Another Canada Post / eIS Glitch?

[fifteen4two]

So today I've had two different customers contact me asking for freight quotes to the US from Canada, which is odd as I have a calculated rate shipping policy system w/ eIS enabled and its been working fine thus far, but after checking it appears that some listings I have, using the same policies and even in the same category are missing rates through iOS to the states.  

Examples: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/306005184769 & https://www.ebay.ca/itm/306646270614

Basically all the content/data on each listing is the same except for the pictures and the name of the parts book ..  but one is showing rates via eIS and the other just shows the "Will ship to United States. Read item description or contact seller for shipping options." message.    

I dove deep into many listings using the same shipping policy and there appears to be no reasons why some are not showing the US rates.. now I know there are several ongoing glitches with Canada Post right now (lite rates, crazy rates in general, double charged rates etc) but this is the first I could find about eIS just simply be missing on some listings and active on others... I even deleted one of the non-functional ones and relisted using 'sell similar' and still shows the same issue with missing freight to the states.. 

Anyone see this as well?

[marnotom!]

I'm wondering if this may have something to do with the sub-category of the listing.  If you go through the eIS list of restricted items and categories, you'll find:

• Business & Industrial > Heavy equipment & attachments

Perhaps a bot scanning the second listing didn't go deep enough into its sub-categories, although this doesn't really explain why it seems to be allowing eIS shipping for anywhere that's not the US or a US protectorate. There have been a few other situations like this posted to the discussion boards, but they've involved fabrics and/or materials from animals and I just chalked that up to eIS not wanting to deal with shipments to the US of items that have constituent materials of unknown origin.  (Don't forget, duties are an issue for shipments to the States as well as tariffs.)

Your items are produced in the United States, presumably from US-sourced paper, so my hypothesis doesn't fly with your parts book.

As for why your alternatives to eIS don't show up for the second item, I'm stumped there.  I'm going to guess that the "bot" that removed eIS as an option for shipping to the US and US protectorates got a bit too aggressive and stripped the Canada Post options, too.

On a somewhat related note, I would suggest updating your listings' notes on international shipping if you plan on continue using eIS.  Combined shipping is a tricky beast with eIS, for example, and buyers from outlying states can't get a shipping quote from you for eIS.

[fifteen4two]

These are all made in the 1950s and 1960s so the paper would have been made in the states,  I just chose the 2 books as examples as they are essentially identicle... but it's doing it for hockey cards, D&D modules, basically all across the over 5k of items I have online in various categories, no rhyme or reason to it and share the same shipping policies. 

i'm not too worried about the combined shipping notes at this time, they are slowly getting converted to a unified updated description as they get relisted/updated 

[brocante6]

I have the same problem; nearly 40% of my listings don't have shipping rates to the USA.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@brocante6 wrote:

I have the same problem; nearly 40% of my listings don't have shipping rates to the USA.

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@brocante6 

@fifteen4two 

Is it possible not all your items qualify for eIS? Not all do. See categories and eligibility.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/ebay-international-shipping-p...

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@brocante6 

@fifteen4two 

Is it possible not all your items qualify for eIS? Not all do. See categories and eligibility.

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@lotzofuniquegoodies, the problem seems to be that these items should likely qualify for eIS and they do ship to everywhere eIS serves except the United States.

I'm getting the impression that eIS is restricting the shipping of some items that could be problematic to send to the United States because of tariffs and/or duties making it too difficult to prepare for CBP, but not affecting the ability for eIS to handle them for the other countries it serves.  The AI or whatever you want to call it that's going through these listings isn't perfect, so we're ending up with some rather odd restrictions in the process.

Historically speaking, if the GSP and US eIS have to deal with a product that's problematic to ship to one or a handful of countries, a blanket prohibition is implemented which means that it can't be shipped to any country served by the GSP or eIS.  I suspect that it was determined that this approach would really mess things up for Canadian sellers, especially given that the tariff and duty situation in the US isn't all that stable and up for a Supreme Court ruling which may or may not stick, so a more nuanced approach is being tried.  It's likely a work in progress.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@brocante6 

@fifteen4two 

Is it possible not all your items qualify for eIS? Not all do. See categories and eligibility.

