eBay item location: what the policy requires

The short version

• The item location must say where the item will ship from: postal code (in the U.S., the ZIP code), city and country.
• It must be the same in every part of the listing, including the title, the description and the item specifics.
• The tracking number you upload after the sale must match that location.
• For stock in a U.S. warehouse, the warehouse is the item location, but only for units that have arrived.

What item location is

Every eBay listing tells buyers where the item is. eBay’s policy defines that as the place the item will be shipped from. Buyers use it to judge the shipping charge and the delivery time.

It can be a different country from the one where you live or where your eBay account is registered.

What eBay requires

eBay’s item location policy opens with this sentence: “Item location information must accurately state where the item will be shipped from.” Its requirements are these.

1. The listing gives clear and accurate information about where the item is, including the postal code, city and country it will ship from.
2. That information is consistent across the whole listing, including the title, the description and the item specifics.
3. A tracking number uploaded after the item has sold matches the shipping location given in the listing.

eBay’s site for export sellers carries a version of the same policy. It adds that the return address does not have to match the item location. Returns have a rule of their own. Read the U.S. return address guide.

What counts as a wrong location

eBay’s page gives no examples, but each of these breaks one of the three requirements.

• The location field shows a U.S. city, and the item ships from another country.
• The location field shows one place, and the title or the description names a different one.
• One listing covers units in two places, so the location is wrong for some of them.
• The tracking number belongs to a parcel that started its journey somewhere else.

What eBay may do

eBay’s policy page says it may act when a listing does not follow the policy. Its examples are removing the listing, issuing a warning, restricting activity and suspending the account.

The version for export sellers lists more: ending or canceling listings, hiding or demoting all of a seller’s listings in search results, lowering the seller rating, buying or selling restrictions, loss of seller protections and account suspension. It adds that fees on the affected listings are not refunded.

Stock held in a third-party U.S. warehouse

When a warehouse holds your stock and ships your orders, the item ships from the warehouse. The warehouse’s city, state, ZIP code and country are the item location. eBay’s policy asks where the item will ship from. It does not mention who operates the building.

• The location is accurate only for units that have arrived. Stock on its way to the warehouse cannot ship from there yet. Wait for the warehouse to confirm the count before you list those units at its address.
• Each order has to enter the carrier’s network at the warehouse, so that the tracking agrees with the listing.

For stock we hold for you, the item location is Staten Island, NY 10309, United States.

If your eBay account is registered outside the U.S., eBay has a separate policy for items shipped from a warehouse in another country. Read the overseas warehouse approval guide before you send stock.

Your own stock versus dropshipping

eBay’s dropshipping page makes one distinction. Fulfilling orders directly from a wholesale supplier is allowed. Listing an item and then buying it from another retailer or marketplace that ships it straight to your buyer is not allowed. If you use dropshipping, eBay still holds you responsible for safe delivery within the time frame stated in your listing.

Storing stock you already own in a warehouse is different from both. You bought the goods before you listed them, they are at one known address, and every order ships from there.

What to put in the listing

For stock held in a U.S. warehouse:

• Country: United States.
• ZIP code, city and state: as written in the warehouse address.
• Title, description and item specifics: no other place named as the origin.
• Handling time: one the warehouse can meet. eBay’s seller standards count a tracked item as late when the delivery scan comes after the latest estimated delivery date and there is no carrier scan within your handling time.
• Tracking: the number for the parcel the warehouse handed to the carrier.

Who does what

Mistakes to avoid

• Listing units at the warehouse address while they are still in transit to it.
• Leaving an old city or country in the title or description after the stock has moved.
• Selling units from two countries under one listing.
• Assuming a U.S. item location settles returns. The return address is a separate setting with its own rule.