eBay

holdmygold2 · ‎08-23-2014

Anybody notice that their TRS status on eBay.com disappeared?

holdmygold2 · ‎08-25-2014

I only know what people tell me time and time again. "Bought an eBay item / Got nailed for $$$ at the door / I'll never do that again........."

In any case, the real question was/is " Why are Canadians not buying on eBay?"

There has to be a reason why Canadian don't buy on par with the US, and it may or may not be thew way get nailed for taxes at the door.

pierrelebel · ‎08-25-2014

"Why are Canadians not buying on eBay?""

????

Canadians DO buy on eBay. Over one billion dollar a year. That is a lot of money.

Some of those purchases are from Canadian sellers and most from foreign sellers, typically Americans.

eBay's overall volume (sales by sellers) including all sites increased at a rate of about 10% a year for many years (a bit more or a bit less some years) but the overall growth has been relatively steady.

The rate of increase for e-commerce has exceeded eBay's for years as more and more large retailers have been increasing their online marketing efforts. I know from your previous post that you do not want to discuss business outside eBay but, in the real world, eBay is only one of many venues available to buyers - in Canada and internationally.

Please allow me to rephrase your question:

- Why don't you buy on eBay?

- Why don't you sell on eBay?

holdmygold2 · ‎08-25-2014

I don't understand your questions.

I do buy and sell on eBay.

Canadians account for about 5% of my sales.

holdmygold2 · ‎08-25-2014

May I add, pierrelebel: You are the one who claimed that Canadians don't buy much here when you posted that we account for 1% of Ebay's revenue.

Then, in a complete flip-flop you started posting that Canadians are very busy here.

Seems to me you're arguing for the sake of arguing and will simply counter every point regardless of what it is.

Can't have it both ways.

rose-dee · ‎08-25-2014

@holdmygold2 wrote:
I only know what people tell me time and time again. "Bought an eBay item / Got nailed for $$$ at the door / I'll never do that again........."

Remember that part of the sting at the door is Canada Post collecting its pound of flesh for collecting the pound of flesh we have to pay to the federal government.

The CP charge is (currently) $9.95, so on a $50 to $75 item bought from the US, with GST/HST plus the CP fee, it can add up to a charge of $15 or $20, making the experience less than pleasant. On a higher value item, the $9.95 charge plus the GST/HST doesn't seem so disproportionate.

Perhaps a lot of the people you've spoken to are either lower value or first-time cross border purchasers who either don't understand the system or didn't check out the details before buying. There isn't much that sellers or eBay can do about that. Not that eBay hasn't tried, I grant them that. Even though eBay posts a notice on listings warning the buyer to check on Customs/Taxes before purchasing internationally, I doubt very many people bother.

rose-dee · ‎08-25-2014

@holdmygold2 wrote:
May I add, pierrelebel: You are the one who claimed that Canadians don't buy much here when you posted that we account for 1% of Ebay's revenue.
Then, in a complete flip-flop you started posting that Canadians are very busy here.

I didn't read those posts that way. Canadians do account for only about 1% of eBay's revenue, but that still adds up to a cool billion. The real problem is, from the point of view of Canadian sellers, that Canadians are spending most of that money buying from anyone but Canadian sellers (mostly American, as Pierre mentioned).

So Canadians are very busy, but unfortunately not busy buying from other Canadians.

You were absolutely right earlier when you said that eBay.ca needs to do more to encourage that. I can't recall seeing any effort in that regard, let alone a significant marketing campaign. Can anyone else?

It may be that eBay is quite happy to let Canadian shoppers continue to buy from US sellers on .com -- they have nothing much to lose, after all, since most of their sellers (i.e. seller fees) are in the US.

holdmygold2 · ‎08-25-2014

Do Canadians buy less on eBay than Americans do?

When pierreleble posted that we only account for 1% of eBay's revenue I did take it to mean that Canadians are not buying on eBay.

I didn't question the statement at all because that is my experience exactly.

There is a sense that MOST of my buyers should be Canadian and yet they account for about 5% of my sales.

