eBay's Shipping Program issues

Summary: The discussion revolves around issues with eBay's international shipping (eIS) program. lotzofuniquegoodies suggests that the main problem is that the site's AI does not accurately categorize listings, causing problems for sellers in unsupported categories. They recommend reverting to previous shipping methods for combined shipments, as the eIS lacks proper support for such cases. They also propose that eBay should notify sellers of potential issues with listings before they are processed to make better decisions about international shipping options.

Hello, Ive noticed some issues after opting in to the eBays International Shipping program.
I stopped shipping direct to the US and opted in and a few months ago.
1. The issue is with the items the exclude. It seems to change every few weeks.
I will have a customer buy something with no problems, come back to purchase it again and eBay wont give them a shipping rate. It seems to now be excluded from the program.
Something Im doing wrong? I keep thinking its my policy but its not.

2. I have also had issues with customers buying something and only after purchasing and ending the listing, it will show no shipping options. Shouldnt they been prevented from buying the item if no shipping option is available?

Seems very buggy right now.

E

centurystamps

3032 View listings

Posted 4 months ago·Last reply 4 months ago

9 comments

zee-chan-jpn-books

·4 months ago

View listings

I have a different problem than OP. I'm 100% certain that I have opted out of eIS before the program started... Yet today I got a sale to a country that I thought I blocked, via eIS... then of course I found out I have been automatically enrolled to eIS, so I had to opt out again. Hopefully I won't get re-enrolled.

I will still ship the item to the hub because it has been paid for already, and I don't want to get dinged for cancelling, but this is indeed annoying.

The shipping to the hub from my location, is only $2.5 less than small packet air to the actual destination 🙃 not sure how much the hub is charging the European buyer for shipping, but imo it's not worth it since it's such a low value item...

marnotom!

·4 months ago

View listings

Following up on @jtg204's excellent post, I'd say the problem is that you're selling largely in a category not supported by eIS and the site coding/AI/whatever you want to call it isn't doing a very good job of excluding your listings.

Did you ship internationally without eIS in the past? I would suggest going back to doing that, particularly if combined shipments make a significant part of your sales. eIS doesn't appear to support combined shipping particularly well.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·4 months ago

View listings

@marnotom! wrote:
Following up on @jtg204's excellent post, I'd say the problem is that you're selling largely in a category not supported by eIS and the site coding/AI/whatever you want to call it isn't doing a very good job of excluding your listings.

Did you ship internationally without eIS in the past? I would suggest going back to doing that, particularly if combined shipments make a significant part of your sales. eIS doesn't appear to support combined shipping particularly well.

@centurystamps

@marnotom!

@jtg204

@jtcashman

@devon@ebay

Unfortunately there is no easy solution for up and running listings that do not/should not qualify for eIS Canada. For in the process listings there should be some kind of error message eBay could send sellers letting them know the item is considered an exception by the eIS program and maybe even the reason before it gets sent to eBay. Then sellers would know right then and there, if they want to sell it internationally they will need to choose a shipping option vs hoping eIS might work.

It is not like eBay sellers will ever fully understand how eBays AI is supposed to work.

marnotom!

·4 months ago

View listings

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Unfortunately there is no easy solution for up and running listings that do not/should not qualify for eIS Canada.

It shouldn't be that complicated for the standard, global list of exclusions as those are done by category. Yet some sellers seem to be able to use the program to ship items that are in those excluded categories.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·4 months ago

View listings

@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Unfortunately there is no easy solution for up and running listings that do not/should not qualify for eIS Canada.
It shouldn't be that complicated for the standard, global list of exclusions as those are done by category. Yet some sellers seem to be able to use the program to ship items that are in those excluded categories.

@marnotom!

Yes, but what happens to items either that were inserted or are inserted in the wrong categories both intentionally or unintentionally(by accident)? The categories have been soooo mangled/diluted over the last several years. For some items there just is no right category any longer.

cookycanuck

·4 months ago

View listings

I've opted in to the EIS canada twice now. The first time, when it first rolled out, and I had 2 full months with ZERO international sales, when typically I'd have 1-3 a week. I quit, waited a couple months, just rejoined again and 3 weeks in, im back to ZERO sales again. **bleep** is going on

marnotom!

·4 months ago

View listings

@cookycanuck wrote:

I've opted in to the EIS canada twice now. The first time, when it first rolled out, and I had 2 full months with ZERO international sales, when typically I'd have 1-3 a week. I quit, waited a couple months, just rejoined again and 3 weeks in, im back to ZERO sales again. **bleep** is going on

My suggestion is to offer eIS in addition to your usual international shipping methods and see where your buyers' preferences lie. That seems to be the only fair way to test eIS's effectiveness, as far as I can see. Right now, you can't tell if you've been having bad weeks for international shipping or if there's something about eIS that's putting off your prospective international buyers.

One thing (of many) to keep in mind with using eIS exclusively is that it really cuts down on your pool of international buyers as there are many destination countries to which eIS Canada currently does not support.

jtg204

·4 months ago

View listings

Send links to excluded listings you can't explain to eis@ebay.ca

There is a list of possible excluded categories here, that one could expect problems with:

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/ebay-international-shipping-program?id=5348#section6

Edit: 'Stamps, coins & paper money' is one restriction that would affect many of your listings, and would be expected to not be eligible.

jtcashman

·4 months ago

View listings

Get them to check their shipping address, I've had buyers say that theres no shipping options but seems to happen when they have it on PO box.