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New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

devon@ebay 

 

I am tagging you as you were the one that originally worked with the shipping team. 

 

Please pass this up to the powers that be.  There are significant legal and financial risks to eBay and Sellers with how the new International Shipping has been implemented.   This is a bit long but please bear with me.

 

Part of me hopes I am barking up the wrong tree but based on what I have seen with my own listings and responses from others, I fear I am not.

 

The below email was received about the new International shipping program on Nov 15

 

blingfling123_0-1670830076076.png

 

This infers that listings that I have in GSP will roll over to the new program.  No mention of Business Policies.  I took this as if I have GSP activated on my listing these items will be migrated over. There is no mention about listings that do not have GSP or listings not having a Business Shipping Policy.

 

The below email was received on Nov 22

 

blingfling123_1-1670830125004.png

 

The second email does not even speak about GSP and now it states eligible listings.

 

Nowhere in either of these emails does eBay mention anything about listings without Business Policies.

 

The second email also had this.

 

blingfling123_4-1670830251712.png

This leads you to the below page.

 

blingfling123_5-1670830304172.png

Again, this speaks to GSP and International Standard listings. Nothing about listings that do not have Business Policies or currently do not allow international shipping.

 

The below is what is written on the new eBay help page.

blingfling123_7-1670830371651.png

 

This does not even say what listings are eligible nor does it speak about Business Policies for shipping. Who decides what is eligible?  It is also not clear on what an eligible listing is or what will happen to current listings that are listed as US shipping only.

 

Below is the excerpt on prohibited items from the same page.

 

blingfling123_15-1670830777710.png

 

There are a lot more items than just fragrances that cannot be shipped internationally due to hazards and flammability.

 

Some countries do not allow jewelry to be imported and others have restrictions on certain types of jewelry and that is before you even get to a monetary cap amount.

 

Other countries do not permit knives at all.

 

Then we have items that cannot be shipped out of the country due to security laws.

More on the risks with those later.

 

Below was a response from you to questions on items being included and sold internationally where they should not be.

 

blingfling123_16-1670830825787.png

 

 

This is a HUGE issue.

 

Instead of taking the logical route and only including listings with GSP or International policies, someone somewhere made the decision to do the opposite and blanket migrate everything, including listings that do not currently allow international shipping if no business policy is on the listing.

 

You have a large number of sellers that do not use business policies for various reasons. Business policies are not required at this time.

 

Sellers that do not use GSP, do not have excluded countries set up. People that do not use Business Policies also do not have excluded countries set up. There are Sellers that have never sold internationally and have no idea that you can exclude countries. So now you have listings that potentially can be sold to countries that have issues with certain items by sellers that have NO IDEA this is going to happen.

 

You have sellers that absolutely cannot by law, ship some of their items out of the country.  None of that is in the list above and some of these items cross many different categories.

 

You also have Sellers that have no idea that the items they sell cannot ship internationally because they have never allowed international shipping.

 

Then you have the issues that have already been brought up such as the used Levi’s, toner and then there is jewelry that cannot be shipped to certain countries and a host of other nuanced issues that depend on the item being sold and where it is going.

 

eBay has arbitrarily taken Seller listings that they have set up in a specific way, such as only allowing US shipping options with no international shipping or sales and has now made those listings available to the world because someone made the decision to move these listings without regard to the legal ramifications behind it.  Those legal ramifications are not only for the seller, but also eBay. 

 

Why is eBay at risk?  As I have shown above, there is nothing in writing, short of your response that talks of listings without business policies. eBay has made this change, not the seller. eBay has not communicated what that change entails.

 

There are also reports of listings that do have policies set up for no international that are rolling over as well.

 

eBay is also taking responsibility per your TOS for the new program.

 

blingfling123_10-1670830556663.png

 

blingfling123_11-1670830564610.png

 

But then there is this.

 

blingfling123_17-1670830959401.png

 

How can Sellers agree to not sell ineligible items when they do not even know their items are being offered with international shipping until a sale happens?

 

The emails about the new program are not clear and for many that currently do not offer international shipping, think this does not apply to them because they do not use GSP or other international shipping. They are not told in the email they are being mandatory opted in in the first place.

 

Then there is the “here” link takes you to the list I screen shot above with respect to prohibited items that is ambiguous and subject to change at any time.