To me it just follows that something is "off" but I really don't know what it is and the tax thing was my best guess.

mr.elmwood · ‎08-25-2014

@holdmygold2 wrote:
May I add, pierrelebel: You are the one who claimed that Canadians don't buy much here when you posted that we account for 1% of Ebay's revenue.

Then, in a complete flip-flop you started posting that Canadians are very busy here.

Seems to me you're arguing for the sake of arguing and will simply counter every point regardless of what it is.

Can't have it both ways.

Cdn's spend a large amount per capita buying on eBay. The total population is small. $1 billion is .5% of eBay's gross income.

Cdn's as a group cannot buy much as there is not enough of us. There are ten times as many Americans. I do believe that what Pierre is saying, that as a comparable size group, we buy a lot. Our group is small.

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rose-dee · ‎08-26-2014

@holdmygold2 wrote:

There is a sense that MOST of my buyers should be Canadian and yet they account for about 5% of my sales.
To me it just follows that something is "off" but I really don't know what it is and the tax thing was my best guess.

My own sense is that Canadians aren't as aware of eBay as Americans are, and especially not aware of eBay.ca and the fact that Canadian sellers' products are easily accessible. Why that is exactly is a matter of conjecture. As I mentioned above, I think there has always been a preference amongst Canadians for buying from the U.S. if they can, which may partially account for it.

I honestly don't think the tax issue is at the root of it. Not a lot of Canadian sellers need to charge taxes (if their business is under a certain dollar threshold). As I said, I've puzzled over this for years. Even offering free shipping within Canada has made almost no difference.

I feel as you do -- that my sales to Canadians should be a lot higher percentage of my business, yet they never have been. And I have to say that I can't recall eBay ever making any marketing effort to Canadians on behalf of Canadian sellers. Why that is, I have no idea either.

pierrelebel · ‎08-26-2014

"I honestly don't think the tax issue is at the root of it. "

Rose-Dee I totally agree with you.

"If someone can't see the forest for the trees, they get so caught up in small details that they fail to understand the bigger picture."

Often on these boards, the optics are too narrow. Some Canadian sellers identify eBay as "online selling" or "e-commerce". It is not. eBay is only a venue used by many Canadians to purchase and/or sell goods.

It is a substantial amount of money (over one billion dollars a year) but not that much when you look at the big picture.

Fifteen years ago, you found on eBay sellers coming to sell their wares without any prior business or mail order experience. It was relatively easy. eBay made it relatively easy. Soon eBay added payment systems (first Billpoint, then PayPal) allowing individual sellers to receive credit card payments online, within minutes of completing a sale! It was so darn easy. Many fell in love with eBay and... still are despite the fact eBay has changed, the majority of its sellers have changed and it now attracts many different types of buyers.

One cannot look at eBay without taking a look at the larger picture: the economy at large and the growing penetration of online business (e-commerce) at the retail and wholesale level. Most Canadians still have a job and spend their money buying goods. They still buy from retailers in shopping mails and big box stores. And they buy online.

And yes many Canadians resent coming to eBay.ca or other Canadian sites and be charged in US dollars by other Canadians. Rightly or wrongly, many see that as greed.

It is amazing how the percentage of Canadian buyers increases quickly once a seller changes the pricing structure to Canadian dollars instead of American greenbacks.

To my way of thinking, more Canadian buyers are lost when a Canadian seller asks a Canadian buyer to pay in US$ and then pay the postage in US$ than by charging consumption taxes (GST/HST) which most Canadians expect to pay (except when they buy at flea market and garage sale). eBay no longer is an online garage sale.

holdmygold2 · ‎08-26-2014

It is amazing how the percentage of Canadian buyers increases quickly once a seller changes the pricing structure to Canadian dollars instead of American greenbacks.

To my way of thinking, more Canadian buyers are lost when a Canadian seller asks a Canadian buyer to pay in US$ and then pay the postage in US$ than by charging consumption taxes (GST/HST) which most Canadians expect to pay (except when they buy at flea market and garage sale). eBay no longer is an online garage sale.

