Attention Sellers! eBay.com Shopping Cart updated to work with all items!

[raphael@ebay.com]

Hello Canadian Sellers,

Special announcement to conclude this very eventful week: the eBay.com shopping cart has been updated. As of now, any eBay item, regardless of which site it was listed on, will work in the shopping cart on eBay.com.

What does this mean?

This means that US buyers (or any buyer who shops on eBay.com) will now be able to purchase multiple items from you via the shopping cart and have these items automatically combined into a single order.

More details here:

http://announcements.ebay.ca/2016/11/11/7920/

I'd like to thank those of you who have been directly impacted by the limitations that afflicted the eBay.com shopping cart for your patience as we worked to get this update to materialize.

Have a great weekend!

[merritt-motorcycle-salvage]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

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@merritt-motorcycle-salvage wrote:

Now can ebay add canada post calculated shipping to .com

There are no advantages with this cart fix now that we are unable to list items in USD on .ca and listing on .com Canadian sellers loose the advantage of calculated shipping. This is just a vicious circle.

CAD as a primary currency on .ca is to make it more appealing for Canadian buyers to buy Canadian. US buyers don't want to make purchases in CAD funds it's a known fact.

It's beyond frustrating it took this long and eBay has thrown in a huge negative factor by retiring USD on .ca that makes the fix irrelevant.

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You are tossing to the wind the thousands of sellers in Canada who chose to stay in CAD on ebay.ca -- or who like me ALWAYS listed in CAD on ebay.ca -- who will now finally be allowed to sell multiple items to ebay.com and ebay.co.uk buyers within one transaction. That is a major step forward. Nothing about this is irrelevant for thousands of us.

Sorry this doesn't float your boat but don't sink mine. 

---

I am VERY happy for the sellers where this fix is to their advantage. Don`t put words in mouth saying that I am tossing sellers to the wind and sinking your boat. Thanks for the slap in face. I fought long and hard voicing my opinion on the need for this fix for a long time. I am glad you life is now easier. 

[rose-dee]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

I've never found my American buyers to be at all discombobulated by CAD. This will allow them to buy more than one item at a time while using ebay.com, so that's all the good news I need.

While that may be true for you in your particular niche or for your particular customers, I don't think it's the common experience for those of us who sell primarily to the U.S.  Do you know you wouldn't have done better with U.S. sales if you listed in $USD?  That likely depends on your usual percentage of U.S. buyers.  It may be that sellers who have a more or less even mix of buyers (Canadian/US/overseas) are no worse off listing in $CDN than in $USD.  It may even be that people buying toys for their kids are more motivated to complete the purchase regardless.  

For my situation, it was a common sense decision: over 90% of my buyers have historically been American, so listing in $CDN on .ca would be deliberately adding another layer of unnecessary complexity for a market that is used to dealing exclusively in $USD.  What none of us can know is how many U.S. buyers may be turned off by a $CDN listing before they even get to the point of purchasing. 

During the period after eBay.ca switched to $CDN-only listings, I experimented with splitting my listings between .ca (in $CDN) and .com (in $USD).  I thought it might work as a compromise, but I had more issues from my U.S. buyers than I had ever encountered previously -- people not understanding shipping, misconstruing Best Offer amounts, questions about why numbers were switching from checkout through to Paypal, problems understanding the totals on combined items, etc. etc.  I'll be returning to listing only in $USD again.  I can't see the point in using a currency other than $USD for my buyers, when almost all of them are in the U.S.

Interestingly, on another site on which I sell, where I have always listed exclusively in $USD, I have never had a single buyer query or issue with checkout. 

In the meantime, however, I can assure you that the message at the top of the cart spells it out in black and white. 'You have more than one currency in your cart, so you'll have to checkout for each currency separately.' Anyone who wants to put this to the test and checkout regardless in order to see what happens has my blessing to do so. Please report back. 

I'm not questioning what the messages in the new cart mean.  I'd prefer to wait and see what Raphael has to say about the checkout path from the point where the items are in the cart, since this is such a critical input in terms of deciding how to list. 

