eBay

pierrelebel · ‎04-22-2015

In the "good old days" eBay.ca has always recommended listing in US$ instead of Cdn$ on the basis that Canadian sellers would have more chance of success listing in US$.

Times are changing.

Today, during the Weekly Board Hour, eBay.ca advises:

"In a nutshell, according to our analysis, all Canadian sellers would either see a positive or neutral impact on their sales if they start listing in CAD. Essentially, our old data that suggested better sales for USD listings has been disproved. The SYI will be modified shortly to reflect this reality, and we've made the changes to the quick listing tool last week.

Additionally, we've started engaging with large Canadian merchants to recommend that they also list in CAD if possible."

pierrelebel · ‎04-25-2015

"Yes, I imagine there are still some restrictions and complications involved in using a $US account within Canada. That's why I think one would need to read the terms, conditions and fee information very, very carefully before plunging into it. "

You are absolutely correct.

Every time a thread deals with the many aspects of foreign currency conversion, it is evident that the subject is difficult to understand by most members.

Technically, a US dollar denominated account held at a Canadian bank cannot be used to receive funds from PayPal. That is why many Canadian sellers - with enough monthly sales volume in US$ to warrant the effort - have a US$ bank account at a bank located in the USA where US$ can be transferred from PayPal without conversion or fee.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-25-2015

@rose-dee wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I do have a U.S. dollar credit card from a Canadian bank. But if I were to pay my fees billed in U.S. dollars with that credit card, I would still have to use Canadian dollars to pay off the credit card since I don't have a U.S. bank account. I really should do some research to see if there is any way to open an account from here as I'm too far from the border to go to the U.S. just to do that. Or, do you have any other solutions?

You don't need to go over the border to open a $US account. You can open a US dollar business account at the Royal Bank (and I imagine other chartered banks offer similar accounts). I had one years ago when it made sense to do so.

Check the fine print carefully as there are fees attached that may not benefit your situation (or may actually end up costing you more than conversion rates) unless your volumes are high enough. Go to the Royal Bank online site and type "US business account" in the search box for the details.

I know what a U.S. dollar bank account is and it wouldn't be useful as far as Paypal and ebay go. It isn't possible to transfer U.S. currency from Paypal to a Canadian bank account even if the account is in $U.S.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-25-2015

@rose-dee wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:
"I'm being charged $15.95 Cdn per month for my store "

That is because you opened your eBay store on eBay.ca.

If the store had been opened on eBay.com, you would be charged US$15.95.
So would that mean that if I switched to paying my eBay bills in $US, I'd be paying the equivalent in $US (roughly $12.75 US), or the actual US fee? I think I'm getting more, not less confused.

My store is month to month so the rate is $19.95/month. I am billed in $U.S. and on my last bill the charge was U.S. $16.07. In Oct 2013 the charge was U.S. $ 19.24 so it does fluctuate.

If I was listing in Canadian currency it would make more sense to be billed in Canadian. I haven't figured it out but it would probably make more sense to list and be billed in Canadian rather than the way I am doing it because then there would be zero conversion fees. But because I list mostly in U.S. currency it made sense to change to U.S. $ billing.

rose-dee · ‎04-26-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:
"I'm being charged $15.95 Cdn per month for my store "

That is because you opened your eBay store on eBay.ca.

If the store had been opened on eBay.com, you would be charged US$15.95.
So would that mean that if I switched to paying my eBay bills in $US, I'd be paying the equivalent in $US (roughly $12.75 US), or the actual US fee? I think I'm getting more, not less confused.
My store is month to month so the rate is $19.95/month. I am billed in $U.S. and on my last bill the charge was U.S. $16.07. In Oct 2013 the charge was U.S. $ 19.24 so it does fluctuate.

If I was listing in Canadian currency it would make more sense to be billed in Canadian. I haven't figured it out but it would probably make more sense to list and be billed in Canadian rather than the way I am doing it because then there would be zero conversion fees. But because I list mostly in U.S. currency it made sense to change to U.S. $ billing.

Yes, but the fluctuating store fee in $US would suggest that you're currently saving several dollars every month due to the weakening Cdn dollar by continuing to pay your eBay bill in $US -- that is, as long as you're paying it from a $US Paypal balance. Even so, the savings due to the exchange rate would more than compensate for conversion fees.

