Hello. I am writing to document a problem and also see feedback from others. I’ve noticed a problem that has been prevalent since the switching of the eBay Global Shipping to various other eBay International Shipping variations.
The main problem I am seeing is that in a specific subcategory “guitars & basses” eBay International Shipping is not functioning correctly for me. My listings should be available for a large number of countries to ship to by the International Shipping Program, but in the shipping tab and viewing the listing from other domains like eBay.ca ect, they are not available.
Here are some interesting findings. Other categories work fine, even listings within the musical instrument category. For example a listing in the subcategory “trumpets” or “saxophones” shows for 20+ countries with the same shipping policy selected.
Here is a test I’ve done. With a Guitar Effects Pedal the default shipping policy is $12.50 shipping. It correctly lists available to over 20 countries. I change the policy to a common guitar shipping policy of $54.99 shipping. It still lists correctly to over 20 countries.
I move to an art listing. The default shipping is $24.99. It lists available only to about 5 countries. I change the shipping to the common guitar shipping policy of $54.99. The available countries drop to USA only.
I move to a guitar. The default policy is $54.99. It’s available to USA only. I change the policy to $12.50 like the guitar effects pedal. The location available still is only USA. If I remain the $54.99 policy and change the sub category to another it will make the listing available to eBay International Shipping and 20 plus countries.
I have documented this in a video here: https://youtu.be/2g-qI0PedL8
Secondary find: If I go to a guitar listing and select one specific shipping policy of $49.99 shipping it will allow 5 countries to be shipped to. It still excludes many countries that should be available such as Canada, UK, Australia ect. If I change the policy to a lower amount $24.99 the available country goes back to only USA. The policies are the same except the price. I’ve documented that here: https://youtu.be/UzpyQSU8LYA
Finally even creating another exact same shipping policy as the one that enables 5 countries available on with guitar & bass subcategory will not allow any countries to be available but USA. I’ve documented that here: https://youtu.be/7qXfETwKcAU
An eBay supervisor has also noted this and made a support case with the reference
INC000005677727 documenting these findings with photos and submitting to the eBay Technical support team.
I am wondering if others listing in the subcategory of “guitar & bass” are also experiencing this? Perhaps it can be tested by changing one of your listings subcategories for a test.
The eBay international shipping program to my knowledge has been out for over 8 months yet this bug still exists and has been ongoing for me. With my usual estimated international sales eBay has lost over $5500 from me alone from this problem. It is a bad experience as my items are not able to sell as quickly and for buyers they are not able to see items they should and have items available to them.
The only work around I see is creating duplicate listings for my 200+ items for sale and listing them incorrectly in a different subcategory so international buyers can order them. That is a crazy suggested work around.
Thanks for reading and please include any information or suggestions. This problem has been reported for months with finally a detailed notes being made although it’s been reported to technical team multiple times by me over periods of months.
