List in CDN decision must be stopped!

[bdmtrscooter]

For as long as I have been an eBay member, eBay has always recommended listing in USD to attract more customers. And they have been right on this. Correct. As in not off their rocker when they make this suggestion. And it is true. This is good advice. It is not broken, so why fix it? What is the purpose of this? Who's concern is it? 

If this happens, say goodbye to another customer. It's bad enough that we are paying fees on top of fees. And really I accept fees. But what I do not accept is a rule that distracts and discourages buyers. It's not a win win situation.

So let me put this out there because I really want this to stop and I hope I'm not alone. Who wants this to happen? A show of hands please!

[maggiebvintage2010]

What would be the point of having Canada Post shipping options on a US site?  And how would they work?  I think you are over-analyzing this.

Take a deep breath and let your shoulders down.

When people located in countries other than the USA list on ebay.com, they must use "generic" ie flat rate shipping options UNLESS they can get their packages directly into the USPS mail stream by using a forwarder such as ChitChats or by driving the parcels over the border themselves.

I think you could analyze the majority of your items into 4 classes:

Lettermail or LIght Packet, which have flat rates anyway - no problem there, on .com input a shipping cost for Domestic (USA) choosing economy shipping from outside US, choose the correct amount (OS Lettermail $2.95, Light Packet $5.70) and change to US currency.

Small Packets Air - one price anywhere in the US 0-250g = $8.36, 251g-500g = $11.07, 501g-1kg = $16.65

Tracked Packet    - one price anywhere in the US 0-250g =$16.77, 251g-500g =$17.47, 501g-1kg = $20.24 - approximate, varies with fuel surcharge; has PayPal discount

Expedited - choose zip code 90210 - up to 2 Kg = $28.69,  up to 2.5 Kg = $29.69 - change to US currency, apply to all USA locations; has PayPal discount

You are currently selling all over the world.  How many people in Zambia and Bangladesh have actually bought from you?  Do you really need to set up shipping for all these locations from .com?  You could list on .ca in Cdn$ using calculated shipping everywhere.  Or you could list on .ca for Canada and International, that would give accurate shipping costs.  Then list on .com for US destinations only.  You would need to closely track your sales so that one item did not get sold twice.

[pjcdn2005]

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@rroader94 wrote:

It's information.  My guess is you're probably alright with the .com generic words in Shipping?   If eBay is accommodating Canadian sellers on eBay.com in any way whatsover, couldn't they at least have Small Packet Air and Expedited Parcel in their drop-down of modes of shipping?

No that would help when it came to using PayPal shipping and be relative information to the Buyer.   Why  would they do anything on .com except accommodate US sellers.    End of debate.   Have fund with your flat rate parcels to worldwide countries.  They won't see consistency and accuracy relative to actual pricing......some will be guesswork on the high side with comments that Canadian postal rates are so expensive.

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I've listed on both .com and .ca for a number of years and I have found a way for it to work for me.  If it was a problem, I would have been listing strictly on .ca. As maggie pointed out, unless you use expedited or xpresspost, the cost is the same from Canada to any location in the U.S. so it's relatively simple to figure out what to charge to the U.S.  International is a bit trickier but for methods other than light packet, I usually base my price on somewhere in between the cost to the UK and Australia. It all balances out.

People from many different countries list on .com for various reasons and there is no calculated shipping for them so I don't feel entitled to have it for my listings. Sure it would be nice but that's not the way it is. Even countries that don't have their own sites do not have calculated shipping on .com or any other sites so why would the U.S. feel it necessary to set it up for us?

[jersey..authentix]

I ve been back and forth on this issue, and I think I've come to a solution that I may try.( I dont know if we can do this.) 

Are we allowed to list the same item On both .CA and .com? Or do they see this as a repeated item ?

This would finally for me anyways, put this discussion to bed. If not that's too bad. I think it would be great way to convince sellers to vote for or against moving to .com.

[tobyshitzu]

You can list the same on both, but they cant be available to the same market.  So .ca ones to Canada, .com ones to the USA, and intl ones on one or the other.  Which wouldnt prove anything since the listings wouldn't be offered to the same buyers.  If you can't fulfill both lsitings, there would be a risk of cancelling orders, which is very bad these days 

[maggiebvintage2010]

As I said in post #41 above:

Or you could list on .ca for Canada and International, that would give accurate shipping costs.  Then list on .com for US destinations only.  You would need to closely track your sales so that one item did not get sold twice.

[bdmtrscooter]

So, I have tried migrating my listings using the migration tool. And a total fail. They deleted all my listing after I thought I successfully migrated them. Now all my watchers are gone. 

