eBay

momcqueen · ‎03-22-2016

http://announcements.ebay.ca/2016/03/22/7748/

eBay.ca sellers: Now’s the time to list in Canadian dollars

Since launch, eBay.ca has allowed sellers to select their listing currency – US dollars (USD) or Canadian dollars (CAD) – but starting this spring, (CAD) will become the sole listing currency on eBay.ca. Starting June 1st, sellers will need to use CAD when listing or relisting on eBay.ca. All remaining USD listings on eBay.ca (including Good ‘Til Cancelled) will need to be converted to CAD by August. Sellers who wish to continue to list in USD will need to move their listings to eBay.com.

We’re making this change in order to simplify the eBay.ca platform and selling experience, make it easier to bring new features to eBay.ca, and help Canadian sellers to be more successful overall.

We recognize that this change may be difficult for some sellers to manage, so we’re building a tool to help you to identify your affected listings and convert them to CAD, or move them to eBay.com, in bulk. Affected sellers can expect an email with more information.

Here’s where you can learn more about the upcoming change:

Get details on the change, including how-to guides and key dates
Read through our list of frequently asked questions
Ask questions on a dedicated community discussion thread
Watch for our upcoming webinar – details to be included in a future Announcement

We’re here to help make this transition as smooth as possible for you. As always, thank you for selling, and for being a part of the eBay community.

- See more at: http://announcements.ebay.ca/2016/03/22/7748/#sthash.AVcvxKFy.dpuf

katlover1952 · ‎03-23-2016

I am not thrilled with this either although I too saw the writing on the wall. I am curious as to how this will affect my store which is on ,ca. Right now we get 200 fixed price on each site & Also same with auction. Will this remain? If .com gets free promos assume we will not be able to take advantage? Some unanswered questions in my mind & no I too am not a happy camper with this restrictive change. Most of my customers are US also.

decal-fx · ‎03-23-2016

My biggest concern with this "New .ca Requirement" is how this affects my .ca subscription to "Selling Manager Pro"
Because I'm going to switch my listing over to .com and continue to list in US Dollars. I understand there will be a small learning curve with respect to listing on .com, but I do use my selling Manger pro extensively & do not really like the free my selling page. After I move all my listings, will I still be able to make use of my subscription to the Canadian "Selling Manager Pro" ?

BTW I do offer free USA and Canada shipping so I'm not worried about FVF on shipping.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-23-2016

@decal-fx wrote:
My biggest concern with this "New .ca Requirement" is how this affects my .ca subscription to "Selling Manager Pro"
Because I'm going to switch my listing over to .com and continue to list in US Dollars. I understand there will be a small learning curve with respect to listing on .com, but I do use my selling Manger pro extensively & do not really like the free my selling page. After I move all my listings, will I still be able to make use of my subscription to the Canadian "Selling Manager Pro" ?

BTW I do offer free USA and Canada shipping so I'm not worried about FVF on shipping.

Good question on SM Pro. Pierre Lebel might know because he used SM Pro.

I had SM Pro on eBay.ca and a store on eBay.ca and listed on eBay.ca only a few years back. I did not list on eBay.com but I did have Selling Manager (basic free) on eBay.com.

jersey..authentix · ‎03-23-2016

lady.stark wrote: You do realise that by transferring to .com, you will pay FVF on the US shipping cost right?

I am aware of that, but considering that my items sell in the range of 300 to 600 USD, I don't have a problem handing over a $1.75. Since I am currently listing in USD, I am fine with conversions charges as well.

Considering what I will make listing in USD, I still come way ahead. Moving to .com will be a reality and a necessity if Ebay plans to go ahead with their currency plans.

Actually I have contemplating trying .com. I am catering to the US anyways. Personally I like some of their features better than what .ca has. Maybe another good reason to switch is because majority of my customers are US, when ever I have to deal with a return I have to log onto .com to deal with it.

Hey who know, may increase my sales as well. What is the count over their 450 million vs 35 million here?

femmefan1946 · ‎03-23-2016

When this comes into play I will not be able to print US labels when someone from the US buys on .ca: smileysad:

Why not?

I sell internationally, like most Canadian sellers. Whether my listings are in USD or CDN, on dotCA or dotCOM, my buyers can buy from anywhere in the world.