 

Then we have the TOS in general. 

blingfling123_19-1670831044429.png

 

You are opting Sellers into a program with an implied TOS agreement that the Seller is not required to acknowledge or agree to, that they cannot even find unless they go looking for it, for a program they have been opted into without their consent or knowledge? The link to the TOS that we are arbitrarily agreeing to is not in any of the emails and you must go hunt for it.

 

And now for the serious part

 

Skipping the whole Levi’s thing, there are some items that deal with militaria and technology that absolutely cannot leave the country, and not by just local laws or laws pertaining to agriculture or CITES.  These items are varied and in many categories. None of which are listed in the prohibited list above.

 

Attempting to ship certain militaria and technology violates serious Federal laws and can result in Federal charges and/or convictions. Sellers of these items know they cannot ship these internationally, they have their shipping set to the US only. These sellers have brought up issues with eBay before with people using freight forwarders to bypass the rules. eBay has not been able to prevent these sales, even where the seller had the correct shipping rules in place and now eBay has just thrown all those listings out there as well regardless of what shipping the seller has on the item. If these sellers are not using business policies, you have just exposed them (and eBay) to some serious risks. Risks that include federal jail time and hefty fines.

 

The argument last time this was brought up was that the FF was the exporter and therefore they were responsible.  eBay is now the exporter.

 

What needs to happen and happen soon. 

 

The default should not be Opt Out, it should be Opt in. If that is not an option, at a bare minimum the following should happen with future migrations.

 

Clearly communicate the default is opt in with a link to opt out or instructions on how to do so on the welcome email. It must be made clear to a Seller that does not currently sell internationally that their listings will be migrated, even if they currently do not allow international sales or GSP. A seller should not have to go hunt and peck and post on a forum when they have been arbitrarily enrolled in a program to find out how to opt out.

 

Cleary communicate to the sellers what listings will migrate in the welcome email. This needs to include verbiage and direction on listings that do not have Business Shipping Policies set up.  A link to information on the process for excluding countries also needs to be provided and not be buried behind 4 clicks to find the information.

 

eBay needs to abide by the sellers current shipping on the listing when the shipping is set to US only and not migrate these listings, or make Business Policies mandatory so that the seller can correctly identify those listings that cannot be shipped internationally.

 

eBay needs to update the eBay International Shipping page to clearly outline all of the above.

 

eBay needs to provide clear guidance on prohibited items and when the list is updated, this needs to be communicated.

 

Lastly, what Seller protections for the Seller account are going to be in play because of the lack of communication around what listings will migrate and when? If a VERO is filed or there are issues because a seller is cancelling transactions with problem with addresses initially because they were not notified that certain listings were being migrated, is eBay going to protect the seller and remove account dings due to eBays migration of ineligible listings to a mandatory program?

 

I am going to end this with I sell internationally and am not against the program, I am however, really, really concerned at the risks involved for sellers on how this is being implemented.

Message 1 of 42
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1 BEST ANSWER

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New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem


@blingfling123 wrote:

devon@ebay 

 

I am tagging you as you were the one that originally worked with the shipping team. 

 

Please pass this up to the powers that be.  There are significant legal and financial risks to eBay and Sellers with how the new International Shipping has been implemented.   This is a bit long but please bear with me.

 

Part of me hopes I am barking up the wrong tree but based on what I have seen with my own listings and responses from others, I fear I am not.

 

The below email was received about the new International shipping program on Nov 15

 

blingfling123_0-1670830076076.png

 

This infers that listings that I have in GSP will roll over to the new program.  No mention of Business Policies.  I took this as if I have GSP activated on my listing these items will be migrated over. There is no mention about listings that do not have GSP or listings not having a Business Shipping Policy.

 

The below email was received on Nov 22

 

blingfling123_1-1670830125004.png

 

The second email does not even speak about GSP and now it states eligible listings.

 

Nowhere in either of these emails does eBay mention anything about listings without Business Policies.

 

The second email also had this.

 

blingfling123_4-1670830251712.png

This leads you to the below page.

 

blingfling123_5-1670830304172.png

Again, this speaks to GSP and International Standard listings. Nothing about listings that do not have Business Policies or currently do not allow international shipping.

 

The below is what is written on the new eBay help page.

blingfling123_7-1670830371651.png

 

This does not even say what listings are eligible nor does it speak about Business Policies for shipping. Who decides what is eligible?  It is also not clear on what an eligible listing is or what will happen to current listings that are listed as US shipping only.

 

Below is the excerpt on prohibited items from the same page.

