eIS customer payment issues

[daisydaisy999]

eIS is not turning out to be an easy option - at least not for me. I have made 3 sales through it so far but only 1 has worked out.

#1 - I sold a hair oil to Mexico - waited a couple of days for payment and then reached out - buyer came back saying that they were getting an error message saying that I don't ship to them. COO was there so should have been working through eIS - I kind of thought they got sticker shock when they saw the fees and was using that as an excuse so I just let the sale time out.

#2 - I sold a watch to Poland - paid and everything went fine

#3 - I sold a makeup item to USA - buyer is saying they are getting an error message saying it doesn't ship to them - should be part of eIS as COO is there so not sure what is going on. 

Is anyone having the same issues? I know getting in touch with eBay will be the usual slog so trying to avoid that if there is an easy fix that anyone knows of?! Thanks for your help!

[cottagewoman]

Have a feeling both the hair oil and makeup are restricted items, especially makeup to the US as all cosmetics now have to be FDA approved. The system shouldn't have even shown the makeup to the buyer.

[daisydaisy999]

wouldn't zonos have some sort of warning if that was the case? the hair oil was going to mexico so that one is still an issue...

[mrdutch1001]

IMHO, Canadian sellers haven't read up on all the dos/don'ts/can/can'ts when it pertains to the eIS program>>>NOT everything can be shipped via eIS and NOT everything can be shipped to every country around the world via eIS...

[daisydaisy999]

in that case the proper pop up should be that this item can't be shipped to your country not this seller doesn't ship to your country...

[mrdutch1001]

It is the seller's responsibility to know what can and cannot be shipped via eIS and what can and cannot be exported from Canada to any specific country, just as it a seller's responsibility to know the requirements for shipping items to U.K. the EU, adherence to the GSPR, etc,etc.....

[cottagewoman]

eIS is using couriers to ship to the US. The rules are 2,000,000,000% more complex than shipping Canada Post (postal network). Zonos just calculates duty owed. It has no functionality to deal with the rules being applied by US CBP.

[cottagewoman]

I will say though that the implementation of eIS, if enrolled, leaves much of the responsibility in the hands of those operating the program. If no specified international shipping is in place on an item, then it is automatically available via eIS (again if enrolled) to eligible international locations, as managed by eBay and the eIS program. It has been offered to Canadian sellers as a catch all, no responsibility system. So the liability on the sellers is greatly diminished to know all the parameters of what goods can be sent to what international destinations.

[mrdutch1001]

as per eIS:

"For international shipments, the Program is not available for shipments to all countries. The delivery address specified by your Buyer must be in a country eligible for the Program.Currently, this program will allow you to ship items to customers anywhere in the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and Australia."

and this:

"You agree not to sell or export any EIS Items through the Program in violation of any applicable laws or regulations of the countries eligible for the Program, including export regulations, international labour standards, applicable labour laws and regulations. Where necessary, you are responsible for appointing an economic operator in the European Union for product safety obligations. "

By not opting an EIS Item out of the Program, you are representing and warranting that your sale, transfer, export or import of the EIS Item does not violate any applicable laws or regulations of any eligible country and that you as a seller have taken all necessary steps to ensure you are in the position to export items outside of Canada, including where applicable, obtaining an EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification number) for export including to the European Union. You are responsible for ensuring that your sale and or exportation of the EIS Items complies with all laws, regulations, and requirements of the country from which it is being exported and the region in which it is being sold."

[cottagewoman]

That would all be well and good as per their terms and conditions if we could actually NOT allow a single item to be available. As it stands, if enrolled, even if countries are EXCLUDED  items are available to eIS countries. This seems mostly to be a blanket cover their butt statement, but in reality, the way the program is setup doesn't allow the level of control they are implying.

[marnotom!]

The problem could be that these buyers have post office boxes as shipping addresses and eIS does not ship to PO boxes. As shipping addresses aren’t confirmed until Checkout, the purchase seems to go fine until the Checkout bot “realizes” that the final destination address is problematic and it then burps out somewhat inaccurate error messages about the item not being shippable to the buyer’s country. I’ve seen examples of this on the US discussion boards in posts about the US version of eIS.

[mrdutch1001]

Guess all these reported issues are the consequences that result when eBay throws something haphazardly together without any pre-testing and then sellers jump on a bandwagon that hasn't been made "ready for the road, yet..."

[flipistics]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

"You agree not to sell or export any EIS Items through the Program in violation of any applicable laws or regulations of the countries eligible for the Program, including export regulations, international labour standards, applicable labour laws and regulations. Where necessary, you are responsible for appointing an economic operator in the European Union for product safety obligations. "

By not opting an EIS Item out of the Program, you are representing and warranting that your sale, transfer, export or import of the EIS Item does not violate any applicable laws or regulations of any eligible country and that you as a seller have taken all necessary steps to ensure you are in the position to export items outside of Canada, including where applicable, obtaining an EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification number) for export including to the European Union. You are responsible for ensuring that your sale and or exportation of the EIS Items complies with all laws, regulations, and requirements of the country from which it is being exported and the region in which it is being sold."

