eBay.com Advises Canadian Media Sellers to Adjust Pricing

[magisterrex]

Link

Thanks for nothing. On a $20 item that costs a minimum of $11.00~$12.00 (with packing costs, with the item weighing over 500k/under 1kg) to ship, where's the profit after raw costs?

I'm not seeing how eBay.ca will grow under this kind of policy, excepting certain items which ship at low-cost. Reduce fees or get rid of Best Match. Since .com won't kill Best Match, eBay.ca management will need to reduce fees for listing on .ca or watch the site slowly pass into obscurity.

JMHO.

[recped]

I'm not seeing how eBay.ca will grow under this kind of policy

Actually I see lots of growth for media listings on .ca, all the non-US media sellers who have been listing directly to .com will have to find another site. eBay.ca is the obvious choice for "backdoor" access.

Of course Ira Grossman shows just how blind he is with his recent announcement.

[magisterrex]

all the non-US media sellers who have been listing directly to .com will have to find another site. eBay.ca is the obvious choice for "backdoor" access.

Well, that might happen in the short term, but lack of sales will shut those listings down pretty quickly. If a Canadian seller is being buried on page 116 by Best Match due to the shipping costs she'll be shutting things down as soon as her bottom line starts redlining.

And, as I've already stated, hiding the shipping within the price in the media category is a win/lose scenario, with the seller squarely within the LOSE column.

[recped]

It's likely different in the games category, for myself I don't expect any change at all, my shipping charges haven't changed so I don't see why my search ranking will change.

Except for the fee avoiders my shipping charges have always been higher than US based sellers.

Just because Ira makes his silly recommendation to include shipping in the selling price doesn't mean I will do it.

The best route as always is to avoid selling products where there are 116 pages of matches in a search result.

[magisterrex]

The best route as always is to avoid selling products where there are 116 pages of matches in a search result.

LOL. Good advice! :^O

Regardless, Canadian media sellers will experience either a sales slowdown or a profit decrease. Or both.

[jeffglobal]

A "slowdown"??? How about the freaken closing of one's business!!!

[cumos55]

Ended my store on eBay.com on September 15.

New store on eBay.ca on September 16.

I had close to 900 books on with 400 books in Canadian history. Over 85 % of Canadian history is listed by Canadian sellers.

On eBay.ca I can ship using Canada Post... Buyers pays actual postage... no adjustment.

By the end of October my store will have a theme of Canada... Most everything ... Canadian history, hockey, and other items such as artwork, art glass and pottery.

I have close to 500 books Canadian history... ready to be listed... art glass, pottery lots of good Canadian inventory.

I list worldwide... no problems.. I have buyers worldwide, and in the US... If they want it they pay full shipping

And if eBay puts maximums in Canada... I am ready... more ready with listing on eBay.ca than I would ever have been on eBay.com

and remember under Best Match... non-Canadian sellers show up last in a search report on ebay.ca.

I can see the day when USPS drops the media mail option... mainly because of operational deficits... then what??

Canada Post used to have a book rate... ended that option in the 1950's... Lots of screaming then ... but nobody today knows that bit of history

[jeffglobal]

MIRIAM: As a "Media" seller, are we being FORCED to update our listings (yet again) or are we okay to continue setting shipping rates as we see fit for our business model??

I sell VHS videos, and to the USA for standard air mail I charge $8.75 US.

The actual cost is $8.55 CDN plus taxes from Canada Post.

That costing does NOT include:

A) packaging, which is a bubble mailer, and for high-priced sealed niche videos that are collectors items I will use boxes and / or bubble wrap to ensure no damages

B) taxes -- yes, it's a formal business

C) handling -- it takes a ton of time to run my shop, yet I take no fee's, unlike some other sellers that I know do.

As sellers we already build eBay and PayPal fee's into the costing of our items as best as we can -- it's the cost of doing business. There is ZERO room to build shipping fee's into our items cost as well. How does eBay expect us to survive???

Miriam, as Canadians are we forced to lead in with a $3 shipping option to the USA??