 

blingfling123_15-1670830777710.png

 

There are a lot more items than just fragrances that cannot be shipped internationally due to hazards and flammability.

 

Some countries do not allow jewelry to be imported and others have restrictions on certain types of jewelry and that is before you even get to a monetary cap amount.

 

Other countries do not permit knives at all.

 

Then we have items that cannot be shipped out of the country due to security laws.

More on the risks with those later.

 

Below was a response from you to questions on items being included and sold internationally where they should not be.

 

blingfling123_16-1670830825787.png

 

 

This is a HUGE issue.

 

Instead of taking the logical route and only including listings with GSP or International policies, someone somewhere made the decision to do the opposite and blanket migrate everything, including listings that do not currently allow international shipping if no business policy is on the listing.

 

You have a large number of sellers that do not use business policies for various reasons. Business policies are not required at this time.

 

Sellers that do not use GSP, do not have excluded countries set up. People that do not use Business Policies also do not have excluded countries set up. There are Sellers that have never sold internationally and have no idea that you can exclude countries. So now you have listings that potentially can be sold to countries that have issues with certain items by sellers that have NO IDEA this is going to happen.

 

You have sellers that absolutely cannot by law, ship some of their items out of the country.  None of that is in the list above and some of these items cross many different categories.

 

You also have Sellers that have no idea that the items they sell cannot ship internationally because they have never allowed international shipping.

 

Then you have the issues that have already been brought up such as the used Levi’s, toner and then there is jewelry that cannot be shipped to certain countries and a host of other nuanced issues that depend on the item being sold and where it is going.

 

eBay has arbitrarily taken Seller listings that they have set up in a specific way, such as only allowing US shipping options with no international shipping or sales and has now made those listings available to the world because someone made the decision to move these listings without regard to the legal ramifications behind it.  Those legal ramifications are not only for the seller, but also eBay. 

 

Why is eBay at risk?  As I have shown above, there is nothing in writing, short of your response that talks of listings without business policies. eBay has made this change, not the seller. eBay has not communicated what that change entails.

 

There are also reports of listings that do have policies set up for no international that are rolling over as well.

 

eBay is also taking responsibility per your TOS for the new program.

 

blingfling123_10-1670830556663.png

 

blingfling123_11-1670830564610.png

 

But then there is this.

 

blingfling123_17-1670830959401.png

 

How can Sellers agree to not sell ineligible items when they do not even know their items are being offered with international shipping until a sale happens?

 

The emails about the new program are not clear and for many that currently do not offer international shipping, think this does not apply to them because they do not use GSP or other international shipping. They are not told in the email they are being mandatory opted in in the first place.

 

Then there is the “here” link takes you to the list I screen shot above with respect to prohibited items that is ambiguous and subject to change at any time.

 

Then we have the TOS in general. 

blingfling123_19-1670831044429.png

 

You are opting Sellers into a program with an implied TOS agreement that the Seller is not required to acknowledge or agree to, that they cannot even find unless they go looking for it, for a program they have been opted into without their consent or knowledge? The link to the TOS that we are arbitrarily agreeing to is not in any of the emails and you must go hunt for it.

 

And now for the serious part

 

Skipping the whole Levi’s thing, there are some items that deal with militaria and technology that absolutely cannot leave the country, and not by just local laws or laws pertaining to agriculture or CITES.  These items are varied and in many categories. None of which are listed in the prohibited list above.

 

Attempting to ship certain militaria and technology violates serious Federal laws and can result in Federal charges and/or convictions. Sellers of these items know they cannot ship these internationally, they have their shipping set to the US only. These sellers have brought up issues with eBay before with people using freight forwarders to bypass the rules. eBay has not been able to prevent these sales, even where the seller had the correct shipping rules in place and now eBay has just thrown all those listings out there as well regardless of what shipping the seller has on the item. If these sellers are not using business policies, you have just exposed them (and eBay) to some serious risks. Risks that include federal jail time and hefty fines.

 

The argument last time this was brought up was that the FF was the exporter and therefore they were responsible.  eBay is now the exporter.

 

What needs to happen and happen soon. 

 

The default should not be Opt Out, it should be Opt in. If that is not an option, at a bare minimum the following should happen with future migrations.

 

Clearly communicate the default is opt in with a link to opt out or instructions on how to do so on the welcome email. It must be made clear to a Seller that does not currently sell internationally that their listings will be migrated, even if they currently do not allow international sales or GSP. A seller should not have to go hunt and peck and post on a forum when they have been arbitrarily enrolled in a program to find out how to opt out.

