Considering to switch my listing from USD$ to CAD$ because of conversion fees... Need advice!

[vip-marketplace]

Hey guys, 

My situation:

My customers are pretty much 50% Canadians and 50% Americans (to make the matter more complicated).

All my listings are in USD$.

My problem:

I’m really annoyed at having PayPal’s conversion fees paid twice when I sell to Canadians. Once by the buyers (who sometimes feel cheated for having to pay a larger CAD$ amount than what was shown in the listing) and then a second time by me when I deposit the USD$ funds in my Canadian bank account. 

So… What if instead of listing my items in USD$, I listed them in CAD$?

That way, there would be no conversion fees when my buyer is Canadian and still only one conversion fee when the buyer is American.

Breakdown of fees if I understand this correctly,

Listing in USD$:

Canadian buyers:

3,5% fees when buyers pays (CAD$->USD$)

3,5% fees when transferring funds in bank account (USD$->CAD$)

American buyers:

3,5% fees when transferring funds in bank account (USD$->CAD$)

Listing in CAD$:

Canadian buyers:

None!

American buyers:

3,5% fees when buyers pays (USD$->CAD$)

Furthermore, I also suspect that having my listing in CAD$ would attract more Canadian buyers.

On the other hand, I’m worried about the impact on my Americans buyers.

Americans are pretty self-centered and I bet most of them wouldn’t even know what a CAD$ is and would probably overlook my listings and pick a USD$ one…

So I'm trying to ponder what is better between:

CAD$ listings : ~66% less conversion fees.

                         Possible boost in Canadian sales.

                         Hard hit on my American sales.

USD$ listings:  Absurdly high occurrence of conversion fees (twice when buyers are Canadians)

                         Relatively high volume of American buyers.

Did anyone experimented with this already and could share his findings?

Or if anyone can provide his opinion on the subject I would be extremely grateful!

[tch_ca]

This may not apply to you but selling for a few years, I've learned which products have a higher sell frequency in which markets. So I list some stuff in one currency and some in others. If you're selling redundant products you can double the listings, one in CDN and one in USD as long as the listings differ slightly in the description. If you really want to push the Ebay rule envelope. you can always list the same product twice (one in each currency). You'll just have be cognoscente of your inventory and remove as required. 

The multiple currency is also a pain when it comes to fees. I wish Ebay would streamline the accounts so that the fees and FVs are are managed separately by currency with two separate invoices per account per currency. 

[vip-marketplace]

Those are great ideas but being relatively new here, I'm struggling HARD with my maximum selling limit (the $ amount, not listing count). To the point of having to lower my profit margin on some items to try squeezing in a few more... But for someone without this constraint this could be a way out. I could understand if you would prefer to keep that to yourself but I would love to hear about your findings on what sells better (or at a higher price) in CAD$ vs USD$.

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

A few years ago, I switched most of my listings from US$ to Cdn$.

I also switch my eBay billing currency to Cdn$ at the same time

It is the BEST move a Canadian seller if half or more of the sames volume comes from Canada.

It is a WIN WIN for both buyer and seller

[tch_ca]

---

@vip-marketplace wrote:
Those are great ideas but being relatively new here, I'm struggling HARD with my maximum selling limit (the $ amount, not listing count). To the point of having to lower my profit margin on some items to try squeezing in a few more... But for someone without this constraint this could be a way out. I could understand if you would prefer to keep that to yourself but I would love to hear about your findings on what sells better (or at a higher price) in CAD$ vs USD$.

---

I'm not sure I can answer that since I don't know your market. I deal with coins and collectibles so my knowledge is specific to what I sell. With respect to the limits, call Ebay and try to have them raised. Complain that they are limiting your ability to sell. If you push hard enough, they will raise it for you.

[vip-marketplace]

I love you Pierre! This pretty much confirm what I thought. Do you remember noticing a big drop in your American sales?

[vip-marketplace]

Thanks tch_ca! I already call them once a month and so far they've always given me 75% more. But that's not enough. I am now selling more on kijiji, amazon.ca and amazon.com than on eBay at the moment... Do you think that I can get more than 1 raise per month if I insist?

[pierrelebel]

"Do you remember noticing a big drop in your American sales? "

My circumstances were different.

I retired.

I shifted the emphasis of my products (postage stamps) to Canadian stamps of greater interest to Canadian buyers.

At the end of the day, buyers save the 2.5% conversion fee, I save the 2.5% conversion fee, Everybody is happy.

Now, I still list foreign stamps in US$ and the majority of those sales go to American or overseas buyers.

[tch_ca]

---

@pierrelebel wrote:

A few years ago, I switched most of my listings from US$ to Cdn$.

I also switch my eBay billing currency to Cdn$ at the same time

It is the BEST move a Canadian seller if half or more of the sames volume comes from Canada.