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Yeah, this part is weird given that the terms also state the eIS can basically add or remove items from the program as it sees fit. They also say that they automatically remove items from being shown to any country where they can't be exported to or there are additional regulations. Some additional clarification on if we need to do anything would be nice, especially since everything was automatically added / determined when we were enrolled in the program.

I also don't understand the EORI part. Isn't it eIS that deals with that since they're doing the clearance? I would assume they add their number for the stage to the buyer. Even sites like Zonos seem to agree that businesses outside of the EU/UK don't require it. Are sellers (business sellers in particular) ALSO supposed to have an EORI number? Is the EORI number only applicable for items that are restricted or over a certain value? Why are the listings even being shown to the EU or UK if we haven't added an EORI number in the settings and need one? I can't be the only one who is confused by that.

Also the part about appointing an economic operator in the EU for product safety obligations. When is that required and how do you do that, or is that also normally handled by eIS? Does eIS exclude items from the EU when that is required? There really needs to be some clear guidance for sellers who don't have degrees in international commerce or their own shipping department.

devon@ebay 

luke@ebay 

[recped]

Some info here about EORI here:

https://www.gov.uk/eori

If you are shipping direct and selling to an end user it for their personal use it appears that an EORI is not neccesary.

It appears to be similar to an inporter/exporter number required in Canada. That number is the same as a GST/HST number except rather than "RT" taged onto the Business Number it's "RM".

[marnotom!]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

Guess all these reported issues are the consequences that result when eBay throws something haphazardly together without any pre-testing and then sellers jump on a bandwagon that hasn't been made "ready for the road, yet..."

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From what I can see, the eIS interface for the Canadian version of the program isn't significantly different than the one that US users have been using on the .com site for the past two and a half years.

One of the big differences between the two programs is how they are being used, or how sellers would like to use them.  Most US sellers who are using eIS are content to "set it and forget it," whereas it appears that many Canadian sellers would like more flexibility in how they offer it to their non-Canadian buyers.

Another big difference between the two eISs is that the Canadian version has to deal with US tariffs which are unpredictable and inconsistent.

There may also be a difference in how the two different versions of eIS are handling merchandise that is ineligible for the program.  Posts from Canadian buyers who have purchased items handled by eIS that have dead-ended in transit may have inadvertently purchased items ineligible for the program or items that were "made" ineligible due to problems with packaging or invoicing.  Perhaps the Canadian version has been coded in a manner to try to stop more of these problematic shipments before they're even shipped out.

[electronicsextraordinaire]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

as per eIS:

"You agree not to sell or export any EIS Items through the Program in violation of any applicable laws or regulations of the countries eligible for the Program [United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and Australia.]

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I always find these agreements that we all click through funny. Like, I hope my stuff is fine, but let me go get legal opinions from lawyers in 30 different countries and get back to you on each item I have for sale to be sure. Here's to hoping at least 50% of my responses don't translate to "it depends". I've been meaning to brush up on my Greek, Finnish and Slovenian legal jargon.

[electronicsextraordinaire]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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Posts from Canadian buyers who have purchased items handled by eIS that have dead-ended in transit may have inadvertently purchased items ineligible for the program or items that were "made" ineligible due to problems with packaging or invoicing.

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The GSP (EIS predecessor) would also make up rules on the spot about what's allowed or not. Purchased some items that you can get at any Walmart on either side of the border that were absolutely not on the prohibited list, legal in Canada to import by mail/courier (I checked), legal to transport air+ground, but GSP decided "no" x2 and kept the item.

Got refunded, seller got to keep their money. GSP ate the cost. Just a waste of time for the buyer that has to go on the hunt again. 

They would send an email with a subject like: "Important information regarding your Global Shipping Program transaction...", but alllll of their emails have that subject. Received at the hub, then sent from the hub, cleared customs, delivered = 4 "important information regarding" emails for a standard transaction.

We are writing to inform you that your recent purchase through the Global Shipping Program from [redacted] cannot be completed.

The item in question has been deemed restricted [it's not]. This could be due to import/shipping restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Program [nope, nothing there about that]. The item will not be shipped to you nor returned to your seller.

Don’t worry! Your full refund will be processed back to the original payment method within 72 hours. You may notice two separate refunds: a refund for the item, and a refund for the shipping and import costs. No further action is needed.

[reallynicestamps]

...just as it a seller's responsibility to know the requirements for shipping items to...

No.

It is the Buyer's responsibility to know what can be imported to their own country. 

We are as seller's responsible for choosing shipping services that will ship securely to the customer. 

[dinomitesales]

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@daisydaisy999 wrote:

#1 - I sold a hair oil to Mexico - waited a couple of days for payment and then reached out - buyer came back saying that they were getting an error message saying that I don't ship to them. COO was there so should have been working through eIS - I kind of thought they got sticker shock when they saw the fees and was using that as an excuse so I just let the sale time out.

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Canadian eIS isn't servicing Mexico, so that's probably why. As others have quoted here it's only USA, Australia, UK, and EU. If you had no other shipping option to Mexico, then "you don't ship to them" is an accurate statement.

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#3 - I sold a makeup item to USA - buyer is saying they are getting an error message saying it doesn't ship to them - should be part of eIS as COO is there so not sure what is going on. 

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As others have stated, this was almost certainly an FDA issue and the item isn't eligible to be sent through eIS.