Is EIS Being Inconsistent For Anyone?

[siliconalleyelectronics]

Every few days I receive messages from individuals in various countries asking for shipping quotes, if I ship at all to their respective countries, or that EIS doesn't seem to be working or is outrageously expensive. EIS is active on all of my listings, I typically notice the issue with buyers from the UK, France, Italy, some eastern EU countries, as well as some south east Asian countries. Lately I've really only been seeing EIS orders for Canadian buyers.

[sapphire_studio]

EIS is definitely more expensive than shipping directly. They're messaging you because they want you to ship directly rather than use the EIS program that costs them more. 

Recently eBay has allowed us to have EIS and shipping directly as choices for the buyer instead of one or the other. I'm guessing they did this because their International sales have slowed down quite a lot due to the high cost of EIS. 

It could be that a lot of your competitors have decided to let the buyers choose between shipping directly and EIS and so your EIS only listings are standing out as significantly more expensive.

[reallynicestamps]

or that EIS doesn't seem to be working or is outrageously expensive.

I'd assume they want you to ship directly because eIS is a Seller Protection program and they want you to abandon that protection.

GSP was dropped in part because it charged import fees upfront  to the buyer which seemed to inflate the cost of shipping (by the duty and sales taxes included in shipping costs). 

EIS apparently doesn't do that, which would leave sellers open to the "customs delay " scam*.

EBay also protects sellers from buyers who use Freight Forwarders, with their policy that delivery to the forwarder ends the seller's responsibility for delivery, and by their policy that in an NAD claim, the seller only has to provide return shipping from the forwarder's address, not from overseas.

Very basically, eIS has the same protections and more.

If someone is buying from overseas, it's because they can't buy it locally.

If they want it, they have to pay your price. The seller chooses the method** of shipping for their own security.

*The buyer files a Not Received claim. Since tracking does not show delivery, the seller refunds. The buyer then goes to the post office/customs office, pays the import fees and takes the item home.

**It's possible to have more than one method of shipping : eg Priority International or First Class International Package. One is fast , one is cheap. Both are Air Mail and both are tracked.

[gamersbaystore]

International shipping costs are outrageous regardless of how you ship. Some countries charge ridiculous import and tax duties today.

I just tell them that shipping costs are between them and ebay and I have nothing to do with it. After ebay had first switched to GSP, they stopped showing me the shipping charges the buyer paid altogether.

Shipping internationally has always been fraught with problems too. Nothing ever arrives by the ETA's ebay gives them, and they always leave negative feedback citing late delivery and cost of shipping. Of course, ebay always removes the negatives so I just ignore their incessant whining.

[reallynicestamps]

You're in a high fraud category and those machines look bulky and fragile.

Whatever the customer pays to get them securely will be a bargain.

Including eIS.

[gurlcat]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

Nothing ever arrives by the ETA's ebay gives them, and they always leave negative feedback citing late delivery and cost of shipping. 

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I don't disbelieve you, first and foremost.  But it's weird that you say "always" -even if you're exaggerating, it sounds like it's pretty frequent.  Me on the other hand, I can literally say I've never had that.  In fact, I can't recall a GSP, EIS, or FF buyer ever even write to me with concerns about time.   And to be honest, yeah it's kind of surprising that I haven't, because I do watch the tracking including post-hub sometimes, and it can be agonizingly slow.  Yet my people just wait in silence!    I wonder if it's a category thing.  I sell mostly vintage jewelry, so maybe it's something that only very patient people are into, lol.  

[siliconalleyelectronics]

I agree although I don't really know what EIS is charging the customer, I had always assumed it was high. Before EIS I would usually avoid international buyers completely because most would insist on using freight forwarders to save a few bucks or ask that I illegally alter the order value to avoid customs duties (which I never did incase it needs to be said). Although eBay has seller protection for orders going though freight forwarders I didn't like watching them constantly steal thousands of dollars worth of products from people.

