My 15 year-old eBay account is now useless because I cannot change my registration site :(

[borislegasov]

I created my account 15 years ago when I lived in the UK. Seven years ago, I moved to Canada and continued using the same eBay account to buy and sell. Apparently, I didn't update my registration country (I had no reason to believe I needed to, or that there was such a thing to update), though I continued to buy and sell with no issues. Over the years I've amassed a decent selling history which helps when I want to sell items and have confidence from bidders.

Now, I am unable to list through the ebay.ca website because I registered with ebay.co.uk. When I try to list an item, it doesn't allow me to, and instead redirects me to the .co.uk homepage. This is apparently because recently new anti-fraud measures were introduced which prohibits users registered in one country from selling via another country's TLD.

The worst thing is that customer service informs me that the registration site cannot now be changed under any circumstances. This strikes me as completely unnecessarily punitive against the user.

I had no reason to believe that this was something that would need to be changed, because I have been selling from my Canadian addresses for years. I updated my address and phone number on the system 6-7 years ago. They've remained the same all this time. You could call that number now and speak to me.

My only options are to either sell through .co.uk, or create a new account from scratch. So, my choices are either to list my items in GBP, with no Canadian shipping options, or to start afresh with no selling history whatsoever.

This SUCKS.

[reallynicestamps]

@borislegasov   Your problem, which is shared by several other posters over the past couple of months, was answered by .

@tyler @ebay today

[pjcdn2005]

@borislegasov 

The whole thing doesn't make sense.  As mentioned before, registration on one site does not restrict you to listing on that site only.

When do try to do a listing...where do you start? Are you using the sell link at the top of the page, starting from another listing or...?

Since you aren't familiar with Managed Payments, I assume that you haven't attempted to sign up with MP yet? That will be necessary in order to sell but it is important that you do that on .ca since you live here.

tyler@ebay   Do you have a suggestion as to why the op keeps getting directed to the UK site when they try to do a listing on .ca?   They originally registered in the UK and are now in Canada. They said that they never changed the registration site but their address is in Canada.  I thought that it was a cookie/cache problem but they've tried that. 

[pjcdn2005]

I don't think this is the same issue.  Their address is already in Canada. The other poster with the problem have a US address or started to register for MP on the US site. 

[recped]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I don't think this is the same issue.  Their address is already in Canada. The other poster with the problem have a US address or started to register for MP on the US site. 

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Not 100% sure but I recall that when the OP originally posted they were still showing UK as their location.

This incorrect location isn't a problem until you are induced into MP, you are identified as a UK (or US) seller and the process directs you to complete the registration based on that. Since you can't actually comply with the requirements you get stuck but you are locked into the UK (or US) system at that point and there doesn't seem to be a way to change after the fact.

Sellers no matter where they originally registered that moved to a different country and never updated their information have the problem. Seller who registered in another country originally but changed it to Canada before MP have no problems at all.

I asked Tyler about sellers who have been in MP for a long time and then move to a different country and need to change their MP zone. He didn't have an answer but it's a situation that will come up more and more because people do move, no doubt there are thousands of Canadian sellers who at some point will want to change to US because they have become permanent residents there.

[pjcdn2005]

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@recped wrote:

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I don't think this is the same issue.  Their address is already in Canada. The other poster with the problem have a US address or started to register for MP on the US site. 

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Not 100% sure but I recall that when the OP originally posted they were still showing UK as their location.

This incorrect location isn't a problem until you are induced into MP, you are identified as a UK (or US) seller and the process directs you to complete the registration based on that. Since you can't actually comply with the requirements you get stuck but you are locked into the UK (or US) system at that point and there doesn't seem to be a way to change after the fact.

Sellers no matter where they originally registered that moved to a different country and never updated their information have the problem. Seller who registered in another country originally but changed it to Canada before MP have no problems at all.

 --------------------------------

I didn't look to see which country was showing earlier but its my understanding that registration can't be changed at all, especially once MP is involved.   But the way I understand it is that the site registration isn't the issue, it is the address that they are using. The op states that they changed their address to the one in Canada years ago.  Now perhaps they meant that they just changed their 'shipping from' address. I took it as they changed their address to Canada without changing their registration but I could be misunderstanding that.

It's not clear though that this is an MP issue.  I suppose it is possible that they have already been directed to sign up  for MP via the UK site which is why they get directed there when they try to list.   I do remember when I first tried to list on .com, ebay kept directing me back to .ca. But I think that was a cookie issue and the op has already deleted cookies. It's all a bit confusing. Even when I think I understand how it works,  I realize that I don't!  I do feel bad for those who are having problems with signing up for MP, regardless of the reasons why.  

[Anonymous]

Thi is difficult because there are many reasons why the new MP system is locking out international Ebayers selling on the .com site. and people are looking for a single reason.

