Too many Canadians don't know about eBay

[firstkiss1]

Has anyone else on eBay Canada noticed that not a lot of Canadians don't even know about eBay and have never even heard of it?  I have talked to many people and they either don't know about it or they have heard of it but are too afraid of buying on it.  I wish eBay would start an add campaign in Canada to let people know how great eBay is!

[mr.elmwood]

The ones that do not know, do not care. eBay advertised on TV for years. Every computer I have ever bought comes pre-loaded with an eBay clickable icon.

People that do not have computers, what do you suggest they do, run out and buy one? Not gonna happen. people with computers who look at the eBay link every day and never use it, what are you going to do, force them to click on it?

I do not have a cell phone and do not want one, what are you going to do, force me? Yes, it is the same thing.

There are online shoppers and there are those who never will. What are you going to do, force the latter to shop online?

eBay figured this out a long time ago. TV, radio, and print ads do not work. What? I'm watching my favourite television programme from the comfort of my chesterfield and I should get up, go to the store, buy a computer, figure out how to use it, sign into all the sites, to buy something?

There are a lot of people who really, really, really do not care.

[pjcdn2005]

Every computer I have ever bought comes pre-loaded with an eBay clickable icon.

You must buy different brands than I buy as I've never seen that.

eBay figured this out a long time ago. TV, radio, and print ads do not work

Really? It wasn't that long ago that they had TV ads in the U.S. for ebay (last Chrismas?) and it was only a few months ago that I saw a TV ad campaign that they had for kijiji.

I doubt that the OP was suggesting that ebay advertise in order to convince non computer owners to go out and buy a computer so that they can shop on ebay.

[weaversofspeech]

no matter how much advertising a company or individual does some will not be aware of what they are advertising as an example I am involved with a Flea Market in a small town just outside of the city where I live this market has been in the fairgrounds on Sundays for 34 years and has held an antique show for 27 years there are a number of people who have lived in the town all their lives and they are not aware of this market I will be talking to some of the locals and mention it and they had no idea it was there The Market has advertised extensively across Ontario and The Eastern U.S. they constantly get lots of out of towners but in town some have no idea

[rose-dee]

Mr. E., I think you're missing the point here - it sounds like you're having a lousy day, but don't take it out on the OP.  She raises a valid point. 

There are a lot of Canadians shopping online, according to research I've seen, and a lot of Canadians using eBay, but a surprisingly low proportion in relation to the huge number of devices -- including PCs, laptops, smart phones, Ipads -- that Canadians buy (and presumably also use).  Canadians are some of the biggest consumers of personal electronic devices, yet I agree with the OP that they don't seem to use eBay as their "go to" place to shop online.  And they particularly don't seem to favour Canadian sellers with whatever online business they do on eBay.

There have been ad campaigns by eBay, but in my view they are really limited in relation to the market size of the company, and I don't think I can recall such campaigns specifically targeted to Canadians.  There are dozens of ways to do that, including internet advertising, but I can't recall seeing any of it.  I've wondered why eBay.ca hasn't done more to attract Canadian shoppers. 

I've asked this question specifically at the Wed. board sessions, and have never got a satisfactory answer. 

My experience has been that most people I encounter have heard of eBay (vaguely), but either don't use it or know nothing much about it.  And I do ask people when I meet them because I'm usually handing them my business card.  I've handed out several dozens of business cards to various people in Canada (both on the West Coast and the East Coast and in between).  They are polite and some are interested in what I do, but not a single one has ever told me that they buy on eBay, whether frequently, or just occasionally.  I'm usually too polite to ask why not, but maybe I should! 

[mr.elmwood]

What are ya jumping down my throat for. I am having a particularly fine day, thank you very much.

The OP proposed a thought and I took a contrary position.

"Advertising" is seldom cost effective unless target marketing is done. Putting computer ads on TV? To me, the mediums are mutually exclusive.

My brand new Toshiba laptop came with a clickable icon for ebay.ca.

Shopping with a computer, online, through eBay is a series of conceptual steps many people have no interest in making. if one already shops online, eBay would be a consideration as it is part of the online shopping genre. If one does not shop online, no amount of advertising is going to cause that to happen.

[holdmygold2]

YES!  I have to agree with the gist of your post.

However, I think that one has to be hiding under a rock to never have heard of eBay.

Virtually everyone has either heard of or experienced eBay at its worst and until eBay.ca does something to change that attitude, Canadian sellers take a hit.

That stuff sticks.

I totally agree 100% that eBay.ca should advertise all year long and not limit those ads to the Christmas season.

(EBAY: Stop pumping $$$$ into endless pointless site changes and put it into something that matters.)

We had eBay Bucks for a second, and a generous well-publicized program of that sort in tandem with a push toward publicizing Buyer Protection practices would go a long way in helping Canadian sellers.

