EIS not offering shipping to UK

[bigskysell]

I had a customer contact me who wants to purchase from me, but EIS is not providing an option to the United Kingdom. And they are a previous customer of mine. Who previously purchased product through the same listing. Using EIS.

The business policy used by the listing was modified in the past to define shipping to only the US and Canada. Other countries, those not specified, were supposed to be shipped via EIS, but while most display, none of them now work (it says to contact me). And in the case of United Kingdom it doesn't show at all.

In an attempt to get EIS working, I changed the business policy so that it says I only ship to the US, no international, so EIS would kick in. It may have. I'm not sure. However, the United Kingdom is still completely missing.

And, also, the link that Ebay sometimes shows to the customer to "Contact the seller" for shipping costs does not work either. It goes to an error page. "Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later."

In any case, this is what my listing currently shows for shipping information:

Ships to: 

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Excludes: 

Barbados, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Libya, Martinique, New Caledonia, Reunion, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Venezuela

Notice that the United Kingdom is completely missing. Not sure what I'm supposed to do here.

[bookmark6]

I just saw that someone from the UK tried bidding (which we allow) several times on an item we would have loved to sell to them but their bids were not permitted. I've called ebay about this issue twice (good luck to me!) and each time am given some runaround about the bidder having to be on a UK ebay site and not US in order to bid. Can anyone figure this out ??? I know I can't. And it continues, and we potentially lose money ~ and more importantly, a possibly great customer ~ each time.

[lunarlullababies]

This is costing me sales. Seems that they're not fixing it and we are SOL

[steady2304]

---

@lunarlullababies wrote:

This is costing me sales. Seems that they're not fixing it and we are SOL

---

@lunarlullababies 

While eBay will tell you that all shipping services are impacted by this, that is not true. I switched all of my shipping labels over to the "Pirate" using their simple export rate shipping because I have many customers from the UK and not 1 package has been returned by customs. This is strictly an EIS manufactured problem.

The only disadvantage is that by shipping directly I am not covered by the EIS guarantee of once it arrives at the hub the seller is out of the loop if anything goes bad.

I also have to pay the International fee if 1.65% but it is better doing that then having no sales at all to the UK. Also, my packages arrive quicker than if I used EIS on average and for less cost.

[gamestoysandmorestore]

Still an issue as of 4/12/2024. Buyers are missing out on sales still.

[tunny-33]

Hi Elizabeth, 

As a model train enthusiast. I am still concerned that this issue is still an issue that does not seem to be getting resolved. I have been in touch with someone at eBay Executive Escalations and also the UK's Department of Business and Trade who make the legislation regarding the category of TOYS and who are responsible for the new UKCA certifications replacing CE for the United Kingdom since leaving the European Union.

Sadly there still seems to be  confusion on eBay's part on what constitutes a TOY. The Department for Business and Trade say that items that are clearly not made for children or for over 14 years of age and or are replicas or models are not covered by the UKCA regulation. 

Most US model train manufacturers state on the packaging these items are not intended for use for under 14s. 

Also 1) the eBay agent at Executive Escalations seems to contradict themselves. One one hand they say 'TOYS' are basically banned as they breach UKCA and CE legislation to ship to the UK. However EIS ship the same items by sellers to European buyers even though they are covered by the existing CE regulations.

2) What has changed between the GSP and EIS as items were allowed to be shipped for many years with GSP, yet were we not still under CE legislation. Yet all purchases passed through UK customs with no issue.

Finally new train items can be shipped if the seller chooses another method such as FedEx or USPS. If these allow shipping then how can such items be classed as BANNED or RESTRICTED. The same goes for major US stores who ship internationally new items. I personally have purchased recently such items via Amazon.com and they have cleared customs with no issue.

I hope that the issue is resolved one day for both sellers and buyers as it is a large customer base that is losing money and that includes eBay.

Kind Regards

[steady2304]

elizabeth@ebay

Please read and forward the post above by @tunny-33 to the EIS shipping team. 

It seems this is an eBay manufactured problem or misunderstanding.

Many buyers and sellers are being heavily impacted by this policy.

[denisevanpattendolls]

This is so horrible. Have a buyer in the UK for a rare and expensive Hot Wheels car, and he is being blocked by EIS and cannot make the purchase. This is an adult collectible, NOT a “toy”.  

Through the years a good percentage of my business has been to the UK.  eBay needs to fix this!  

[rivertown-pickers]

I've lost a couple sales due to this, as probably 60% of my listings are toys.  I haven't read the actual law, but does it apply to vintage items made back when UKCA and CE weren't a thing?

[1st-oliveoyl]

Ship on your own via Pirate Ship

[vonbonbon5]

I have bought and sold high end collectors dolls on ebay for years quite happily and plenty of customers and sellers I liked to buy from in the US, but not anymore. The UK is now totally banned from buying anything from US sellers that Ebay stupidly considers a toy. I'm sure there used to be a subsection for Adult Collectors items in the Dolls & Bears category but it seems to have gone and now everything has to be listed as a children's toy. Ebay have created this stupid situation by (A) not offering a listing category for collectors item toys and 9B) by wilfully misunderstanding the UK's import laws.

[bonlas_2]

I sell car parts on eBay. Any of my listings will randomly allow a mixed collection of international destinations for my items. Some allow the UK, others do not. Some permit France, Germany, Italy, Australia... some do not. Some only display the USA as a destination. It's completely random which of my listings allow foreign shipping destinations! Bugged, glitched, broken eBay's international shipping service that randomly applies what countries my items can be shipped to!

[fixintoscrap]

As outlined in Nov 2023, some categories are blocked from shipping to the UK.   I posted the problem, and a workaround, which involves using another category, but this is still a problem because sellers have no list or notice of which categories are blocked.

I had a buyer try to buy from my listing under the category Business & Industrial > Retail & Services > Point of Sale & Money Handling > Other Point of Sale & Money Handling

and they are told we do not ship to the UK, even though the shipping template allows it.

When I change the category to the less appropriate Collectibles & Art > Collectibles > Tools, Hardware & Locks > Locks, Keys the listing immediately shows UK as an option under "See Details" next to the shipping options on the listing.

Obviously, there are restricted categories, but they are not disclosed. It's not like everyone who commented on this post is in an obviously export restricted category. I'm selling brass keys under the most appropriate category and it happens to be blocked.

We at least need some guidance from eBay on what categories are restricted, so they can be avoided when no actual export restriction applies.

[chajo-5645]

Ugh this is so annoying. I understand legal stuff is always going to be a complex web of different reasons and goals but I just want to get some collectible figures that don't seem to be availible anywhere other than the US. Harmless stuff, and the people making these rules probably don't partake in any of this stuff themselves. I just want to be left alone to my hobby

[sserna14]

Im from Argentina, and same message "Contact seller" shows under certain categories like laptops, a lot of potential buyers are being missed by this

[ebooksdiva]

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM 2023.