[momcqueen]

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@merritt-motorcycle-salvage wrote:

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

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@merritt-motorcycle-salvage wrote:

Now can ebay add canada post calculated shipping to .com

There are no advantages with this cart fix now that we are unable to list items in USD on .ca and listing on .com Canadian sellers loose the advantage of calculated shipping. This is just a vicious circle.

CAD as a primary currency on .ca is to make it more appealing for Canadian buyers to buy Canadian. US buyers don't want to make purchases in CAD funds it's a known fact.

It's beyond frustrating it took this long and eBay has thrown in a huge negative factor by retiring USD on .ca that makes the fix irrelevant.

---

You are tossing to the wind the thousands of sellers in Canada who chose to stay in CAD on ebay.ca -- or who like me ALWAYS listed in CAD on ebay.ca -- who will now finally be allowed to sell multiple items to ebay.com and ebay.co.uk buyers within one transaction. That is a major step forward. Nothing about this is irrelevant for thousands of us.

Sorry this doesn't float your boat but don't sink mine. 

---

I am VERY happy for the sellers where this fix is to their advantage. Don`t put words in mouth saying that I am tossing sellers to the wind and sinking your boat. Thanks for the slap in face. I fought long and hard voicing my opinion on the need for this fix for a long time. I am glad you life is now easier. 

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As did I. I also invested hundreds of hours manually combining orders and invoices and issuing postage refunds and duplicating accounting on those transactions. As well as talking other Canadian sellers through their problems with it. This announcement isn't about the retirement of USD. It's about the ebay.com shopping cart. They are unrelated issues. I'm sorry if this fix brings back painful feelings for you about the American currency retirement but USD is gone from ebay.ca. Nothing will change that. At least not until the day there is one world currency and we all live together in harmony and happiness. 

[momcqueen]

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@rose-dee wrote:

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

I've never found my American buyers to be at all discombobulated by CAD. This will allow them to buy more than one item at a time while using ebay.com, so that's all the good news I need.

While that may be true for you in your particular niche or for your particular customers, I don't think it's the common experience for those of us who sell primarily to the U.S.  Do you know you wouldn't have done better with U.S. sales if you listed in $USD?  That likely depends on your usual percentage of U.S. buyers.  It may be that sellers who have a more or less even mix of buyers (Canadian/US/overseas) are no worse off listing in $CDN than in $USD.  It may even be that people buying toys for their kids are more motivated to complete the purchase regardless.  

For my situation, it was a common sense decision: over 90% of my buyers have historically been American, so listing in $CDN on .ca would be deliberately adding another layer of unnecessary complexity for a market that is used to dealing exclusively in $USD.  What none of us can know is how many U.S. buyers may be turned off by a $CDN listing before they even get to the point of purchasing. 

During the period after eBay.ca switched to $CDN-only listings, I experimented with splitting my listings between .ca (in $CDN) and .com (in $USD).  I thought it might work as a compromise, but I had more issues from my U.S. buyers than I had ever encountered previously -- people not understanding shipping, misconstruing Best Offer amounts, questions about why numbers were switching from checkout through to Paypal, problems understanding the totals on combined items, etc. etc.  I'll be returning to listing only in $USD again.  I can't see the point in using a currency other than $USD for my buyers, when almost all of them are in the U.S.

Interestingly, on another site on which I sell, where I have always listed exclusively in $USD, I have never had a single buyer query or issue with checkout. 

In the meantime, however, I can assure you that the message at the top of the cart spells it out in black and white. 'You have more than one currency in your cart, so you'll have to checkout for each currency separately.' Anyone who wants to put this to the test and checkout regardless in order to see what happens has my blessing to do so. Please report back. 

I'm not questioning what the messages in the new cart mean.  I'd prefer to wait and see what Raphael has to say about the checkout path from the point where the items are in the cart, since this is such a critical input in terms of deciding how to list. 