However, this would mean that during periods when the $Cdn is at or above par with the $US (such as prior to 2014), there would be no advantage to being billed in $US since you'd be losing the conversion fee but not gaining due to the exchange differential.

This of course assumes that eBay won't actually change the amount of the store billing fee for Canadians.

If this is true, then I've probably saved several dollars every month over the past few years (prior to the drop in the $Cdn in 2014) by leaving my billing in $Cdn. This would have more than compensated for the fees involved in converting my $US earnings to $Cdn to pay those store fees. Now that the $Cdn is well below the $US, the savings, as you point out, would be the other way around. Listing in $US and paying the eBay bill in $US (provided it was paid from a $US Paypal balance) would make more sense at the moment.

I personally tend to look at these things in the long run -- what I lose during one period as a result of the $US/$Cdn exchange differential, I've gained (or will gain) during others. I think it's almost impossible to design a scheme that will always adjust and create a win-win in the face of these fluctuations. So each seller has to do what works best for their overall business model, and perhaps adjust every once in a while if a trend in currency exchange continues for a long time.

As I mentioned earlier, I personally have important reasons for preferring to list in $US, so I won't be changing that anytime soon, despite Raphael's statement. However, changing to paying my eBay bills in $US may make sense at this point.

As far as other conversion fees go, I generally leave my $US balance in Paypal to accumulate for quite some time anyway, since I purchase the majority of my supplies and materials from the $US (or at least in $US directly from Paypal). So what I lose on one end by paying my eBay bill in $Cdn, I gain on the other. I realize not every seller has the option of leaving funds to sit in Paypal, but this works for me. For the balance of my $US Paypal funds, I wait until the exchange rate is most favourable before withdrawing and converting.

rose-dee · ‎04-26-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I know what a U.S. dollar bank account is and it wouldn't be useful as far as Paypal and ebay go. It isn't possible to transfer U.S. currency from Paypal to a Canadian bank account even if the account is in $U.S.

Yes, I was aware of the transfer restriction vis-a-vis Paypal, which really doesn't make it a great choice for Canadian eBay sellers anyway.

The fact is that so many merchants now accept Paypal, I find having a $US Paypal balance is almost as convenient as having a bank account in the $US. Even merchants who may not display Paypal payments will often accept a Paypal payment if I email them first to ask.

If it were possible to transfer a $US Paypal balance to a $US credit card, that would provide even wider convenience, but I don't know whether Paypal permits that. I should take a look on the Paypal site.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-26-2015

Yes, but the fluctuating store fee in $US would suggest that you're currently saving several dollars every month due to the weakening Cdn dollar by continuing to pay your eBay bill in $US -- that is, as long as you're paying it from a $US Paypal balance. Even so, the savings due to the exchange rate would more than compensate for conversion fees.

I don't really look an it as saving money. I am paying the equivalent to $19.95C. I'm paying less than someone in the U.S. but not paying any less than anyone else listing and paying for their store in Canadian dollars.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-26-2015

@rose-dee wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I know what a U.S. dollar bank account is and it wouldn't be useful as far as Paypal and ebay go. It isn't possible to transfer U.S. currency from Paypal to a Canadian bank account even if the account is in $U.S.
Yes, I was aware of the transfer restriction vis-a-vis Paypal, which really doesn't make it a great choice for Canadian eBay sellers anyway.

If you knew that then I am confused as to why you went into great detail of how I could open a U.S. $ bank account at a Canadian bank when I mentioned the difficulty of opening a U.S. based bank account.

rose-dee · ‎04-27-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I know what a U.S. dollar bank account is and it wouldn't be useful as far as Paypal and ebay go. It isn't possible to transfer U.S. currency from Paypal to a Canadian bank account even if the account is in $U.S.
Yes, I was aware of the transfer restriction vis-a-vis Paypal, which really doesn't make it a great choice for Canadian eBay sellers anyway.

If you knew that then I am confused as to why you went into great detail of how I could open a U.S. $ bank account at a Canadian bank when I mentioned the difficulty of opening a U.S. based bank account.

Good grief, never mind, 'pj', don't worry about it.