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@lotzofuniquegoodies, the problem seems to be that these items should likely qualify for eIS and they do ship to everywhere eIS serves except the United States.

I'm getting the impression that eIS is restricting the shipping of some items that could be problematic to send to the United States because of tariffs and/or duties making it too difficult to prepare for CBP, but not affecting the ability for eIS to handle them for the other countries it serves.  The AI or whatever you want to call it that's going through these listings isn't perfect, so we're ending up with some rather odd restrictions in the process.

Historically speaking, if the GSP and US eIS have to deal with a product that's problematic to ship to one or a handful of countries, a blanket prohibition is implemented which means that it can't be shipped to any country served by the GSP or eIS.  I suspect that it was determined that this approach would really mess things up for Canadian sellers, especially given that the tariff and duty situation in the US isn't all that stable and up for a Supreme Court ruling which may or may not stick, so a more nuanced approach is being tried.  It's likely a work in progress.

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Very likely that is what is going on under the hood. That and a lack of actual intensive testing before rolling out. Why many sellers were nervous with an defacto automatic roll out where sellers were dropshipped into the program too early.

Remember the previous reports with items making it to the US hub and then stopping dead in their tracks with those US programs? The system wasn't catching them prior to a sale being paid for. Leaves buyers and sellers with an extremely bad taste in their mouth and pocketbook. Not including time wasted in the process.

[fifteen4two]

As I mentioned in a previous post.. has nothing to do with restricted categories, I found several sports cards listings which are in the same boat (and we all know ebay is trying to be a hub for sports cards...) I have multiple items in the same category where some show no shipping and some show the costs..   for he first two examples i gave (vintage 1950s shop part manuals)  I have about 70 of them online all in the same category and using different shipping policies, the majority show shipping to the states but there are several which show the "contact seller" message.. but it looks like others have seen this as well (@brocante6)   so good to know it's not a one off.. 

[dinomitesales]

My initial suspicion with the industrial parts catalogues was the category, as others have mentioned, but you provided two examples of basically identical items that are in the exact same category and one shows eIS and one doesn't. So it must be some kind of glitch - possibly there's something in the title or description that is causing eBay's AI to flag it as not eligible for eIS.

You need to be sending an email to eis@ebay.ca with your examples and asking them why one is showing eIS and the other isn't so they can give you an explanation and/or fix the issues.

This goes for ANYONE seeing any issues with eIS compatibility - we were encouraged during the webinars to send any and all questions to eis@ebay.ca so eveyrone should be doing so. You may not get a response for a few days (or ever) but we've been told they're reading the messages. They need to know what the issues are so they can fix them.

[travelvintageshoppe]

I have the same problem;

I just discovered that almost 80% of my items no longer have shipping rates to the USA:

- knitting yarns

- kitchen towels

- bath towels

- men’s shirts

- cross stitch kits

- nightgowns

- bed sheets

- blank cassettes

None of these items are made in China, in fact, most of them are made in the USA.

[fifteen4two]

email has been sent as suggested.. let's hope they figure it out as it appears it's not just me

[marnotom!]

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@travelvintageshoppe wrote:

I have the same problem;

I just discovered that almost 80% of my items no longer have shipping rates to the USA:

- knitting yarns

- kitchen towels

- bath towels

- men’s shirts

- cross stitch kits

- nightgowns

- bed sheets

- blank cassettes

None of these items are made in China, in fact, most of them are made in the USA.

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I think the problem is not so much where the items were made but where the materials were sourced.  Where did the cotton in those shirts come from?  Where did the iron for the cassette tape come from?

Remember, not only do we have to battle with tariffs when shipping to the US, but we also have to battle with duties as well because the US no longer has a duty-free threshold for personal imports sent by mail or courier.  While tariffs may be concerned with where the item was originally manufactured, duties are concerned with where the materials are sourced.  My hypothesis is that this is just too much for eIS to handle and most items don't have this information anyway, so they've just put a blanket (no pun intended) prohibition on anything involving textiles, etc. until this gets sorted out somehow.