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You've already said on numerous occasions in your posts (and above) that listing in USD is the only way you feel it makes sense for you to sell here and elsewhere. Therefore, it sounds to me as if the 'deciding how to list' is already done. So if I were you I would go with that. If not, by all means, wait for an official answer. I look forward to hearing from Raphael on this too. 

[rose-dee]

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@merritt-motorcycle-salvage wrote:

I fought long and hard voicing my opinion on the need for this fix for a long time. I am glad you life is now easier. 

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Yes you did, I remember, and I appreciated your support when Raphael was almost ready to eject me from the Wed. Board Hour because I'd been banging on this particular door for years.  I think I became "Ms. Cart-Disconnect" for all my complaining, which if I can even recall, began in about 2013.  

Sadly, this belated announcement is too late for me personally.  But I'm happy that it will benefit many sellers who have stayed on .ca.  As I said, it makes much more sense to list in $CDN exclusively if a seller's buyer base is spread out fairly evenly.  Mine is close to 95% American, so unless eBay lets us once again list in $USD on .ca, this is nothing but a Pyrrhic victory from my own point of view. 

I feel like the person who has abandoned his uninsured burned-down house, moved far away and bought another one from his own pocket, only to find out 3 years later the insurer has decided to rebuild it after all.  Too late, sorry.  (But I'll take the cash for my losses!) 

[rose-dee]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

You've already said on numerous occasions in your posts (and above) that listing in USD is the only way you feel it makes sense for you to sell here and elsewhere. Therefore, it sounds to me as if the 'deciding how to list' is already done. So if I were you I would go with that. 

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No, actually, the nuts and bolts of the checkout process from the cart onward could make a difference when weighed along with other positives of listing on .ca.  

I have always said that listing on .ca was more advantageous to Canadians for reasons that had nothing to do with checkout.  For example, the Canada Post options available on .ca which are not offered on .com.  Listing on .com for a Canadian seller is awkward at best in terms of shipping.  I would much prefer to stay on .ca, but I will only change back if it's apparent there are enough advantages to balance against the currency issue.  

Personally, I would not be at all surprised to see eBay.ca retired and somehow merged with .com at some point in the next couple of years (there used to be no Canadian site at all). 

[maggiebvintage2010]

My point was not what US buyers will notice when buying .ca listings, but that many US buyers don't buy .ca listings.  They are an unknown number of Americans who have already had disappointing or confusing experiences when trying to buy from .ca-made listings with the (previously limited) .com cart.  They may now skip right past listings that they recognize to be Canadian because of past experiences.  I know I have received quite a few messages in the past from US buyers who could not add my items to their cart, and consequently did not buy from me.  They have not tried again.  If they see my username on a listing, they may skip right over it because of their previous disappointment with the cart.  I'm sure there are many other Canadian sellers that have had similar lost sales.  If US ebayers saw an announcement on .com, it may help to bring back some of those lost buyers.

[momcqueen]

Point made. Let's ask Raphael to make an official announcement about this on ebay.com when he returns to work on Monday. In the meantime, any one of us can do the same. 

[rose-dee]

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@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:

My point was not what US buyers will notice when buying .ca listings, but that many US buyers don't buy .ca listings.  They are an unknown number of Americans who have already had disappointing or confusing experiences when trying to buy from .ca-made listings with the (previously limited) .com cart.  They may now skip right past listings that they recognize to be Canadian because of past experiences.  I know I have received quite a few messages in the past from US buyers who could not add my items to their cart, and consequently did not buy from me.  They have not tried again.  If they see my username on a listing, they may skip right over it because of their previous disappointment with the cart.  I'm sure there are many other Canadian sellers that have had similar lost sales.  If US ebayers saw an announcement on .com, it may help to bring back some of those lost buyers.

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Yes, I agree, I think this was the biggest concern about the cart disconnect for a lot of us who sell mainly to the U.S., during the time when we were still able to list on .ca in $USD.  

Americans are used to complete convenience and ease when buying domestically.  I believed for a long time that this was the worst likely effect of the "cart disconnect", i.e. unknown numbers of lost potential U.S. buyers.  I argued that once gone, they were probably gone for good. 

