Discussion with eBay.ca Country Manager, Friday, April 22, 1-2 PM ET

[carly@ebay.com]

Please join us here on Friday, April 22, from 1-2 PM ET for a general discussion and question and answer session with Gary Briggs, eBay.ca Country Manager. Gary will be here on behalf of the eBay.ca team to answer any questions you have about eBay.

Regards,
Carly

[eserafini]

Any plans for Canadians to have a confirmed address and better SPP when shipping to non US users like other Canadians?

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To eseafini, thank you for your question about On The Road and going to Quebec and Montreal. All I can say is stay tuned at this point. We are developing our market list for the rest of the year right now.

[imagi.nation]

Yes, I agree with mirakbiz_inc. -- the taxes setup on eBay (and PayPal) for Canadian sellers is less than adequate. I have been waiting for eBay and PayPal to be able to handle both level of taxes for 3 years now. 3rd party auction management programs have figured this out but it still isn't able to be done in eBay/PayPal.

Cheers,
Ernie.

[audioshack]

"It looks like what works for eBay is spending less"

... while extracting higher fees from sellers. Further to the questions about advertising, would an increase in advertising not help to reverse the reduction in traffic and begin to increase the dismal sell-thru ratios?

[sunset_sports_cards]

Yes a Paypal Confirmed Canadian address would be nice.

[systemagic]

It rather seems that the healthy market expansion since the rate increases has ocurred in competing venues - something that will look a little more imposing when eBay reaches saturation.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To imagi.nation, I will pass along your concerns to PayPal, specifically regarding the protection programs. Thanks for raising them.

[sunset_sports_cards]

I think he left.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To eserafini, we are close to a solution regarding SPP (Seller Protection Program) for Canadians. We should have more to announce in mid summer.

[vesivus]

I'd like to comment on the following:

When negotiating with Canada Post, please ask about the SMALL PACKET discounts. We, as individual businesses, can only start getting discounts when shipping over 50,000 (!!!) small packets a year. I'm sure Canadian Powersellers do that as a whole, but for each of us, its very difficult to get even 5,000... Heh heh.

Thank you.

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To vesivus, I will bring up this request with Canada Post. Thank you for raising it.

[eserafini]

"we are close to a solution regarding SPP (Seller Protection Program) for Canadians"

I sincerely hope this will get resolved soon. It would be well appreciated by Canadians users.

It seems that PayPal has removed the possibility of indicating a tracking number per buyer on their site. Do you know anything about that?

[sunset_sports_cards]

Ok, I will ask again. Is E-Bay going to offer other than customer support for traders to become PSers'? Discount listings, lower final value fees, etc.

[vesivus]

2) And, while I'm at it, I'm also at a loss to explain any "benefits" to being a Bronze-level powerseller. It really means nothing to me, except to visit this forum and read the various complaints about eBay with no solutions.

3) I'd like to comment about reporting some of my competitor's auctions. Some blatantly LIE about their products, but I can't report them properly because of the pigeon-holed answers. I can't type in WHAT IS WRONG with the ad. All I can say is "keyword spamming", although anybody not familiar with the product wouldn't know what to look for, and his or her auctions remain up.

4) Removing Negative Feedback: I have ONE negative feedback from over 6 months ago. The person left a phone #, and it was not HIS phone # -- it was his mother's. She wouldn't talk to me and hung up. I reported this to eBay and stated that he had invalid contact info. I still have the Negative Feedback after 6 months.... What's going on there?

John

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To eserafini, I'm not aware of this tracking number change on PayPal. I will find out.

[eserafini]

Got to go! Gary, thanks for this time with us. Have a nice weekend! Elaine

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To sunset_sports_cards, we have been very consistent on the issue of pricing differently among sellers. It is very core to eBay to have equal pricing for all -- so everyone has an equal chance to grow. And, if I may, the investment in Customer Service is significant. And that is a real benefit for PowerSellers that new sellers do not have.

[sunset_sports_cards]

I agree somewhat, but if you are a successful seller, you do not need customer support as much as a new seller would. I think the fees should be higher for new sellers, as they are not yet the crux of selling on E-Bay. Thus giving them a goal to work towards.

[marcopoloca]

What's the toll free # for Canadian power sellers?

[garybriggs@ebay.com]

To vesivus, regarding your questions about keyword spamming, I guess I'm not clear: Have you reported these abuses? We take them seriously as it is bad for our buyers. To your negative comment, at the risk of angering you, I think buyers put such negatives in context of all the positives. You are allowed to comment on your own feedback. I do it on mine (and I am the proud owner of a negative....).

Finally, regarding the benefits for our Bronze PowerSellers, you have priority in email support through Customer Service (24/7). This would be an ideal route to have your above concerns addressed, if you haven't already done so.