So now I am back on the migration tool and my listings are there, but now I have to manually go into my drafts and fix the shipping method. Well there is no option for Canada post. Yes I understand that that reflects being on .com. But what is the point of giving us a migration tool to "help" us Canadians to list in US dollars because we all know that as soon as an american sees a listing in CDN it will appear that is a "Higher" price and they pass on it and go to a US priced listing because it speaks their language. eBay has promoted to list in US dollars be cause it attracts more buyers. And I agree with that. That's why I and so many others do it. That's the point. Now they take it away and try to make it easy for us to migrate when it is not. 

So now I have to pick a US supported shipping method and then have a clear note stating to ignore the posted shipping option because eBay is useless as **bleep** and to top it off end up having someone buy something from me only to complain the the shipping says this and that and hasn't taken the time to read my disclaimer and have a frustrated customer. 

**bleep** poor decision. Do right eBay make life easy again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ypdc_dennis]

*sigh*

[pjcdn2005]

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@bdmtrscooter wrote:

So, I have tried migrating my listings using the migration tool. And a total fail. They deleted all my listing after I thought I successfully migrated them. Now all my watchers are gone. 

So now I am back on the migration tool and my listings are there, but now I have to manually go into my drafts and fix the shipping method. Well there is no option for Canada post. Yes I understand that that reflects being on .com. But what is the point of giving us a migration tool to "help" us Canadians to list in US dollars because we all know that as soon as an american sees a listing in CDN it will appear that is a "Higher" price and they pass on it and go to a US priced listing because it speaks their language. eBay has promoted to list in US dollars be cause it attracts more buyers. And I agree with that. That's why I and so many others do it. That's the point. Now they take it away and try to make it easy for us to migrate when it is not. 

So now I have to pick a US supported shipping method and then have a clear note stating to ignore the posted shipping option because eBay is useless as **bleep** and to top it off end up having someone buy something from me only to complain the the shipping says this and that and hasn't taken the time to read my disclaimer and have a frustrated customer. 

**bleep** poor decision. Do right eBay make life easy again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Don't use USPS options as that will mislead buyers. You will have to use a flat rate but there are 3 options that you can use for shipping to the US:

Economy shipping from outside US

Standard shipping from outside US

Expedted shipping from outside US

For shipping to Canada and other countries you can use the generic Standard international, economy international etc.

[cumos55]

Canadian sellers who list in US dollars on eBay.com  must understand that

Domestic shipping is shipping to US destinations.  This cost is for shipping from Canada to the US

Shipping to Canadian destinations is international shipping ....   This cost is for shipping within Canada

I have some very mixed up listings....  so  seller be careful.

[cumos55]

I have SEEN  some very mixed up listings....  so  seller be careful.

[bdmtrscooter]

A flat rate isn't suitable because of all the different location scenarios.

Still a very poor decision on ebay's part. Went from pretty good with a few issues that were tolerable to complete confusion that will frustrate both sellers and buyers.

[rose-dee]

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@bdmtrscooter wrote:

A flat rate isn't suitable because of all the different location scenarios.

Still a very poor decision on ebay's part. Went from pretty good with a few issues that were tolerable to complete confusion that will frustrate both sellers and buyers.

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I agree with your second statement, but unfortunately we have to face the fact that $USD listings on .ca are gone forever.  It was great while it lasted.  I can't see eBay ever reversing that, so those of us who do better selling in $USD have little choice but to adjust to listing on .com, with all its particular issues for Canadians.  

With respect to shipping for a Canadian seller on .com, I use the "win-some/lose-some" principle of setting flat rates.  I set my Tracked Packet, Expedited and Xpresspost rates based on California, which is generally the furthest point I ship to, less about 15% to provide a "subsidy" to my buyers (partly paid for by the Canada Post discounts, partly by the currency exchange rate).  This rate then covers the whole of the U.S.  

In most cases if I'm shipping to a nearby State (such as New York or Masssachusetts), I'll refund to my buyer any excess beyond the actual shipping.  I realize this means I'm paying FVFs on the excess refunded, but it's a small amount which is more than made up for by buying my Canadian postage with my US dollars.  Apparently sellers have had those fees refunded by persisting with eBay Customer Service.  

Light and Small Packet USA are of course not an issue because rates don't change based on destination.

So it can be done, with some creative tweaking, but it is admittedly much more trouble than using the convenient shipping options on eBay.ca.  For some sellers with a good mix between Canadian, U.S. and overseas sales, the advantages to listing in $USD may not outweigh the benefits of having appropriate shipping options.  For me it has been worthwhile to list on .com because over 90% of my buyers are in the U.S.