Putting up an announcement on .com is the least eBay can do to help convince U.S. buyers to try Canadian sellers again.  It won't make any difference to me personally now (because I'm listing almost exclusively on .com), but it might help Canadian sellers who felt they wanted to stay on .ca despite the currency restriction.   

[jt-libra]

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@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:

My point was not what US buyers will notice when buying .ca listings, but that many US buyers don't buy .ca listings.  They are an unknown number of Americans who have already had disappointing or confusing experiences when trying to buy from .ca-made listings with the (previously limited) .com cart.  They may now skip right past listings that they recognize to be Canadian because of past experiences.  I know I have received quite a few messages in the past from US buyers who could not add my items to their cart, and consequently did not buy from me.  They have not tried again.  If they see my username on a listing, they may skip right over it because of their previous disappointment with the cart.  I'm sure there are many other Canadian sellers that have had similar lost sales.  If US ebayers saw an announcement on .com, it may help to bring back some of those lost buyers.

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I recall an eBay promotion a couple of months back whereby you could save $10 on a $50 purchase.  Now I don't recall whether it specified $USD or $CAD and, at the time, I probably didn't notice.  Anyway, I put two items in my cart totalling $60 but it turned out they were different currencies so I couldn't apply the $10 because I had to make two payments.  Being a seller, I understood why this was, so I deleted one and selected another and was able to take advantage of the $10.00 discount.

I can fully appreciate that an American who places two items in their cart and finds they have to make two payments might just say, to heck with it.  I'm hopeful that they won't be annoyed or intimidated by this and proceed to make the two purchases.  However, I have a feeling that more people will back out than proceed.

[momcqueen]

All the better reason to ask Raphael and ebay Canada to make an announcement on ebay.com about this since it's also changing the way ebay.com may use their Shopping Cart. What makes things simpler for us may transfer a layer of confusion for them. Is there definitely nothing on ebay.com Announcements or their Discussion Boards about this? I never venture south, Rockstar badges to be gained or not. 

[rose-dee]

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but having read the eBay announcement itself, I can't help feeling just a little surprised by this last paragraph: 

"A small group of Canadian sellers have been anxiously waiting for this fix for a long time. I’d like to thank those sellers for their patience and understanding while we implemented this change."

There may have been a small group who actually realized the potential problems and the seriousness of the cart disconnect and complained about it, very true.  However I think a lot of Canadian sellers will never know how much business they lost as a result of U.S. buyers having difficulty and just giving up and going elsewhere.  Actually, I don't see how eBay could know either, unless they could track every one of those occurrences and query the reason for it.  

If you're a B&M store and have fences and barricades on the path to your door, how can you quantify the number of customers who didn't bother trying to get through?  It's common sense that any impediment is going to affect sales.  

To word the announcement in this way makes it seem like a relatively insignificant issue that eBay corrected as a big favour to a "small group".  I will always believe that the group affected was very large indeed, although blissfully unaware.  The question is whether it's too late for Canadian sellers generally to benefit from this fix, i.e. entice American buyers back who may have tried and failed to purchase from a .ca listing previously.  EBay really needs to let our U.S. buyers know about this upgrade.  

[momcqueen]

That's not how I read it. I took it as a tip of the hat to those of us who have lobbied tirelessly to see it fixed, and who helped other Canadian sellers find ways to work within and around the limitations of it. I was not offended. 

[rose-dee]

I didn't suggest I was offended, just surprised.  

Or perhaps I shouldn't have been -- eBay had been claiming from the beginning that this was a minor issue that affected a very small minority of sellers.  Downplaying the seriousness of it should perhaps have been exactly what we would expect.  Why would they ever want to admit that this might have affected the sales levels of thousands of Canadian sellers for the past 2 or 3 years?

[momcqueen]

You mentioned 'ungrateful' so I took that to mean you were displeased which is not a far throw from 'offended'. 

[i.am.vivian]

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@rose-dee wrote:

I'd like to know what the actual checkout stream looks like from the buyer's perspective after the point where the items are in the cart.  It may also have been updated and streamlined, along with the .com cart.  