It is a WIN WIN for both buyer and seller

---

I agree, most Canadian sellers should manage their accounts in CAD unless you're predominantly serving the foreign markets. You will face a conversion in fees for items sold in USD if your account is CAD.

[tch_ca]

---

@vip-marketplace wrote:
I love you Pierre! This pretty much confirm what I thought. Do you remember noticing a big drop in your American sales?

---

How you manage your account (in CAD or USD) has no bearing on listing view ability. The currency you list in traditionally did. In the past (even Ebay claims this) listing in USD would yield better search and listing results on Ebay.com. As the world sites are slowly becoming more tightly integrated, I suspect it will matter less down the road. From my experience, I get very poor results listing coins in CAD that are destined for foreign markets so I list those in USD only. Also it depends what you do with your proceeds and what currency you want those in. If you're constantly pulling money from Paypal into a Canadian Bank, you're loosing on the exchange.

[femmefan1946]

The potential customer is very important.

Basically unless you are selling only (or mostly) to Canadians, you are better off selling in US dollars.

Keep in mind that everyone in the world understands the US dollar and Americans, the largest economy in the world, understand nothing else.

If you expect to export it, list it in American funds.

[pierrelebel]

"....destined for foreign markets so I list those in USD only. "

That is the key to it all as I do the same.

Know your products and know your markets.

There is nothing wrong selling in both currencies if that is what the market demands.

"How you manage your account (in CAD or USD) has no bearing on listing view ability. '

While your "billing currency" does not affect viewing of your listings, it is important to your bottom line.

Whenever a seller can avoid conversion.... the better!

[pierrelebel]

"In the past (even Ebay claims this) listing in USD would yield better search and listing results on Ebay.com. "

That may have been true a long time ago for products purchased mostly by American buyers.

Several years ago, prior to my retirement and before eBay came up with the "duplicate" rules, I regularly listed identical items in both Cdn$ and US$ (whenever I had large quantities available for sale).

Most of my US$ listings clearly stated "Canadian buyers can purchase an identical item in Cdn$ from my eBay store".  Listings in Cdn$ stated "Buyers wishing to buy in US$ can find identical items priced in US$ in my eBay store"

Thousands of listings and results were inconclusive.  Americans at times were buying in Cdn$ despite having the opportunity to buy in US$ and save the conversion while Canadian buyers would purchase in US$ wasting their money on conversion.

That is when I learned one of the most important lesson a seller can learn on eBay:

Buyers do not read.

[recped]

There are other things that you can do which might impact your decision of US$ vs CA$

If you have a US based bank account and use a third-party to process your conversions you can reduce your expenses substantially, down to 1% or less.

This won't help your Canada buyers but unless they only buy from Canadian sellers listing in CAD they should be used to the slightly higher final cost when making an eBay purchase in US Dollars.

Nothing is certain but it does look like the US Dollar is headed for an extended period of modest strength, this means increased revenue for Canadians who list in US Dollars without having to do any price adjustments, might be enough to cover annual increases in shipping costs.

[melissasminis]

I think most people don't care what currency it is when buying, they will see the amount in their own currency, and that's what people go by. I bet a lot of buyers don't even realize they're paying a conversion fee to Paypal on top of the conversion rate itself, I know I didn't realize for a long time, I just noticed the amount wasn't the same as on Ebay. Why would an American be upset to buy an item in CDN, our money is worth less, so it's better for them, is it not? It's the seller who gets dinged because they have to transfer the funds to their bank account, that's why this is more of an issue for sellers. When I was selling in USD, I thought it was better because the USD is worth more, and most of my buyers are from USA. After a while, I noticed all these conversion fees, and in the long run, I didn't make more money by selling in USD. I also thought it wasn't fair to my Canadian buyers to have to pay in USD and pay conversion rates and fees to buy something from within Canada. Ever since I switched everything to CDN years ago, I've never had a problem, my sales never went down, and most of my customers are still from USA. I would never go back to selling in USD. Make sure if you're selling in CDN, you are also being billed on Ebay in CDN.

[pjcdn2005]

Listing in USD$:

Canadian buyers:

3,5% fees when buyers pays (CAD$->USD$)

3,5% fees when transferring funds in bank account (USD$->CAD$)

American buyers:

3,5% fees when transferring funds in bank account (USD$->CAD$)

Listing in CAD$:

Canadian buyers:

None!

American buyers:

3,5% fees when buyers pays (USD$->CAD$)

I'm not sure if your figures are correct but since no one else has mentioned it, perhaps I'm just confused.

The conversion rate is 2.5%, not 3.5%.

If you list in $U.S. dollars and a Canadian buys your item, the buyer pays the conversion fee, not you.  You do have to pay that fee when you transfer the money to a Canadian account but you don't pay the fee twice as you have indicated.

If you list in Cdn $ and an American pays, they pay the transaction fee so if you listed in Cdn, you would not pay any conversion fee at the time of sale or when you transferred the money to your bank.