If they buy from a dotCA listing, I can print a Paypal shipping label that is linked with Canada Post. (Although I usually use discount mint stamps ).

And if they buy from a dotCOM listing, I can also print a Paypal shipping label that is linked from Canada Post. I just go directly to the Paypal payment and buy it from there.

My shipping price is given as being 'Standard Shipping from outside US'. There are a few other options for non-US sellers.

Is there some word that this will change?

Keep in mind that most non-US sellers who list on dotCOM have been using this system for years.

Including all those Chinese sellers that sellers of mass market products are terrified of.

Bonus.

If you go to Paypal, the site warns you when the item is not paid or when the payment (e-cheque) has not cleared.

I prefer to sell in the stable US dollar over our fluctuating loonie, so when this change comes in I will be migrating most of my listings to dotCOM, except for those that would come under the stupid media shipping cap, which was the reason I migrated to dotCA several years ago.

jersey..authentix · ‎03-23-2016

lady.stark wrote: You do realise that by transferring to .com, you will pay FVF on the US shipping cost right?

I am aware of that, but considering that my items sell in the range of 300 to 600 USD, I don't have a problem handing over a $1.75. Since I am currently listing in USD, I am fine with conversions charges as well.

Considering what I will make listing in USD, I still come way ahead. Moving to .com will be a reality and a necessity if Ebay plans to go ahead with their currency plans.

Actually I have contemplating trying .com. I am catering to the US anyways. Personally I like some of their features better than what .ca has. Maybe another good reason to switch is because majority of my customers are US, when ever I have to deal with a return I have to log onto .com to deal with it.

Hey who know, may increase my sales as well. What is the count over their 450 million vs 35 million here?

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-23-2016

@lady.stark wrote:
This decision is so frustrating and stupid! Most of my buyers are from the US and I know my prices in US$. If I am forced to use CAD $ on eBay.CA, I will have to constantly adjust my prices to reflect the exchange rate...

I could list on .com, yes, but then I would loose the shipping calculator and will have to count EVERYTHING manually.

Not to mention that on .com, the "domestic" shipping is the one to the US. So my FVF on shipping will be MUCH higher (they are almost non existant now, because I offer free shipping to Canada and rarely sell anything to Canadians).

And I cannot offer free shipping to the US... my items are not suitable for that. Most buyers will never pay the amount I would have to ask (especially the photos and postcards).

Litterally, eBay will destroy my business. I can't see any solution that would help me. 😞

I do only list some of my items on .ca but I do list them in Canadian dollars and to be honest, I don't even know if U.S. buyers notice that because they have never commented on it. You said that you would have to constantly adjust your prices. When you price your items do you base them solely on competitors pricing do you base it on what sort of profit margin you want to have?

Obviously each business is unique but when I price an item I do look at competitors prices but I mainly concentrate on how much profit I want to make. If you are able to price your items in a similar way, you shouldn't have to worry too much about adjusting it based on where the dollar is at. If the dollar makes a huge leap or drop you might want to look to see how your price looks on the U.S. site but it's a good idea to have a look at prices every once in a while anyway.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-23-2016

@katlover1952 wrote:
I am not thrilled with this either although I too saw the writing on the wall. I am curious as to how this will affect my store which is on ,ca. Right now we get 200 fixed price on each site & Also same with auction. Will this remain? If .com gets free promos assume we will not be able to take advantage? Some unanswered questions in my mind & no I too am not a happy camper with this restrictive change. Most of my customers are US also.

It shouldn't affect how many listings you get but of course you would have to list here in Cdn and on the .com site in U.S. currency.

I don't see why it would affect promo's either. I rarely see promo's based on a particular site...they are usually aimed at specific sellers regardless of which site they are signed up on.

the_d_consortium · ‎03-23-2016

Thank you very much Ebay for cutting into my profit margin.

I only have one credit card. Paypal's mastercard.

I know it can be replaced with a prepaid card but it's a card I'm use to.

It charges me no exchange and refunds me a small kick back for using the card.

It only works with my USD funds.

So now if I want to use the card I have to transfer my CAD funds into USD funds. I'm pretty sure at this point they are going to charge me the exchange.

So either I pay more on fees, or I have to get a new loaded card every time I have an online expense, like my web site fees, domain name, etc.