From what I see on the internet , ACH system wich is what ebay uses, cannot tranfer money from an american bank to a canadian bank...period. 

Yes, some ebayers have banks with branches in the states so it can go to that brach but then it needs to get wired to the canadian branch, but there is the wiring cost . They are continuing because they are working around us banks not being able to do direct transfer not because they can do direct transfer, thats a big difference.

if it goes to an american bank and you have an american address then you will have to pay american tax if selling over 600$...still can sell but more costs.

You can continue to sell on ebay .ca, as anyone can in their country specific Ebay but you will now have to pay the exchange fee for payments from us buyers into your country specific currency. Still can sell but added cost.

You are right that some of it is also non- U.S. citizens using U.S. addresses

and also very old accounts that were created prior to Ebay canada or did not change to a canadian address.

Many of these things do not stop a person from selling, so yes, people who have made this a business have just swallowed the extra fees and kept going. 

But for everyone else who are used to not having to pay these additional costs or sell in a different way and nobody telling them Ebay is no longer easy like it used to be is why you see all these posts. If you type in: "Canadian seller Ebay" into a search engine or community forum, you will see what I mean.

For myself, I will delete my 23 year .com and .ca accounts and start over with no selling history, but if I hear one more customer service agent say how much they appreciate my loyalty I will need therapy.

[borislegasov]

I don't think I agree that a my account is insignificant. eBay is not simply composed of bulk or commercial sellers, it's a marketplace of individual people who want to sell things infrequently to people who may want them. I sell things a few at a time, when I decide that I no longer want certain items, which is my current situation.

Buying from a user who has 0 feedback as a seller, and a user who has 65 feedback as a seller is I think quite significant. I have had no trouble selling my items for a fair price in the past, and I don't want to accept some kind of penalty to the amount of money I can get for my sales because I will have an unproven account.

All this is beside the point. The questions is whether my situation can be fixed or not.

[borislegasov]

@reallynicestamps 

Hey, can you link me to whatever you're referring to, I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at here. Thank you.

[reallynicestamps]

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Weekly-Chat-Session/January-26-2022-Weekly-Session/m-p/473373#M9060

And specifically:

Happy to clarify where I can:

The registration address is the determining factor for the payments program that an account is (for lack of a better word) 'enrolled' into. A member can have US-shipping addresses on file with us and that won't impact them at all.

If a member's account has been invited to register for payments they should still be able to change their registration address prior to starting the registration process for payments. Once begun/completed there is no way to change it currently.

The blue highlight was mine.

[tyler@ebay · Accepted solution]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

@borislegasov 

The whole thing doesn't make sense.  As mentioned before, registration on one site does not restrict you to listing on that site only.

When do try to do a listing...where do you start? Are you using the sell link at the top of the page, starting from another listing or...?

Since you aren't familiar with Managed Payments, I assume that you haven't attempted to sign up with MP yet? That will be necessary in order to sell but it is important that you do that on .ca since you live here.

tyler@ebay   Do you have a suggestion as to why the op keeps getting directed to the UK site when they try to do a listing on .ca?   They originally registered in the UK and are now in Canada. They said that they never changed the registration site but their address is in Canada.  I thought that it was a cookie/cache problem but they've tried that. 

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Hi @pjcdn2005 - thanks for the tag! I'm not certain why a redirect of this nature would be happening, unless there was a compelling 'to-do' that needed to be addressed on the UK side prior to allowing them to list in general. 

In the past, listing creation would be blocked for sites that don't have eBay-managed payments, but that should no longer be the case. 

@borislegasov - I know that the reroute is what we're trying to avoid, but the only reason I can think it would do so is to pass any additional 'Know your Customer' obligations that UK accounts are asked to complete. If you go to your eBay.co.uk account are there any banners or 'attention' items on your UK-based Seller Hub?

In theory, once that requirement is fulfilled you should  be able to list directly on any eBay site that has payments managed by eBay. 

If you don't see anything like that will you tag me back to this thread so I can escalate it further?

Thanks!

[borislegasov]

Hey tyler@ebay , thank you for the info. I'll look into that and let you know how I get on.

[tyler@ebay]

Appreciate it @borislegasov!  If nothing comes of that the next questions I'll need more info about is your listing process:

Are you relisting or selling similar from items that were originally listed on the UK site? If a draft listing was created on that site it's very common to route you back to that site to complete. If you are trying to create a listing from scratch while logged into eBay.ca and it sends you to eBay.co.uk anyway I'll want to grab a few screenshots and file a ticket for review. Thanks! 

[borislegasov]

Hey tyler@ebay 

You were right. I went into my UK account and had to confirm the microdeposit amounts, and now I can list items on the Canada ebay as before.

THANK YOU!

I don't know how it took all of this to get to the correct answer but you cut right through and knew exaclty what to do, I really am truly grateful to you.