That's an interesting comment.

I see you sell stamps pirlable and so I assume this has worked for stamp selling.

I have to wonder if it would work for other categories as well.

It would be easy to sell via 2 ids: One on .com and one on .ca, but before putting that effort in some support for your statement would be required.

I'd be willing to give it a try as Canadians buyers could make my day.

holdmygold2 · ‎08-27-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:

"If someone can't see the forest for the trees, they get so caught up in small details that they fail to understand the bigger picture."

I am still wondering if you piearabee have an answer to my question above.

Your comment was meant as an insult to those you do not agree with, so perhaps you could elaborate on your advice.

TY

pierrelebel · ‎08-27-2014

"...have an answer to my question above."

Post #50 provides a comprehensive answer to the question, from my perspective. Is there another specific question?

holdmygold2 · ‎08-27-2014

Yes. Of course.

I found your comment interesting enough to be willing to try it out, but do you have some support for your statement: ???????

"""" It is amazing how the percentage of Canadian buyers increases quickly once a seller changes the pricing structure to Canadian dollars instead of American greenbacks.""""""""

I see you sell stamps pirlable and so I assume this has worked for stamp selling or you would not have posted it, but that does not mean it would work for other categories.

pierrelebel · ‎08-27-2014

If I knew what you actually sell on eBay maybe I could help.

holdmygold2 · ‎08-27-2014

That's what I thought. 🙂

rose-dee · ‎08-27-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:

It is amazing how the percentage of Canadian buyers increases quickly once a seller changes the pricing structure to Canadian dollars instead of American greenbacks.

To my way of thinking, more Canadian buyers are lost when a Canadian seller asks a Canadian buyer to pay in US$ and then pay the postage in US$ than by charging consumption taxes (GST/HST)

Pierre, this was my concern when I switched to listing in $US about 3 years ago. However, it didn't work out that way in practise, at least not in the categories in which I sell. This may be true of your own particular experience on eBay, but I wonder whether it would apply to the majority of sellers.

EBay has for years been telling us Canadian sellers to list in $US to get a 15% increase in overall sales. I don't know what statistics eBay has to back that up, but I took them at their word, since my experience was that listing in $Cdn made no difference at all in the proportion of Canadian buyers I attracted. I found that switching to selling in $US did generate more sales, although it may not have been 15% worth.

So I'm not sure I can agree with pricing structure as a significant factor for every seller as a reason why more Canadians don't buy from Canadian sellers on eBay.

As you say, I think this is looking at the trees and missing the forest -- I believe there is a bigger issue involved, a perception that a Canadian buyer will get a better selection and a better deal from a US seller. And in many instances, they are right! In my view, this perception has been a historically important issue for a lot of Canadian retailers. Now, in the stamp collecting world, this may not apply

Did your second comment quoted above mean that you believe Canadian buyers are being lost because they see that they will be paying more (currency premium) if they buy from someone listing in $US, or because a listing in $US looks unfamiliar and therefore unattractive? I would think the latter is unlikely, since Canadians are well schooled in buying in US dollars. I wonder why the former would be an issue, since we Canadians are usually hyper-aware of the currency spread between $US and $Cdn at any given time (i.e. there shouldn't be any surprise).

Interestingly, I listed only in $Cdn for about the first 3 years on eBay. I had almost no Canadian buyers during all that time -- so few in fact that I can still remember them. American buyers constituted the overwhelming majority of my sales. This was during a period when the $Cdn was mostly at par with the $US.

When I switched to $US, the $Cdn was slightly below par, but not by much, and it had no effect on the number of Canadian buyers I had. Offering free shipping domestically made a small, but not significant impact either. I concluded that it wasn't worth losing my US customers in order to try to court Canadian buyers, and that there was something -- other than mere pricing - that was keeping Canadians away. As I said, my view is that that "something" is the perception I noted above.

For those reasons, I haven't switched back to listing in $Cdn. Now, it may be a different story in the stamp world (or other serious collector categories), but I can't say it's true in mine.