These types of programs obviously work or they wouldn't be so common place.

[pjcdn2005]

if one already shops online, eBay would be a consideration as it is part of the online shopping genre

Ebay may be a consideration for some but just because someone shops online doesn't mean they will automatically think of ebay when looking for something. There are many many places to shop online but people tend to go somewhere familiar or to a place that they recently heard about it from someone else.Advertising could be that someone else.

With that being said...I think that word of mouth can be the best advertising and I think that right now ebay should concentrate on keeping people happy and staying on the site by making it easier to use, less glitchy, less changes  & better customer service. Also, there needs to be a way to make buyers feel good about dealing with the sellers here and for sellers to feel good about being here too. There are always some nervous Nellies around when each update is announced but this time there seems to more frustration than usual.

[gifts_of_elegance]

I was an eBay shopper first, then I became an eBay seller.  I never planned it, it just happened way back in 2000.  In all these years, I only sold two items in my city.  My friends and relatives all know what I do and have a general idea of what I sell, but only one came to me to buy a gift for his wife.  I don't take it personally, they all have their favorite places where they shop.  Most people don't understand eBay or trust it.  People my age don't even know how to work a computer or want to learn.  They don't want it in their lives.

I don't have a cell phone.  I don't want one.  My kids bought me a car phone in 1988.  My husband insisted I carry a cell phone for three years, but I never used it, forgot to charge it, take it with me, or even answer it.  It just didn't interest me.  

I have a desk top, a lap top and an iPad, and I leave them home when I go on vacation.  

[jt-libra]

To be honest, I don't think I've ever encountered a person who hasn't heard of eBay, even though they may not know or care how it works.

But a good number of those I talk to still view it as a place to sell "junk" .... a sort of garage sale site.  And while there certainly is a lot of junk on the site, too many people are not aware that it has evolved over the years and is a viable place to purchase items which they would otherwise look for on various retail store on-line sites.

This is where some sophisticated marketing could benefit both buyers and sellers.

I've heard many people say that they no longer look for items on eBay ... the site has become less and less user friendly and there are too many risks involved.  A person who gets ripped off by an unscrupulous seller will likely never return nor will the many people he tells about his or her experience.  And in order to minimize this risk to buyers, sellers are faced with ever changing and increasingly arduous policies to adhere to, leading to their abandonment as well.

The solution to making this an efficient and worthwhile avenue to buy and sell is above my pay grade, unfortunately.  So far, those of us who remain, have somehow navigated these changes, but who knows for how much longer.

[reallynicestamps]

We had eBay Bucks for a second, and a generous well-publicized program of that sort in tandem with a push toward publicizing Buyer Protection practices would go a long way in helping Canadian sellers.

These types of programs obviously work or they wouldn't be so common place.

Or they could be flavour of the week. Discounts and points may be popular with buyers, but I question whether they actually improve the company income. Or do they just move more merchandise at a lower price? The customer may like it, but why should the seller do more work for the same money?

But I agree on the Buyer Protection publicity. If there is one worry Canadians (in particular) have about online buying it is that they will be ripped off.

That's one of the good things about (puts on asbestos underwear) the Global Shipping Program. PB doesn't seem to want to have the unwanted, not as described or damaged items back. So the unhappy customer who files a Not As Described dispute isn't stuck with a $40 outlay to return the garbage to the seller. Refunds become easy.

Maybe that needs more publicity. Maybe eBay should be extending that easy refund policy to all sales.

This is where some sophisticated marketing could benefit both buyers and sellers.

And marketing is much more than advertising. It's late night comedians talking about goofy items being sold on the site. It's Sam Sung's charitable sale of his Apple badge.

It's having Penny sell her hair ornaments on eBay, resulting in so many orders that the BBT gang exhaust themselves churning out thousands of the things.

Did you know that the IceBucket Challenge was not the idea of the ALS Society? That they were stunned and overwhelmed by the $50million so far donated? That's viral publicity and important marketing.

It's even sites like the now archived 'regretsy', which sneered at a certain crafters site.

BTW- Canadians have always lagged behind the USA in acceptance of mail order selling. When I was in the wood stove business, Vermont Castings, which basically used mail order in the USA, went with retail stores in Canada because for some reason Canadians were unlikely to send off $3000 to a company across the border to buy  their woodstoves sight unseen.

[holdmygold2]

I find this thread very interesting because there is no good reason that I can think of that Canadians are not buying from Canadians on eBay.

Canadians have many reasons to buy from Canadians and yet they are not doing so.

EBay continues to pore money into constant useless changes on the site aimed at tightening control over buyers and sellers.

None of these changes have benefited me in any way as a buyer or as a seller.

In fact, these constant changes just make the site a PITA.

Anyone?

That money could be so much better spent.

[pierrelebel]

We had a similar discussion last week about "...Canadians are not buying from Canadians on eBay."