 The question would be whether even this improvement would be enough to avoid discombobulating an American buyer.  

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Nothing like finding out then.  🙂    This might not be what you meant and be of no use at all but I had a bit of spare time.

I ventured south and tried some of your items.  I put the first $CAD item into the cart.  It really does look like $19 on the listing (yes I do see the translation) but in the cart when it is only $14 that looks like even better news.  But that is not the thing is it.  ("Geometrics on Taupe".  It sounds like an appetizer! LOL!)

Then I added the second item, a pattern in USD.  You can see the first line tells buyers they have 2 currencies. 

When I get to the checkout there is only 1 item available for payment.  The buyer has to click through to pay for the first, then the same all over again with the second. 

What was interesting to note (or not!) was that even though I added the CDN $ item first, the USD one came up first at the checkout.  I interpret that to mean that if a buyer is going to give up and not bother to pay twice (highly unlikely IMO) they will at least be buying the USD items no matter what order things are added to the cart or where the item is coming from. 

Whether or not that is discombobulating, you decide.   🙂

[momcqueen]

Ebay.com sellers are now aware. That accounts for a percentage of buyers on ebay.com since I'd hazard a guess that most people who sell here are also buying occasionally if not often. 

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y16/m11/i14/s01

eBay Modifies Shopping Cart to Support International ListingsBy Company-Issued Press Release 
EcommerceBytes.com 
November 14, 2016

eBay Canada Chief Operating Officer Russ Patterson published the following post on the eBay Canada Announcement Board on Friday:

As of today, the eBay.com shopping cart has been modified to support listings created on other eBay sites.

Until now, eBay.com buyers could only purchase eBay.ca-listed items individually, using Buy It Now. If an eBay.ca seller created combined shipping discounts, buyers on eBay.com could not realize those discounts because they could not add items to the cart to combine them in checkout.......

[momcqueen]

And again, in my experience, I really don't see that American buyers are befuddled by the sight of CAD.

Just this morning, I received an unsolicited 'best offer' message on an item (without Best Offer enabled) where the USA-based buyer offered me an amount in USD with his conversion to CAD value noted immediately afterwards. Certainly USA-based buyers are aware our dollars are not the same dollars and have different values. I don't perceive this as being intimidating to them.

I wouldn't suppose that the buyers in my category (Toys and Hobbies) are so much more sophisticated than buyers in other areas of ebay. Mine run the gamut just as anyone else's do, I would expect. 

[rose-dee]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

Ebay.com sellers are now aware. That accounts for a percentage of buyers on ebay.com since I'd hazard a guess that most people who sell here are also buying occasionally if not often. 

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This may help to a small extent, but buyers don't read eCommerceBytes, and the number of sellers who are also buyers won't account for even a fraction of the millions of potential buyers who visit .com.  

Remember too that .com is the site that a majority of eBay's buyers around the world know and will visit first, and the site from where they will purchase (many of those millions of buyers are likely unaware there are other sites).  This includes Canadian buyers.  

EBay really needs to announce this -- prominently -- on the .com site itself. 

[rose-dee]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

And again, in my experience, I really don't see that American buyers are befuddled by the sight of CAD.

Just this morning, I received an unsolicited 'best offer' message on an item (without Best Offer enabled) where the USA-based buyer offered me an amount in USD with his conversion to CAD value noted immediately afterwards. Certainly USA-based buyers are aware our dollars are not the same dollars and have different values. I don't perceive this as being intimidating to them. 

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This sounds like a pretty sophisticated buyer to me.  My experience in twice listing items in $CDN (both recently and several years ago) has been that sales dropped, buyers were messaging me a lot more about price or checkout issues, and making offers using Best Offer was confusing for them.  

The point is not the U.S. buyers who manage to get through, but the U.S. buyers who give up or see a "foreign-looking" listing price and just move on before making any effort.  We all have competitors in the U.S. who will appear far more accommodating and buyer-friendly to them.