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Hello Canadian eBayers,
Due to scheduling conflicts, we will not be able to hold the Weekly Board Hour at 1 PM Eastern as usual. However, I'll leave this thread open for most of the day and will come reply to your posts within the next 24 hours. This format worked well last time we tried it, hope it will be the same this week.
Talk soon!
@puckstopshere wrote:
Thanks for your latest free listings. Well, not really.
To me, this constitutes negative billing.
If I forget to remove the GTC option at the end of the
month, I will automatically be billed foreach item listed.
That is 2000 times 30 cents = $600.00
How easy is it to cancel the GTC option?
Can I do it in bulk - all 2000 lots at once?
Or do I have to do it one at a time?
Dave
Hi Dave,
Yes you can do it in bulk. More info here: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/bulkedit.html
International Return Labels. What is a Canadian seller to do?
Question: When a Canadian buyer shopping on eBay.com with a smart phone (iPhone, etc...) does the buyer see the shipping charge and import charge for items using GSP?
pjcdn2005 wrote:They have to be ended and then relisted...right? They can't just be changed from GTC to 30 days, 10 days etc....
For GTC listings, that is correct. However the BEAR tool will make that process far easier than relisting everything one listing at a time.
The rule goes, GTC listings can never be revised to change their duration, and non-GTC Fixed Price listings can never be revised to make them GTC. Also, non-GTC FP listings can only be revised to change their duration within their first 2 hours being live on the site.
Hi Raphael,
I have two questions today (well, 2-1/2 really):
1) I'm curious about the "focus group" in Toronto on shipping and labels. Can you tell us in broad terms what sort of proposals are on the table?
Also, I'm interested as to how the invitation process was conducted. Specifically, is there a mix of sellers -- large commercial retailers, mid-size eBay sellers and "little guys"? Or are the invitees mainly one of those groups, or a random selection?
2) Any news on the .com cart disconnect issue? (I have to ask). 
Thanks!
P.S. I for one miss the "live chat" here, but I understand that delayed response probably works better for your scheduling, and provides more opportunity for questions. Just please come back live once in a while! 
Hi Maureen,
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Thank you, I have a number of questions that I'd like to raise but do not wish to dominate the Board Hour:
Happy to answer your questions! Everyone gets their turn to dominate the Board hour. 😉
@mjwl2006 wrote:
(a) In preparation for the requirement that all items have Product Identifiers, I have been adding UPC and Model Numbers to new listings and sporadically adding UPC/EAN to my unsold items as they are relisted. The first (and last) time that I did this as part of a Bulk Relist, that UPC data vanished. It doesn't show as an Item Specific on those listings (custom or otherwise) and the items in question do not surface in a search of that UPC. I waited an additional three days to do the search a second time and still nothing is apparent. Nor is there a UPC visible in the listing itself. Is this normal? I am eager to be in compliance with the requirement but must confess that I have never used ebay's Product Catalogue on ebay.ca as the items I sell don't seem to be available in it. Therefore, I admit I am not far from clueless as to how it is supposed to work. The item numbers are 331564212438 231572183967 231572183966 and if you check them, you'll see no UPC. Or at least, none where I can see it. Can you explain in theory what happened here? Is this a known bug or a one-time glitch? Or have I used the tool incorrectly with the wrong expectations?
