International Sales through EIS program

[gooseislandcollectibles]

I have been selling through eBay reship hub for years without any issues. Over the past month have shipped to Hong Kong, Japan and Canada again with no issues. However today a buyer in Germany tried to buy and he told me he was blocked. I know that there was a new law passed in Germany a few years ago that may prevent me from selling but I thought selling through eBay reship I would be covered. Previous discussions on this site are vague. I am register with eBay with my PA State business license number but is there something else I need to do. These days a sale is a sale whether it comes from the U.S. or anywhere else in the world. Do I need to register with the Germany government? Thanks all!

[chevymontecarlo88]

Most likely because of the shipping/packing law Germany adopted. There were specific rules on shipping items into Germany that came from approved/licensed companies. I could be wrong and not exactly right on how the law is imposed.

Edit. Found link on Ebay about the German Packaging Act 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

I followed the link that @chevymontecarlo88 provided,

I will not be shipping to Germany. Which does not trouble me at all.

[brightlightbookseller]

There are certain items restricted in Germany too (and in the UK, and a few other places), so it could be the category or something specific about the item that caused it to be blocked.  EIS is supposed to be compliant with the new packaging law, so that theoretically shouldn't be it, but it's hard to know for sure.

Edit: If you tell us the item, we might be able to judge better why it was restricted.

[ckimodog]

@gooseislandcollectibles 

What ever it is you are selling may not be allowed to be shipped to Germany via customs.  Germany has very strict rules and guidelines as to what is permitted to be shipped to their country.  I would just tell the person who's interested in your item that it can't be done.   Sorry. 

Happy Selling

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

Over 800 of your items ship to Germany through EIS so eBay must have deemed the rest of them to be ineligible to ship to Germany for some reason. They do tend to err on the side on the caution when leaving out certain items.

[pjcdn2005]

I'm fairly certain the EIS has said that they will look after the requirements for that program.

[gooseislandcollectibles]

I sell media items(all types of records formats and CD's). I have shipped these before with no issues. And I use the EIS program for all International items.

[gooseislandcollectibles]

Thanks for everyone's input on this matter. I did some further research and found a eBay seller team post from 2022 that provides me with more information.  Although I have provide eBay with my PA business license number I also must register for something called a LUCID program.  Once I receive a license number from them, I must also post that on my eBay business account. I was told both number should allow me to sell with no issue. So I will do that and see how it goes. As I mentioned in my original post I am looking to make a buck anyway I can these days. I get quite a few inquires weekly from International buyers because some of my vinyl from the 30's and 40's is difficult to obtain so I have a following from buyers looking out to me for these records.

[pjcdn2005]

@gooseislandcollectibles 
I really don’t think that if you are using the EIS that you need to sign up and pay for the Lucid program.  If that were the case then none of your listings would show shipping to Germany and as I said earlier, 800+ listings of yours do have EIS shipping there. (Zero in the vinyl category)   I did a search with other sellers for vinyl and checked about 20 of them that showed shipping to Germany.  None of them were using EIS to Germany, they were shipping another method such as USPS. I don’t know if the sellers that are using USPS are signed up for Lucid but I suspect many of them have not.  There are many categories that the EIS has blocked to various countries and vinyl to Germany seems to be one of those regardless of Lucid. 

Also, according to the 2023 seller update, EIS does look after Lucid requirement for EIS sellers.

The German Packaging Act (VerpackG) regulates packaging materials for items sold to customers in Germany.   If you’re selling items subject to these regulations, you’ll need to add your Lucid number to your Account Settings under Business Information when you offer an item for sale to Germany. If you’re shipping an item using eBay International Shipping, eBay will report and pay EPR packaging fees on your behalf so you’re not required to add a Lucid number. 
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/seller-updates/2023-summer/business

[dbfolks166mt]

     It would help if you told us what the item was. As others noted it is probably because the item is restricted by EIS for shipment to Germany. 

[fm2000]

If you are shipping via EIS, you absolutely do not need to register with LUCID (and frankly, you shouldn't, it costs money and time you don't need to spend if using EIS.) As stated, EIS explicitly states they handle LUCID for you.

Almost certainly your items are being blocked in Germany because of category, or perhaps what the eBay AI/bots/whatever think your items are. Some items are probably blocked due to German law, and probably many that are legal but blocked as a precaution for eBay to avoid trouble in case of a misunderstanding (ie, an abundance of caution to avoid getting erroneously sued.)

And some items may just be blocked because they can't go by international air.