eBay

38e_avenue · ‎03-11-2014

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2014/sellerstandards.html

Our Canada Post "fake" small packet tracking number will not count anymore. I will forever lose my TRS status on US Ebay in a few weeks.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-11-2014

@isis1313 wrote:
I was pointing out that it WILL affect me because currently I'm having higher status than the top seller badges.

Sorry but I am missing something then. How will it affect you?

38e_avenue · ‎03-11-2014

@pocomocomputing wrote:
I am reading all of the complaints about Canadian Sellers selling to the USA and visibility. Why should a Canadian Seller get the same advantages on eBay.com as USA based sellers. It is a USA site for USA sellers first. USA sellers do not like sellers outside their country getting the same advantages as them on their own site.

WOW!!!! And charging me the same 180 dollars monthly for my Anchor store, charging me the same FVF is not a sufficient reason to give me the same privileges?

38e_avenue · ‎03-11-2014

@isis1313 wrote:
I think you can get ebay to close it if you have proof that the person got the item. My worry is Russia, EVERY package I mailed there requested a refund and only to find out they eventually got the item but do they offer to pay me back....no.....

The case will expire in a few days and disappear.

Concerning Russia: because of the same reason I don't ship to Russia anymore. ALL items were late. 2% of business, 95% of all complaints. Never again.

westernstargifts · ‎03-11-2014

I am reading all of the complaints about Canadian Sellers selling to the USA and visibility. Why should a Canadian Seller get the same advantages on eBay.com as USA based sellers. It is a USA site for USA sellers first. USA sellers do not like sellers outside their country getting the same advantages as them on their own site.

I can see your point pocomo.. but, by the same token, it seems to me that U.S. and other international sellers ofen seem to get the best placement on .ca for no apparent reason.

Copied from my post on another thread:

When is eBay going to "get" that buyers rate "delivery" time, not shipping time? Just reading through my FB I can seem from the comments, although positive, that "delivery" was fast or something along that line, over and over again. They NEVER say that the seller shipped quickly. I would prefer that they discontinued this one rather than the shipping cost rating although I didn't like that one either.

I have had recent buyers who tried to send an inquiry about an item that had not yet been received and found that they had opened a dispute without intending to do so. If eBay is going to hold those cases against us they should make it easier for buyers to ask the question without "accidentally" opening a dispute.

I do not like the classification of "DEFECT". In this day and age of changing wording to positive rather than negative (e.g. No Exit instead of Dead End), I find that very offensive.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-11-2014

@38e_avenue wrote:
@pocomocomputing wrote:
I am reading all of the complaints about Canadian Sellers selling to the USA and visibility. Why should a Canadian Seller get the same advantages on eBay.com as USA based sellers. It is a USA site for USA sellers first. USA sellers do not like sellers outside their country getting the same advantages as them on their own site.

WOW!!!! And charging me the same 180 dollars monthly for my Anchor store, charging me the same FVF is not a sufficient reason to give me the same privileges?

When you pay those fees, you do have the same requirements for TRS Plus to get the same perks.

But the TRS Plus program is designed for USA sellers, not international sellers. Canadian sellers do not have low cost shipping services with Delivery Confirmation from Canada Post to the USA. So it is not possible to meet the requirements for TRS Plus and the visibility boost.

I do not mean to antagonize you but that is the reality of the Canadian seller selling internationally to the USA.

eBay.com USA management most likely wants the TRS Plus badge to mean something and not favor fake tracking with Light and Small Packet USA. I was wondering when this practice was going to stop as it gave unfair advantage to Canadian Sellers in the eBay.com marketplace. Canadian sellers were lucky to get this advantage for the past couple of years. eBay.ca management arranged to keep this perk for the past 2 years.

I know it will hurt some Canadian Sellers to lose the visibility of TRS Plus. My post was to give some reasons why.

treasure.hunter.d · ‎03-11-2014

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
That is unfortunately true. One more reason why we continue to work with Canada Post and other carriers to offer more competitive pricing and services for Canadian eBay sellers.

Well, whatever you are doing to work with Canada Post it isn't working. every year they raise their rates and every year it gets harder and harder to sell because of it. One more rate increase and Canada Post will be as expensive as couriers and that will be it. With their last increase in the beginning of this year I saw the cost of shipping for some of my items go from between $11-$12 to over $17.00. Between the rate increase from Canada Post and PayPal decreasing the discount we were getting that's ended up being roughly a 50% increase in shipping costs in one shot.

