Monthly Chat - May 10th at 1:00 pm PST

[devon@ebay]

We are excited to announce the International Shipping team is back again to discuss our new eBay International Shipping program! Get all of your questions ready for the team, so we can make the most out of this month's chat on May 10th at 1:00 pm PT!

Thanks for joining us for the Monthly Chat with eBay Staff and the International Shipping team.

The chat thread will remain open until 2 PM PT at which point we'll close it from additional responses. After that time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that might still be unanswered.

To post your question, click Reply in the lower right corner of this post, type your question, and hit submit between 1-2 PM Pacific Time. The format of our chat mirrors the format of our Community Discussion Boards, where each post will appear in the thread chronologically. The International Shipping team and Community Team will review each question as it comes in, and will quote the original question in our reply. This quote and the reply will appear later in the thread, so just keep scrolling down to see our answers.

As a reminder, we want the eBay International Shipping team to be able to get to as many members as possible during the allotted hour, so we have a few things to ask of you:

• Keep on topic
• Scroll through the list of questions to see what has already been asked to decrease chances of redundancy 
• Keep the message/question simple and no more than one to two items. If you include multiple questions in a post, please be aware that they may not be addressed during the chat and (specialist name) will do their best to follow-up with it after the chat has closed 
  
  Missed the chat? Send your questions to the podcast by calling 888-723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com and maybe your questions will make it on the air! Or listen to past episodes while you wait for next month!”
  

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@dhbookds wrote:

Is it a "requirement" to have dimensions entered into a listing for the listing to be eligible for EIS?  I enter oversize dimensions (defined by USPS), but not for smaller items.......i.e. a mug which would ship in a 7 x 7 x 7" box.

ooops, don't know how I did this one.......lol

---

Weights and dimensions are not required for eIS eligibility. Adding weights and dimensions could help ensure there are not oversize issues and will ensure the buyer is charged correctly.

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@shipscript wrote:

A couple of sellers have had issues with sales to Singapore. Some of their EIS listings include Singapore and some of their listings not not. Within those specific listings, Singapore is not on the blocked list of countries, nor is on the "ships to" list either. Are there some limitations on Singapore (for instance, the same type of item but different values)?

---

There are several filters in place that limit items based on price, category, and restrictions. This is to assist Sellers that may not completely understand shipping limitations. Because of this, some items from the same seller can be shipped to a specific country, while others listings from the same Seller may be restricted. Example - Calvin Klein perfume is restricted from UK imports, but not restricted to CA, AU or FR.

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

How does EIS handle a Chargeback?  Does Ebay still cover them, meaning the seller isn't involve nor is their money at risk?

---

eBay covers Chargebacks and does not seek reimbursement from a seller in the event of a Chargeback.

[mam98031]

Any updates on the progress to allow us to turn EIS on or off at the listing level?  

-----

Edit: A reply to your question can be found here.

[prostudioconnectionllc]

Hi, I'm confused.  It's not clear to me whether I can mix and match EIS with other self-managed options (eg. USPS Priority Mail Express International).

Your recent communication to me says

"For listings that you regularly ship with eBay international standard delivery, we’ll automatically update those to ***only*** display eBay International Shipping as well – even when the listing currently offers other shipping options. If you would prefer to maintain other shipping options, please let us know by completing this form by May 10, 2023."

[Emphasis added]

1.  So by default will you be deleting all non-eBay international options by July unless I submit the form? (which I did)

2.  What I want is to offer the buyer a choice of shipping options with eBay shipping being one of options they can select.  Will this be possible?  So they can choose EMS Express Mail if they want it quicker than going via the eBay hub(s).

3.  If 2. is possible what rate will appear in the initial set of choices given to the buyer, the DDU or the DDP rate?

4.  Also if 2. is possible can I decide on a *per listing* basis (via a range of shipping policies) which listings will and will not offer EIS, and in the case of EIS-enabled listings which position EIS appears in the order of choices offered?

Thanks, Philip

-----

Edit: A reply to your question can be found here.

[valueaddedresource]

---

international_shipping@ebay wrote:

---

@valueaddedresource wrote:

Question about returns in the new international program:

In a recent episode of the eBay for Business podcast, Director of Exports Chad Stewart indicated returns would be resold on eBay, but he wasn't specific about who would be selling them.

Chad: …Just to give you some context of how this works, when a buyer opens up a return request and that information comes to us, we'll accept a return. We offer 30 days global returns. Those items come back to our hub in Chicago, at which point we are then preparing those items to be sold again on the site. So those items will not be destroyed unless obviously they're somehow come back to us destroyed. But the vast majority of these items end up just finding another home with a buyer within the United States as we try to list those items on the site as well.

