eBay automatically enabling "Sell internationally with the Global Shipping Program"

[chaos215bar2]

Hey, eBay. When I have an item that sold and click the "Sell a similar item" link so I can list another similar item (intending to do nothing more than update the pictures in my case), I just noticed you're silently and automatically enabling the option to "Sell internationally with the Global Shipping Program". That's really not okay.

I'm also absolutely certain that if I had any sort of problem related to that option being enabled, you'd blame the error on me. So here it is documented for all to see.

[inhawaii]

You're right ebay may pre-check GSP for you hoping you will use it but it's the seller's responsibility that everything in your listing is just how you want it  before you hit ENTER. 

[chaos215bar2]

@inhawaii, your response is completely unhelpful and why eBay gets away with doing things like this (and doesn't really seem to care about fixing them).

I used a feature specifically designed to copy one listing to another, keeping all attributes and settings as I had set them. eBay did this, but went ahead and checked one little checkbox which I easily missed, because literally everything else was exactly the same, as it should have been. Yes, this is technically the seller's responsibility per eBay's TOS (which I realistically have no choice but to agree to if I want to sell to a wide audience on the internet), but that misses the point entirely.

I'd like to assume this is simply a mistake, and that someone at eBay forgot to write a line of code to copy this attribute to the new listing. eBay's job here is to make things as easy, straightforward, and fair for their buyers and sellers. Going behind a seller's back by enabling a feature that seller clearly did not intend to enable (a feature which I very intentionally disabled on the original listing), and then placing the blame on that seller should something go wrong is, if that was the intent here, disgusting.

[chaos215bar2]

@inhawaii, this is not okay behavior, especially if it's intentional.

Yes, the contents of a listing are the seller's responsibility, but if I copy an existing listing, it's only reasonable for me to expect that eBay does not modify it in the process. When listing a large number of items, it's very easy to miss a single checkbox, and I should not have to second-guess every single option and setting.

[chaos215bar2]

And, FWIW, I had a much more detailed (though still entirely polite) response which was, apparently, deleted. Interesting.

[inhawaii]

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@chaos215bar2 wrote:

@inhawaii, this is not okay behavior, especially if it's intentional.

Yes, the contents of a listing are the seller's responsibility, but if I copy an existing listing, it's only reasonable for me to expect that eBay does not modify it in the process. When listing a large number of items, it's very easy to miss a single checkbox, and I should not have to second-guess every single option and setting.

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I wont argue with you there.

But bottom line is that the seller make sure EVERYTHING in the listing is correct before hitting "enter".

I know this has nothing to do with your complaint, but have you ever considered using GSP?  I do.   

If you use GSP it wont cost you a penny.  There is absolutely no extra work to do.  It will bring in sales that you otherwise wouldn't have. 

Good luck and stay safe!

[ittybitnot]

 eBay's job here is to make things as easy, straightforward, and fair for their buyers and sellers

No, ebay's job is to make money for the company.  End of story.  They have been auto-enrolling people in this program for years in one way or another, and it is not the only one. 

[cashvaluerecovery2011]

Ebay will do what they want when they want and how they want at the sellers expense.

They add best offer after the fact. They've relisted sold items of mine. Added me to gsp. And many other things. Assuming its our responsibility before hitting enter is hilarious. Its a must after hitting enter as well. Morals mean nothing here and trust me when i say this.....in ebays mind its not "YOUR" listing.

[mtgraves7984]

I've noticed that appearing on my 'Sell similar' listings lately. Hate to see it, but glad I caught on. An extra click...

[kds99]

On another thread I had complained about the same problem, and was told that the GSP selection is NOT active if you have provided other shipping methods. Ever after I have ignored the checked box with no harm done so far.

[heakal-54]

They didn’t say it was your fault.
They said the blame is on you.

[chapeau-noir]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

 eBay's job here is to make things as easy, straightforward, and fair for their buyers and sellers

No, ebay's job is to make money for the company.  End of story.  They have been auto-enrolling people in this program for years in one way or another, and it is not the only one. 

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They started enrolling me in it and I've been already selling internationally since 2002 lol - why would I need some program to do what I already did?  Fortunately, I caught it and it hasn't been tried since - sometimes I think there are just so many holes in the dyke that there's no plugging all of them.

@kds99  - that was the crazy thing - I already had international shipping enabled and settings.  It could be why it only happened over a short period of time and not since.

[rimtrim]

I have this problem too...I just uncheck the box every time I create a new listing. The bigger problem I've had is that eBay has automatically checked the box on all of my ACTIVE listings without my knowledge. This has happened twice in about the past year, and both times I just happened to notice it. I had to do a bulk edit to uncheck the box on all my listings.

I called eBay support about this both times, and in both cases they were puzzled and basically unable to help. The reps had some difficulty understanding what I was describing, because they felt that Global Shipping could only be "on" or "off". In other words, either I could be completely opted out of the program, or it would be enabled on all my listings. I had to explain to them that I'm opted in, but by default I disable it on each listing. I do that because I want to have the option to turn it on for a particular listing, if an international buyer contacts me and wants to buy the item. This setup allows me to screen international buyers to make sure they understand the listing before I allow them to buy. This concept was news to the eBay reps, so I wasn't able to get too far in convincing them that it was a problem for the Global Shipping box to randomly become checked on all my items.

I get the occasional bad buyer, but I would say about 80% of my problems on eBay are caused solely by eBay. Just seems to be the cost of doing business here.