eBay

avenueshopswapsell · ‎11-30-2015

I have in my listing that I ship to Australia and the UK, including a shipping service (International Air) but these countries do not show up in the drop down list. A buyer has requested that I add Australia and the UK to my services, but I can see how.

What am I doing wrong?

pocomocomputing · ‎11-30-2015

International Parcel Air is not available for Australia. Xpresspost is the service to use.

International Parcel Air and Xpresspost are mutually exclusive Canada Post services. This means you have to have both services in a listing for one or the other service to show up depending on the country.

Here is a Canada Post document that shows you what services are available for each country services by Canada Post along with some other information.

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/prices/RCRZ-e-ISC.pdf

Both services are expensive to use. Depending on the value and weight of the item, Tracked Parcel International gives a delivery confirmation service to Australia but it is limited to items under 1 kg. Insurance is included for up to $100. Third party insurance is available if you need more insurance.

For lower value items, say under $50 (or whatever limit you deem safe), use a non-tracked service like Small Packet or Light Packet International but you run the risk of false Item Not Received claims by buyers. Most buyers are honest but for low priced items, the potential for more sales versus risk of Item Not Received has to be balanced in your sales plan.

pocomocomputing · ‎11-30-2015

I reviewed a couple of your listings. Some of your terms are against ebay policy and some are not enforceable like your As Is policy.

For example, in your shipping section in listing 121824248067

Shipping insurance can be purchased at your expense.

We ONLY ship to PayPal Verified Addresses.

You cannot charge for shipping or even mention it in your listing. Insurance is for the seller for self protection, not for the buyer. If an item does not arrive, you are responsible to make the buyer whole. Best to remove this from you listings as it is a policy violation or at least was for years.

PayPal verified addresses statement is an old term from years ago for a seller to qualify for Seller Protection. PayPal seller protection no longer requires this. So remove this as it is meaningless and does more than scare off potential buyers to you listings if they believe what you posted.

You appear to be using information from other listings that are so old they are no longer valid. It is hard to know what to post in a listing but copying from other listings is not a good reference.

I will leave others to critique you listing for other misinformation or tips to help you.

avenueshopswapsell · ‎12-01-2015

If I wanted a critque of the listings I would have asked for one.

I work for a company and the listing template is created by my boss, so he is aware that some of the info is not enforceable, but has decided to keep it.

pocomocomputing · ‎12-01-2015

@avenueshopswapsell wrote:
If I wanted a critque of the listings I would have asked for one.

I work for a company and the listing template is created by my boss, so he is aware that some of the info is not enforceable, but has decided to keep it.

I mentioned the descriptions listing issues to help. If you (or your boss) are not aware of how to use shipping as shown in your original post, I thought I would mention other issues that you also might not be aware of. Fixing issues like in the description usually helps in giving buyers more confidence in the seller and increase future sales.

Experienced buyers who know how eBay works may avoid listings with antiquated meaningless terms that sound threatening. As well, new buyers reading the terms may be discouraged from purchasing items because they do not meet the terms in the listing description like PayPal verified.

I apologize if you or your boss was offended. That was not the point of the post. The point was to help you have better sales on eBay where it is getting harder and harder to have sales on eBay.

pierrelebel · ‎12-01-2015

Please allow me to offer a small tiny bit of advise - your boss will thank me for it at time of your tax audit.

Your listings read "All Ontario customers will be subject to a 13% HST on top of auction price."

Since you are GST/HST registered, you must collect and remit GST/HST based on the province of residence of the buyer.

While 13% is correct for Ontario buyers, you must remit 15% if you ship to Nova Scotia, 13% in NL, and NB, 14% in PE, 5% to Alberta, etc...

The current tax table for each province can be found here:

http://www.taxtips.ca/salestaxes/sales-tax-rates-2015.htm

If you do not collect GST/HST from buyers in those provinces, you are still liable by law to remit the tax payable to CRA, whether you have collected it or not. (in the "good old days" no PST was collected when goods were shipped out of province; that was then, this is now. Your boss may not be aware of the changes)

At audit time, they also add a penalty and interest.

Also, since you sell at fixed price, not auction, I would replace the word "auction" by "transaction price" as the tax (GST/HST) is also payable on the shipping charge, not just the selling (or auction) price.

You are welcome.