Discussion with eBay.ca Country Manager, Friday, April 22, 1-2 PM ET

[carly@ebay.com]

Please join us here on Friday, April 22, from 1-2 PM ET for a general discussion and question and answer session with Gary Briggs, eBay.ca Country Manager. Gary will be here on behalf of the eBay.ca team to answer any questions you have about eBay.

Regards,
Carly

[marcopoloca]

where do i log on? please provice specific link!!

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

Hi. Thanks for joining us today. I am Gary Briggs and, as introduction, I am the Country Manager for eBay Canada. Please let me know if you have any questions or issues I may help with today.

To marcopoloca, this is the place. If you are in this link you are in. You can post from the link you see on the page. Welcome.

[audioshack]

Good afternoon Gary;

My question is a simple one that has been asked many times on this specific board - why is it that basic questions to pinks go unanswered on this board whereas questions posed on the US Powersellers board seem to be answered quite promptly?

Thanks.

[systemagic]

I just checked the world clock. It's about 7 minutes after one o'clock ET. Where's the new and imiproved customer service?

[marcopoloca]

hello, my question has to do with search on ebay.ca, shouldn't items that are available in canada have priority?

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To audioshack, my answer is that we have been seeking over the past few months to increase the presence of our Toronto staff on the boards. The US has a larger staff to answer questions, quite simply, and we try to compensate for that by now having our entire staff have time on the boards every week (that, by the way, is not common in every eBay country). So, I would hope that folks have seen that we are improving. That's our goal.

To systemagic, I apologize for being late. We had Chinese for our office lunch today and I went for seconds. Couldn't help myself.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To marcopoloca, we have debated this issue a lot as we look at what is best to grow the marketplace overall. Today, the search default is "items available to Canadians". Before last fall, for the previous 18 months, the default was items listed on ebay.ca. When we switched to "available to" Canadians, the market grew nearly 4% just due to that change. So, while it appears to disfavour Canadians, perhaps, it is growing Canadian trade on eBay. That, we all would think, is good.

[llee2]

Hi Gary,

Any upcoming programs in conjuction with Canada Post? The current "discount" offered to PowerSellers tends to be less than the regular discount most businesses can acquire directly.

Often when speaking to Canada Post, it is difficult to find anyone there with any knowledge of the eBay programs/discounts etc for PowerSellers. Should not CP and ebay.ca have links or contacts for dealing specifically with these issues?

Thanks,
Lincoln

[audioshack]

With all respect Gary, this board has been open since Septmeber of 2003 and has never had a level of pink presence that even closely equates with the USA board. I think it is fair to say that we have heard promises of increased visits before with no tangible results. Can you supply a timeline as to when you plan to have the bodies in place to give Cdn. Powersellers a reason to stay on this board?

Thanks.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To llee2, thank you very much for your question about Canada Post. We agree that we should continue to develop a close working relationship with Canada Post for the benefit of Canadian sellers. We are working on that right now and will have more to announce later this year.

[marcopoloca]

it definitely disvaour Canadian, my item was the only one on ebay.ca last year, now i have to compete with 50 other sellers/items.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To audioshack, do you have a specific question right now that I can help with? Are you perhaps asking for dedicated board hours?

I know the woman who runs the US PowerSeller board. We will talk with her about how they man that board and determine what would be the right answer for our office. Again, we are a smaller staff here. In any business there are benefits to scale.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To marcopoloca, I am certainly understanding that his increased competition is a challenge for you. Our goal, to be fair, is to increase Canadian trade -- from buyers and sellers. This is true in the US as well, which is why Canadian items are included in the search default on ebay.com, to which Canadians surely benefit. In every country around the world, we have found that when we develop the marketplace fully -- without any protectionism, so to speak -- trade accelerates to everyone's benefit.

[marcopoloca]

why not list items that's in Canada first, then for items available to Canada, and so forth...
otherwise we should just list our stuff on ebay.com and forget about ebay.ca because there'd be no difference as far as listing is concerned.

[audioshack]

Sorry, I thought I had asked a question.

This board got off to a great start when it opened but many Cdn. Powersellers have now abandoned it in favour of the US board. A common complaint was that many felt that this board was a mere afterthought with no real support for Powersellers.

IMHO, we all understand that this board cannot have dedicated staff assigned to it but that extreme is at polar opposites to the situation as it is today.

Just an opinion.

[eserafini]

Hi Gary! nice to "see you" here 🙂

Another problem with Canada Post is the coverage when a claim is put it. They ask for the bill indicating what we paid for the item not the price it was insured for because of the amount it was purchased for on eBay. In this case, if item was purchased by us for less and sells for more, we can't cover the price sold out of the claim amount.

The standard answer is this is how we deal with eBay. Somehow, this is not fair.

Elaine

[imagi.nation]

Hi, Gary:

Thanks for dropping by.

What is eBay.ca's plans for marketing towards Canadian buyers in the future? I see TV spots from time to time on American channels but I haven't seen any on any of the Canadian channels. The only eBay.ca ads I've seen so far are on Canadian internet sites. Any plans for TV commercials, radio spots or sponsored events? When I am out at business get togethers and introduce myself as an eBay seller I still get a lot of comments about how people are "too afraid" to shop on eBay as they are worried about fraud, learning the system, PayPal, and so on.

Cheers,
Ernie.

[marcopoloca]

yes, we do appreciate to be included in US listings. But we are talking about a population difference of 10 to 1. While one more listing in the US would not make much of a difference. 50 more listings in Canada is overwhelming.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To marcopoloca, the most important driver for buyers is a great deal and then selection. So, we have seen through the results from this search default that we are providing those benefits more strongly. Regarding showing Canadian items first, this places Country of origin above a buyer's desire for value.

Buyers can narrow their search to items from Canadians and, further, can add "country" to their search results and sort this way. So, built into the website today are the features that most speak to value and then address a way to narrow to your selection (whether by country or distance, for example).