Discussion with eBay.ca Country Manager, Friday February 18, 1-2 PM ET

[carly@ebay.com]

Please join us here on Friday, February 18, 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

[carly@ebay.com]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for joining us today for a discussion with Gary Briggs. Gary has been the Country Manager for eBay.ca for 1 year, and before that was at eBay.com as Head of Consumer Marketing. Hope you have lots of good questions today for Gary to answer.

Let's get started!

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

Thanks Carly. One of the goals of this time is as a follow up to Bill Cobb's Town Hall yesterday. So if you have any additional questions or thoughts from Bill's meeting, please let me know.

[cestcela]

Hi Gary, you probably already know that Canada has 2 official languages (english & french) can we expect eBay.ca to offer a french service soon?

[sphinx64_com]

Good after noon Sir, I am SPHINX64_COM Canadian Silver Power and would like to know if you think that it's normal that if buyers search for my eBay Store from any other 22 world wide eBay sites other than eBay.ca search result comes up as " This Store Dont Exist " ?

[ilovemybabybrandon]

Hi Gary,

I have a question that has been on my mind a while.
Why does ebay allow people to charge $.01 for an item and then $15 shipping? Does ebay not see this as fee avoidance? I have seen many people do this and It bothers me that I have to pay a final value fee for everything I sell and they don't.

Thanks,
Dyana aka ilovemybabybrandon

[authors*auctions]

Good afternoon, Carly! Hello there, Gary.

Very new here, so I decided to take some time to drop in and attend this meeting.
Not many questions as yet. Too new for that. Learning from what others are doing.
Thank you for arranging this meeting.

Author.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

Hi cestcela- Thanks for your question about a French language site for Canada. We are actively looking at this now and I agree that we should work toward building a site that makes it easier for French-speaking Canadians to buy and sell on eBay.

[canadianmodegirl]

Hi Gary - great to see you here!

My question is about confirmed addresses in PayPal. Canadians can apparently get confirmed addresses now, but the PayPal site does not offer clear instructions on how to do so (I spent some time there the other day trying to figure it out as I am not confirmed). Can .ca work with PayPal on this? Having a confirmed shipping address as a buyer, and shipping to a confirmed address as a seller are big issues for many of us.

[able-wizard1957]

One half of the Able-wizard team here....just watching and learning.

Steph will be along fairly soon and she will have questions I'm sure.



Bud

[knarfdotca]

Hi Gary, Hi Carly. I have to go but just wanted to say Hi before I did. Hope all goes well. I know that Gary will take all of your concerns seriously and eBay will be improved because of it. I hope you get some great feedback.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

Hi Sphinx64_com for your question about stores. You're correct that as of now you cannot search stores globally. We are currently working on a project to allow cross-national search and should have that available later this year.

[ilovemybabybrandon]

I also have another question.

Why do american sellers not see Canada as being part of North America.

Can ebay change that option as I bid on items thinking thats the shipping price then they want 3 times the amount as they think it is REALLY much harder to ship to Canada. (It's just an extra green sticker!!) Can ebay teach american sellers that selling to Canada isn't hard.

[sphinx64_com]

2nd. question for mister Briggs, Sir, i am a self employed person. I work 16 to 17 hours a day, 7 days a week, 360 days a year. I purchase directly at the source, no distributors, no wholesalers. I spend ten of thousands of USD to purchase these toys and in 2003 i made only $1264.00CDN of profit for the whole year ? Dont forget i make 3 weeks in 1 ! Meaning $8.11CDN per week ! Do you think that this is normal ? Why did eBay gave us a hick for FVF and eBay Stores subscription ? We work for our selves, we are not on eBay pay roll but the way eBay is set now it's as if we work for you.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

Hi ilovemybabybrandon --

The question of shipping costs does come up a lot. As Bill mentioned yesterday (and echoed by Griff), as eBay we don't want to regulate shipping. What I see is that sellers who are perceived to overcharge for shipping do more poorly over time than those that charge a more fair price.

What we try to do is to educate buyers and sellers. For buyers, check all the details first. The shipping costs. The feedback of the seller. The particulars of the item.

For the sellers, see what other sellers are charging and you'll find that the power of the market will dictate what success you have over time.

[cestcela]

Thanks for the reply Gary, it's good to hear that eBay.ca is *finally* considering doing something for francophones after all this time 🙂

[o*pillar]

HiGary! Hi Carly! Hi Frank! Nice to see everyone

I am dropping in for a few minutes at lunch to say hello and read some of the questions. I do find i learn so much from others here.

Thanks Deb

[sphinx64_com]

If i call the operator of any country and ask for a specific name and give a specific state or province, the operator will give me your phone number. But when a buyer search for my eBay Store it says i dont exist. This is not fair ! what is the purpace of having a ebay Store if we are no reacheable when a buyer type our specific store name. I have my store since 1 year now it it cost me money to have it more than what it brings in profit and you gave us a hick.

[able-wizard1957]

Will eBay.ca be doing the road trip again this year? If so when will the annoucements be made and will there be an opportunity for introductions/meet and greet?

Bud

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

Hi canadianmodegirl -

Regarding confirmed addresses for PayPal, we are currently working on building a set of data that will allow us to confirm addresses throughout Canada. This will allow us to offer (through PayPal) Seller Protection - SPP -(to match the $1250 Buyer Protection Program already in place). This is on its way some time this year, according to some recent discussions we've had with PayPal. We very much recognize this is important to Sellers. When we launch SPP we also will improve the instructions on the site as you mention.