eBay

maxvr6 · ‎11-30-2022

Life got crazy and did not have a chance to do additional research into the new Ebay International Shipping. We got "Opted In" by default. However, the minimal reading I did do before it rolled out led me to believe that only GSP listings would be automatically converted. We do not use the GSP currently and only use Ebay International Standard on about 75% of our listings. We have about 25% of our listings where the shipping policy was "NO INTERNATIONAL" for several different reasons (prohibited, oversize, cost vs profit, etc.) Therefore, I believed my listings would stay 'as is' unless I manually changed them. BIG NOPE! The system changed all of our "NO INTERNATIONAL" listings to allow international shipping. I tried everything and Ebay customer service could not give me a solution to change these listings back to "NO INTERNATIONAL". I ended up opting out of the program but am required to fulfill an order that previously had "No international shipping" but was allowed under this program. Not a prohibited item but we will lose money on the shipping. What a unnecessary headache!

If you were invited but did not opt out of this program..check your listings!! You might find that they all have international shipping if they did not before.

mahahooey · ‎11-30-2022

Same exact thing happened to me! Not sure why I got "opted in" when I never chose that option. Now 2 international sales squeaked through. It's so confusing, because I did a bulk edit for all my listings and made sure that "international sales" were disabled. How misleading is that?

stephenmorgan · ‎11-30-2022

The way it was stated is that if you used the Global Shipping Program then these would automatically convert to the new program and people would be offered the new shipping at various times. If you were using the eBay Standard International Shipping, this was not supposed to change. I have been offered the new shipping but have not switch any items from the Standard. I did test a few for price and the price is in between the Global and Standard prices.

devon@ebay · ‎12-01-2022

@maxvr6 wrote:

Life got crazy and did not have a chance to do additional research into the new Ebay International Shipping. We got "Opted In" by default. However, the minimal reading I did do before it rolled out led me to believe that only GSP listings would be automatically converted. We do not use the GSP currently and only use Ebay International Standard on about 75% of our listings. We have about 25% of our listings where the shipping policy was "NO INTERNATIONAL" for several different reasons (prohibited, oversize, cost vs profit, etc.) Therefore, I believed my listings would stay 'as is' unless I manually changed them. BIG NOPE! The system changed all of our "NO INTERNATIONAL" listings to allow international shipping. I tried everything and Ebay customer service could not give me a solution to change these listings back to "NO INTERNATIONAL". I ended up opting out of the program but am required to fulfill an order that previously had "No international shipping" but was allowed under this program. Not a prohibited item but we will lose money on the shipping. What a unnecessary headache!

If you were invited but did not opt out of this program..check your listings!! You might find that they all have international shipping if they did not before.

Hey @maxvr6! The Shipping Team reached out and wanted to share the following:

"We are sorry about the confusion. When we enroll sellers into eBay International Shipping GSP as well as listings that do not have business policies are automatically migrated. Only listings with international shipping business policies are not auto migrated. One advantage to the new program is we help you determine what is exportable and will automatically display listings that meet export regulations. If you wish not to ship a particular item to a region that can be managed at the listing level in the shipping policies under exclusions. As a seller you are only responsible for the shipping costs to get the item to the domestic shipping hub, the international shipping is charged to the buyer at the time of checkout."

Devon,

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-01-2022

You shouldn't lose money on shipping. If you were opted into the new program, they should have added in a shipping cost. If there is no shipping cost, then the buyer can't pay until you send them an invoice with shipping.

lost-lizard-trading-company · ‎12-01-2022

"then the buyer can't pay until you send them an invoice with shipping."

However, if you try to send an invoice with shipping, you get an eBay error message that says you cannot send an invoice for international sales. And, the sold notice from eBay and the option to print an invoice or packing slip does not include a buyer address (or US shipping hub address) at least when the buyer has not yet paid.

Dealing with this tonight. Notice of a sale but by buyer eBay name only with no other information except a note "international sale".

stephenmorgan · ‎12-01-2022

@lost-lizard-trading-company wrote:
"then the buyer can't pay until you send them an invoice with shipping."
However, if you try to send an invoice with shipping, you get an eBay error message that says you cannot send an invoice for international sales. And, the sold notice from eBay and the option to print an invoice or packing slip does not include a buyer address (or US shipping hub address) at least when the buyer has not yet paid.

Dealing with this tonight. Notice of a sale but by buyer eBay name only with no other information except a note "international sale".

Before a international buyer has paid I have always been able to see their international address and phone number. Once they have paid then the address defaults to the address item is being sent to. For example, if they have a freight forwarder or if they use one of eBay's shipping services then this will be the address shown and I will not be able to see their actual address. If it a direct shipment to their country then their address will always be shown.

To see the address before it changes to a freight forwards address you have to look at View Order Details before payment is made.

maxvr6 · ‎12-02-2022

You might want to recheck those listings. We use the new "shipping policy" feature. If you watch the videos they provide on the new program..the fix to add the new program is to choose "no international shipping" and the new international program will automatically be added to the listing. That makes ZERO sense and that is how our 25% of listings that can not go international got it on there. Only way I could fix those listings is to Opt out of the program in the account settings. It kept the Ebay International Standard on the 75% that we intend to have international on and fixed the issue with the listings that should no have international shipping.

