eBay

903livehood · ‎10-07-2025

Greetings Ebay Canada Community Members, Sellers and Buyer!

It is October and it was stated somewhere that the Ebay International Shipping would be launching sometime in October 2025.

I just wanted to know if EiS is online yet?

If it is, what is the procedure aside from shipping your sold item to a designated Hub somewhere is Mississuaga?

I'm also hopeful, once online, that Chit Chats can ship the item to the Hub, but as of yet, I am currently Time Away, awaiting the EiS to be active and with Canada Post in a labor dispute is causing headaches all around.

Cheers and All the Best to your Buying and Selling!!

Kindest,

903livehood

marnotom! · ‎10-08-2025

Judging by what I’ve seen on the .ca boards and the .com boards, the subject of eIS’s shipping payment split between the seller and eBay appears to be one of the poorest understood aspects of the service, both by buyers—who don’t understand why eIS shipping charges can be so pricey—and sellers—who don’t understand why they were paid so little for an international shipment.

I think it’s great that a seller is trying to figure out how this all works before they get knee-deep into it and that they know what they don’t know and that they’re asking how this part of the service works. Isn’t this why these discussion boards are here in the first place?

mrdutch1001 · ‎10-08-2025

when eBay itself doesn't know what it is doing,(pertaining to this proposed eIS program), how is any seller to know?

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎10-08-2025

The buyer is billed for both your domestic rate and the eIS international rate. Therefore, the buyer pays the shipping to the eIS hub. That's part of why eIS is so expensive if you've ever bought something from the USA using the program. The portion for the domestic rate is passed on to you so that you can purchase domestic shipping. eBay keeps the portion for the international shipping since they purchase the label.

If you sell to an actual customer living in Toronto, or the eIS in Toronto, it's the same thing. The customer paid your Canadian shipping rate, and you ship to a Canadian address with your chosen carrier using the funds that were provided to you by the customer.

The only possible issue I see people encountering will be for items that are set up to ship lettermail within Canada. If the eIS hub requires tracking, and if eBay penalizes sellers for not getting their items to the eIS hub on time, there are going to be major issues where people have items with a $3-$5 budget for shipping, but require a $10-$20 tracked label.

This was discussed in a previous thread, and the conclusion that posters came to was that they should at the very least add eIS as a new section in the provincial rate tables, so that sellers who offer "free lettermail" shipping can ensure that eIS customers are charged the appropriate amount for tracked shipping.

marnotom! · ‎10-08-2025

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

The only possible issue I see people encountering will be for items that are set up to ship lettermail within Canada. If the eIS hub requires tracking, and if eBay penalizes sellers for not getting their items to the eIS hub on time, there are going to be major issues where people have items with a $3-$5 budget for shipping, but require a $10-$20 tracked label.

I can't see anything in the eIS Canada Seller Terms and Conditions that states that a trackable shipping method to the hub is required, only that upon eBay’s notice that the Buyer has paid for an item(s), you will promptly deliver the EIS Item(s) to the Canadian Shipping Hub address provided to you in accordance with your listing.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎10-09-2025

I am only speculating. I assume that eBay will not explicitly require tracking, but I wonder if there might be penalties if you fail to get multiple items to the eIS hub. That would create a soft requirement for tracking.

We don't get issued defects or penalties for untracked lettermail INRs that are refunded. So sending untracked directly to a Canadian customer poses no liability to the health of our account. My question would be, if we send untracked to the hub and Canada Post fails to deliver it, will there be penalties such as defects or possibly being removed from the eIS program?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-09-2025

@marnotom! wrote:
Judging by what I’ve seen on the .ca boards and the .com boards, the subject of eIS’s shipping payment split between the seller and eBay appears to be one of the poorest understood aspects of the service, both by buyers—who don’t understand why eIS shipping charges can be so pricey—and sellers—who don’t understand why they were paid so little for an international shipment.

I think it’s great that a seller is trying to figure out how this all works before they get knee-deep into it and that they know what they don’t know and that they’re asking how this part of the service works. Isn’t this why these discussion boards are here in the first place?

@marnotom!

