w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
@mjwl2006 wrote:
I value your thoughts and insights on this as well, rose-dee. I don't, however, experience the same onslaught of error messages beleaguering buyers when they try to add my item to their ebay.com shopping cart because they can't add my item to their shopping cart at all on ebay.com and ebay.co.uk. Because I list in CAD. The errors you describe where the ebay.com buyer is told 'not available' are only for ebay.ca-created USD listings. A CAD listing won't display the Add to Cart option.
You're absolutely right -- this is something that we never thought to test for at the time (probably because most of us were listing in $US). I just tried it on one of your items (listed in $Cdn), and wasn't given a cart option.
And I'm steaming mad right now that this was never mentioned by Raphael during all those sessions when we were looking for a way to avoid buyers on .com seeing those "Not available" messages! What a ridiculous waste of time. Why the heck couldn't he have told us this, it's so simple really. It is certainly a better choice than either listing everything with IPR solely for that purpose, or listing everything on .com (his suggestions).
If this, on the other hand, is what he was really alluding to when claiming that Canadian sellers would see a benefit or at least a neutral result by listing in $Cdn, then why not come out and say it? Was eBay embarrassed or unwilling to admit to a simple solution for an egregious problem (because they never intend to fix it)?
This fact alone (and not eBay's propaganda) may be enough for me to consider listing everything in $Cdn. The trade-off is probably a rational one -- I think it's worse for a U.S. buyer to see those bizarre messages and get stuck in a useless cart than to see a price in $Cdn and the U.S. equivalent below it, even if it does look "foreign".
It still doesn't solve the cart problem per se, but if the cart doesn't work anyway, this is a better alternative than listing everything on .com. OMG, I can't believe I've spent over a year banging my head against this particular wall when at least an interim solution was there. Thank you 'mj' for the digression on eBay's checkout function. You've made my day (night). 
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Actually this was mentioned quite a while ago. MJ and I had a conversation about it in a thread that you were quite active in so I'm surprised that you don't remember. We were discussing why mj couldn't see the 'add to cart' button when she put one of her items in the cart and I mentioned that it was because her listings were in Canadian dollars.
I remember the thread, actually, and I remember 'mj' not being able to see the "Add to Cart" message. I do recall your mentioning that it was due to her listings being in $Cdn, but it was never concisely explained why that would have the effect we were seeing -- at least not as clearly as 'mj' has explained it above. I assumed 'mj' was just having a "glitch day", as well all do from time to time.
btw I thought that you were going to use ipr? Considering that you said changing to Canadian dollars would mean that you would lose money, I would think that ipr would be a better solution for you.
This isn't as simple a choice for me as you might imagine.
I ruminated over changing everything to IPR, and ultimately postponed, hoping somebody might come up with a better workaround to the cart problem. It seemed to me that IPR was a mean-spirited thing to do to my customer base. My buyers are "nice", even wonderful, always have been. I get perhaps one truly unpaid item in a year, if that. It's one area where I don't have issues. I like to give my buyers a few days to pay if they ask (and they usually do), although I imagine buyers are becoming much more accustomed to having to pay immediately since IPR was introduced on .com. Still, with my buyer base, changing to IPR is not a pleasant option.
Although listing in $Cdn will be a definite disadvantage to me, I'm now faced with a rock-and-a-hard-place decision if I want to avoid having my buyers see those nasty error messages. There are a number of reasons listing in $US has been a benefit for me. This is not only because virtually all of my buyers and competitors are American (trying to keep up with my U.S. competitors' prices while listing in $Cdn might be a bit of a nightmare), but also because I buy most of my raw materials and supplies from the U.S. using my $US Paypal account.
I never have to worry about currency exchange charges or the fluctuating $Cdn when I buy those materials and supplies -- a dollar is a dollar is a dollar when you deal only in $US. Changing to $Cdn would significantly affect my costs, especially if the $Cdn continues to fall.
The other thing that has helped a great deal is that I buy CP Paypal shipping labels with my US funds -- as the $Cdn has fallen, my shipping costs have effectively gone down, which has allowed me to continue to offer shipping subsidies and free upgrades to my U.S. buyers.
So it's either give up the advantages of listing in $US in order to eliminate confusion, give up the advantages of listing on .ca (and list on .com in order to have a functional cart), or give up the advantages of accommodating nice people who may want a few days to pay (and will return to buy from me again because of it). And as you know, stipulating IPR doesn't solve the cart problem, just makes the cart go away. On the other hand, IPR will be in place automatically in any event if I list on .com.
I honestly don't know at this point which choice is worse. It's hard to triage with such alternatives, and it really is a choice of the least of three evils for my situation. However it seems that listing in $Cdn is going to be obligatory at some point in the not too distant future, and I will be forced to make a decision by then, if I haven't already done so.
I think I'll take Scarlett O'Hara's advice and "think about it tomorrow".
" It seemed to me that IPR was a mean-spirited thing to do to my customer base. My buyers are "nice", even wonderful, always have been. I get perhaps one truly unpaid item in a year, if that. It's one area where I don't have issues. I like to give my buyers a few days to pay if they ask (and they usually do), although I imagine buyers are becoming much more accustomed to having to pay immediately since IPR was introduced on .com. "
This is one area we agree and it would never cross my mind to insist on "Immediate Payment Required".
My buyers do not deserve to be insulted and, from my perspective, this is what "Instant Payment Required" does.
I realize why eBay did it at the request of large sellers who wanted an easy streamline operation. However, those sellers could have used "Instant Payment Required" if important to them and let the rest of us make our own decisions based on our needs and marketing approach.
@mjwl2006 wrote:If we were asking, 'How can we make the ebay.com cart work for us?' the only answer he can give is 'list on ebay.com' but if the question is 'how can I stop my ebay.com buyers from getting incorrect and contradictory error messages when they try to buy things from me' the answer is 'list only in CAD and they won't be able to put that item in their cart at all'. It heads them off at the pass.
But that's the thing -- I clearly recall that motorcycle guy from Merritt, BC who was fuming (and rightly so) on a couple of the Wednesday Board Hours because he'd discovered his .com buyers were getting "not available" messages.
He ended up deducing that IPR was the fix for that particular problem (he was right of course), and said he was going to change all his listings to IPR because of it. However, I don't recall Raphael ever suggesting to him that he list in $Cdn exclusively. I think 'pj' is likely correct that R hadn't thought of the perhaps less unpleasant "workaround" of listing in $Cdn.
Oh, man, now I have to decide whether to give up all the benefits of listing in $US in order to avoid turning buyers off with those messages (which I'm certain many are encountering). I can't possibly know in advance which will lose me more of my buyers and sales -- listing in $Cdn, or listing with IPR?
I think I'll just go throw some cold water on my face and work on happier tasks today...
pierre lebel wrote:
"This is one area we agree"
___________________________________________________________________________________
Oh Pierre, surely it's not come to that, has it? Surely we've agreed on more than one thing in all this time!
How about chocolate ice cream -- everybody agrees chocolate ice cream is nice in summer. Can we shake on it and come out smiling? 
"How about chocolate ice cream -- everybody agrees chocolate ice cream is nice in summer. "
Unfortunately I have not had the pleasure of enjoying chocolate ice cream in over twenty years, ever since I was diagnosed with diabetes. 
And life does go on.
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