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-02-2022

@lost-lizard-trading-company wrote:
"then the buyer can't pay until you send them an invoice with shipping."
However, if you try to send an invoice with shipping, you get an eBay error message that says you cannot send an invoice for international sales. And, the sold notice from eBay and the option to print an invoice or packing slip does not include a buyer address (or US shipping hub address) at least when the buyer has not yet paid.

Dealing with this tonight. Notice of a sale but by buyer eBay name only with no other information except a note "international sale".

Unless something has changed, you will only get the 'can't send an invoice' message if the listing is set up with the gsp or ebay international shipping AND there is already a shipping price. If there is not a shipping price then ebay shipping does not ship to that country or there is a problem with the way it is set up. In those cases, you can send an invoice if you want to ship the item yourself without going through the gsp etc.

In your situation, is there any particular reason that you were trying to send an invoice?

lost-lizard-trading-company · ‎12-02-2022

" In your situation, is there any particular reason that you were trying to send an invoice?"

Because the boilerplate message from eBay said to send the buyer an invoice.

Messaged with the buyer today. He tried to pay, but eBay said I do not ship to Canada. (So why, eBay did you consummate the sale?)

Note most of my listing were old GSP. I have not received any info from eBay about transitioning to the new International Shipping Program. After this fiasco, I followed the edit instructions (with intention to remove all international options) and it appears all my listings were now in the ISP.

I expect that if I have an ISP sale, it would be like the GSP--the buyer would receive sales price, shipping and other fee info and I would receive the notice to ship to the designated processing center. No longer working that way.

blueberrysparkle · ‎12-10-2022

You can easily lose money. Buyer international rates are based on weights. For sellers who use flat rates and general averages - or no weights - that can really skew the shipping.

In general heavy items cost a lot to ship internationally - imagine a book 2 / 3 lbs - media rate in US. Full shipping weight internationally. Some sellers may have standard weights, no weights or wrong weights.

If you don't know that this is starting and don't have a chance to assess it and fix your listings to meet the NEW requirements - you can get really hurt by extra shipping. You will note that ebay charges back the seller - not the buyer.

eastlaneave · ‎12-10-2022

devon@ebay wrote:
"We are sorry about the confusion. When we enroll sellers into eBay International Shipping GSP as well as listings that do not have business policies are automatically migrated. Only listings with international shipping business policies are not auto migrated. One advantage to the new program is we help you determine what is exportable and will automatically display listings that meet export regulations. If you wish not to ship a particular item to a region that can be managed at the listing level in the shipping policies under exclusions. As a seller you are only responsible for the shipping costs to get the item to the domestic shipping hub, the international shipping is charged to the buyer at the time of checkout."

devon@ebay

Are you able to clarify what the shipping team means by "listings that do not have business policies are automatically migrated. Only listings with international shipping business policies are not auto migrated"

Do they mean "Business Policies" such https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/business-policies/business-policies?id=4212

So if you are using Business Policies, you won't be switched just yet?

Or is there some other group of settings that means a person is not auto migrated yet?

Thank you.

EastLaneAve • Volunteer Community Mentor
eBay member 26 years

devon@ebay · ‎12-16-2022

@eastlaneave wrote:

devon@ebay wrote:

"We are sorry about the confusion. When we enroll sellers into eBay International Shipping GSP as well as listings that do not have business policies are automatically migrated. Only listings with international shipping business policies are not auto migrated. One advantage to the new program is we help you determine what is exportable and will automatically display listings that meet export regulations. If you wish not to ship a particular item to a region that can be managed at the listing level in the shipping policies under exclusions. As a seller you are only responsible for the shipping costs to get the item to the domestic shipping hub, the international shipping is charged to the buyer at the time of checkout."

devon@ebay

Are you able to clarify what the shipping team means by "listings that do not have business policies are automatically migrated. Only listings with international shipping business policies are not auto migrated"

Do they mean "Business Policies" such https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/business-policies/business-policies?id=4212

So if you are using Business Policies, you won't be switched just yet?

Or is there some other group of settings that means a person is not auto migrated yet?

Thank you.

Hey @eastlaneave! I have been out on vacation but let me reach out to the shipping team on this. I will update you once I hear back from them!

Devon,

folioliis_thrift · ‎05-03-2023

(I understand this post is a bit old, but it is the most recent one on this specific topic that I can find.) I appreciate you posting this, as I came here to make sure others were aware this may happen to them. I do not usually post here, so my apologies if I do or say anything wrong. If you're here for help with this, you CAN opt out of this. Hover over your username > click account settings > click shipping preferences.

I was opted in without any notice, just a message sent to my eBay inbox. I didn't even fully understand what it meant until I went to create a new listing and noticed I could not turn international shipping off as an option. I am not a very experienced seller (as is obvious from my account age) and do not feel comfortable attempting international shipping, and have never done it, and have never shipped using the Global Shipping Program.

From what I understand, I was auto-opted into this because I do not use pre-set 'shipping policies'. I manually enter shipping information for each listing instead of pre-making policies and selecting which policy I would like to use.

I wanted to ask that if any moderators happen to see this, please let the necessary people at eBay know that this is really not appreciated. I'm not trying to whine or complain, but I'm severely uncomfortable with the idea that eBay can just add shipping policies to my store without any input on my end. Thank you!

stephenmorgan · ‎05-04-2023

The way this new shipping is described, once eBay has accepted your item (meets their requirements) they are assuming all the risks of shipping the item internationally and also if necessary a return.