Since I didn't see how you tried adding your UPC codes via the tool, it's hard for me to comment on what might have gone wrong.The BEAR tool, as great as it is (I personally love it), is also a bit complicated to use. Listing or editing a single item is already not a walk in the park on eBay, so it's easy to see how multiplying the exercise can make it easy for errors to slip in. I'm certainly not discarding the possibility that the tool failed, but have you tried using the tool to re-add the codes to these listings? If you put the codes in the item specifics and it somehow didn't add them, you should get an error message. If you want, try it again and if it still doesn't work, send me an email with the UPC codes for each of these items and I'll try on my side see if it works.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
(b) I appreciate your feedback and advice on Immediate Payment Required as a solution to the issue I raised at last week's Board Hour regarding the long ten-day delay in waiting for a buyer to acknowledge a Mutual Cancellation Request which they had initiated. As I went to alter my listings to IPR, I was immediately reminded as to the reason I cannot: Pay Cash on Pickup. It is part of my business model that local buyers shop with me and then Pay Cash on Pickup. To the best of my understanding, these two payment terms are mutually exclusive and I don't accept payment by paypal for items which are picked up as opposed to shipped since I would then as a seller have absolutely no way to prove to paypal that an order was dispatched. Can ebay.ca create an override to the Shopping Cart so that Local Pickup is only visible to buyers within a certain, limited Postal Code and require IPR for everyone else? If so, if this setting hidden someplace I have yet to discover it? Or have I misunderstood Seller Protection terms for Paypal; I realize that paypal has Merchant Services but I am not subscribed to offer such because I don't offer a physical storefront.
There isn't currently an override function in place to allow for local buyers to commit to buy the item even if the seller requires immediate payment. Further, Local Pickup is not allowed to be used on listings that require immediate payment, specifically because the two concepts are not compatible.
There are a few things for you to consider here. You may opt to offer local pickup on different items than those you offer for shipping, in which case you would simply have to create your listings with the appropriate delivery/pickup option for each item. If that isn't a good option for you, you'll then have to figure out how much of your overall business is local pickup vs shipped, and decide whether you would gain from switching to IPR on all, or just some items. Another thing to think about is, are unpaid items enough of a pain in the neck to warrant making this switch. Only you knows that in the end. Also, keep in mind that nothing is set in stone and that it's OK to try something, and to go back to your old model if you feel it worked better. Most of all, I hope you have a bit of fun with this 🙂
@mjwl2006 wrote:
(c) I would like very much to add 'Save XX per cent/Free Shipping on your next order' as an incentive to existing customers when an order ships. As every order I dispatch includes a packing slip and personalized thank-you note, it would be a simple matter for me to include a coupon code yet this feature is not yet available on ebay.ca. My buyers are too busy to make contact and then wait for a custom order or Request Total; they want to shop, checkout and go. Is there a launch date for when I can expect to be able to offer Coupon Codes?
We are working on a launching toolset that will include something akin to what you describe, however it is too far ahead still for me to give any ETA.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
(d) I read the discussion on International Site Visibility from last week with great interest. In any given month, my ISV fees equal or exceed the amount I spend to keep a store subscription for 500 listings. My sales on ebay.co.uk used to be half of my business and now they are less than a third due to my cutting back on the monthly budget for ISV fees. I never did understand the reason that I still pay 50 cents to list on ebay.co.uk when I have bought into a store here but I would nonetheless gladly buy into a smaller store subscription on ebay.co.uk if I could have both subscriptions associated with the same account. Why is this not possible? Or is it? I have been trying to find a solution for almost three years to no avail. Anytime that I try to list something directly on ebay.com or ebay.co.uk, my browser is hijacked back to sign in on ebay.ca.
Are you trying to create brand new listings on eBay.co.uk, or using the relist function? If it's the latter, you will be taken back to the site where the original listing was created. You should, however, be able to create brand new listings directly on any eBay site, and I think your CA store subscription should also give you free listings there (don't quote me on that yet, let me verify that part just to be sure).
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Finally, can you please shed some light into precisely what is on the table for ebay.ca Shipping to warrant a focus group next week? I was not among the invited, not that I particularly expected to be, but whenever news of an upcoming ebay change comes to me via industry news sources as opposed to ebay itself, I am given to fits of anxiety. While another member in the community stated my reservations about the upcoming change(s) must be due to my ignorance of how ebay truly works, I have long read through every help page available here both as a seller and buyer and think I have as good an understanding as is possible for anyone on the outside looking in. That being said, as an ebay member in good standing as both a buyer and seller, I don't often feel appreciated for my efforts and I am a stakeholder too. I might not be a shareholder and I am obviously not a move-ten-thousand-units-per-day stakeholder but, obviously, I have an interest in what the company is doing or I would not be here either as seller or member of the ebay community. Could the ebay consider becoming more forthcoming with this kind of information when it stands to affect sellers on a wide scale as this shipping question obviously does? Whatever is underway is obviously not a secret now that the cat is halfway out of the bag.