@mrdutch1001

I tried to open the eyes on some of these concerns especially cost for way out west shipping to GTA/increased costs for buyers (+ sellers if they are sending anything bulky/heavy)and heard a bunch of ohs, huh and I didn't know that during a zoom call a few weeks ago. Since then in attempting to follow up.... except addy provided seems to end up at a disconnected fax machine in Uruguay. They stated were compiling concerns via a spreadsheet. The most recent discussion post/email did not address any of the passed on concerns. For now I am calling the progam a WIP to the 10th degree. Anyone sitting on edge of seat expecting prompt followup....your patience will be required. You might be better off ordering a copy of Great Expectations by Canada Post.

The big question is when buyers see the difference for shipping with eIS at check out how many will run for the hills vs complete the transaction???

flipistics · ‎10-09-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
The big question is when buyers see the difference for shipping with eIS at check out how many will run for the hills vs complete the transaction???

I think you're asking the wrong question. The one you should be asking is how many buyers WON'T run for the hills. Right now, for many people, they're not selling to the USA at all. Whatever percentage of buyers do complete the purchase should be seen as extra sales (and lower risk ones at that).

marnotom! · ‎10-09-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
I tried to open the eyes on some of these concerns especially cost for way out west shipping to GTA/increased costs for buyers (+ sellers if they are sending anything bulky/heavy)and heard a bunch of ohs, huh and I didn't know that during a zoom call a few weeks ago.

Surely that’s an issue for US sellers using the .com site’s version of eIS too, though?

marnotom! · ‎10-09-2025

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

My question would be, if we send untracked to the hub and Canada Post fails to deliver it, will there be penalties such as defects or possibly being removed from the eIS program?

From section 13 of the eIS Canada Sellers’ T&C. Interpret it as you wish.

reallynicestamps · ‎10-10-2025

items that are set up to ship lettermail within Canada.

Which is legal within Canada, but we are not supposed to use lettermail for items sent to an international destination.

Resending?? Up to eIS.

If the eIS hub requires tracking,

Which it is likely to, because there will be another label attached on arrival, and I would guess that the new label and the shipment are matched by the domestic tracking number.

and if eBay penalizes sellers for not getting their items to the eIS hub on time,

Which makes Proof of Delivery less important than eIS being unable to attach the shipment to the international shipping label.

They depend on each other, is my guess.

dinomitesales · ‎10-10-2025

@reallynicestamps wrote:
items that are set up to ship lettermail within Canada.
Which is legal within Canada, but we are not supposed to use lettermail for items sent to an international destination.
Resending?? Up to eIS.

For all intents and purposes this is a domestic transaction. We would not be sending Letter-post internationally.

If the eIS hub requires tracking,
Which it is likely to, because there will be another label attached on arrival, and I would guess that the new label and the shipment are matched by the domestic tracking number.

I don't know for sure, but I would imagine it would work the same way as items being sent to the authentication centre. There is a unique identifier that gets added to the address field, which eBay then uses to tie the package to a specific transaction.

morepleaseshop · ‎10-10-2025

True, but US sellers don't care much if they sell anything to Canada. For them it's just the gravy, they have enough buyers inside their country. It's very much different for the majority of us here...?

@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
I tried to open the eyes on some of these concerns especially cost for way out west shipping to GTA/increased costs for buyers (+ sellers if they are sending anything bulky/heavy)and heard a bunch of ohs, huh and I didn't know that during a zoom call a few weeks ago.
Surely that’s an issue for US sellers using the .com site’s version of eIS too, though?

burning_moon_video · ‎10-10-2025

@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
I tried to open the eyes on some of these concerns especially cost for way out west shipping to GTA/increased costs for buyers (+ sellers if they are sending anything bulky/heavy)and heard a bunch of ohs, huh and I didn't know that during a zoom call a few weeks ago.
Surely that’s an issue for US sellers using the .com site’s version of eIS too, though?

I could be wrong but I believe there are several eIS hubs across the country in the US. Plus, shipping domestically is much cheaper in the US. For example, you can ship a package media mail to the other side of the country for around $5, whereas up here most parcels being shipped out of province are at least $15-20+.
Furthermore, as someone else mentioned, US sellers do not rely on Canadian buyers, so any buyers from Canada they sucker in with eIS shipments are just icing on the cake for them. The 2 programs can't be compared.

byto253 · ‎10-10-2025

Different situation for US and Canadian sellers.