You'll forgive me my skepticism but frankly your statement that you are working with Canada Post to get them to offer more competitive services smells like dung to me!

treasure.hunter.d · ‎03-11-2014

Oh and by the by, Canada Post has no interest in offering anything fair or competitive. When you can ship a package of a certain size and the shipping cost will go up $7 for 4 ounces in weight that shows right there that they are out to do nothing but fleece us.Take A package that fits in Tracked Packet and add a miniscule 4 ounces of weight over the Tracked Packet max but keep the dimensions the same, and watch your shipping cost jump $7 to the same destination. That's complete garbage and a complete rip-off. Canada Post does nothing but line its fat lazy union employees pockets at the cost and pain of ordinary folks like me!

Don't even get me started on the brain dead postie that delivers my mail and refuses to deliver if I happen to forget to put my buzzer code on the shipping address the sender uses. The apartment number is there but it's too much effort for him to work it out in his pea sized brain!

Grrrrrrrrrr!

twicereadbooks · ‎03-11-2014

I don't understand why eBay cannot have the same competitive pricing that a recent Canadian web start-up has - $8.00 anywhere in Canada, any size or weight that fits into the parcel parameters. All buyers pay $8.00 shipping (this goes directly to the company) on top of the seller's asking price. This website sells clothing, and that $8.00 will send a fur coat from Newfoundland to Nunavut.

Canada Post has lots of commercial customers, and none of them pay anywhere near what eBay sellers pay, and this is because eBay lacks the commitment to make a commercial contract with Canada Post that would benefit Canadian eBay sellers selling to Canadian addresses.

38e_avenue · ‎03-11-2014

This is probably the most depressing thread I've ever posted in

cumos55 · ‎03-11-2014

The first thing each seller has to do is look at how they measure up today... and then 6 months from now

The concerns--- as a Canadian seller

(1) Cancelled transactions....

Buyer requested cancellation... no problem.

Seller cancels and buyer says... NO... seller loses

(2) Buyer leaves Ratings. but only certain ratings count against the seller.... Buyers and potential buyers only know what they see... or if they are a seller... or if they read about selling on eBay...

(3) Neutral or negative feedback gets revised.... Feedback is now positive as far as eBay is concerned..... However, the neutral or negative stays visible for all to see...

Sellers will no longer be able to hide neutrals or negatives... even if they are fully revised.... and no longer count toward their standing on eBay.

Then for a TRS plus on eBay.com one needs tracking.... an impossibility with low cost Canada Post options.

What can/should/might Canada Post do to help Canadian sellers...

With tracking there is a cure.....

Everyone is focused on the TRS plus standing on eBay.com

We need tracking.....

westernstargifts · ‎03-11-2014

Exactly...we do need tracking, but at a much lower cost so we can compete with U.S. sellers. I doubt that will happen though.

decal-fx · ‎03-12-2014

I use Purolator to the USA almost exclusively. 80% Purolator 15% Letter Mail & 5% small packets. My average shipping cost per purolator item is $14.50. I currently qualify for a 40% discount of their published rates. I send around 250 packages a month. I realize this won't work for everyone, but they are quite reasonable. BTW Purolator Inc. is 91% owned by Canada Post Corporation, See attached for an edited* screen grab of my last invoice.

*Removed client's names & my full address.

rose-dee · ‎03-12-2014

@pocomocomputing wrote:
But the TRS Plus program is designed for USA sellers, not international sellers. Canadian sellers do not have low cost shipping services with Delivery Confirmation from Canada Post to the USA. So it is not possible to meet the requirements for TRS Plus and the visibility boost.

eBay.com USA management most likely wants the TRS Plus badge to mean something and not favor fake tracking with Light and Small Packet USA. I was wondering when this practice was going to stop as it gave unfair advantage to Canadian Sellers in the eBay.com marketplace. Canadian sellers were lucky to get this advantage for the past couple of years. eBay.ca management arranged to keep this perk for the past 2 years.

Yes, your points are well made. Canadian sellers who understood this situation knew that the party was going to end at some point. Still, it was one of the few perks that really meant something (to me at least), and made up for all the disadvantages of selling from here.

