Newbie with a couple of questions

[kruisingsam]

Hi all.

 I want to try selling on Ebay and I have a couple of questions :

- Can Canadians sell on Ebay.com?

- If I post on Ebay.ca, does my posting show on Ebay.com, and is it listed in the same order (under a particular category regardless of what site (.ca or .com) it was listed on?

- If I choose to accept returns, can I set my own return time? It seems Ebay automatically sets the return time at 14 days (returns accepted within 14 days).

- In the case of buying, who pays for the shipping back if for example the item was defective or not as described? Do I discuss this with the seller before hand or are they obliged to pay for shipping the item back to them?

Thanks in advance.

[momcqueen]

Ebay.com is certainly open to Canadian sellers, however, there are pros and cons to listing on the USA site. I am not an expert on the subject as I am listing exclusively with ebay.ca at present. Others here will have greater wisdom to share.

Off the top of my head, this is what I can tell you about ebay.com for Canadian sellers:

(a) you'll have to list in USD

(b) you'll have to use flat-rate postage charges and generic terms like Standard shipping etc 

(c) you'll have to stress the items are located (presumably) in Canada so your American buyers aren't irritated by shipping speed as there will be delays in crossing the border that they are not accustomed to waiting for as well as higher postage charges for lesser service

(d) you'll pay higher fees to paypal for currency conversion but the disparity between USD and CAD will no doubt compensate for that

It's not a bad idea to list on ebay.com but when I was listing my first items, I felt much more comfortable with ebay.ca. So long as you specify shipping to both Canada and the USA, your listing will be visible on both ebay.ca and ebay.com no matter which site it is listed on. 

Good luck as you carry forward.

p.s. You can pick 7 to infinity days for return terms. Or none at all. I'm not clear on who pays for what with postage on returns. That should be stated in the Money Back Guarantee. Generally, if the item is being returned due to the buyer not wanting it anymore, they pay return shipping. If it is being returned because it was wrecked, the seller does. This is on top of the refund which is for the WHOLE amount of the payment including postage which is a straight-up loss to the seller. This was done to keep sellers honest with the item descriptions as well as postage and handling costs. 

[reallynicestamps]

Do I discuss this with the seller before hand or are they obliged to pay for shipping the item back to them?

Although there are a lot of posts about returns and refunds, this is actually a rare occurrence. Most sellers go years without any problems.

You can prevent those problems by:

Taking clear pictures or scans of the item you are selling.

Having the item in hand before you sell it.

Describing exactly what the buyer will get.

Packing carefully.

Shipping within 48 hours.

Letting the customer know when and how the item was shipped. (Mention Canada Post, reminding American buyers that there is a border is never a bad thing).

Leaving feedback when you ship.

If you do not use tracking, which can be very expensive, adjust your asking price and/or shipping fee to include a small amount for 'Cookie Jar Insurance". This just means adding a few pennies, maybe a dime, to every sale to cover the rare claim of loss or damage. With those pennies, you can refund promptly  and protect your seller account without getting PP or eBay involved.

[kruisingsam]

Thanks for the reply, mjwl2006. I don't really understand this "flat rate" postage thing and how it works. Is this rate something I set, or the post office? You said I have to stress the item is located in Canada. But from what I see, Ebay automatically shows where the item is located. Where else do I need to mention that to buyers?

So 7 days is the minimum for returns if I choose to accept returns?

[momcqueen]

Calculated shipping is the method that mines the data from the postal carrier once you set your item dimensions and weight. With flat-rate, you have to work it out ahead of time and then enter that amount as your 'flat-rate' for each of the countries that you offer to ship to.

That is the tricky part. The cost to ship to one country (like Canada) is different than the UK or parts of Europe. Although sometimes not by much. (I can't speak for anything in South America or Africa since I've never shipped there.) Whatever you do, don't opt to give rates for anything slower than Airmail. Surface is out, absolutely. It takes eight weeks or more to reach a buyer overseas and by then you've lost any and all Item Not Received cases plus gained a defect for your efforts.

The Returns window is 3 to 60 days with the option to offer 'extended holiday returns' after, I believe November 1 which would allow a buyer to send something back until sometime in the New Year.

