Dear eBay Canada Community,
On August 25, we began a process of soliciting feedback from our Canadian selling community on a number of topics specific to Canadian sellers on eBay. We thank everyone who contributed. We are still hearing from many Canadian sellers on a daily basis, and we welcome the ongoing input.
At the outset, we have spent the majority of our time addressing the feedback on these issues that are unique to Canadian sellers. Here are the top five areas into which the Community responses can be grouped:
1.
Shipping.
• Canada Post rates for domestic and international services are more expensive relative to the United States Postal Service. Additionally, the strong Canadian dollar has intensified the situation.
2.
Currency conversion
• Most sales by Canadian sellers on eBay are listed and paid for in US dollars. The cost of currency conversion from US dollars to Canadian dollars is an additional fee for Canadian sellers. There are also limitations in PayPal functionality for Canadians that do not apply to US sellers.
3.
Sell side product enhancements
• Canadian sellers would like to see several new product enhancements in order to sell more efficiently.
4.
Pricing promotions
• “Canadian 10 cent listing days” are extremely popular, but can be enhanced.
5.
Domestic demand generation
• Canadian sellers are interested in eBay Canada’s plans to help bring even more Canadian buyers to the site.
In response to these comments, I am writing to you today to tell you about the first round of initiatives we are undertaking to address each of these areas:
1.
Shipping
• In the near future, we will engage an experienced shipping consultant to analyze the shipping landscape for Canadian eBay sellers and to recommend a course of action to work towards alternative and/or improved services and pricing.
• We will begin work on integrating Canada Post’s Light Packet service into the online eBay shipping tool.
2.
Currency conversion
• We will discuss with/ask Canadian banks to identify opportunities for eBay users to withdraw US funds from PayPal directly to a US dollar bank account.
3.
Sell side product enhancements
• We are accelerating work on developing a dynamic shipping calculator for Canadian listings.
• We have just launched sales tax support for Canadian listings.
4.
Pricing promotions
• We are committed to testing:
- Extending pricing promotions by three hours for the benefit of Canadian sellers who live and work in Pacific Time.
- A longer notice period about upcoming promotions.
- Additional discounts offered when using the online eBay shipping tool on promotion days.
- Phone notice of Canadian pricing promotions directly to some of the major auction management companies.
- Immediate fee credits for most promotions.
Later in the year, we will begin testing a subscription-based model of “bundled fees” for a number of key listing features.
5.
Domestic demand generation
• Our plans for the busy upcoming Holiday season are now in place, and here are a few of the highlights:
- A television advertising campaign will begin in November.
- A new major “Hockey Challenge” will launch near the beginning of the regular NHL season. Our Last “Hockey Challenge” brought over 100,000 new and existing eBay members to the site.
- An exciting “experiential” online marketing campaign that focuses on the "thrill of the hunt" and the excitement of winning an auction. This will launch in October to capture the holiday rush earlier and more widely.
- We are organizing an online workshop for sellers on how to increase exposure for Canadian listings in “natural search” results (e.g., Google search results).
- Finally, the link to our Stores hub is now back on the home page. Check on the left navigation bar to see it.
We believe that eBay continues to offer unparalleled access to a robust global online marketplace, and we are very committed to keeping Canadian seller issues and related solutions as a top priority in our office.
Thank you again for your input. Please keep the comments coming - you can continue to reach us at sellereconomics@ebay.com. I will get back to you in late October with an update on some of the activities we’ve undertaken, as well as some more details relating to additional initiatives we are currently examining. In the meantime, thank you for selling on eBay – we very much appreciate your business.
Jordan Banks
Managing Director
eBay Canada
P.S. One of the most common misconceptions we noticed in all of our seller communications was regarding the relative difference for Canadian sellers when listing on eBay.com vs. eBay.ca. Please
click here to access a post providing clarification on this issue.