This will cost Paypal a lose in business from all who once used their Mastercard. They do take fees from the merchants.

I do sell in CAD on two of my sites though one can easily switch to .com because that is where it was originally registered 15 years ago. Been there done that, best to use free shipping listings due to all the hassles.

I don't find the selling sales events on .com nearly as numerous as .ca.

Perhaps it's because the old site has not been getting any of the invites?

Actually, I was almost in shock when I saw the latest invite on this March 22 nd in my emails. That's a first in over 5 years!

Usually I have to visit the site daily during a sale to see if they got around to send me an invite to my messages. Usually 3 days late.

So I suspect it's best to keep a .ca site because you can sometimes use the same invite on all your sites, sometimes not.

Truly this is just another pain in the neck from eBay. If I had a dime for every time I have had to edit everyone of listings over the years, multiple times, I would never have had to declare bankruptcy!

It's okay for them to sit on their mountain and constantly change the rules, it only takes them a few minutes, while we seller are going crosseyed editing our listings.

Time is money. Everytime they change the rules it takes up our time and that time is something we don't get paid for and will never see again.

I say leave it the way it is, I'm happy now, but I won't be while editing all 2,000 listings.

Not as if one can bulk edit the currency atm. You can't even change it after the listing is launched.

Even with bulk editing it's going to be timely.

momcqueen · ‎03-23-2016

I am truly taken back by the furor this has caused. I realize that people don't like change (and I am one of them) but this one makes sense: we were the only ebay site in the world to be granted special status with the ability to list in two different currencies, one not actually being our currency. That uniqueness meant that many of the new features available to other ebay sites did not work with ebay Canada. It held us back form being competitive because we were special and do not fit the mould that works for other ebay sites. I switched to exclusively CAD more than three years ago and did better with it. And for those sellers who are absolutely certain that USD is the way to go, there is always ebay.com and eBay Canada respects that decision insofar to create a tool to make it easier to migrate there.

It's not like they suddenly told us we all had to switch to Russian rubles. It's CAD. Presumably, this is the currency with which we conduct every aspect of our lives. In fact, each week, an unhappy Canadian buyer comes to the board to question the reason there are any USD items listed on ebay.ca at all. Case in point http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Is-it-fair-to-charge-American-funds-for-a-purchase-from-a/... and I have to admit the comment about 'how nice of you to buy a warm coat for your raccoon' made me laugh out loud although it may not be appreciated as such by the Original Poster.

Before getting upset and taking what other upset sellers have said for fact on the discussion thread about this topic when it is merely an opinion voiced in anger or fear, I implore sellers to read the actual announcement (available under ebay Announcements) as well as the backgrounder and FAQ on this. Ebay Canada would not recommend this important change if it truly thought it would hobble sales here. As everyone likes to oft-repeat, if sellers don't sell stuff, ebay makes no money. They want for us to succeed.

jersey..authentix · ‎03-23-2016

lady.stark wrote: You do realise that by transferring to .com, you will pay FVF on the US shipping cost right?

I am aware of that, but considering that my items sell in the range of 300 to 600 USD, I don't have a problem handing over a $1.75. Since I am currently listing in USD, I am fine with conversions charges as well.

Considering what I will make listing in USD, I still come way ahead. Moving to .com will be a reality and a necessity if Ebay plans to go ahead with their currency plans.

Actually I have contemplating trying .com. I am catering to the US anyways. Personally I like some of their features better than what .ca has. Maybe another good reason to switch is because majority of my customers are US, when ever I have to deal with a return I have to log onto .com to deal with it.

Hey who know, may increase my sales as well. What is the count over their 450 million vs 35 million here?

neatjerseys · ‎03-23-2016

lady.stark wrote: You do realise that by transferring to .com, you will pay FVF on the US shipping cost right?

I am aware of that, but considering that my items sell in the range of 300 to 600 USD, I don't have a problem handing over a $1.75. Since I am currently listing in USD, I am fine with conversions charges as well.

Considering what I will make listing in USD, I still come way ahead. Moving to .com will be a reality and a necessity if Ebay plans to go ahead with their currency plans.

Actually I have contemplating trying .com. I am catering to the US anyways. Personally I like some of their features better than what .ca has. Maybe another good reason to switch is because majority of my customers are US, when ever I have to deal with a return I have to log onto .com to deal with it.