 

Cleary communicate to the sellers what listings will migrate in the welcome email. This needs to include verbiage and direction on listings that do not have Business Shipping Policies set up.  A link to information on the process for excluding countries also needs to be provided and not be buried behind 4 clicks to find the information.

 

eBay needs to abide by the sellers current shipping on the listing when the shipping is set to US only and not migrate these listings, or make Business Policies mandatory so that the seller can correctly identify those listings that cannot be shipped internationally.

 

eBay needs to update the eBay International Shipping page to clearly outline all of the above.

 

eBay needs to provide clear guidance on prohibited items and when the list is updated, this needs to be communicated.

 

Lastly, what Seller protections for the Seller account are going to be in play because of the lack of communication around what listings will migrate and when? If a VERO is filed or there are issues because a seller is cancelling transactions with problem with addresses initially because they were not notified that certain listings were being migrated, is eBay going to protect the seller and remove account dings due to eBays migration of ineligible listings to a mandatory program?

 

I am going to end this with I sell internationally and am not against the program, I am however, really, really concerned at the risks involved for sellers on how this is being implemented.


Hi @blingfling123. Thanks for taking time to generate this. I'll get this over the the proper team, and will touch base if I hear back. 

Elizabeth,
eBay

View Best Answer in original post

Message 7 of 42
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41 REPLIES 41

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem


@blingfling123 wrote:

devon@ebay 

 

I am tagging you as you were the one that originally worked with the shipping team. 

 

Please pass this up to the powers that be.  There are significant legal and financial risks to eBay and Sellers with how the new International Shipping has been implemented.   This is a bit long but please bear with me.

 

Part of me hopes I am barking up the wrong tree but based on what I have seen with my own listings and responses from others, I fear I am not.

 

The below email was received about the new International shipping program on Nov 15

 

blingfling123_0-1670830076076.png

 

This infers that listings that I have in GSP will roll over to the new program.  No mention of Business Policies.  I took this as if I have GSP activated on my listing these items will be migrated over. There is no mention about listings that do not have GSP or listings not having a Business Shipping Policy.

 

The below email was received on Nov 22

 

blingfling123_1-1670830125004.png

 

The second email does not even speak about GSP and now it states eligible listings.

 

Nowhere in either of these emails does eBay mention anything about listings without Business Policies.

 

The second email also had this.

 

blingfling123_4-1670830251712.png

This leads you to the below page.

 

blingfling123_5-1670830304172.png

Again, this speaks to GSP and International Standard listings. Nothing about listings that do not have Business Policies or currently do not allow international shipping.

 

The below is what is written on the new eBay help page.

blingfling123_7-1670830371651.png

 

This does not even say what listings are eligible nor does it speak about Business Policies for shipping. Who decides what is eligible?  It is also not clear on what an eligible listing is or what will happen to current listings that are listed as US shipping only.

 

Below is the excerpt on prohibited items from the same page.

 

blingfling123_15-1670830777710.png

 

There are a lot more items than just fragrances that cannot be shipped internationally due to hazards and flammability.

 

Some countries do not allow jewelry to be imported and others have restrictions on certain types of jewelry and that is before you even get to a monetary cap amount.

 

Other countries do not permit knives at all.

 

Then we have items that cannot be shipped out of the country due to security laws.

More on the risks with those later.

 

Below was a response from you to questions on items being included and sold internationally where they should not be.

 

blingfling123_16-1670830825787.png

 

 

This is a HUGE issue.

 

Instead of taking the logical route and only including listings with GSP or International policies, someone somewhere made the decision to do the opposite and blanket migrate everything, including listings that do not currently allow international shipping if no business policy is on the listing.

 

You have a large number of sellers that do not use business policies for various reasons. Business policies are not required at this time.

 

Sellers that do not use GSP, do not have excluded countries set up. People that do not use Business Policies also do not have excluded countries set up. There are Sellers that have never sold internationally and have no idea that you can exclude countries. So now you have listings that potentially can be sold to countries that have issues with certain items by sellers that have NO IDEA this is going to happen.

 

You have sellers that absolutely cannot by law, ship some of their items out of the country.  None of that is in the list above and some of these items cross many different categories.

 

You also have Sellers that have no idea that the items they sell cannot ship internationally because they have never allowed international shipping.

 

Then you have the issues that have already been brought up such as the used Levi’s, toner and then there is jewelry that cannot be shipped to certain countries and a host of other nuanced issues that depend on the item being sold and where it is going.