[mandicrafts]

I have the same issue with like items. Some show EIS US and some do not. Many have no rhyme nor reason for this discrepancy.
I did get an answer from EIS on sewing kits, since most of mine, though made in the USA, do not show EIS US shipping. It is something weird with "fabric" restrictions.
There are also restrictions on some toys, whether vintage collectible or new.
Weird FDA restrictions for items that "can touch lips" like dinnerware, mugs, trays, etc, some are not showing EIS US and others are (again, no rhyme nor reason for ceramic items). But virtually none of my wooden kitchenware or metal kitchenware show EIS US. So there is something about wood or metal?
I've decided to scan for items that do not show EIS US shipping on .ca and move those listings BACK to .com with my own flat rate domestic US shipping to include tariffs (if any). I don't mind sending them direct with zonos/CP or via a Cross Border Shipper.
On others, I am adding flat rate shipping on .ca to the USA to include tariffs, but I have to come up with Int'l flat rate shipping instead of having calculated, so I am only doing that on smaller/predictable Int'l shipping to enter.  Having a flat rate for Int'l is difficult. I have requested several times of eBay, to allow flat rate US shipping on .ca listings, yet keep calculated for Int'l shipping.

[landbeforevintage]

I have mentioned this on other posts as well. I too, have the same problem... 300/680 listings of mine as not showing for the USA, yet still being offered to all the other EIS countries... My items qualify for EIS, and there is no issues with my configuration/bussiness policies. 

I have emailed EIS@ebay.ca  and I do not get any useful answers... they tell me to check ,my business policies, or contact Ebay customer service. (Two emails even tried to tell me that I wasn't enrolled in EIS yet, which is just funny.... and I clearly am opted in). I asked questions on the online seminars, and no one would give me any useful answers).... its all a huge glitch which Ebay doesn't seem to know how to fix at this moment. It's clear that this is a huge problem... until it is fixed, I am just waiting... I am done trying to tweak/relist/change polices/listings... its not me, or you.... it's ebays system. (Not working correctly, obviously).

It's brutal though, ships everywhere EIS offers, but does not include/exclude United States... And it is not my items, they all qualify for EIS! (And I am sure fifteen4two, you too have the same glitches as me, and a lot of people on this site). Ebay just needs to fix this problem! 

[marnotom!]

I don’t think it’s exactly a glitch, but you know my thoughts on this from another thread. Meanwhile, these snippets of info strike me as relevant:

From https://www.ebay.ca/sellercentre/shipping/ebay-international-shipping :

 

From https://pages.ebay.ca/internationalshippingprogram/seller/terms/ :

I don't know about you, but I think that the approach eBay is presently applying to possibly problematic US-bound items is preferable to having them disposed of or liquidated once they reach the hub.

[ultrasushi27]

I am having the same issue. On some of my listings, the option to ship with eIS to the US is simply not available. I've noticed that most of the objets concerned are predominantly made of metal, except one other that is made of porcelain. Could this be because of complicated tariff and duties on metal imports?

I'm a casual seller here on ebay, mostly selling vintage and antique collectibles. Since all the nonsense with the US started I've considered closing my shop entirely. Most of my sales were going to US buyers, and now with all these new rules I've barely sold anything since this summer. I was glad when eIS was rolled out because I thought I could reach US buyers again, but it seems like even that isn't working anymore... they can see my listings but not buy them, so they message me about shipping rates and both of us are confused.

Selling on this platform has become an absolute nightmare to be honest.

[byto253]

"cross stitch kits"  - Insidious, clearly.  Dimension "Gold" kits in there, smuggling bullion!!!!!! 

[fifteen4two]

I finally got an answer from eIS which was rather useless..   

"There are sometimes some more in-depth restrictions to specific markets within eIS, even among items that are broadly eligible for the program. This is not necessarily because those items can’t be shipped to that market, but because there are added regulatory barriers for a program the scale of eIS to support it."

Which does nothing to address the fact that I have literal identical listings in an approved category (with no restrictions) - and I know they are identical as they were listed with the "sell similar" function and only the model numbers change - where one listing shows the shipping costs, the next one does not..   Same thing with cheap hockey cards or D&D Books, all made in the USA, some show shipping costs, some do not... I had another customer message me today from the states saying when they try and buy the item it won't let them due to no shipping rates being present.    

