@intimewithmusic wrote:
He had received my outgoing photo and, a week later, noticed eBay's hub addy on the mailing label causing panic. My listings include Canada Post Tracked Packet Int and CP Xpresspost Int but for one reason or another, the customer unknowingly ordered through EIS. This caused me to have to troubleshoot his surprise.
I can't understand why eBay would release a new Canadian shipping option without some sort of flag or notice to the buyers at checkout. I'm guessing (correct me if I'm wrong) EIS is not showing as a "new option" in shipping details. Maybe eBay has a pop up or they shoot off a roman candle to congratulate them for using a new service but I doubt it. In this case he didn't see it. I t's great my buyer reached out. He has made purchases in the past and EIS wasn't an option. His trust regarding time and cost has been the status quo. .
There's a link to further information on eIS on every listing that uses it. I think your buyer chose eIS because, believe it or not, it was likely the least expensive of the three options you made available to the Netherlands. (The other two options show up if the buyer clicks the "See details" link next to the info button.)
The "learn more" link sends the user to a page with information on eIS from a buyer's perspective:
https://pages.ebay.ca/international-shipping/
It could be a little clearer, perhaps, that the item goes through an intermediary hub before being forwarded to the buyer, but then again, I doubt most sellers are in the habit of sending their buyers photos of their packaged items with the hub address on it.
Additionally, I don't know if this is still being done, but with the small handful of items I've had sent through the US eIS, I've received email updates that explain the three stages the shipment experiences while en route. Perhaps those emails got stuck in your buyer's spam filter.
CORRECTION (Now that I know the item in question): eIS was in the middle of the pack when it came to the shipping price of the options you presented for the Netherlands. Some international buyers prefer eIS to postal options if they have postal services or customs bureaux that are problematic, but that's probably not the case for this buyer.
@intimewithmusic wrote:Thanks but I don't think your assumption is correct. In this case Trk Pkt would have been about $6 cheaper than EIS.
It's not an assumption. I looked up the completed listing for the Christmas cards. You provide three shipping options. eIS is in the middle when it comes to price, $11 or so more than Tracked Packet but almost $17 less than Xpresspost. (See attached screenshot.)
For the Dee Lippingwell book--the first item that I checked--eIS was far and away the least expensive option. Check it out for yourself the way a prospective buyer would. (Using an incognito or private browser window would probably work best.)