The comments in my earlier post weren't solely intended only for your eyes -- I thought others might not know such a thing existed. Oh well, no good deed goes unpunished here it seems.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-27-2015

Good grief indeed.

dutchman48 · ‎04-28-2015

Open a bank in the US. All you really need is a passport and Driver's License and go to the bank in person You will also have to fil out a form called a WBEN-8 if I remember correctly..

Most will give you a US debit card as well. You can then transfer your US dollars from Paypal to your bank account and use your debit card to purchase stuff.

Getting a credit card is a lot harder as you need a SSN so they can do a credit check.

rose-dee · ‎04-29-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:

"If your billing currency at eBay is in US$, then there will be a currency conversion fee when PayPal pays eBay (I never ever recommended anyone pay their eBay fees with PayPal).

If your billing currency at eBay is in Cdn$, there will be no currency conversion fee as eBay converts those US$ in your seller account into Cdn$ using the wholesale conversion rate (no conversion fee). Since the money from PayPal also comes in Cdn$, then no additional conversion fee is charged. However, you will have already paid the conversion fee to PayPal when the money was transferred from the US$ sale into your Canadian dollar balance."

I've been re-reading these comments and am still trying to make sense of them. Pierre, if you're checking this thread, would you reply further, i.e.:

1) Are you saying (in para. 1 above) that if a Cdn seller is listing and selling exclusively in $US and their billing currency at eBay is in $US, that there is a currency conversion fee when Paypal pays eBay? I don't understand why this would be -- going from $US to $US?

2) With respect to your second paragraph above, are you saying that if a seller lists and sells exclusively in $US but pays their eBay bills in $Cdn, that there are no currency conversion fees involved in paying those bills?

I would have thought these two scenarios were exactly the other way around. Or were you referring only to sellers who list/sell in $Cdn when you made these comments? Can you please elaborate?

I'm currently selling exclusively in $US, but paying my eBay bill (through Paypal) in $Cdn. I assume I've been paying conversion fees in that process -- or have I? I'm hoping to eliminate those conversion fees by paying my eBay bills in $US directly from my $US Paypal account, but I'm not so sure now, given your comments above.

A $Cdn credit card might be fine for sellers with larger volumes, but I would think that would only be beneficial if a seller were listing/selling exclusively in $Cdn and paying eBay in $Cdn. Listing in $Cdn doesn't work for my situation, for the several reasons I set out earlier in this thread. And I don't see the benefit in getting a $US credit card at the moment if I can pay my eBay fees directly through Paypal in $US without conversion charges.

pierrelebel · ‎04-29-2015

"going from $US to $US? ... I don't understand why this would be"

Nobody ever claimed the subject of currency conversion was easy to understand when dealing with eBay different sites and PayPal.

The problem here is simple. You are quoting partially from my post #49 but omitting the fact I was answering a question "

"if you list in US Dollars and your PayPal account is in Canadian Dollars"

It is important to understand the comments or answers in the context they are given.

I did review all my posts on this thread and stand by all my comments and answers. I wish English were my first language. Maybe I could make them clearer and easier to understand.

rose-dee · ‎04-30-2015

Thanks very much for the reply -- this makes everything completely clear. As I said in my post above, I was wondering if you may have been referring to a situation mentioned by an earlier poster whose Paypal account was in $Cdn. So there is nothing difficult to understand in that scenario.

Now I have to decide whether it's time to switch to paying my eBay bill in $US. Since I list/sell exclusively in $US and the Cdn dollar has weakened, I may save a few pennies here and there by changing my billing currency.

By the way, there's absolutely nothing wrong with your English that I've been able to see on these boards!

rose-dee · ‎04-30-2015

I thought I'd post this update on the subject of listing in $Cdn, since you brought the question up again with Raphael yesterday. Here was his response:

"As I said last week, we are still working out what numbers we can share about this. We definitely will expose the numbers behind our reasoning, but we aren't fixed on what we can share and how yet.

With that said, keep in mind that there are many different ways to look at something like this. One seller's personal experience may not align with what we calculated when we looked at the whole Canadian seller base. The figures usually vary by category, price tranche, size and status of the seller, etc."

Now I find this reply very odd. The previous week, as you quoted earlier in this thread, Raphael said that eBay's analysis showed that ALL Canadian sellers would see either a positive or neutral impact by listing in $Cdn. Here is the quote again:

"In a nutshell, according to our analysis, all Canadian sellers would either see a positive or neutral impact on their sales if they start listing in CAD. Essentially, our old data that suggested better sales for USD listings has been disproved. The SYI will be modified shortly to reflect this reality, and we've made the changes to the quick listing tool last week."

