7 months agoChange has indeed come to eBay
Auto pay
Auto feedback
Auto population
😊. Your chance to guess what ebay's next auto will be
civicwagonparts
·7 months agoeBay just guessed. A lot of my listings were automatically changed, some now incorrectly showing COO as China.
I sell used OEM car parts, and my buyers are specifically looking for parts NOT made in China.
I have parts listed from a 1996 Volkswagen Jetta. eBay changed all of these listings to show COO as Germany.
Good guess, but this car and most of its parts were made in Mexico, the parts are stamped or labelled made in Mexico. The vin# and part numbers show this.
I also have opted out of international shipping. And I have tried the bulk editing tool.
Some listings accept the changes to COO I make, other listings still show the incorrect COO. I will be going thru my 500 listings individually to make the COO change.
Are we legally responsible for any customs issues that will arise from using an incorrect COO? As we did not make or authorize these changes.
christworks
·7 months agoI don't sell jewelry, but I saw this post. I'm having the same issue with nearly any listing that I do not know where the country of origin is from.
I'm going to tag @kyle@ebay . I tagged you in another thread about this same issue. This is a major problem now that eBay is autofilling in the country of origin. I've got hundreds of listings that have a country that was picked by eBay. I have no way to verify if those auto-picks are correct. I'm about to leave eIS as well, because I don't want to risk an INAD return with my customers. If a seller does not know the country, eBay needs to leave it alone and if that listing does not appear to international buyers, so be it.
real_solid_gold
OP7 months agoI 100% agree. Simply disqualifying items without a COO from international shipping would be a much cleaner solution than force-populating those fields.
kyle@ebay
Hey @christworks I replied on the other thread, but just for visibility for the folks in this thread too: I've sent this over to our shipping folks to review, and I'll be glad to share any additional info I can once they get back to me.
tobaccocardyahoo
·7 months agoAs a seller who ceased shipping internationally years ago, and only resumed when Ebay Global then EIS was offered, I can say that giving up international sales hurts a lot less than problems with exports when you cannot be sure that the paperwork is correct.
I am fortunate, everything i sell can be attributed to a country of origin, and rather than trust the Ebay decision on COO, I am bulk editing listings.
tealt
·7 months ago@real_solid_gold
I am about to do the same thing. Unenroll in EIS, and, I will provide no international shipping options at all.
Like you, I am sorry to leave EIS but I worry mostly about eBay’s stated intentions to hide my listings from international buyers searching on ebay.com unless I provide a COO.
And, also like you, I sell antiques and collectibles and have no idea where many of them were made.
If I am no longer shipping internationally at all, eBay has no reason to need a COO for either customs declarations or tariff considerations.
International customers that I have had in the last couple months are capable of using their own freight forwarders—as long as they can find my listings when searching on ebay.com.
real_solid_gold
OP7 months agoYes it's messy. My solution may not be the best or most elegant but it's all I could think of for now. There may actually be a way to have 2 different shipping policies using business policies so that you can only opt items you know the coo for into the international shipping program. However I'm not sure and haven't tried yet. Right now I'm in major damage control mode because a ton of my listings have had bogus data shoved into the COO and I'm not finding a way to clear it without ending and creating a new listing!