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Coupons and Canadian sellers
Summary: lotzofuniquegoodies raises concerns about receiving an expired coupon for a seller located in Canada but operating on eBay's US site, which is limited to US-based users. They question when such promotional features will be available for Canadian sellers and buyers, noting the imbalance faced by Canadian users who primarily register on eBay.ca. devon@ebay promises to seek further information. intimewithmusic and others discuss the broader challenges of marketing strategies on eBay, sharing varied perspectives on the use of coupons versus other promotional tools like volume pricing and shipping discounts. intimewithmusic humorously contributes lyrics to a song parody. ilikehockeyjerseys expresses frustration over the lack of marketing features for Canadian sellers, while pop-art seeks advice on shipping rules for comic books. The thread concludes with a moderator closing the old thread, inviting new discussions on the topic.
@devon@ebay
So this morning I get a coupon for a seller I was recently reviewing their items. The seller is located in Canada but sells on dot com. I received the email approx 1 hour earlier but in gmail only. I click on 1 of the links and it tells me the offer is expired. (Unable to replicate.) In checking on the coupon specifics the following message.
Coupon use is limited to users with a U.S. registration address who are logged into their eBay account.
- The Coupon offer can end at any time and may end earlier than the promotion end date due to any number of reasons, including Coupon budget limitations. When the offer is no longer available, it will no longer appear on eBay.com.
Valid until: Sep 13, 2023 *Valid for *sellername*, only on eBay.??? Max. discount $3.
No time specified.
This begs the question when will coupons be available for Canadian sellers and when will Canadian buyers have the same access to coupons to apply to their purchases. Majority of Canadian buyers and sellers are registered on dot ca only. Should be no real reason to register on dot com.
-Lotz
kh-phdan
·1 year agoHello Everyone,
Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue discussing this topic.
Thanks for your understanding!
pop-art
·1 year agoSo, I am trying to create a simple option to 'cap' shipping on certain items. i.e. for comic books Canadian buyers will pay a max of $20 no matter how many books they buy and US buyers pay $10 max. But I don't want the same discount to be applied to my 'non-comic book' listings. It seems there are 2 problems here - offering different rules for different countries seems impossible and also different rules for different categories is not possible. Am I missing something? I have been on eBay since the 90's and am continually shocked by how slow they are to making good changes for the sellers. HELP!?!
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoYou have responded to a thread from 2023, and for which comments, data,info may be outdated and or irrrelevant. Therefore sometimes it is just best to post your own new thread to address a problem or issue that will draw attention and present the ability for updated information
mrdutch1001
·1 year ago@kh-phdan
ZOMBIE THREAD FROM 2023!
flipistics
·1 year agoThere is an option in Shipping Preferences to create promotional shipping rules. One of those options is to set a maximum shipping cost for a single combined payment order. I don't think you can set different maximum prices for different countries though.
You can set up pure flat rate shipping, but that would be more appropriate for things like cards rather than comic books since you wouldn't want to charge $20 if they only buy 1 comic (cards add next to no weight, so the shipping cost doesn't really change if they buy 1 or 20). The best option would probably be to use fixed cost and add a small charge for each additional item. So maybe the first comic is $10 shipping and you add $1 for each additional or something like that. That way you can set different base amounts and item increases for the USA and Canada if you wish. It doesn't cap the amount, but it still encourages people to buy multiple items.
As far as applying it to different things, that's where it gets messy. If you're selling a lot of comics and a lot of other things and want to take the above approach, your best bet may be to open two stores. You can then apply the individual shipping options you want to each store seperately.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·2 years agoThe lack of promotional marketing features available to Canadian sellers is very frustrating.
Coupons and volume discounts would be huge for certain categories like media or sports cards.
The reality of selling items on eBay that are common is that outside of extremely isolated cases, you're not going to build up repeat loyal customers. It's just the way eBay is set up, unless you sell something very niche or unique, buyers are unlikely to deliberately find you for repeat purchases. They will go whatever 'best match' listing comes up first.
With that said, the point of coupons and volume discounts would be to increase the odds that a person who will never buy from you again would at least buy multiple units in one transaction, or would come back that one time to burn their coupon on additional units.
It seems like a no-brainer. More value for the customers, and more units sold per transaction for eBay sellers.
lotzofuniquegoodies
OP2 years ago@ilikehockeyjerseys
Strangely if/when you are logged into eBay on dot com the system gives you the option to use coupons. If you try to you are blocked because you are not located in the USA. Attempted only as a test.
-Lotz
intimewithmusic
·2 years agoHi Lotz,
I have a different point of view and here's why;
I commend you for bringing coupon promotions to the forum but I want to give your order for "French Fries" (or poutine to you Quebecers) a free upgrade to "The Full Meal Deal" The Dot Com Promotions Manager.