[gurlcat]

Not sure I understand that you mean.  -There is no way to avoid international buyers who use freight forwarders.  You probably get them all the time and just don't realize it.  Orders going to Delaware, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon and sometimes California -most of those are FF's.  Even if the buyer's account says they're in the U.S., they could actually live anywhere else in the world, including countries that eBay "doesn't" sell to.  It's nothing to fear though. -All you have to do is make sure your package arrives to the stateside FF's address, then your role is done.    

[tobaccocardyahoo]

When Ebay went from Global to EIS I stopped getting whiny messages from International Buyers about the cost of shipping.

The current change to allow combined orders looks like it will be another improvement in costs. Got my first combined order this week.

I suspect my items are in the weight and size "sweet spot" for EIS. I wish they were in a sweet spot for vat, from a fee point of view.

As for scummy scammy buyers, I avoid listings which appeal to them. And those who truly appreciate what I sell, do not want me to block them, and I block any buyer who sets of my spidey sense.

[reallynicestamps]

When Ebay went from Global to EIS I stopped getting whiny messages from International Buyers about the cost of shipping.

As part of the GSP Seller Protection,  they included import fees to cover duty and sales tax in the payment, before the seller was even told to ship.

Many buyers confused the shipping+ duty+sales tax+ service fee  with shipping alone. Because Buyers Don't Read™.

And the whining began.

As I understand it, buyers under eIS  pay duty and sales tax on arrival. So at point of purchase, eIS does not sound much different than the cost of shipping.

No, I'm probably wrong. As a Canadian seller, my US customers pay sales tax to eBay on purchase. 

So by extension, your overseas buyers are being charged their own sales tax as a separate line item and shipping as another.

Duty is demanded on arrival.

Does that sound right?

In any case, moving import fees away from shipping makes the costs seem lower.

In addition, your Canadian customers with the new NAFTA/CUSMA treaty are paying duty only on imports over $150Cdn / $112.50USD and sales taxes only on $40Cdn/$30USD. For most of the time GSP was in use, we were paying both on any US import over $20Cdn/$15 USD.

The EU seems to be cracking down on collecting VAT/sales taxes as well, and that seems to be charged on the eBay invoice before the seller is paid and ships. Another reason for whining from buyers who do not often import.

As I see it, it's not eBay, it's not eIS, it's that governments world wide have finally after 25 years or so found a way to collect the sales taxes on mail order/online sales that they had been collecting from local businesses (and using to support local infrastructure, schools and public services.)

[gurlcat]

Lots of interesting info there, THANKS!

[go-bad-chicken]

@tobaccocardyahoo 

Im curious, are you incurring FVF on VAT through the EIS?

I recently started selling on this account again this past fall for the express purposes of experimenting with the EIS program. So that I could evaluate whether or not it's ready for prime time, and enable it with my primary selling account. 

I have yet to incur any FVF on VAT for any sales shipped to the EU via EIS.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

When the buyer  opts to prepay duty and vat  I am seeing fvf on vat.

[siliconalleyelectronics]

I see the confusion. I meant to say that when someone who I suspect is overseas purchased something from me in the past and it was going to an address that I know is a shady forwarder I would contact them and warn them that the last several packages that went to that address ended up "lost" at some point. It never came back on me because the package shows as delivered on my end, I just didn't like feeding the wolves as it were.

[gurlcat]

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@siliconalleyelectronics wrote:

I see the confusion. I meant to say that when someone who I suspect is overseas purchased something from me in the past and it was going to an address that I know is a shady forwarder I would contact them and warn them that the last several packages that went to that address ended up "lost" at some point. It never came back on me because the package shows as delivered on my end, I just didn't like feeding the wolves as it were.

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Soooo .... you lied to buyers (had to be lies because you wouldn't know if a package got lost after delivery to a FF).  And I still don't get WHY you did that.  So they wouldn't use a FF again?  And why are you so against FF's?  They provide an honest service for a fee, they're totally legal, and they enable us to have sales we otherwise wouldn't get.   How are they "wolves"????