Griff: So when you say the site, you mean eBay?

Chad: eBay.

Are these returns being sold directly by eBay or is eBay working with a 3rd party or liquidator to sell these returns?

If a 3rd party, who is it and how can we visit their store to see what they have for sale?

If eBay is selling them directly, how does that match up with eBay's long-standing claims (echoed recently in media interviews by eBay VP Seller Experience Xiaodi Zhang) that eBay doesn't compete against its sellers?

---

Liquidated items are transferred to a 3rd party approved vendor, who sells items in their brick and mortar establishment or on eBay through their approved Seller account. Once the item is sold, eBay takes ownership of the item and packages that cannot be shipped forward, returned for issues or are considered restricted are transferred to this vendor. This is not considered direct competition as eBay is not directly reselling the item.

---

Thanks international_shipping@ebay . Just to clarify further though, Chad was very specific that the items would be sold on eBay, even going so far as to have back and forth with Griff about how sellers could then potentially repurchase the items if they wanted them (for sentimental reasons etc.)

Griff: So when you say the site, you mean eBay?

Chad: eBay.

Griff: So my international return, I could buy it back if I wanted to.

Chad: You could.

Griff: Not that I do, but I know some sellers, we've talked a little bit about this in the past about how some sellers have this emotional connection to the items they listed. Even though they've made the sale and they've got the money and there's no risk of them having to recoup a return, they want to know, well what about the item? What about the item? Can I get it back? It's important to me. There's always that possibility.

Chad: Yeah, definitely there, you know, sellers have an emotional attachment to some of the things they sell. They invest their livelihood in this and their time. That is an option that we're looking at as a future enhancement. Like I said, right now all of those items are coming back to the United States. We are then selling those items on eBay in the future.

Chad specifically said "we" are then selling those items on eBay in the future - so if eBay isn't doing the selling, was "we" just a mistake here?

You're saying the items would go to an approve 3rd party vendor - will there be more than one and if so, how would a seller know which one it went to if they wanted to purchase the item back?

Also, if that 3rd party vendor has the option to sell it in the brick and mortar store instead of on eBay, again how would a seller know and be able to purchase it back if they wanted to?

Or is what Chad and Griff were discussing not really how it works?

-----

Edit: A reply to your question can be found here.

[shipscript]

When an EIS buyer opens a return, does the return message go to straight to the Shipping program or does the seller receive notification as well?

If the seller has a "no returns" policy, does EIS honor a buyer remorse return and purchase the item from the buyer?

Does EIS liquidate returns in the buyer's marketplace, are do they return to the US?

-----

Edit: A reply to your question can be found here.

[apantiq]

currently EIS is all listings or none. will we eventually be able to specify on an individual listing that I do not want to ship it internationally as I was able to with GSP?

-----

Edit: A reply to your question can be found here.

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@mam98031 wrote:

Any updates on the progress to allow us to turn EIS on or off at the listing level?  

---

Sellers can control where they can/want to ship their items using listing level country exclusions.

To remove a single active listing from eBay International Shipping, you can exclude all countries except the US in your shipping preferences.

1. Go to the My eBay dropdown menu and select “Selling.”
2. Within your Active listings, click on the listing you'd like to update.
3. Click “Revise listing” and scroll down to the Shipping section.
4. If you already have exclusions set, navigate to your Preferences and to Excluded locations. Then select all the locations under the International

OR

5. If you don’t have any exclusions set, within the Shipping section click “See shipping options” and select the toggle to the right of Excluded locations. Navigate to your Preferences and to Excluded locations. Then select all the locations under the international section. Select “Done” in the top-right corner of ‘Excluded locations’ window. If the excluded locations box shows “Algeria (+169)”, your listing will be excluded from eBay International Shipping.
6. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Revise it.”

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@apantiq wrote:

currently EIS is all listings or none. will we eventually be able to specify on an individual listing that I do not want to ship it internationally as I was able to with GSP?

---

1. Sellers can control where they can/want to ship their items using listing level country exclusions.

To remove a single active listing from eBay International Shipping, you can exclude all countries except the US in your shipping preferences.

1. Go to the My eBay dropdown menu and select “Selling.”
2. Within your Active listings, click on the listing you'd like to update.
3. Click “Revise listing” and scroll down to the Shipping section.
4. If you already have exclusions set, navigate to your Preferences and to Excluded locations. Then select all the locations under the International

OR

5. If you don’t have any exclusions set, within the Shipping section click “See shipping options” and select the toggle to the right of Excluded locations. Navigate to your Preferences and to Excluded locations. Then select all the locations under the international section. Select “Done” in the top-right corner of ‘Excluded locations’ window. If the excluded locations box shows “Algeria (+169)”, your listing will be excluded from eBay International Shipping.
6. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Revise it.”

