Any way to fix eBay shipping labels so customs info is correct | Selling | eBay Canada EN

Any way to fix eBay shipping labels so customs info is correct | Selling | eBay Canada EN

Buying & Selling

Any way to fix eBay shipping labels so customs info is correct

Summary: historysci voiced frustration with eBay's shipping label system, particularly how the country of origin defaults incorrectly to their location in Canada instead of the listing's origin. This issue creates inaccurate customs declarations. reallynicestamps suggested manually correcting labels, but flipistics noted that while the head of eBay shipping in Canada is aware, it's yet to be fixed. lotzofuniquegoodies and mrdutch1001 also shared ongoing issues with the customs information, voicing hopes that comments on labels can be viewed by customs. The discussion included complaints about difficulties in reprinting labels and skepticism about eBay's attention to these problems. Meanwhile, intimewithmusic recommended attaching a personal manifest to packages to ensure accuracy, but historysci insisted that it's eBay's service that needs to meet expectations, as they are paying for it.

I have noticed this for as long as ebay has provided shipping labels: the coutry of origin is always set to my location, which is incorrect. It should come from the lisitng, but it doesn't. Then changing it in the form to purchase a label enters in the form OK, but then the printed label always goes back to my location (Canada - maybe for the US this is not a problem, but ebay.ca has many, many problems that seem to be unfixable mysteries. Or perhaps they don't actually try things on the ebay.ca site when they "fix" things!)

So there is in reailty, no way to make a proper customs declaration.. then we have to sign it as a declaration to customs! Or does anyone know of a workaround , beyond writing on the label with a pen!

historysci

1415 View listings

Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

16 comments

intimewithmusic

·2 years ago

Don't rely on eBay to run your business for you. Attach your own mainifest with accurate details to your international packages in a clear packing slip envelope showing the importer and exporter info through the window. There's many good reasons to do this. All my packages since 1981 have included a proper manifest. Takes a second to clipboard copy eBay's details to your prepared template.

historysci

OP2 years ago

I'm purchasing a service from eBay for a shipping label that should work for items sold on their platform for which I pay further commissions for. I am not purchasing a service to run "my business". If they don't deliver the service properly then that is a problem.

reallynicestamps

·2 years ago

Manually changing is an incorrect way to have to make correct.

I agree.

Still.

Sometimes the machine is right, and sometimes it needs a human being to give it a good kick.

My object is to make the human customs officer stop and think .

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@reallynicestamps wrote:
Manually changing is an incorrect way to have to make correct.
I agree.
Still.
Sometimes the machine is right, and sometimes it needs a human being to give it a good kick.
My object is to make the human customs officer stop and think .

@reallynicestamps

I'm wondering now if this was broken from the get go. Only being spotted by sellers that pay close attention to the details. Not sure if it is strange or just sad, something this important would not be addressed and resolved....by now. I noticed moment 1 when I switched over from Shippo to eBay labels.

-Lotz

historysci

OP2 years ago

Also, after creating a shipping label (often having to workaround problems and make a few attempts), I see no way to reprint the label other than hoping you got the email from eBay and the link provided works.

There shoud be a way to go to the orders page/s and the order details page and have a menu option to reprint label.

Again if someone at eBay (QA) could create an account on eBay.ca for testing, create some items for sale for testing and another account to buy those items, then go through the process of: invoicing the test buyer for one and multiple items combined, then go and create a label, print it to ship, they would see these problems and can test bug fixes to make sure they work.

flipistics

·2 years ago

@historysci wrote:
Also, after creating a shipping label (often having to workaround problems and make a few attempts), I see no way to reprint the label other than hoping you got the email from eBay and the link provided works.
There shoud be a way to go to the orders page/s and the order details page and have a menu option to reprint label.

Go to the Seller Hub -> Orders -> Shipping Labels. Click to drop down under Actions and click on Reprint Label.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@flipistics wrote:
@historysci wrote:
Also, after creating a shipping label (often having to workaround problems and make a few attempts), I see no way to reprint the label other than hoping you got the email from eBay and the link provided works.
There shoud be a way to go to the orders page/s and the order details page and have a menu option to reprint label.
Go to the Seller Hub -> Orders -> Shipping Labels. Click to drop down under Actions and click on Reprint Label.

@historysci

@flipistics

In just testing now the option to reprint is only available for what looks like 48 hours. For a brief time you have access to create a new label but that also goes away in time. Void a label has a longer window.

-Lotz

mrdutch1001

·2 years ago

Although I do not know how long the Country of Origin section on Customs forms has been broken for eBay labels, I do know my eBay labels during earlier months of 2022 were "blank" in that section, and then from August 2022 onward that section automatically filled itself with my province/Canada and there was no way to change it...