[femmefan1946]

I don't watch my shipping costs very closely (having the advantage of using steeply discounted mint postage stamps), but at the end of the month I can add up all my shipping costs and compare them as a group to my S&H charges.

So far, I may actually be making money on Flat Rate Shipping or more likely breaking even when I add in packaging costs, which are easy to forget.

[bdmtrscooter]

Okay so some time has passed and what is a normally frequent selling item has absolutely no sales since this change. NOT IMPRESSED! I've had a few inquiries from US buyers expecting/demanding free shipping when my listing clearly states "No free shipping" I can't simply continue like this. This is driving the Prices down on my auction items as well. DONE!

[pjcdn2005]

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@bdmtrscooter wrote:

Okay so some time has passed and what is a normally frequent selling item has absolutely no sales since this change. NOT IMPRESSED! I've had a few inquiries from US buyers expecting/demanding free shipping when my listing clearly states "No free shipping" I can't simply continue like this. This is driving the Prices down on my auction items as well. DONE!

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Its possible that low sales have something to do with your low sales although many US sellers are also having low sales right now. But, there are other problems with your listings which may be causing the problems. 

In many cases, the only buyers that are seeing your listings are Canadians because you don't have shipping costs listed to any other countries. Its common for an item without a shipping cost not to show up at all on other sites and since most US buyers shop on .com, your listings are not always being displayed there.

One reason some Canadian sellers like to sell on .ca rather than in US$ on .com is because they want to use the shipping calculator on this site. But you aren't taking advantage of that in your listings other than for Canadians. You should be using the calculator or at least listing a flat rate so that buyers see your listings and so that they know how much it is going to cost. If I don't see a shipping cost listing, I usually move on to the next seller.  You're close to the border so if you are shipping to the US using USPS then you should be able to use a flat rate for the US as first class is one rate throughout the US. Or you could list on .com and use the calculator there and use a flat rate for Canadians.

You should not have the following (or any of the part in red) in your listings. The shipping costs listed must be the rate that the buyer pays and in the currency that the listing is in.

In your listings...

***Listings are in Canadian dollars but all other fees such as shipping and handling are in US and will be converted accordingly and rounded up if applicable***

Please contact me for accurate shipping costs as rates may vary from the displayed rate. 

[hlmacdon]

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@bdmtrscooter wrote:

I've had a few inquiries from US buyers expecting/demanding free shipping when my listing clearly states "No free shipping" I can't simply continue like this.

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As pjcdn2005 notes your shipping implementation is poorly setup (well not even to be precise) for international locations. When you do this you are driving away potential buyers and confusing the ones that are genuinely interested. If you want consistent sales buyers need to have certainty in what they will be paying and very very few will actually contact a seller unless you are the only option.

Your disclaimer heavy listing descriptions are likely not helping either as it comes off as the proverbial angry seller. Consider removing text like "all sales are final" since that doesn't apply to anything being sold here and is an immediate turn off for any buyer. Most of what you are stating doesn't need to be communicated to the buyer, they just need to be able to see the appropriate shipping rate. It is doing you more harm than it is protecting you. 

[femmefan1946]

I'm surprised that someone with over 1400 Selling feedback does not seem to understand how to set up your international shipping.

My first concern, since you sell high value electronic items, is that you do not Block any countries. Did you know you sell to Togo and Mongolia?

On your Sell Your Item form, there is a link which allows you to restrict your sales to countries where you can be fairly sure your shipments will be delivered.

Then on the SYI form, under Add Shipping Details-> International Shipping choose from the drop down box Calculated Shipping.

Then Choose Custom Location -> USA

Now choose the Canada Post service you plan to use.

Now your US customers will see your items in Search AND will see the exact cost of shipping to their doorsteps. No more demands for Free Shipping.

Now once again Choose Custom Location-> and pick the countries you will ship too.

Do NOT choose USA here.

Do NOT choose North and South America.

Now choose the Canada Post service you plan to use.

Now customers in those countries will see your items in Search AND will see the exact cost of shipping to their doorsteps.

Note this specifically: 

Make sure you specify a shipping service for Australia, United Kingdom and United States - otherwise, your listing won't show up in search results on those sites

You can use Choose Custom Location to set up various parameters, for example you might be content with Small Packet Air to Germany but want to use Tracked Packet to Australia.

A few lines later you can set up your Exclusion List. Mine only includes Brazil, Mexico, Israel and Italy. The customers are no problem, but the customs and postal services are terrible.  You may want to exclude Nigeria for example.

So that's a start.

Best Wishes.