No more "Unknown" Country/Region of Manufacture?

As far as I can tell, this is a change made in the last few hours at most, but I no longer see "Unknown" as a choice in the Country/Region of Manufacture Item Specific, at least in the Books category where it previously was an option. Not all books state the location they were manufactured in (and "Published In" doesn't always mean the same thing), so we used that often, whenever it wasn't clear. Is anyone else noticing the same change?

Edit: it's not a required item specific, but I do worry that it will have an impact on international sales as that can factor into customs and tariffs.

jonathanbrightlight

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Posted 1 year ago · Edited 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

8 comments

ten_o_nine

·1 year ago

7439 View listings

I try to list some China plates that are marked "England", but eBay doesn't have that in the dropdown menu, you're forced to use "United Kingdom".

chapeau-noir

·1 year ago

No bad meows!6570 View listings

@ten_o_nine wrote:
I try to list some China plates that are marked "England", but eBay doesn't have that in the dropdown menu, you're forced to use "United Kingdom".

'United Kingdom' will work.

meme6253

·1 year ago

3964 View listings

You can thank the tariffs for this wonderful situation, I suppose if you do not know the exact origin, You can't sell it, I would not want to be caught guessing.

valueaddedresource

·1 year ago

5 View listings

@meme6253 - @jonathanbrightlight said it's not currently a required IS so I would think if people don't have that info they could just not fill that in and the item wouldn't be eligible for international options where eBay would be responsible for calculating the duties.

It sounds like leaving it blank is still an option, you just can't select "unknown."

meme6253

·1 year ago

3964 View listings

Good to know

valueaddedresource

·1 year ago

5 View listings

A few months ago eBay temporarily shut down Global Shipping Programme services from UK to US due to all the tariff changes/confusion and just within the last couple days I've seen posts on the UK boards indicating it's turned back on now, but sellers are being told they must enter "made in"/country of manufacture details in item specifics in order for their items to be eligible - with "unknown" no longer being an option.

The UK government is also currently reviewing their de minimis rules and other changes could be on the horizon there and in any other countries as well.

My guess is eBay may be rolling this change out globally to try to encourage sellers to actually enter a country so the information is (hopefully) accurate if/when it is ever needed for customs and duties calculations.

chapeau-noir

·1 year ago

No bad meows!6570 View listings

@jonathanbrightlight wrote:
As far as I can tell, this is a change made in the last few hours at most, but I no longer see "Unknown" as a choice in the Country/Region of Manufacture Item Specific, at least in the Books category where it previously was an option. Not all books state the location they were manufactured in (and "Published In" doesn't always mean the same thing), so we used that often, whenever it wasn't clear. Is anyone else noticing the same change?

Edit: it's not a required item specific, but I do worry that it will have an impact on international sales as that can factor into customs and tariffs.

Would that be indexed to actual place of manufacture, or the location of the exporter (yourself)? I do see that the 'unknown' IS is gone - I actually sell quite a few items that have no region of manufacture (generally clothing/accessories made in small tailoring shops in the east, middle east, Africa, etc.) and have not been concerned about country of origin in this case - if the item will be tariffed or refused for import, it would be due to the item (i.e., leather to Italy) rather than the country of export. Now I wonder. Also wonder about the removal of the IS.

Guess I'm no help with this, just more questions.

jonathanbrightlight

OP1 year ago

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@chapeau-noir wrote:
@jonathanbrightlight wrote:
As far as I can tell, this is a change made in the last few hours at most, but I no longer see "Unknown" as a choice in the Country/Region of Manufacture Item Specific, at least in the Books category where it previously was an option. Not all books state the location they were manufactured in (and "Published In" doesn't always mean the same thing), so we used that often, whenever it wasn't clear. Is anyone else noticing the same change?

Edit: it's not a required item specific, but I do worry that it will have an impact on international sales as that can factor into customs and tariffs.
Would that be indexed to actual place of manufacture, or the location of the exporter (yourself)? I do see that the 'unknown' IS is gone - I actually sell quite a few items that have no region of manufacture (generally clothing/accessories made in small tailoring shops in the east, middle east, Africa, etc.) and have not been concerned about country of origin in this case - if the item will be tariffed or refused for import, it would be due to the item (i.e., leather to Italy) rather than the country of export. Now I wonder. Also wonder about the removal of the IS.

Guess I'm no help with this, just more questions.

My understanding is that both can be relevant, depending on the (at least) three countries involved: exporter, manufacturer, and recipient. I suspect if it's relevant it'll just cost us some sales, because EIS will just not make them available (but I haven't confirmed that), but of course while it probably wouldn't be a lot of sales, I don't want to give that up if this is just a glitch.