All we're doing is meeting with a small group of sellers to conduct research on what the next generation of shipping on eBay might mean. There are no specific changes looming on the horizon yet, it's far too early for that.
Speaking to our customers is something we do all the time, this Board Hour being one of the ways we do that.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Thank you for your kind attention to these questions. It is not lost on many of us that you alone seem to face the firing squad weekly. Please answer them at your leisure. I do appreciate it.
Maureen
Thanks Maureen for your support and collaboration here on the Boards. Always a pleasure to chat with you and everyone else.
.R
@pierrelebel wrote:
International Return Labels. What is a Canadian seller to do?
Hi Pierre,
The OP on the thread you linked to is dealing with a eMBG case where the buyer made the purchase on eBay.com. Hence, they are receiving communication tailored to the US market. This is why they see mention of Hassle Free Returns (US only program) and that the instructions make little sense to them at best. The best thing for them to do is agree with the buyer on how they should return the item, and reimburse them for any return shipping cost if they are obliged to.
In terms of prepaid international return labels, I think Canada Post has, or is working on a solution where a seller could send an electronic return label which would only get charged to the seller's account at the time the label gets scanned into the postal stream. Other carriers like FedEx, I think, also offer similar solutions. I'll try to get more info on that.
"and that the instructions make little sense to them at best. "
And I think that is the problem. Most buyers and sellers would have little knowledge of the technical ins and outs of eBay. If eBay states: do that (print return postage label). they expect to be able to do that.
Is eBay working on better communications when the buyer or sellers - using eBay.com to transact - are from outside the USA?
@pierrelebel wrote:
Question: When a Canadian buyer shopping on eBay.com with a smart phone (iPhone, etc...) does the buyer see the shipping charge and import charge for items using GSP?
Yes. This image was captured on the iPhone app, from my own account (Canadian user with Canadian shipping address), while browsing the US site.
Hi rose-dee,
rose-dee wrote:1) I'm curious about the "focus group" in Toronto on shipping and labels. Can you tell us in broad terms what sort of proposals are on the table?
We're simply hoping to gather feedback from our customers to inform future design and architecture decisions. The discussion isn't germane to specific plans at this point.
@rose-dee wrote:
Also, I'm interested as to how the invitation process was conducted. Specifically, is there a mix of sellers -- large commercial retailers, mid-size eBay sellers and "little guys"? Or are the invitees mainly one of those groups, or a random selection?
That's correct, we are inviting sellers from all sizes to get as wide a representation as possible.
@rose-dee wrote:
2) Any news on the .com cart disconnect issue? (I have to ask).
Unfortunately, nothing new to report there.
@rose-dee wrote:
P.S. I for one miss the "live chat" here, but I understand that delayed response probably works better for your scheduling, and provides more opportunity for questions. Just please come back live once in a while!
I like the live chat version too, but I like keeping in touch regularly even better. I think this is a great solution for those weeks where it's a bit harder for me or the rest of the team to make it at the regular time. 🙂
@pierrelebel wrote:
Is eBay working on better communications when the buyer or sellers - using eBay.com to transact - are from outside the USA?
It probably won't surprise you if I say, the relative size of out-of-US sellers who see that email vs the size of sellers to whom the same email is 100% relevant is probably too small for anyone to hope for a high priority on such a project (to separate the non-US users who get funnelled into the US process due to their buyer having purchased on eBay.com AND experiencing a bad enough transaction to have to get eBay involved). Not dismissing the validity of it, however.
Thanks to you all for joining this extended version of our weekly chat. The thread is now closed, see you next week!
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