For the most US sellers EIS is not core to success and they only sold to the US before EIS. EIS is just a "what the heck" and if they get an international sale it is just gravy. They don't care about the cost to the buyers or being competitive to ship to Canada or Holland, etc. or if they make sales to markets outside the US. They care waaay more about an item fitting into a domestic flat rate USPS box!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-10-2025

@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
I tried to open the eyes on some of these concerns especially cost for way out west shipping to GTA/increased costs for buyers (+ sellers if they are sending anything bulky/heavy)and heard a bunch of ohs, huh and I didn't know that during a zoom call a few weeks ago.
Surely that’s an issue for US sellers using the .com site’s version of eIS too, though?

They should have known right off the hop 1 hub for all of Canada was bad planning. If they wanted to roll this out more equitably it would be common sense to have a hub in the east and 1 in the west. Almost anything Wpg and east via the hub in Toronto anything Sask and west via Richmond. How CP has done things for years. AB stuff goes Richmond to LAX and delivered quickly. Sending everything to Toronto is just going to create a major bottleneck.

Personally have always been baffled why 20 to 30 days via eIS to Canada is acceptable but when 8 to 10 days to USA happens to turn into 10 to 14 is considered late. In many of those cases it is either overload or weather related.

marnotom! · ‎10-10-2025

@burning_moon_video wrote:
I could be wrong but I believe there are several eIS hubs across the country in the US.

You could be.

marnotom! · ‎10-10-2025

@byto253 wrote:

For the most US sellers EIS is not core to success and they only sold to the US before EIS. EIS is just a "what the heck" and if they get an international sale it is just gravy. They don't care about the cost to the buyers or being competitive to ship to Canada or Holland, etc. or if they make sales to markets outside the US. They care waaay more about an item fitting into a domestic flat rate USPS box!

Sort of like how Canadian sellers using calculated shipping for domestic sales might have a "what the heck" attitude about shipping costs, especially to remote locations?

marnotom! · ‎10-10-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Sending everything to Toronto is just going to create a major bottleneck.

The volume of Canadian-based eIS shipments isn't going to be anywhere near the volume of US-based eIS shipments, though, @lotzofuniquegoodies, which doesn't make a very good case for multiple forwarding hubs in Canada from an efficiency perspective.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-10-2025

@marnotom! wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Sending everything to Toronto is just going to create a major bottleneck.
The volume of Canadian-based eIS shipments isn't going to be anywhere near the volume of US-based eIS shipments, though, @lotzofuniquegoodies, which doesn't make a very good case for multiple forwarding hubs in Canada from an efficiency perspective.

@marnotom!

Could you do me a favour please? Pass that on to the Canadian sellers in Van, Calgary, Edm etc. My guess is they won't be thrilled. One size fits all is almost never the best plan.

Where would everything go once it left Toronto? Chicago? Isn't that where eastern sellers routinely report problems with major delays currently? I have had no issues with shipments routed via LAX.

marnotom! · ‎10-10-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@marnotom!
Could you do me a favour please? Pass that on to the Canadian sellers in Van, Calgary, Edm etc. My guess is they won't be thrilled. One size fits all is almost never the best plan.

@lotzofuniquegoodies, I honestly don't think this is the issue you're making it out to be. How many Canadian sellers are selling Salton self-sealer bags right now besides you? Most Canadian sellers on eBay have figured out that they need to carve a niche for themselves and sell stuff that's reasonably popular but without overly duplicating what other sellers are selling. Given what you sell, I doubt you'd be scooped by a seller from Hamilton.

Also keep in mind that even if there were other eIS shipping hubs in Canada, the lower domestic shipping price might be negated by a higher eIS shipping price.

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Where would everything go once it left Toronto? Chicago? Isn't that where eastern sellers routinely report problems with major delays currently? I have had no issues with shipments routed via LAX.

If I recall correctly, the issues in Chicago are with USPS facilities which would not be used by eIS.