Certain countries excluded from Global Shipping

[cool_antiques]

My sales have recently gone a little quiet and upon checking I see that certain countries - USA and China in particular - are excluded from my Global Shipping options.  Since Brexit (at which time all my European sales and core business dropped off a cliff!) nearly all of my international sales go to USA, China and Japan, so it is a concern if some items aren't available to buyers in these countries.  I have had this before and ended up setting up separate postage policies to these countries, but that's  not my preferred option as I like the way that GSP handles all the customs documentation and protects both the buyer and seller in the event of anything getting lost or damaged in transit.  Has anyone experienced similar issues?   

[4_bathrooms]

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@rlzb88 wrote:

The items I try to buy are all under the same category (toys). But what doesn't make sense is that a few US sellers who are listing similar sets of toys Im looking for I am able to buy because the United Kingdom is listed on the 'posts to' section. 

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Toys are definitely going to be subject to restrictions for the reason mentioned. Why some should be available to purchase from the US whilst others are not might depend upon whether the GSP is involved or not and/or the age range the toy is marketed towards. It may also be the case a toy in eBay's catalogue - where the BS EN 71/CE/UKCA compliance is known - is allowed but non-catalogue toy listings are not. Only eBay would really know but toys are definitely something that will be restricted in some way. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@pvision wrote:

If that is the case - that these can't be imported due to regulations - then eBay should be open about it

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They are. In the US eBay have replaced GSP with "eBay International Shipping". You can find exclusions for US sellers here which includes the following paragraph:

"Items that are shipped to buyers in the UK need to comply with all applicable UK laws and regulations. We have put measures in place to prevent US items that may not comply with UK regulations, such as CE Certification and/or Plugs and Sockets Regulations, from being sold to buyers in the UK."

So, eBay doesn't allow such items to be exported from the US unless they are compliant.

Humurously noted in the spirit of American misunderstanding; they have assigned the country code "GB" to the United Kingdom... 

[tommystrezures]

Another misunderstanding they have is to make tea in the microwave!!! If I remember correctly that is what the us embassy in London advocates!!!!

[4_bathrooms]

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@tommystrezures wrote:

Another misunderstanding they have is to make tea in the microwave!!! If I remember correctly that is what the us embassy in London advocates!!!!

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I actually pointed out the UK/GB thing because it is pertinent. Toys sold to Great Britain must comply with UK law (the Toy Safety Regulations) whilst toys sold to Northern Ireland must comply with UK law and/or EU law (the Toy Safety Directive). This is because where imports are concerned Northern Ireland uniquely remains part of the UK's and the EU's customs territories.

The (EU) Directive is the basis of the (UK) regulations but since Brexit the two are no longer conjoined; any changes to the Directive will not necessarily be incorporated into the regulations which are now disparate. This is likely why the UK is (somewhat incorrectly) singled out on the US eBay site.

[tbontb1900]

I do know that a lot of  USA sellers are unaware of our inability to purchase items from USA -> UK.

Today I was unable to buy a USA  item. To test things I clicked on its instruction pamphlet from another USA seller. The pamphlet is small, not valuable, an antique or electrical. Even that was restricted.

All perfectly understandable in 2024. More regulation please. You know it makes sense... and profit.

[brizbucket]

This seems to ba a problem across the board, nothing to do with what the item is. 

Its happening to almost everything I look at on US ebay that otherwise ship via global shipping.

Needs to get fixed soon.

[tbontb1900]

Update: the USA seller was very helpful. Don't really know what she did, but about 30 messages later a solution was found. Interesting that she had no idea her items were being restricted for sale to the UK. Not all, but most.

[igordonivic]

As I understood, after Brexit, policies and roles are changed, regarding the delivery, non deals have been found yet.

[pigweedmotorcycleparts]

I have the same problem with my listings. Can you help? All our listings are excluding USA from the GSP. We used to sell many parts to the USA and sales have now fallen dramatically.