adwords

[xanomalisx]

do any of you use google adwords to help drive sales to your listing is it helpfull in driving sales up?

[femmefan1946]

No. They are quite expensive for the effect.

But you are putting the cart before the horse.

As a new seller, you would be better to :

• Do some buying to build your feedback

• Don't sell expensive, high fraud products until you have an established reputation

• If you have a B&M store, it would be a good idea to add a picture of the shopfront and a story about your business (how long in business, family owned, gemologists on staff, etc.)

• If you belong to the Better Business Bureau, add their logo.

• If you belong to industry organizations, like the American Gemologist Institute, put their logo in your listings too.
• Since your rings are brand new, does your supplier offer professional clear photos in his catalogue that you can use instead of the rather blurry ones you have?

Did you know that for only $86 you will ship your rings to Nigeria?

Are you sure this is a good idea?

Step back and rethink your business plan. You might want to start by Blocking bidders from any country but Canada and the USA for the time being.

And go to your Seller Preferences. There are some other useful controls against bad bidders there.

[pjcdn2005]

I'm not 100% certain but I don't think that ebay sellers can use google adwords.

As Femme mentioned, you need to have a look at your shipping. You are charging $86 for shipping to anywhere in the world, even Canada. Shipping within Canada does not cost the same as it does to any other country. Plus, I don't think that it is a good idea for a new seller to ship outside of the U.S. and Canada...especially expensive items.Femme mentioned Nigeria which is known for scamming people in a number of ways but there are dishonest people everywhere.

Scammers often target new sellers because they are unfamiliar with how a system works so it is always a good idea to buy and sell a number of items before attempting to sell outside of the U.S. and Canada and before listing any high priced items.

I try not to be negative about selling here but it looks as if you may have jumped in with two feet and I'm not sure that you understand how the system works. For example, unless you have delivery confirmation and a signature for a sale $750 U.S.and higher, the buyer can claim that they did not receive the item and both ebay and paypal would require you to refund. It's also possible that a dishonest buyer would complain the item was not as described and if an ebay claim was filed, they would require you to pay for the buyer's return shipping. I've never had a problem with a returned item but I have heard of dishonest buyers returning an item that is not the same as what was sent out and there really nothing that you can do to prove that.

If and when you do want to sell internationally, you need to use the advanced listing form so that you can list one shipping price to Canada, one to the U.S. and one to the rest of the world.   If you are using calculated shipping, you have to make sure that the service you specify is actually available to a specific country.  One problem with using couriers such as Fed Ex is that they charge quite a bit at the users end for brokerage fees, taxes and duty and that can cause a problem with many buyers. 

For selling to the U.S., I would recommend that you use Canada Post Xpresspost to the U.S. rather than a courier. Xpresspost does allow for a signature.

[xanomalisx]

how do i figure out the shipping cost. i did it through the fedex website, and thats what i got. when i was posting my ad there was an option for shipping cost to be automatically updated per buyer location. but i think this option wasnt available to canada.

[pjcdn2005]

If you are using Canada Post you can use calculated shipping on ebay but not for Fedex. But if you are going to do that and going to ship overseas, you will have to use the advanced listing form. You are probably using the quick listing form right now so you can only have one shipping cost for everyone outside of Canada. But the way you have the listings set up now, you are charging everyone the same price and I find it hard to believe that Fedex charges $86 oth within Canada

You can use flat rate which you are doing, or calculated shipping. But you can only use calculated shipping for Canada Post. Right now you are using a flat rate that you entered but it can't be correct as there is no way that the Fedex site states that it cost $86 to ship within Canada and $86 to everywhere else.

You need to separate your shipping into at least 3 categories...1 for Canada, 1 for the U.S. and 1 for overseas. The quick listing form only allows you to set up 2 shipping categories so if you ship overseas, you will need to switch to the advanced listing form. The link is at the top right of the sell your item form.

[xanomalisx]

i think im already using the advanced listing tool. the way i was trying to firgue shipping was for it to be automatically calculated based on there location. but that dosent work, because it says i have an invalid zip code. the price of shipping i got was from the fedex website. so i fugured i would just charge a flat rate. i dont know any help.

[lucitabby]

List your items on ebay.ca not on ebay.com and use Canada Post Xpress for shipping.

[pjcdn2005]

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@xanomalisx wrote:

i think im already using the advanced listing tool. the way i was trying to firgue shipping was for it to be automatically calculated based on there location. but that dosent work, because it says i have an invalid zip code. the price of shipping i got was from the fedex website. so i fugured i would just charge a flat rate. i dont know any help.

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Again, you have to set your shipping up in at least categories. You had 1 category - 1 price. Now you don't have any shipping prices listed.
You can only use calculated shipping on .ca. Even if you use Canada Post  xpresspost and use calculated shipping, you still need to use at least 3 categories because listing a service Canada Post xpresspost USA will only give you a price for the U.S. Also, xpresspost international will only give you a price for some countries as that service is not available everywhere and some of the countries that do use it, won't guarantee that the postman will get a signature from the receiver. That's one reason why it can be risky to send an expensive item to some countries.

Is there a particular reason you want to use Fedex?

[femmefan1946]

because it says i have an invalid zip code.

Does it really say 'zip code'?

Canada does not have zip codes. We have postal codes.

If your post was accurate, then you are trying to use Calculated Shipping on the dotCOM site, which only accepts US addresses for location in Calculated Shipping,

 This is fine if you are dropshipping from the USA.

If you are shipping from Canada, either you use Flat Rate Shipping on the dotCOM site or you have the choice of Flat Rate OR Calculated Shipping on the dotCA site.

Please do some buying before you try selling such expensive items. You are going to get scammed.