It's not so much that it isn't possible to still meet the US TRS+ requirements, but whether it's practical for the majority of Canadian sellers to do so. More important perhaps for individual Cdn sellers is analyzing whether it's even cost-effective to try, i.e. whether the added boost in US visibility and sales would warrant paying for tracking. There may be situations where that is the case. In fact, it would be helpful to know whether the TRS+ does have any measurable effect on sales -- in my case I would say it did, although sometimes with eBay it's hard to know what the actual "booster" is.

However I think it will be impossible for anyone selling primarily small, lightweight, inexpensive items that currently go by letter mail or light packet to try to meet the full TRS+ requirements.

On the other hand, I've said for quite some time that I would be delighted if eBay.ca would focus on factors that might encourage more Canadian buyers to come to the .ca site, or at least to give Canadian sellers far better placement if a buyer chooses "Canada only" searches.

I've tried such searches myself, and can't understand why US sellers without TRS and with lower FB/DSRs will show up above my listings in most instances -- or why US sellers would be there at all in fact. I've seen other Cdn sellers mention this issue on these boards. Is it any wonder I've never been able to significantly increase the percentage of sales within Canada?

rose-dee · ‎03-12-2014

@decal-fx wrote:
I use Purolator to the USA almost exclusively. 80% Purolator 15% Letter Mail & 5% small packets. My average shipping cost per purolator item is $14.50. I currently qualify for a 40% discount of their published rates. I send around 250 packages a month. I realize this won't work for everyone, but they are quite reasonable. BTW Purolator Inc. is 91% owned by Canada Post Corporation, See attached for an edited* screen grab of my last invoice.

*Removed client's names & my full address.

I notice most of these shipments show "ground" service. How fast are they getting to your buyers on average? Are your buyers paying the full cost of shipping, or do you absorb some of it?

I think $14.50 comes fairly close to Canada Post's Tracked Packet rates (using Paypal labels with the eBay discounts) for fairly lightweight items with small dimensions. Still, even $14.50 is too high for someone selling mostly $10 - $20 products. The volume, as you say, would not be workable for every seller, and the seller would have to be in an area with reasonably close Purolator service (I'm not).

It's good that this does work for you though - you're fortunate!

femmefan1946 · ‎03-12-2014

" I also believe most sellers who sell mainly to the US, like the OP and I, will not be as concerned about the 20% US TRS discount as about the lack of visibility." rose-dee

While it did not affect overall sales, I noticed a couple of yearsago that my US sales dropped from about 90% + to about 80% of sales. I guess I now finally know why.

femmefan1946 · ‎03-12-2014

" and the shipping cost will go up $7 for 4 ounces in weight " treasure hunter d

How much weight is 4 ounces? Canada Post went metric in 1974, and using Imperial measures will skew the rates you are paying.

rose-dee · ‎03-12-2014

@femmefan1946 wrote:
While it did not affect overall sales, I noticed a couple of yearsago that my US sales dropped from about 90% + to about 80% of sales. I guess I now finally know why.

Do you mean that you lost US TRS+ (or whatever it was called then) around that time?

I can only say that, although more than 90% of my sales are always to the US, the actual volume increased dramatically after I got the US TRS+. Whether that was mere coincidence, or a combination of some other mysterious factors, I can't say, but I suppose I'll find out once the TRS+ is gone.

I'll just go off on my own now and sob quietly in the corner; please excuse me while I disappear...

mr.elmwood · ‎03-12-2014

As a friend of mine stated to me: " For some reason, they think that a discount is something you lose, instead of earn"

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lukey9 · ‎03-12-2014

Don't forget that Stamps are going up the end of the month also some Canadian small parcels going from 1.34 to 1.80.

I sell military and police patches and with the new rates of .85 in Canada, 1.20 in the US and International from 1.85 up to 2.50 is not going to help any.

rose-dee · ‎03-12-2014

@mr.elmwood wrote:
As a friend of mine stated to me: " For some reason, they think that a discount is something you lose, instead of earn"

Yes, except this wasn't so much a discount, as a leg up (or at least smoothing out one of the bumps in the playing field a little for us). That's how I saw it. The US TRS+ was never about the discount for me. I will retain my TRS Global, so will still get the discount - thank goodness.

The US TRS+ in my mind was a nod by the powers that be at eBay.ca that it is more difficult and expensive to sell from Canada even if most of our customers are in the US. I realize we got special treatment for quite some time. As I said earlier, maybe they can now find a way to give us a bit of a boost amongst Canadian buyers.