Missing Countries From eBay Region Of Manufacture Item Specifics Could Stymie International Sales
Recent updates to tariffs and de minimis exemptions have made Country Of Origin/Manufacture information even more critical for sellers on eBay but changes to the listing form are making compliance impossible in some categories.
The listing issues are particularly problematic for sellers in some Motors categories who say they now only have a list of about 20 countries to choose from when filling in item specifics - and the United States isn't one of them.
Missing countries in list for Country/Region of Manufacture in some categories
I just discovered that some categories now are missing a huge number of valid countries.
Specifically, most of the possible countries in the list for Owner & Operator Manuals in eBay Motors > Parts & Accessories > Manuals & Literature > Car & Truck Manuals are just gone.
The current list has around 20 countries, with no option to add a country, so we cannot include Japan, United States, or almost any other country where things are actually being published (Gaza Strip and Sint Eustatius are in the list, but not the United States?).
I was able to replicate the issue and as this seller points out, not only is the US not an option, but several very unlikely options do - like Vatican City and North Korea.
Trying to use the "search" option for US or United States does not bring anything up and there is also no option to simply manually type in an entry either.
The same problem also appears to be impacting other categories under Motors, including but not limited to various sub-categories for automotive tools.
eBay also recently removed the option to select "unknown" for Country of Origin/Manufacture as part of their efforts to make sure that tariffs, duties and taxes can be calculated and charged correctly where needed and it's possible this issue could have been inadvertently introduced to some categories during that update.
Liz Morton
Sellers encountering the issue should report it to eBay by using the question mark on the page to submit feedback or report a technical problem.
It also appears that sellers may be able to temporarily work around the issue by find an existing active listing in the correct category which already has the country they need selected and using the "sell now" button to start a new listing.
In my testing, that kept the United States option which had been selected on the original listing.
Sellers should make sure if they use this method, they are checking all item specifics and other details for accuracy and/or edit them with the correct information.
Are you seeing missing countries in the eBay Country of Manufacture Item Specifics? Let us know in the comments below!
