Sending invoice for eIS purchase requires specifying international shipping service?
Experts,
I do not specify any international shipping options, doing international sales via eIS . Today I tried to send an invoice to a non-paying buyer and encountered a red-text pull-down that said I needed to specify an international shipping service (the shipping cost was shown as $0.00 on the invoice). See screen shot below.
Details that may be relevant: the buyer is in Ukraine, and the address shown on the invoice is in Gemany.
Specifying a regular international service seems to be the wrong thing to do, but how else can I send an invoice?
I'm gong to message the buyer after posting this.
Suggestions welcomed!
Mike
8 comments
albertabrightalberta
·5 months ago@argus_museum
I looked at your sold listings. The 2 most recent sales do show as shipping to Germany (via EIS per your listing) and it's not necessary to send another invoice to the buyer. Ebay sends plenty of reminders and if the buyer hasn't paid by day 4, you can cancel the order for non-payment.
However the "No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak, maroon bellows, pretty B&L pneumatic shutter" does not ship to Germany. There may be restrictions.
a_c_green
·5 months agoI know Communist countries block imports of cameras or other recording devices - but Germany?
https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/fh_011.htm
I looked through the USPS details above and cannot find any restriction that even comes close to blocking vintage film cameras.
marnotom!
·5 months agoRight, but that’s for shipping through the postal system, which eIS doesn’t use.
The lists of internationally prohibited and restricted items for USPS and other carriers are what the carrier can’t handle. The items may or may not be the same as those restricted or prohibited by customs.
In the case of a vintage camera, it may have been flagged by AI because it didn’t have enough information to differentiate the camera from a newer one that uses lithium batteries, which are, in many cases, restricted from international shipment, something that’s mentioned in the page in the link you provided.
argus_museum
OP5 months ago@marnotom! @a_c_green @albertabrightalberta @tobaccocardyahoo @thriftyfiftyfifty
Thank you all for your expert inputs on this. Sorry for not getting back sooner. Here's what happened:
I messaged the buyer (to restate things a bit, who had an ID in Ukraine but an address in Germany on the invoice I attempted). No reply, but a couple days later he paid. The latest shipping address was in the USA, so it's on its way to that address now.
Integrating the points brought out in the thread with this result, I would say that eBay handled this initially as a standard eIS sale (so I had trouble sending an invoice) but the buyer didn't want to pay the eIS shipping or was transitioning away from eIS. He set up the USA "transhipper" address and then paid.
The whole thing makes me value this forum and the eIS service all the more.
Mike
marnotom!
·5 months agoIs the item shippable to Germany (or the Ukraine, for that matter)? eIS now seems to be removing but not blocking individual countries from the "ships to" location lists on listings if eBay's AI has determined that the item may be problematic to forward through eIS. Your recently completed listing for the folding Kodak camera does not show shipping to Germany or the Ukraine, for example.
If that's the case and you haven't specified an alternative shipping method in your listings, your buyer may be unable to pay you until you specify that shipping method, provided your actually willing to ship in a more direct manner to your buyer. (I say "more direct" because it looks possible that your buyer is wanting the item forwarded to the Ukraine from Germany.)
tobaccocardyahoo
·5 months agoI recently attempted to invoice an EIS shipment, the error message I received was that sellers cannot invoice an EIS shipment.
argus_museum
OP5 months agoThanks @tobaccocardyahoo and @thriftyfiftyfifty !
thriftyfiftyfifty
·5 months agoYou can't send an Invoice for the eIS Shipment because eBay is responsible for the International Shipping Leg Values and VAT/Taxes/Import Fees Values. You don't have access to that and can't charge the Buyer properly.