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@mrdutch1001 wrote:
Although I do not know how long the Country of Origin section on Customs forms has been broken for eBay labels, I do know most of my labels during early 2022 were "blank" in that section and then from August 2022 onward that section automatically filled itself with my province/Canada and there was no way to change it...

@mrdutch1001

In my situation, with Shippo there was never an issue. It was correct at all times. In speaking to sellers that use Net Parcels same reports. eBay Labels should mirror CP to the letter unfortunately it doesn't. Even any important manually added relevant notes do not print to page. Example: Difficult for anyone to creating a label to confirm if customs is able to view those notes so VAT will NOT be double charged when it's already been collected by eBay.

-Lotz

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@devon@ebay

@flipistics

@historysci

@mrdutch1001

As temporary solution until this is resolved my workaround is as follows.

Data entry display.

Label when it prints:

Can only guess/hope comments field is viewable by customs. It is not visible when label prints. Critical that it is.

-Lotz

historysci

OP2 years ago

Is eBay paying any attention to this? I find it astonishing that you can't make a proper declaration using labels purchased on eBay after all this time. No doubt this causes problems for many shipments. They push services like this on us, and make it difficult to do otherwise, then screw up the implementation. Discounted rates are great, but the hassle of using a half-working service that never gets fixed, amkes using alternative providers more attractive

flipistics

·2 years ago

@historysci wrote:
Is eBay paying any attention to this? I find it astonishing that you can't make a proper declaration using labels purchased on eBay after all this time. No doubt this causes problems for many shipments. They push services like this on us, and make it difficult to do otherwise, then screw up the implementation. Discounted rates are great, but the hassle of using a half-working service that never gets fixed, amkes using alternative providers more attractive

I'm kind of wondering if the electronic submission is correct and it's just the physical printout that isn't (which probably isn't used if the electronic part is present). It's still disappointing since it shouldn't take a programmer long to fix it. The shipping department DOES know about it.

I suspect that at the end of the month there will be some sort of new deal to replace the current tracked packet rates. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't some kind of special negotiated deal rather than a simple discount. If that's the case, they may not have bothered to fix a service they're replacing (and probably expected to replace a few months ago before the extension). I'm just trying to read between the lines, so it's highly likely I'm wrong.

recped

·2 years ago

@reallynicestamps wrote:
Manually changing is an incorrect way to have to make correct.
I agree.
Still.
Sometimes the machine is right, and sometimes it needs a human being to give it a good kick.
My object is to make the human customs officer stop and think .

Human customs officers? They barely exist, the goal of the UPU is to pre-clear all potentially dutiable shipments so that a human never needs to be involved.

flipistics

·2 years ago

@historysci wrote:
I have noticed this for as long as ebay has provided shipping labels: the coutry of origin is always set to my location, which is incorrect. It should come from the lisitng, but it doesn't. Then changing it in the form to purchase a label enters in the form OK, but then the printed label always goes back to my location (Canada - maybe for the US this is not a problem, but ebay.ca has many, many problems that seem to be unfixable mysteries. Or perhaps they don't actually try things on the ebay.ca site when they "fix" things!)

So there is in reailty, no way to make a proper customs declaration.. then we have to sign it as a declaration to customs! Or does anyone know of a workaround , beyond writing on the label with a pen!

We've been complaining about this for months. The head of eBay shipping in Canada is aware of it and said that it will be fixed. You can try what @reallynicestamps suggested, but if the information is also submitted digitally (unsure, but I assume it is) it probably doesn't really change anything. For all we know, correct information might be digitally submitted and the incorrect only shows on the label.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@flipistics wrote:
@historysci wrote:
I have noticed this for as long as ebay has provided shipping labels: the coutry of origin is always set to my location, which is incorrect. It should come from the lisitng, but it doesn't. Then changing it in the form to purchase a label enters in the form OK, but then the printed label always goes back to my location (Canada - maybe for the US this is not a problem, but ebay.ca has many, many problems that seem to be unfixable mysteries. Or perhaps they don't actually try things on the ebay.ca site when they "fix" things!)

So there is in reailty, no way to make a proper customs declaration.. then we have to sign it as a declaration to customs! Or does anyone know of a workaround , beyond writing on the label with a pen!
We've been complaining about this for months. The head of eBay shipping in Canada is aware of it and said that it will be fixed. You can try what @reallynicestamps suggested, but if the information is also submitted digitally (unsure, but I assume it is) it probably doesn't really change anything. For all we know, correct information might be digitally submitted and the incorrect only shows on the label.

@devon@ebay

One more heads up on this. This is a digital form. Manually changing is an incorrect way to have to make correct. This is a legal document provided by seller to customs that MUST be correct when it finalizes. The seller is signing to confirm information is "supposed" to be correct.

-Lotz

reallynicestamps

·2 years ago

I have a workaround.

Write it in with a pen. And initial it.