 

eBay has arbitrarily taken Seller listings that they have set up in a specific way, such as only allowing US shipping options with no international shipping or sales and has now made those listings available to the world because someone made the decision to move these listings without regard to the legal ramifications behind it.  Those legal ramifications are not only for the seller, but also eBay. 

 

Why is eBay at risk?  As I have shown above, there is nothing in writing, short of your response that talks of listings without business policies. eBay has made this change, not the seller. eBay has not communicated what that change entails.

 

There are also reports of listings that do have policies set up for no international that are rolling over as well.

 

eBay is also taking responsibility per your TOS for the new program.

 

blingfling123_10-1670830556663.png

 

blingfling123_11-1670830564610.png

 

But then there is this.

 

blingfling123_17-1670830959401.png

 

How can Sellers agree to not sell ineligible items when they do not even know their items are being offered with international shipping until a sale happens?

 

The emails about the new program are not clear and for many that currently do not offer international shipping, think this does not apply to them because they do not use GSP or other international shipping. They are not told in the email they are being mandatory opted in in the first place.

 

Then there is the “here” link takes you to the list I screen shot above with respect to prohibited items that is ambiguous and subject to change at any time.

 

Then we have the TOS in general. 

blingfling123_19-1670831044429.png

 

You are opting Sellers into a program with an implied TOS agreement that the Seller is not required to acknowledge or agree to, that they cannot even find unless they go looking for it, for a program they have been opted into without their consent or knowledge? The link to the TOS that we are arbitrarily agreeing to is not in any of the emails and you must go hunt for it.

 

And now for the serious part

 

Skipping the whole Levi’s thing, there are some items that deal with militaria and technology that absolutely cannot leave the country, and not by just local laws or laws pertaining to agriculture or CITES.  These items are varied and in many categories. None of which are listed in the prohibited list above.

 

Attempting to ship certain militaria and technology violates serious Federal laws and can result in Federal charges and/or convictions. Sellers of these items know they cannot ship these internationally, they have their shipping set to the US only. These sellers have brought up issues with eBay before with people using freight forwarders to bypass the rules. eBay has not been able to prevent these sales, even where the seller had the correct shipping rules in place and now eBay has just thrown all those listings out there as well regardless of what shipping the seller has on the item. If these sellers are not using business policies, you have just exposed them (and eBay) to some serious risks. Risks that include federal jail time and hefty fines.

 

The argument last time this was brought up was that the FF was the exporter and therefore they were responsible.  eBay is now the exporter.

 

What needs to happen and happen soon. 

 

The default should not be Opt Out, it should be Opt in. If that is not an option, at a bare minimum the following should happen with future migrations.

 

Clearly communicate the default is opt in with a link to opt out or instructions on how to do so on the welcome email. It must be made clear to a Seller that does not currently sell internationally that their listings will be migrated, even if they currently do not allow international sales or GSP. A seller should not have to go hunt and peck and post on a forum when they have been arbitrarily enrolled in a program to find out how to opt out.

 

Cleary communicate to the sellers what listings will migrate in the welcome email. This needs to include verbiage and direction on listings that do not have Business Shipping Policies set up.  A link to information on the process for excluding countries also needs to be provided and not be buried behind 4 clicks to find the information.

 

eBay needs to abide by the sellers current shipping on the listing when the shipping is set to US only and not migrate these listings, or make Business Policies mandatory so that the seller can correctly identify those listings that cannot be shipped internationally.

 

eBay needs to update the eBay International Shipping page to clearly outline all of the above.

 

eBay needs to provide clear guidance on prohibited items and when the list is updated, this needs to be communicated.

 

Lastly, what Seller protections for the Seller account are going to be in play because of the lack of communication around what listings will migrate and when? If a VERO is filed or there are issues because a seller is cancelling transactions with problem with addresses initially because they were not notified that certain listings were being migrated, is eBay going to protect the seller and remove account dings due to eBays migration of ineligible listings to a mandatory program?

 

I am going to end this with I sell internationally and am not against the program, I am however, really, really concerned at the risks involved for sellers on how this is being implemented.


How about wood? Some countries won't allow some types of wood to be imported e.g. on guitars.

Message 2 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

With ebay, nothing surprise any more.  And this is another fiasco...