I prefer promos that involve increasing sales through combined orders such as "Buy 2 get one Free" or Buy 3 get Free shipping". During my years as a B&M retailer having spent thousands of dollars on print media and mail out coupons they mostly resulted in selling items for less or no profit. The idea of a coupon is to sell something for less to increase trafic in your store. I'm not sure "virtual coupons" increase overall profit for most eBay store owners because eBay smothers your store listings with adds from other competitors.
Coupons, virtual or print media coupons offer an item at low or no profit to attract customers to your store. In a B& M store you don't have your competitors standing there in your store next to your coffee machine waiting for them. You have that problem on eBay.
eBay's process of pollinating your store with your competitor's. listings turns marketting coupons into REDIRECTS . I prefer the other tools in dot com's "Promotion Manager" such as "SHIPPING DISCOUNTS and VOLUME PRICING DISCOUNTS". These tools offer customers a discount only in your store. You can set the time limits. If you offer a discount on multiple items it's very unlikely any other seller can offer the same group of items to compete.
IT
See attached photo of the dot com Pr Manager features.
Along with @lotzofuniquegoodies request
lotzofuniquegoodies
OP2 years ago@intimewithmusic
I personally am not sure if I would ever use coupons. I just know Canadian sellers have asked for that option for ages. eBay talks about a level playing field but when features get added to dot com but not to ca that doesn't help the overall situation. From recent repeat experiences most features when they do finally arrive at ca are either are not fully tested or stripped down in comparison to the US so just making them another hurdle against Canadians.
I've tested "sales" with veryyyy limited sucess. I know for other sellers they work great. May really depend on a sellers inventory. Promoting gets a bit of attention at the beginning they tends to dry up. The other day actually had a piece of eBay ad mail show up in my personal gmail account....for 1 of my own items. Just had to check to confirm and it was. Imagining when/if it does sell it will sell as a promoted listing.😏
-Lotz
intimewithmusic
·2 years agoI agree that what worked in prior years/months doesn't now. One of the pushes eBay has made of late is to discourage longtail items. I think if Canada had access to the PMnger features it would help us do that.
Besides the combined shipping challenges my only resort to sell my items of low value is to LOT them up. Because I can't do a "buy 1 get 1 free" I list a lot of Lots Lotz. Sounds like Mambo #5...
"One, two, three-four-five. Boom bap, ba-boom-boom bap..
If you buy one you get one free. Boom bap, ba-boom-boom bap!
A little bit of Elvis in my life,
a little bit of Orbison by my side. Boom bap, ba-boom-boom bap,
Lots! Lotz! I lista lotta lots! Boom bap ba-boom-boom bap"
oops ...you know what I mean.. ;>}
There is nothing in the listing form to accomodate listing lots. The new photo quantity helps but when it comes to Item Specifics things get challenging. Sometimes a lot can consist of more than one category. eBay's music memorabilia categories are a dog's breakfast. . Sometimes we can categorize by artist but when there is no artist category you scramble.
I have hundreds of long tail record albums with a value under $10 ea. I don't mind listing them seperately. I have an "assembly line" for that but it's not worth selling and shipping them seperately. Lotting music media doesn't work because you can't predict which 2 or 3 items a collector wants. As well they want to know specific details about condition, pressings, etc. I enjoy the process of offering that and grading them because it takes me back but they have to go out 2 or 3 at a time.
If I could offer individual listings with a Buy 2 get 1 Free promotion $10 sales would become a $20 sales with 3 items of the customer's choice going out in one box. In my mind this would speed up turnover. I think asking for the promo tools will be faster than asking for a new listing format.
intimewithmusic
·2 years agoDue to popular request here are the Lyrics to "Promotional Mambo #5"
"One, two, three-four-five.
Boom bap, ba-boom-boom bap....
A little bit of Beatles all I got,
A little bit of Tina's all you need
If ya buy two get one free. ..
Buy 6 for free Shippeeng
Boom bap, ba-boom-boom bap ...
A little bit of Elvis in your life,
A little bit of Orbison by your side.
Boom bap ba-boom-boom bap...
Boom bap ba-boom-boom bap...
Cue 20 minute drum solo to the tune of "In a Gadda Da- veBay"...
devon@ebay
Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! I am not sure on the time-line for coupons for Canadian sellers and buyers. I can ask to see if there is insight that I can share on this!
frugalbeaver
·2 years agoAny word on this?
lotzofuniquegoodies
OP2 years ago@devon@ebay Do you have any follow up on this? My original discussion post was 4 months ago. Seems a bit unfair to have this kind of feature for millions of US sellers (available approx mid 2021?) but it to be not in play for Canadians in 2024.
Also, when coupons are in play can you clarify what total the FVF's are based on? Before or after coupon total?
-Lotzofuniquegoodies