Even if the answer is NO, why are we punished if we chose not to (eg. less exposure via lower rankings in Best Match, etc.)??? Doesn't sound like eBay's proving much of a "choice" !!

[jeffglobal]

Regarding Ira Grossman's FREE shipping "suggestion", is eBay re-imbursing me for my costs to Canada Post if I choose to not charge shipping to my buyers as a means of attracting them?

Every year our eBay fee's rise. Every year Canada Post fee's rise. Traffic to the site is on the decline, which means less sales for sellers. No disrespect to Ira Grossman's suggestions, but who in power had the balls to suggest I eat more fee's by now taking zero $ in to cover my shipping costs?

Should the goal of a seller not be to make money, or do I have my eye on the wrong prize??

Did eBay forget that I'm a CUSTOMER? Sellers are YOUR customer. Buyers are SELLERS customers, not eBay's. Somebody forgot to take care of the sellers when implementing these BS changes. I'm sick of learning about eBay's changes, and I'm sick of ranting about it. I guess when eBay themselves run me out of business (which I'm not conviced is not the agenda) will be the time that somebody finally admits that they goofed and tarnished the reputation that eBay worked so hard to build over the years.

I've been a seller since '02, and NEVER have things been as bad as they are today.

eBay should be ashamed of itself.

[jeffglobal]

Can somebody please clarify????????????????????????????

[miriam@ebay.com]

Hi jeffglobal,

The shipping caps in the Media category are being enforced on eBay.com only. If you list on eBay.com directly, you will have to adhere to their rules.

The shipping caps are NOT in effect on eBay.ca. You are free to set your shipping prices as you see fit. However, we do want you to be aware of what sellers south of the border are being asked to do, and adjust your business model to compete if at all possible. For some sellers, it may not be possible - only you know your business model well enough to know if this will work for you.

We know that what US buyers consider to be "reasonable shipping" is less than Canadia sellers’ actual costs to ship - sometimes significantly less. However, we believe that by offering US buyers at least one shipping option that they deem reasonable, Canadian sellers may increase their overall sales and conversion.

I hope this clarifies.

Thanks,

Miriam

[jeffglobal]

Thank you Miriam. It would have been impossible to adapt and turn a profit if I had to reduce shipping to $3. Wish we could extend more cost effective shipping options, but I'm sure Canada Post will do just the opposite and increase prices on us next year yet again.

[lina-mallows]

miriam- we all understand that you work for eBay.
PLEASE- think for a moment the absolute nonsense of creating a model based on what BUYERS consider to be reasonable.

WHEN DO BUYERS EVER WANT TO PAY MORE FOR ANYTHING?

We all wish gasoline were less than $1 per litre. SO WHAT?
The oil companies do not sell their product based on customer's expectations!

Ho many people out there would like to purchase a new automobile for less than $10,000. GET REAL! When did GM, or FORD, or any other manufacturer sell their automobiles based on their customer's expectations of LOWER prices?

Just because US buyers have indicated that they feel that SOME prices for shipping are MORE than they are willing to pay- SO WHAT!

Let these buyers shop elsewhere!

Dictating a shipping price- WITH THE CLEAR UNDERSTANDING THAT THIS MAY BE LESS THAN THE REAL COST TO THE SELLER IS A RECIPE FOR DISASTER!

If eBay simply allowed the items to be listed, WITH ANY SHIPPING RATE CLEARLY stated- the BUYER has the choice to say yes- or no- to those STATED CHARGES. What is wrong with this model?

It is one thing for eBay to permit choices, and to have them clearly stated. It is quite another thing to dictate a MAXIMUM charge for shipping. eBay does NOT ship these products. eBay is moving from the twilight zone of claiming they are simply venue to something far more insidious.

[canadaspatchking]

I'm a buyer of eBay services, I think that fee's are too high, traffic is too low and communication between myself and my seller is atrocious.

Will eBay now lower my fees and increase traffic to the site to a level that _I_ , as a buyer of your venue services, find appropriate?