Hey who know, may increase my sales as well. What is the count over their 450 million vs 35 million here?

THIS IS JERSEY..AUTHENTIX. I HAD TO CHANGE ACCOUNTS BECAUSE EBAY KEEPING TELLING ME THERE IS AN ERROR. MMMMM! ERROR

neatjerseys · ‎03-23-2016

Funny no error on this account. Anyone else experiencing this ERROR?

hlmacdon · ‎03-23-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I am truly taken back by the furor this has caused. I realize that people don't like change (and I am one of them) but this one makes sense: we were the only ebay site in the world to be granted special status with the ability to list in two different currencies, one not actually being our currency.

This is not something Canadians requested to be implemented. Ebay implemented it based on their research, and based on their guidance many sellers built models around that. It is understandable that many would be upset when that rug is pulled out from under them after many many years of it being used.

That uniqueness meant that many of the new features available to other ebay sites did not work with ebay Canada. It held us back form being competitive because we were special and do not fit the mould that works for other ebay sites.

From a technical perspective there is no reason why this should be so. From a programming point of view, converting to a base currency is a simple if/then with an api call to do a lookup to an fx rate. This seems much more like an internal politics issue with the Canadian team getting support. Crucially it doesn't even address the biggest fundamental feature with the Canadian site, a broken shopping cart for international shoppers. While some features might get fast tracked the single biggest impediment to sales growth is still not being addressed.

I switched to exclusively CAD more than three years ago and did better with it. And for those sellers who are absolutely certain that USD is the way to go, there is always ebay.com and eBay Canada respects that decision insofar to create a tool to make it easier to migrate there.

It's not that simplistic unfortunately. There are many things to be considered, with the most obvious being the complete lack of access to a shipping API to be able to offer calculated shipping.

It's not like they suddenly told us we all had to switch to Russian rubles. It's CAD. Presumably, this is the currency with which we conduct every aspect of our lives. In fact, each week, an unhappy Canadian buyer comes to the board to question the reason there are any USD items listed on ebay.ca at all. Case in point http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Is-it-fair-to-charge-American-funds-for-a-purchase-from-a/... and I have to admit the comment about 'how nice of you to buy a warm coat for your raccoon' made me laugh out loud although it may not be appreciated as such by the Original Poster.

For many of us it is not the currency we use to conduct every aspect of our business lives. While I understand the frustration of some Canadian buyers, the Canadian government has no issue with the whatever currency we choose for settlement.

momcqueen · ‎03-23-2016

The only thing on eBay that is guaranteed is that everything changes. Twice per year, to be exact. Once in the spring, and again in the fall. Each year. Always.

momcqueen · ‎03-23-2016

P.s. The eBay Canada Shopping Cart works fine. It's the eBay.com Shopping Cart and eBay.co.uk Shopping Basket that malfunction wherever foreign-created (non eBay.com or eBay.uk) items are concerned.

hlmacdon · ‎03-23-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
P.s. The eBay Canada Shopping Cart works fine. It's the eBay.com Shopping Cart and eBay.co.uk Shopping Basket that malfunction wherever foreign-created (non eBay.com or eBay.uk) items are concerned.

If it isn't compatible with another one, they are both broken 🙂

momcqueen · ‎03-23-2016

With all due respect, you are incorrect. We've been through this a thousand times.

The ebay Canada Shopping cart (and all other global ones) work perfectly with all ebay-created listings, regardless of origins.

But eBay.com and eBay.uk came first. They were created to different standard. They are broken. Ours are not.

hlmacdon · ‎03-23-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:
With all due respect, you are incorrect. We've been through this a thousand times.

The ebay Canada Shopping cart (and all other global ones) work perfectly with all ebay-created listings, regardless of origins.

But eBay.com and eBay.uk came first. They were created to different standard. They are broken. Ours are not.

Compatibility is a two way street. 🙂

momcqueen · ‎03-23-2016

No. In a philosophical example, perhaps. But, practically, no. Don't take my word for it. Try it yourself.

Any listing created on any eBay in the world will fit into a Canada cart or France or Germany etc. then take that same listing and look at it on eBay.com or eBay.uk. No cart. It's not the listing. It's the cart.