Message 3 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

And then there's the current "glitch" where listings which ship to only USA now show they also ship to Burma & Sudan, which still hasn't been fixed.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley
Message 4 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

     This was my fear when I first heard about EIS and I immediately opted out of the GSP and quit selling internationally. EBay's history with change implementation has not been the best. There was little information available regarding the details of the EIS, like who the sub contractor is and where the EIS would be located and lack of a help file detailing some of the issues you pointed out. 

     I am not sure I will ever return to selling internationally. This is another example of eBay messing with a good thing although it may have been Pitney Bowes, who ran the GSP, that dumped eBay. 

Message 5 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

@blingfling123  Thanks for posting this. I couldn't figure out why I was seeing Int'l shipping as I had stopped shipping internationally months ago. The risk that the item would be delayed in shipping and/or customs and the buyer would open an INAD were not worth it to us.

Message 6 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem


@blingfling123 wrote:

devon@ebay 

 

I am tagging you as you were the one that originally worked with the shipping team. 

 

Please pass this up to the powers that be.  There are significant legal and financial risks to eBay and Sellers with how the new International Shipping has been implemented.   This is a bit long but please bear with me.

 

Part of me hopes I am barking up the wrong tree but based on what I have seen with my own listings and responses from others, I fear I am not.

 

The below email was received about the new International shipping program on Nov 15

 

blingfling123_0-1670830076076.png

 

This infers that listings that I have in GSP will roll over to the new program.  No mention of Business Policies.  I took this as if I have GSP activated on my listing these items will be migrated over. There is no mention about listings that do not have GSP or listings not having a Business Shipping Policy.

 

The below email was received on Nov 22

 

blingfling123_1-1670830125004.png

 

The second email does not even speak about GSP and now it states eligible listings.

 

Nowhere in either of these emails does eBay mention anything about listings without Business Policies.

 

The second email also had this.

 

blingfling123_4-1670830251712.png

This leads you to the below page.

 

blingfling123_5-1670830304172.png

Again, this speaks to GSP and International Standard listings. Nothing about listings that do not have Business Policies or currently do not allow international shipping.

 

The below is what is written on the new eBay help page.

blingfling123_7-1670830371651.png

 

This does not even say what listings are eligible nor does it speak about Business Policies for shipping. Who decides what is eligible?  It is also not clear on what an eligible listing is or what will happen to current listings that are listed as US shipping only.

 

Below is the excerpt on prohibited items from the same page.

 

blingfling123_15-1670830777710.png

 

There are a lot more items than just fragrances that cannot be shipped internationally due to hazards and flammability.

 

Some countries do not allow jewelry to be imported and others have restrictions on certain types of jewelry and that is before you even get to a monetary cap amount.

 

Other countries do not permit knives at all.

 

Then we have items that cannot be shipped out of the country due to security laws.

More on the risks with those later.

 

Below was a response from you to questions on items being included and sold internationally where they should not be.

 

blingfling123_16-1670830825787.png

 

 

This is a HUGE issue.

 

Instead of taking the logical route and only including listings with GSP or International policies, someone somewhere made the decision to do the opposite and blanket migrate everything, including listings that do not currently allow international shipping if no business policy is on the listing.

 

You have a large number of sellers that do not use business policies for various reasons. Business policies are not required at this time.

 

Sellers that do not use GSP, do not have excluded countries set up. People that do not use Business Policies also do not have excluded countries set up. There are Sellers that have never sold internationally and have no idea that you can exclude countries. So now you have listings that potentially can be sold to countries that have issues with certain items by sellers that have NO IDEA this is going to happen.

 

You have sellers that absolutely cannot by law, ship some of their items out of the country.  None of that is in the list above and some of these items cross many different categories.

 

You also have Sellers that have no idea that the items they sell cannot ship internationally because they have never allowed international shipping.

 

Then you have the issues that have already been brought up such as the used Levi’s, toner and then there is jewelry that cannot be shipped to certain countries and a host of other nuanced issues that depend on the item being sold and where it is going.

 

eBay has arbitrarily taken Seller listings that they have set up in a specific way, such as only allowing US shipping options with no international shipping or sales and has now made those listings available to the world because someone made the decision to move these listings without regard to the legal ramifications behind it.  Those legal ramifications are not only for the seller, but also eBay. 

 

Why is eBay at risk?  As I have shown above, there is nothing in writing, short of your response that talks of listings without business policies. eBay has made this change, not the seller. eBay has not communicated what that change entails.

 

There are also reports of listings that do have policies set up for no international that are rolling over as well.