They also sugested I add a secondary self-ship option to fix the problem, which is basically impossible to do with the amount of items I have online.. plus with companies like Netparcel (via Purolator) and others coming back to charge us for the refused tariffs (yes it happened to me as well) from months ago there's no way I'm shipping to the states without some automatied system where the buyer pays their own tarrifs/Duties/brokerage fees etc.    

[flipistics]

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@fifteen4two wrote:

I finally got an answer from eIS which was rather useless..   

"There are sometimes some more in-depth restrictions to specific markets within eIS, even among items that are broadly eligible for the program. This is not necessarily because those items can’t be shipped to that market, but because there are added regulatory barriers for a program the scale of eIS to support it."

Which does nothing to address the fact that I have literal identical listings in an approved category (with no restrictions) - and I know they are identical as they were listed with the "sell similar" function and only the model numbers change - where one listing shows the shipping costs, the next one does not..   Same thing with cheap hockey cards or D&D Books, all made in the USA, some show shipping costs, some do not... I had another customer message me today from the states saying when they try and buy the item it won't let them due to no shipping rates being present.    

They also sugested I add a secondary self-ship option to fix the problem, which is basically impossible to do with the amount of items I have online.. plus with companies like Netparcel (via Purolator) and others coming back to charge us for the refused tariffs (yes it happened to me as well) from months ago there's no way I'm shipping to the states without some automatied system where the buyer pays their own tarrifs/Duties/brokerage fees etc.    

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You could just ask your buyers for the list of items they want and try to make them a custom listing that is accepted by eIS. I know it's not ideal, but sometimes a workaround is worth more than spending hours trying to deal with the problem.

[marnotom!]

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@fifteen4two wrote:

Which does nothing to address the fact that I have literal identical listings in an approved category (with no restrictions) - and I know they are identical as they were listed with the "sell similar" function and only the model numbers change - where one listing shows the shipping costs, the next one does not..  

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Have these items sold to US buyers in the past and shipped through eIS?  If not, I'm starting to wonder if we're looking at this the wrong way.  Instead of thinking that eIS is randomly preventing purchases from the US on items that are similar to ones where the program has been applied, perhaps eIS is actually inadvertently allowing US shipping on items that the program can't handle for shipping there?  Maybe that's why we end up with situations where buyers are blocked from purchasing from listings where eIS is supposedly enabled: the listing squeaked through the AI inspection phase, and now a backup block has to be employed when someone with a US address tries to purchase the item.

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@fifteen4two wrote:

Same thing with cheap hockey cards or D&D Books, all made in the USA, some show shipping costs, some do not... I had another customer message me today from the states saying when they try and buy the item it won't let them due to no shipping rates being present.    

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The cards and books may be made in the USA, but the way I'm reading the response you got from the eIS team, there may be additional documentation or electronic paperwork that US CBP requires to prove that but eIS can't provide it because they don't have enough information and/or the physical items to work with.

If you're not providing any other shipping methods in the listing and eIS is stripped from it, then you're going to wind up with a listing with no shipping rates.  It's a bit odd how eIS handles these stripped listings.  The United States is removed as a shipping location but it's not added to an exemption list, so the listings are still viewable to those with US shipping addresses.

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@fifteen4two wrote:

They also sugested I add a secondary self-ship option to fix the problem, which is basically impossible to do with the amount of items I have online.. plus with companies like Netparcel (via Purolator) and others coming back to charge us for the refused tariffs (yes it happened to me as well) from months ago there's no way I'm shipping to the states without some automatied system where the buyer pays their own tarrifs/Duties/brokerage fees etc.    

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Trumpster is pretty insistent that the exporters "pay" the import charges somehow, which is why the US is handling imports shipments in a pretty bass-ackward manner compared to other countries.  The best you'll probably be able to do is ship these items via Canada Post/USPS and Zonos and add those charges to your shipping charge.

We'll have to see what happens when the Supreme Court rules on the legality of the Trump tariffs.  However, the issue of the US having no duty-free limit on low value casual imports still stands.