Once again-time to go with the flow

[amcdc79]

Yes, ebay has thrown a curve ball to all of us(Canadian sellers), do we watch it go by for a strike, or do we hit it out of the park?

I am a small seller(no store) who has seen the promos go from 5 & 10 cents per listing, to being free, for that, I thank ebay.

I also remember ebay stating that listing in USD was the way to go, which was fine when the CDN was lower, but a pain when it was higher. Lately it has been a blessing, as the exchange rate, has allowed me to cover the fees.

Luckily for me, I already have some of my listings on .com, so they will not be affected, how they got there, is still a mystery to me.Lol. I always thought the other free listings were another category, not another site. Now I understand why ebay wanted me to sign up for GSP, even though I lived in Canada. I actually asked why here, and was given the answer by some of you fine folks, for that I thank you.

I was always running out of my free .ca listings, but not the .com ones, so I guess now, this is a good incentive to balance the two.

Shipping in Canada, as you all know, is a joke, as there are times when you just really don't know, even with a scale. Listing in USD almost kind of gave me a buffer, if I was wrong, but I did refund, if the buyer overpaid.

I do have a question for those who ship video games to the US, as ebay a few years ago, brought in a maximum of $3.99USD to get higher search standings. Is this still in effect? The reason I ask, is if I list in CDN, it would be tough to hit that mark, with the ever changing exchange rate.

I wish all of you the best of the season, and of course selling here, it may seem like the sky is falling, all i can suggest is to go with the flow, and hit that darn curve, out of here.

[pjcdn2005]

Are you referring to the cap on shipping in some media categories? It has nothing to do with search placement but  that is the only cap I can think of. I'm not sure of the amount but there still is a cap in effect  but only if you list on .com. If you list on .ca you can charge whatever you want for shipping but of course you still want to be competitive.

[amcdc79]

The cap for shipping video games iirc was set about 3 or 4 years ago, if you charged more than $3.99USD to ship to the US, you were placed lower in the search standings. International sellers were all up in arms regarding the policy, and have not seen anything from ebay, that says, they have changed it. Most of the games I sell in Canada are free to ship, as they can go by Letter Post, which is fairly cheap to all of Canada.

Upon further reading the ebay announcement, it seems that my automotive items can go on .ca and stay in USD, so it looks like I have to reverse all my listings. So much for only throwing curve balls, now ebay is throwing all kinds of pitches.

[hlmacdon · Accepted solution]

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@amcdc79 wrote:

Upon further reading the ebay announcement, it seems that my automotive items can go on .ca and stay in USD, so it looks like I have to reverse all my listings. So much for only throwing curve balls, now ebay is throwing all kinds of pitches.

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Nothing can stay on ebay.ca in USD unfortunately. If you read the brief data they have released, auto parts suffered from poorer sellthrough when listed in CAD, hence they recommend you list on .com in USD. It just shows how half baked their data set is. Give me a quant and some Adderall and I can make the numbers say whatever you want.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@amcdc79 wrote:

The cap for shipping video games iirc was set about 3 or 4 years ago, if you charged more than $3.99USD to ship to the US, you were placed lower in the search standings. International sellers were all up in arms regarding the policy, and have not seen anything from ebay, that says, they have changed it. Most of the games I sell in Canada are free to ship, as they can go by Letter Post, which is fairly cheap to all of Canada.

Upon further reading the ebay announcement, it seems that my automotive items can go on .ca and stay in USD, so it looks like I have to reverse all my listings. So much for only throwing curve balls, now ebay is throwing all kinds of pitches.

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Complete list of shipping caps for ebay.com

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/maximum_shipping.html

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I list my dvds on eBay.ca and use O/S lettermail or light packet or small packet (depending on weight) for the small stuff sent to the USA. Americans still seem able to find and buy them.

For USA:

051-100g ..  2.95 lettermail using stamps (bought at a discount)
000-200g ..  5.70 Light Packet
201-300g ..  8.23 Light Packet
251-500g .. 11.07 Small Packet (Air)

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I list my cds on eBay,com -- building the cost of shipping to the USA into the price. And have "free" shipping for the USA and Canada, with the rest of the world listed at the Canada Post ship price. I use the "Add Note" feature for an item to indicate what currency exchange rate I used when setting values. So when I relist I can see if there needs to be a price modification.

-.-

I'm pretty sure eBay.ca is eliminating all US$ listings.  While auto parts was one of the few categories that did better when listed in US$ -- but I'm pretty sure eBay.ca is also making it switch to CA$ as well.

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[reallynicestamps]

I do have a question for those who ship video games to the US, as ebay a few years ago, brought in a maximum of $3.99USD to get higher search standings. Is this still in effect? The reason I ask, is if I list in CDN, it would be tough to hit that mark, with the ever changing exchange rate.

There is still a shipping cap on media, including books and video games.

If you are listing on dotCOM and shipping from Canada, you must charge Fixed Rate Shipping for everything you list.

You cannot charge more than a Fixed Rate of $4.00 for 'media', and this is based on the USPS Media Rate.

If you were shipping from the USA, you could instead choose Calculated Shipping but this is only available if you are using USPS shipping.

The advantage of listing on dot CA is that you can choose your shipping rate to reflect your actual shipping costs.

You can go with a Flat Rate.

You can use Calculated Shipping.

And before you get upset about being forced to list in loonies (but not until June), remember that when your US customer Searches, he sees your prices in USD.