 

eBay is also taking responsibility per your TOS for the new program.

 

blingfling123_10-1670830556663.png

 

blingfling123_11-1670830564610.png

 

But then there is this.

 

blingfling123_17-1670830959401.png

 

How can Sellers agree to not sell ineligible items when they do not even know their items are being offered with international shipping until a sale happens?

 

The emails about the new program are not clear and for many that currently do not offer international shipping, think this does not apply to them because they do not use GSP or other international shipping. They are not told in the email they are being mandatory opted in in the first place.

 

Then there is the “here” link takes you to the list I screen shot above with respect to prohibited items that is ambiguous and subject to change at any time.

 

Then we have the TOS in general. 

blingfling123_19-1670831044429.png

 

You are opting Sellers into a program with an implied TOS agreement that the Seller is not required to acknowledge or agree to, that they cannot even find unless they go looking for it, for a program they have been opted into without their consent or knowledge? The link to the TOS that we are arbitrarily agreeing to is not in any of the emails and you must go hunt for it.

 

And now for the serious part

 

Skipping the whole Levi’s thing, there are some items that deal with militaria and technology that absolutely cannot leave the country, and not by just local laws or laws pertaining to agriculture or CITES.  These items are varied and in many categories. None of which are listed in the prohibited list above.

 

Attempting to ship certain militaria and technology violates serious Federal laws and can result in Federal charges and/or convictions. Sellers of these items know they cannot ship these internationally, they have their shipping set to the US only. These sellers have brought up issues with eBay before with people using freight forwarders to bypass the rules. eBay has not been able to prevent these sales, even where the seller had the correct shipping rules in place and now eBay has just thrown all those listings out there as well regardless of what shipping the seller has on the item. If these sellers are not using business policies, you have just exposed them (and eBay) to some serious risks. Risks that include federal jail time and hefty fines.

 

The argument last time this was brought up was that the FF was the exporter and therefore they were responsible.  eBay is now the exporter.

 

What needs to happen and happen soon. 

 

The default should not be Opt Out, it should be Opt in. If that is not an option, at a bare minimum the following should happen with future migrations.

 

Clearly communicate the default is opt in with a link to opt out or instructions on how to do so on the welcome email. It must be made clear to a Seller that does not currently sell internationally that their listings will be migrated, even if they currently do not allow international sales or GSP. A seller should not have to go hunt and peck and post on a forum when they have been arbitrarily enrolled in a program to find out how to opt out.

 

Cleary communicate to the sellers what listings will migrate in the welcome email. This needs to include verbiage and direction on listings that do not have Business Shipping Policies set up.  A link to information on the process for excluding countries also needs to be provided and not be buried behind 4 clicks to find the information.

 

eBay needs to abide by the sellers current shipping on the listing when the shipping is set to US only and not migrate these listings, or make Business Policies mandatory so that the seller can correctly identify those listings that cannot be shipped internationally.

 

eBay needs to update the eBay International Shipping page to clearly outline all of the above.

 

eBay needs to provide clear guidance on prohibited items and when the list is updated, this needs to be communicated.

 

Lastly, what Seller protections for the Seller account are going to be in play because of the lack of communication around what listings will migrate and when? If a VERO is filed or there are issues because a seller is cancelling transactions with problem with addresses initially because they were not notified that certain listings were being migrated, is eBay going to protect the seller and remove account dings due to eBays migration of ineligible listings to a mandatory program?

 

I am going to end this with I sell internationally and am not against the program, I am however, really, really concerned at the risks involved for sellers on how this is being implemented.


Hi @blingfling123. Thanks for taking time to generate this. I'll get this over the the proper team, and will touch base if I hear back. 

Elizabeth,
eBay
Message 7 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

elizabeth@ebay 

 

I just found something weird.


I use business policies. I have a US Priority Mail only policy that is supposed to have US only shipping. I am pretty sure there used to be a GSP check box on the policy as well that was not checked but that seems to have disappeared. 

blingfling123_0-1670964789792.png

 

This is an item that cannot be shipped overseas.  It has the new international shipping on the listing but only for the countries I had not excluded previously from GSP.  I hope that makes sense. 

 

blingfling123_1-1670964912048.png

If I go to revise the listing, I see the below. 

blingfling123_4-1670966075304.png

 

According to the new TOS I have to "opt out" the listing from the new eBay international shipping. 