Yesterday's comment suggested that individual seller's situations might not fit into the "all Canadian sellers" scenario after all. These two remarks are contradictory on the face of it. So I'm wondering: which is it, and how are we to know which camp we're in? I really dislike this game of peekaboo -- see if you can guess what we're up to, whoops, no maybe not.

The other comment (from the previous week) that still concerns me is this:

"The SYI will be modified shortly to reflect this reality, and we've made the changes to the quick listing tool last week."

Evidently the quick listing tool is presenting the $Cdn listing feature as the first option sellers see on that form. Will that soon be the case with the SYI as well? If so, I'll have some very pointed questions to ask of Raphael.

Lastly, what about Raphael's advice that the best "solution" for Canadian sellers to work around the US cart disconnect issue is to list on .com? I presume a Cdn seller can't list on .com in $Cdn?

So -- let's see -- the "best practice" advice for Canadian sellers is to list in $Cdn on eBay.com where you can't list in $Cdn. I think that's called a classic Catch-22. But wait, maybe it's not all Canadian sellers after all.

How do we make sense of these ludicrous and apparently contradictory pronouncements? I'm just going to continue to do what seems to work best for my business as long as eBay permits me to do so. As I see it for my particular situation, with the US cart disconnect problem continuing as it has, listing in $Cdn on .ca might just be enough to finish me off.

aubreyclay56 · ‎11-12-2015

i think you hit the nail on the head with that one,i have allways listed in us dollars,up untill a week ago with the 2000 free listings ebay offered for listing in cdn dollars,i havnt made a sale since,definatley goin back to listing in us dollars, cant afford to loose sales over a prmo that dont work,

atvds1210 · ‎11-13-2015

Does listing in Canadian dollars and sellng to the US result in Ebay getting a cut on the conversion of currency vs. listing in US and being paid in US so the conversion is at the discretion of the recipient which usually means Paypal gets the conversion fee. Just wondering as this recommendation came soon after the companies split into separate financial reporting entities.

dutchman48 · ‎11-13-2015

I just did the following test which contradicts a lot of what we were told from what I can see.

I set up shipping discounts in Can dollars for listings on .ca. I set up shipping discounts in US dollars for items listed on .com.

I uploaded a number of listings on both .com nd .ca from the same ID.

The US listings are fine, everything shows in US dollars including shipping, discounts, etc on both .ca and .com.

The 3 Canadian listings I tested have issues. They are listed in Can $ and shipping is in Can $

When I look at the item on .ca everything is fine as far as price, shipping, discounts, etc looks as it should.

The US is not so nice. I did a search under my US ID for 1 of the items (262143133775) it shows in US $.

HOWEVER, WHEN I OPEN THE ITEM, PRICING SHOWS IN CAN $ (NOT US), SHIPPING SHOWS IN CAN $ (NOT US) AND THE SHIPPING DISCOUNT SHOWS IN CAN $ AS WELL.

NONE OF THE CANADIAN PRICES ARE CONVERTED TO US $ ONCE YOU OPEN THE ITEM

IF ANYONE HAS A US EBAY ID, PLEASE CHECK TO SEE IF YOU SEE THE SAME PROBLEM

I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THIS IS NOT HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK

dutchman48 · ‎11-13-2015

Also, when I look at my .com listings under a Can ID, it does not convert anything to Canadian dollars but leaves it all in US dollars. Is all this just a mess for items created on the .ca ID?

pierrelebel · ‎11-13-2015

I took a look at 262143133775

The User ID you use is irrelevant. It does not matter if Canadian, American, British or German.

The only relevancy is the site you use to view the listing.

If you view the listing on eBay.ca you see the information in Cdn$ as it should be

If you view the listing on eBay.com the search result page will show you the US$ equivalent while the listing will show you both the Cdn$ and US$ equivalent for both the price and the shipping.

I think all readers understand by now that eBay is slowly changing its policy when it comes to sites and currency. Many Canadian sellers are unhappy with the change. However, that unhappiness will not make eBay change its mind.

We will all have to adapt to the new reality.