As to the 'Ships from Canada' part, you'd want to mention it in the listing description too. Along with a line about Import fees potentially being payable by the buyer. Once you sell on ebay for awhile, you will begin to suspect that no one reads anything other than the search terms they've entered, making purchases after looking at pictures only.... but you still need to put as much information in the listing itself if you want to protect your account from Not As Described issues afterwards.

Good luck as you carry forward.

[kruisingsam]

Thanks again for the reply, mjw. I still don't understand why I need to ship flat rate. I sold an item (the only thing I've ever sold on ebay) a year or so ago and shipped it to Korea and I paid whatever the post office said the fees were. I don't understand why I can't just charge whatever the actual rate is (determined by Canada post) if I want to ship to the US. I really don't get what the purpose of this "flat-rate" is.

As for the returns, so I can set the time myself? I tried finding where I can specify the time myself but all I could see is (14 days return). I want to accept returns but not after 14 days because that's too long in my opinion and people can for example wear a pair of shoes for 10 days and leave stains on them and then decide to return them and I'm supposed to accept them because it's still within the 14 days? In that case, I'm wondering how Ebay protects the seller, if it does at all.

[momcqueen]

Flat-rate is whatever amount you like. You set it. It can be actual cost or it can be a set amount with a handling fee. The selling form requires you to fill in an amount. It is simply the term used by ebay to designate NOT calculated by the postal carrier. Flat-rate means you enter the amount. Calculated means you enter the dimensions of the package and weight, and the carrier calculates it for you based on the buyer's address with ebay. Calculated postage only works for items located on ebay.ca in Canada. USPS does not ship from within Canada and that is what ebay.com uses to calculate its Calculated shipping. Calculated shipping doesn't work for Canadians with items on ebay.com. I think you're confusing the verb with the specific ebay term.

[momcqueen]

As to your question about Returns, you can specify when you list the item that 'any return must be unopened and undamaged, in the same condition as it was sold'. There is a place to enter Return details. In my experience, virtually no one bothers to return anything but I don't sell in the area of Clothing or Footwear so the culture there might be different than what I am accustomed to dealing with. I had two returns in three years and both were declined at import by the buyer because they were unaware (despite details in my listings that state otherwise) that they are accountable for fees on import. Buyers in the UK and Italy (as well as many other countries in Europe) are always taxed when an item comes to them from outside their country of origin.

[kruisingsam]

Thank you very much for the explanation, mjw.
I suspected "flat-rate" was an amount determined by the seller after they find out the actual shipping cost of an item, but I wasn't too sure. So, my understanding is that if an item's actual shipping cost is $9 for example, the seller can just charge $10? Which means they can make a small profit on the shipping too.

As for the returns, I just wanted to know beforehand what to do in case things go wrong either as a seller or a buyer. It looks like there are some dishonest buyers on Ebay, just as there are dishonest sellers. Just bought $500 worth of products from China (NOT on Ebay) but when I received the stuff it turned out to be of very poor quality and I would've spent a total of $200 on shipping had I decided to ship it back. So, I just want to be prepared in case stuff like this happens to me as a buyer on Ebay. I don't want to be responsible for shipping cost in case I buy something that's not what it was advertised to be.

Thanks again for your replies.

PS. I tried to reply earlier but I don't know what happened to my post.

[momcqueen]

You're welcome.

If you add a dollar as a handling fee, that's fine and perfectly within your rights but remember you are also charged a Final Value Fee on shipping. So it won't be as much of a one-dollar profit as a buffer to help subsidize your Final Values Fees for selling.

You raise a good point about approaching this from the perspective of a buyer. I think my feedback stood at 177 when I sold my first item and I had certainly had my fair share of crummy purchasing experiences. I am always amazed when I see people on ebay who are buyers only with feedback scores above a thousand. Brave souls!

[kruisingsam]

Hi.
Yeah I understand Ebay wants to charge us even on the air we breathe while on their site but I just used the $10 flat-rate example to make sure I got it right. I just found out not too long ago that they take a cut from the shipping price sellers charge.

I have 40 feedbacks all but one were purchases. My only two negative experiences were 2 items that I never received but I think I only lost $6 on one (paypal didn't refund the full amount), which is why I never bothered. Over all I can say buying has been almost trouble free. But I always like to be prepared just in case things do go wrong.