"You will opt out of the Program for ineligible items or items that for other reasons you do not wish to ship or are obligated not to sell outside the US or to specific regions outside the US. You warrant that any limitation or restriction of countries or regions to which you authorize export of your product(s) is in no way related to your participation in an unlawful boycott prohibited by U.S. or other applicable laws."

 

How are we supposed to do this?

 

The countries I have not excluded from GSP are visible on this listing and can currently purchase the item. In the example above I chose Australia.  

 

If I am understanding this right, If I exclude every country using the exclusion list that would exclude them from every listing correct?

If I go to create a new shipping Business Policy I see the below.  There does not seem to be a way to blanket exclude all international shipping for an item that cannot be shipped overseas. 

 

blingfling123_2-1670965857044.png

 

 

Am I missing something??

 

Message 8 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

I don't know who's running it but it's now located in Chicago Illinois! I opted out of the program this morning, however I have a friend who sells on eBay and she sold an international item through the new program today. The address is in Chicago and you must have a reference number along with the address. 

Message 9 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

Thankfully my first experience was with a buyer inquiry only. I just turned off all my listings due to international shipping being forcibly turned on. My listings were all market specific products with technology coding prohibiting use in other regions of the world. Horrible actions on ebay during a time of year when sales are at their highest exposure. I can't change the listings for at least 96 hours due to work.

 

They sure know how to ensure people stop selling on the site....

Message 10 of 42
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New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

elizabeth@ebay

 

Well it's been over a month just since this post and nothing has still been done about this as far as I can tell. THIS IS SO VERY SIMPLE = PUT AN OPTION (one of the new stupid little sliding blue buttons) IN THE LISTING, TO SHIP, OR TO NOT SHIP INTERNATIONAL, JUST LIKE THE GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM HAD!

I am in the electronics business. I have plenty of things in my Ebay store that I will not ship internationally and were set up so they would not ship via the GSP. So did those items automatically get opted into EIS now against my original settings? The majority of items in my store I WILL ship international. Maybe Ebay doesn't know that in the world of business, some companies sign contracts with their vendors stating they will not ship their particular goods to international destinations. This is done for a wide variety of reasons and is common in the business world. Could be based on competition/markets you are allowed to sell in, could be because it's military, technologically sensitive, or something more basic like too fragile, too expensive, too big, etc, etc. BUT THE OPTION TO SHIP INTERNATIONAL MUST BE HANDLED ON AN ITEM BY ITEM BASIS - NOT AN OPT IN OR OPT OUT YOUR WHOLE ENTIRE STORE BASIS. This has to be one of the worst thought out (or not thought out at all apparently) changes in Ebay's history. 

Message 11 of 42
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New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

I know as a business we opted to not ship to Germany whom has some insane boxing requirements/costs  and Europe due to the sellers Being taxed for disposal of items purchased or whatever they call it.

Hopefully that hasn't been fixed against us..lol

Message 12 of 42
latest reply

New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

ebay did resolve my issue. I can confirm the listing setup does have a toggle switch for international shipping off or on. That does not, however, modify your ebay profile: account settings, shipping profile - for international shipping. That is a separate item you have to change as well. I have international opted out as a global account setting. If I have an item I want to offer internationally, I toggle it on during listing creation per item.

Message 13 of 42
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New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

FWIW- There is a scam, I've heard it called the customs scam, where the buyer does not pick up the shipment, instead claiming Not Received.

Once he has his refund, he pays the customs, and gets his item before it is returned to the seller.

The GSP stopped this scam by having import fees paid up front.

 elizabeth@ebay   How does EIS prevent this scam?

 

Note that I am posting from Canada and don't really have any skin in the game.

 

Also, it is Standard Business Practice that the importer/buyer should know what can and cannot be imported into his own country.

Not the seller.

How does EIS deal with shipments returned as not allowed? Does the buyer have to wait until the seller has the shipment back? That can take months since returned shipments are not a high priority with any shipping company.

 

 

Message 14 of 42
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New International Shipping. Houston, We Have a Problem

Thank you for your response. I do have questions. What is your setup, do you subscribe to a store, business account, personal account, etc? The only international shipping I can "toggle on" is if I'm shipping directly myself and NOT using EIS. I can click to select certain destinations, etc. but that is not through EIS. I just need to able to opt out specific items from shipping internationally via EIS = but not all. I talked with Ebay via phone a few weeks ago and no one could tell me how to do this. Of course this was all TIER 1 support and I usually know way more about how the Ebay site operates than they do. 

Message 15 of 42
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