I just had my first experience with this conundrum. I normally avoided the Global Shipping Program by specifically opting out and stating USA shipping only but with this new EIS it is less clear how to even do that.
In any event, a couple weeks ago I sold a pretty valuable pair of vintage loudspeakers. They weren't huge or tremendously heavy but the box was probably 36x26x18 and weighed in the neighborhood of 40 to 45 lbs. I didn't save the exact dimensions or weight and now can't seem to retrieve it from my Fedex label invoice.
The package was shipped to an address in Illinois that I had no reason to suspect was unusual at the time. The only reason I looked into it was because the buyer was a new member with only a single feedback of 1 and his ID clearly indicated he was not in the USA. This made me pretty nervous but after reading up on it, though some people have been scammed, it seemed most sellers are OK with EIS and Ebay certainly didn't seem concerned. I was tempted to cancel anyway but that would be a defect and could negatively impact my Top Rated seller status so I just carefully packed the speakers and shipped them off hoping for the best.
Then two weeks later I got two messages from Ebay, the first of which somewhat cryptically said, "Hi Xxxxx,
We've received your request to refund buyer Xxxxxx. We're processing this refund and will notify you once it's been completed. "
My first reaction was obviously "WHAT!?" I made no such request!
Then I saw another email that only halfway explained that "We wanted to let you know that unfortunately this item could not be shipped internationally. As a result, your order can’t be fulfilled. This could be due to import restrictions or eligibility requirements. You get to keep the sale and we’ve issued a refund to your buyer."
No reason for exactly WHY it couldn't be shipped internationally was provided.
After reading this thread, I'm assuming it's because of the size or weight, though it seems the package actually fell within the guidelines so I'm not sure. I do know that I did not include package dimensions or weight in the listing because I offered flat rate shipping regardless of location within the USA. I often do this because lately Ebay so dramatically overcharges buyers for shipping compared to my actual cost that it impedes sales for large heavy items, so I'll just conservatively charge my minimum cost to ship cross country.
At this point it appears the buyer got his money back for the speakers but I get to keep what I was paid. I will probably never know what happened to those extremely desirable speakers, which hurts because they really were special and I put a ton of time into restoring them and making them as good as they could be.
Ebay has been a pretty steady side gig for me for going on 25 years now. It's really a shame what's happened over the last several years because it just keeps getting more complicated and less lucrative. Every incremental change they make seems to take away more rights and security for sellers. I don't know how much longer I'm likely to put up with this level of uncertainty. Even in cases like this where both the buyer and I as the seller appear to have ultimately been made whole, if Ebay is eating such a big refund you just know that cost is ultimately passed on to the users one way or another. It's all just so stupid, and could have and should have been avoided if only they'd make it more clear how to opt out of the EIS program. How in the world did they ever allow an item into the program with flat rate shipping when they had no idea how big or heavy the package is? Has this company been taken over by monkeys?