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/TRS-Status-on-eBay-com/td-p/260833

The subject of this thread is similar but different: "Too many Canadians don't know about eBay"

Now, as a matter of fact, I know many Canadians do buy on eBay, they buy my items because my listings are of interest to Canadian buyers. My listings are attractive to Canadians because, they are priced in Canadian dollars, without added tax and are offered on a "free shipping" basis.  I still see many Canadian competitors, offering similar items of interest to Canadians yet pricing them in US$, with a small shipping charge in US$, hoping to generate a few more cents in profit with the exchange differential.

Annually, Canadians buy in excess of one billion dollars on eBay, with an estimated four hundred million dollars worth from Canadian sellers.  So a lot of people do know about eBay and do buy from Canadians!

How does that compare to the USA?   It does not.  While an increasing number of Canadians shop online, the market penetration is not the same and most likely will never be because of the much higher shipping costs within Canada.  It is a reality that will not go away.

[holdmygold2]

We did indeed have a similar discussion in the past.

Apparently  stamps sell very well to Canadians on eBay.ca when listed in Canadian dollars.

I do not sell stamps.

[nuvistors]

I am not sure where the OP is getting her information but I have met very few Canadians who do not know about ebay.

[pjcdn2005]

Pierre, it looks as if you list Canadian stamps in Cdn$ and other stamps in U.S. $

Is it a common problem for you when buyers have to pay in separate groups when items are not in the same currency?

[pierrelebel]

"Pierre, it looks as if you list Canadian stamps in Cdn$ and other stamps in U.S. $'

That is correct.

Canadian stamps are generally of larger interest to Canadian buyers.  As such, it makes sense to price them in Cdn$, saving the Canadian buyer the exchange conversion fee.

Foreign stamps are generally of interest to an international marketplace (dominated on eBay by Americans) where the US$ is predominant.  It makes sense to price them in US$

At the end of the day, it is all about the buyers: trying to make it easier for them.

And yes, from time to time a buyer will purchase items in both currencies requiring two invoices, two payments (or a combined invoice adjusting the currency differential accordingly)..  But those are the exceptions.

When I look around the world, outside eBay, I see most successful online businesses follow a similar pattern.  They price their products intended for the domestic market in domestic currency.  it is all about the buyers: trying to make it easier for them.

It is not about stamps.  It is about serving the buyer better.

[rose-dee]

---

@pierrelebel wrote:

It is not about stamps.  It is about serving the buyer better.

---

From my viewpoint, it's a little of both. 

It is about stamps (or other items that have specific appeal to Canadians) in the sense that those who sell such items can assume a large part of their market will be in Canada, and therefore listing in $Cdn makes a lot of sense. 

Similarly, a more or less dedicated market in Canada can be created more easily for Canada-specific or Canadian themed items than for goods that have a broad general appeal.

This is where the problem lies for those of us who don't sell products with a clearly Canadian appeal.  How does a seller attract more Canadian buyers without losing U.S. buyers when the latter form the bulk of sales?  In other words, the challenge is to attract a few more Canadians even though a seller needs to continue to list in $US dollar for the larger market. 

For my items, neither free shipping to Canada nor regular category-wide discounts (markdowns) has worked -- these strategies tend to generate a couple of Canadian sales when I introduce them, but nothing follows.  It's in this area that I think eBay could step in and (as pointed out by 'jt-libra') do some creative and targeted marketing to Canadians. 

As I said in the related discussion you mention, my opinion is that Canadians perceive the US market as offering better selection and better pricing -- and that's often true even when currency exchange is taken into account. 

If, as you say, Canadians are busily shopping on eBay (eBay.com, that is), then perhaps the real question is whether it is actually in eBay's interests to have more Canadians shopping on eBay.ca (i.e. buying from Canadian sellers).  Would the answer to that question explain the lack of marketing to Canadian buyers?

[holdmygold2]

If listing items in Canadian dollars on eBay.ca worked Canadian sellers would never have turned eBay.com in the first place.

A nice lot of Canadian sales would mean the difference between thriving and surviving for most Canadian sellers.

In other words:  If it were that simple we'd all have been doing it long ago.

[pierrelebel]

"Canadian sellers would never have turned eBay.com in the first place."

Those of us who have been selling on eBay for a long time know a different truth: there was no choice as eBay.ca and the ability to list in Canadian dollars did not exist.

We listed on eBay.com in US$ because they was no alternative at the time.

It is too easy to play "Monday morning quarterback". 

The simple reality of using eBay and similar online sites to market products (whatever they are) from Canada is simple: mail order (direct marketing) has always been a difficult business for Canadians due to two major factors:

1) generally higher shipping costs than many of our competitors

2) relatively small selection of products made in Canada of interest to an international marketplace.

Importing cheap "stuff" from China or wherever to resell to a worldwide market online is not a viable proposition.