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

ebay is obviously collecting a lot of data about which items sell well internationally. Many of my items, for example, are probably not particularly hot overseas, but a few things I have, I know they have (at least in the past) had a pretty good market in Japan.

Does ebay have any plans to share any of this data with us, so we can try to source items (especially used and vintage items) that are currently popular overseas?

-----

Edit: A reply to your question can be found here.

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@shipscript wrote:

When an EIS buyer opens a return, does the return message go to straight to the Shipping program or does the seller receive notification as well?

If the seller has a "no returns" policy, does EIS honor a buyer remorse return and purchase the item from the buyer?

Does EIS liquidate returns in the buyer's marketplace, are do they return to the US?

---

When a return is opened the seller is notified but an email is generated letting the sellers know they do not need to handle the return, we will take care of it. 

All items sold through eIS will have a 30 day return policy, regardless of the seller return policy.  Since the sellers are not receiving the returns nor financially responsible for the refunds on return requests. 

All returned items are sent to a shipping hub where they are liquidated.  The items are sold to 3rd party liquidators.

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@valueaddedresource wrote:

---

international_shipping@ebay wrote:

---

@valueaddedresource wrote:

Question about returns in the new international program:

In a recent episode of the eBay for Business podcast, Director of Exports Chad Stewart indicated returns would be resold on eBay, but he wasn't specific about who would be selling them.

Chad: …Just to give you some context of how this works, when a buyer opens up a return request and that information comes to us, we'll accept a return. We offer 30 days global returns. Those items come back to our hub in Chicago, at which point we are then preparing those items to be sold again on the site. So those items will not be destroyed unless obviously they're somehow come back to us destroyed. But the vast majority of these items end up just finding another home with a buyer within the United States as we try to list those items on the site as well.

Griff: So when you say the site, you mean eBay?

Chad: eBay.

Are these returns being sold directly by eBay or is eBay working with a 3rd party or liquidator to sell these returns?

If a 3rd party, who is it and how can we visit their store to see what they have for sale?

If eBay is selling them directly, how does that match up with eBay's long-standing claims (echoed recently in media interviews by eBay VP Seller Experience Xiaodi Zhang) that eBay doesn't compete against its sellers?

---

Liquidated items are transferred to a 3rd party approved vendor, who sells items in their brick and mortar establishment or on eBay through their approved Seller account. Once the item is sold, eBay takes ownership of the item and packages that cannot be shipped forward, returned for issues or are considered restricted are transferred to this vendor. This is not considered direct competition as eBay is not directly reselling the item.

---

Thanks international_shipping@ebay . Just to clarify further though, Chad was very specific that the items would be sold on eBay, even going so far as to have back and forth with Griff about how sellers could then potentially repurchase the items if they wanted them (for sentimental reasons etc.)

Griff: So when you say the site, you mean eBay?

Chad: eBay.

Griff: So my international return, I could buy it back if I wanted to.

Chad: You could.

Griff: Not that I do, but I know some sellers, we've talked a little bit about this in the past about how some sellers have this emotional connection to the items they listed. Even though they've made the sale and they've got the money and there's no risk of them having to recoup a return, they want to know, well what about the item? What about the item? Can I get it back? It's important to me. There's always that possibility.

Chad: Yeah, definitely there, you know, sellers have an emotional attachment to some of the things they sell. They invest their livelihood in this and their time. That is an option that we're looking at as a future enhancement. Like I said, right now all of those items are coming back to the United States. We are then selling those items on eBay in the future.

Chad specifically said "we" are then selling those items on eBay in the future - so if eBay isn't doing the selling, was "we" just a mistake here?

You're saying the items would go to an approve 3rd party vendor - will there be more than one and if so, how would a seller know which one it went to if they wanted to purchase the item back?

Also, if that 3rd party vendor has the option to sell it in the brick and mortar store instead of on eBay, again how would a seller know and be able to purchase it back if they wanted to?

Or is what Chad and Griff were discussing not really how it works?

---

A seller will not be informed which vendor the item goes to or if it was sold as an individual, bulk or brick and mortar. Chad and Griff are correct, that a Seller can buy the item back, but only if they find it on the site if it is posted by the liquidation vendor. eBay will not inform Sellers of its location for sale as many of these items will be liquidated overseas and will not be returning to the US. Items posted on eBay by the liquidation vendor will be lower value items and will be DDU transactions. DDP and high value items will be liquidated overseas in bulk and Sellers will not see these on eBay as they are sold to licensed resellers by the liquidator.