(And your German customer sees your prices in Euros in search. And your Aussie customer sees your prices in Australian dollarsl)

If you can ship your product for LetterPost/LightPacket rates, and those are under $4USD ($5CDN), list on dot COM.

If shipping will have to be more than $4USD, list on dotCA.

[tobyshitzu]

you could set your lsitings up the same way you have them now, free to canada, 3.99 usa. You'll pay an extra .40 in fee on shipping  for every sale outside of Canada if you switch to .com 

[amcdc79]

Thanks to all for the great food for thought, I'll leave the automotive listings where they are, and move the hockey cards to .com as the book value for them has always been in USD. The games do sell to Canadians, because most of the US sellers use the GSP, making mine cheaper with the free shipping.

I was going to list my one owner car (1979 AMC-AMX) on .ca in June, but since it would have to be in CDN, I may do it earlier. It sure would be nice if ebay let me use some of the 6 free listings on .com, but I doubt it. To bad they didn't do the change over, one month later.

Thanks again, and good luck to all of you fellow Canadian sellers, I truly hope ebay is right, and our sales do go up.

[cumos55]

eBay creates the environment in which we sell...  it is our basic template.

Each of us as unique sellers on eBay create our own personal "flow"

Canadian sellers are very good at adjusting to the reality of eBay... and success follows.

Each of us knows what to do to "make it happen"

[cumos55]

It is our time to ask questions... get answers and do a lot of reading.

One can learn a lot  ... even from those  who have problems  or disagree with what is happening on eBay Canada.

It is our time to formulate a way to adjust....  and be ready for May 2.

May will be a month of change......  and be ready for June 1....

[pierrelebel]

"Canadian sellers are very good at adjusting to the reality of eBay... and success follows."

Well said. 

[maxwar82]

You mean Canadians are good at being force fed any silly modification to the platform without actually taking their stuff and bailing out.

I wish ebay had actual competition in this type of market. ( random second hand items ) . Sometimes I feel they are just clueless. They keep making changes to the platform, all the freaking time. I get the impression none of the decision takers have actually tried selling their own stuff on ebay.

[cumos55]

I have a specific model for selling on eBay..`.. It is called Systems Modelling

Appropriate adjustments are made as needed...

and many times  I am ready for anything new that comes along... whether, eBay, Canada Post, competition, finding inventory  and finally what I sell.

I am ready for this next change  because if my thought is correct  it will fit into my model.

eBay provides the template... I use that template to my advantage ... and then everything else fits in.....  

The new part of that template is Canadian dollars on eBay Canada

The most  important thing is .... to know ... what NOT to do to be successful on eBay

[pierrelebel]

"I wish ebay had actual competition in this type of market."

There is lots of competition out there.  eBay is only a very small part of worldwide e-commerce.

For 2015 it is estimated that e-commerce worldwide was slightly more than $1.7 trillion US$

http://www.statista.com/statistics/261245/b2c-e-commerce-sales-worldwide/

eBay's worldwide sales by sellers were about US$81 billion - or less than 5% of worldwide e-commerce, a very sharp reduction from where eBay was ten years ago.

Individuals and small businesses have many venues available to them - and e-commerce is only one of them - to market their products.

Looking around the successful Canadian eBay sellers, you may find that they sell on more than one platform and more than one venue, often using their own website to complement their marketing efforts on eBay.

Good Luck

[contactmusique]

*Maxwar Here*

I meant specifically for the ''Random second hand item'' market. 

Although I mostly sell video game stuff, I sell just about anything.

For things like ''misc lots'', old toasters,  refurbished game console bundles etc, I have not found anything that can replace ebay.

Other platforms dont have as much traffic. To me this is what ebay is about., it is like a big online flea market. Moms and pops selling their stuff.

[pjcdn2005]

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@amcdc79 wrote:

Thanks to all for the great food for thought, I'll leave the automotive listings where they are, and move the hockey cards to .com as the book value for them has always been in USD. The games do sell to Canadians, because most of the US sellers use the GSP, making mine cheaper with the free shipping.

I was going to list my one owner car (1979 AMC-AMX) on .ca in June, but since it would have to be in CDN, I may do it earlier. It sure would be nice if ebay let me use some of the 6 free listings on .com, but I doubt it. To bad they didn't do the change over, one month later.

Thanks again, and good luck to all of you fellow Canadian sellers, I truly hope ebay is right, and our sales do go up.

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Why wouldn't they let you use the free listings on .com? I'm sure that if you sign into .com you will see the same promotional offers that you have on .ca.

Re your automotive items...I don't know if this is true for your items but if you read the info on the update, the automotive category is one that does not do better in Cdn dollars. The U.S. site has more item details to help people find those type of items so you might want to look at .com for those too.

[amcdc79]

When I relisted a few automotive listings, I ended up on the .com site, and there, staring me in the face, were the same 6 free vehicle listings, I didn't know whether to say DUH like Homer Simpson, or look out for a Gibbs style love tap to the back of my head from my better half.

You are correct, I'm good to go with listing the car when I wanted to, and in USD. Now to figure out the shipping for it, along with all the many parts I have accumulated over the years.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@amcdc79 wrote:

I was going to list my one owner car (1979 AMC-AMX) on .ca in June, but since it would have to be in CDN, I may do it earlier. It sure would be nice if ebay let me use some of the 6 free listings on .com, but I doubt it. To bad they didn't do the change over, one month later.

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My Ebay Selling shows 6 free auto listings for both eBay.ca and for eBay.COM

Edit: I see you found them while I was still typing...