Hello, Canadian eBay seller community. My name is Andrea Stairs, and I’m the Managing Director of eBay Canada. Today, we announced our plan to end US dollar (USD) listing currency support on eBay.ca, and I wanted to take this opportunity give you some context on what went into making this decision.
I’ve been with eBay Canada for more than ten years, and I’ve seen our marketplace change significantly. That’s why, when I took on the leadership of eBay Canada two years ago, I encouraged our team to look at different parts of the marketplace and make sure we were still delivering the best experience possible for Canadian buyers and sellers. One question we tackled concerned listing currency: were we still right to recommend that Canadian sellers list in USD?
I was surprised by what our team found.
The analysis of Canadian seller data showed that we had outgrown the recommendation to list in USD and, in fact, listing in Canadian dollars (CAD) on eBay.ca was better for our sellers. We followed up this initial finding with further analysis, and the numbers consistently confirmed the same story.
The numbers, however, are just one part of the story. When we looked at the ecommerce landscape in Canada, we saw that it had materially evolved, and many of the original reasons for Canadian sellers to list in USD no longer held true. Canadian ecommerce had grown dramatically, while at the same time, international buyers, particularly Americans, had become much more comfortable transacting beyond their borders and in foreign currencies.
Based on the determination that CAD was the better listing currency for most Canadian sellers, we changed our seller guidance – you likely received an email to this effect last fall. We also started making site changes, like setting listing currency defaults to CAD.
This brings us to today’s announcement.
I want to be clear that the decision to move to a single, domestic listing currency on eBay.ca was made by the Canadian team in the best interest of the Canadian eBay community. I also want to emphasize that this decision was not only based on immediate benefits for our sellers; this change will help sellers become more successful over the long-term, regardless of fluctuating currency exchange rates.
I acknowledge that this change will create work for our affected sellers. The eBay Canada team will be working hard to help these sellers through this transition. The custom eBay Listing Migration Tool we’re building is just one example of our commitment to supporting our affected sellers.
I encourage an open dialogue about this change, so please feel free to raise any questions or concerns on the Canadian seller community board; we’ve created a dedicated thread for this conversation. And, if you haven’t already done so, please visit ebay.ca/cad for more information on key dates, tools to support your transition, and more.
As always, I thank you for being a passionate eBay seller.
Andrea