Keep in mind the Seller keeps their original transaction and liquidated items will not be charged against their account (refunds), these are handled by eBay.

[mam98031]

---

international_shipping@ebay wrote:

---

@mam98031 wrote:

Any updates on the progress to allow us to turn EIS on or off at the listing level?  

---

Sellers can control where they can/want to ship their items using listing level country exclusions.

To remove a single active listing from eBay International Shipping, you can exclude all countries except the US in your shipping preferences.

1. Go to the My eBay dropdown menu and select “Selling.”
2. Within your Active listings, click on the listing you'd like to update.
3. Click “Revise listing” and scroll down to the Shipping section.
4. If you already have exclusions set, navigate to your Preferences and to Excluded locations. Then select all the locations under the International

OR

1. If you don’t have any exclusions set, within the Shipping section click “See shipping options” and select the toggle to the right of Excluded locations. Navigate to your Preferences and to Excluded locations. Then select all the locations under the international section. Select “Done” in the top-right corner of ‘Excluded locations’ window. If the excluded locations box shows “Algeria (+169)”, your listing will be excluded from eBay International Shipping.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Revise it.”

---

I get that, but the last Monthly chat we had on this subject last month or the month before, I brought up the need to have the ability to turn it off at the listing level and was told it was being worked on as an option.  Further I brought up that the Terms and Conditions for EIS states we can turn it off at the listing level if we want to.

I get it that we can do a bunch of busy work as you described to accomplish the same thing.  But it would be so darn easy just to allow us to be able to turn it off at the listing level.

Are you now telling us the team is not working on the ability to turn it off at the listing level?

Here is the link to the other posting on this subject.

Re: Monthly Chat - March 8th at 1:00 pm PST - The eBay Community

Note that part of that response was as follows:

eBay is currently working to update the removal of eIS at a listing level. Once this is available to Sellers, ebay will update our Help Pages to reflect these changes. Meanwhile, you can apply country level exclusions to certain listings you don’t want to sell internationally - just exclude all countries (worldwide) except the USA.

-----

Edit: A reply to your question can be found here.

[international_shipping@ebay]

---

@prostudioconnectionllc wrote:

Hi, I'm confused.  It's not clear to me whether I can mix and match EIS with other self-managed options (eg. USPS Priority Mail Express International).

Your recent communication to me says

"For listings that you regularly ship with eBay international standard delivery, we’ll automatically update those to ***only*** display eBay International Shipping as well – even when the listing currently offers other shipping options. If you would prefer to maintain other shipping options, please let us know by completing this form by May 10, 2023."

[Emphasis added]

1.  So by default will you be deleting all non-eBay international options by July unless I submit the form? (which I did)

2.  What I want is to offer the buyer a choice of shipping options with eBay shipping being one of options they can select.  Will this be possible?  So they can choose EMS Express Mail if they want it quicker than going via the eBay hub(s).

3.  If 2. is possible what rate will appear in the initial set of choices given to the buyer, the DDU or the DDP rate?

4.  Also if 2. is possible can I decide on a *per listing* basis (via a range of shipping policies) which listings will and will not offer EIS, and in the case of EIS-enabled listings which position EIS appears in the order of choices offered?

Thanks, Philip

---

1. So by default will you be deleting all non-eBay international options by July unless I submit the form? (which I did)

Yes, eBay will be deleting all international self-ship options on listings unless you have submitted the form to opt-out.

2. What I want is to offer the buyer a choice of shipping options with eBay shipping being one of options they can select.  Will this be possible?  So they can choose EMS Express Mail if they want it quicker than going via the eBay hub(s).

As of now, we do not provide buyer choice on listings that are eligible for both eBay International Shipping and other self-ship options (Ex: EMS Express Mail). However, we plan to enable later this year.

3. If 2. is possible what rate will appear in the initial set of choices given to the buyer, the DDU or the DDP rate?

When this is implemented, we will have a set of rules based on price, corridor, delivery times, duties and tax thresholds to determine the best possible option and shipping rate for the item.

4. Also if 2. is possible can I decide on a *per listing* basis (via a range of shipping policies) which listings will and will not offer EIS, and in the case of EIS-enabled listings which position EIS appears in the order of choices offered?

We are yet to determine the possibility of including seller preference (choice and position) of which international shipping service is shown on a per listing basis.