eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎03-18-2016

Hello Canadian sellers,

This thread is open for discussion regarding the recent announcement about eBay Canada retiring USD support from its selling flows. Myself and other employees will come visit this thread and do our best to answer any questions on this topic.

lolly72012 · ‎03-25-2016

well i listed some stuff in canadian money , the problem is if i want the americans to see a 9.99 price on the item then i have to look up the money exchange , if i list 50 things i have to look up the exchange on all the items , i like all my listings ending in 99 cents ,

pierrelebel · ‎03-25-2016

All sellers, Canadians or Americans, listing on eBay.ca or eBay.com basically include the cost of shipping in the price of the item when offering "free shipping". Some may do it by averaging the shipping cost of an item, others as a percentage of their total anjual sales (that is what I do)

The same applies to all other online merchants offering "free shipping". That is not a new concept. In fact it seems to be the norm for online sale. However, it is generally more challenging for Canadians as our shipping costs using Canada Post (as individuals, not large businesses) are generally more substantial than experienced by Americans with USPS.

Since most of our competitors on and off eBay offer "free shipping" it is very challenging for a Canadian seller not to do so.

Good Luck.

maritimemedals · ‎03-25-2016

As a Canadian registered business I am required to collect HST/GST the items that I sell, the prices are determined by US catalogues and hence I sell in US Dollars, my issue is that I cannot add a Tax Table in the .com website for Canadian Provinces, otherwise I am forced to confront my customers by law and request the appropriate sales taxes if they pay me before I can issue an invoice. There are important legal issues here to consider.

This only hurts my business and I will looking for an alternative marketplace for most of my stock,

hlmacdon · ‎03-25-2016

@i.am.vivian wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:

Canadians are a very small percentage of the eBay.com world. We are welcome of course but we are not that "special" as we will never bring that big percentage of business (like the Chinese for example). That is simple reality.

It is also a simple reality that these kinds of integrations are becoming less complicated, easier to implement, and more prevalent around the globe. I see the Chinese example as a starting point, not the final finish.

They are not even remotely complicated nor expensive to implement. Shipping API's are quite straightforward to implement (and are not frequently updated) as is limiting them to specific accounts by location to avoid the wrong services being used causing buying confusion. Considering the vast number of foreign based sellers using .com as a global marketplace it is something they should be moving towards given this provides a much easier way of handling the late shipment issue that everyone is skirting by fudging handling times and using generic shipping services. But like Pierre said, the Canadian team probably couldn't make a business case for it even if they had any desire to do so.

hlmacdon · ‎03-25-2016

@maritimemedals wrote:
As a Canadian registered business I am required to collect HST/GST the items that I sell, the prices are determined by US catalogues and hence I sell in US Dollars, my issue is that I cannot add a Tax Table in the .com website for Canadian Provinces, otherwise I am forced to confront my customers by law and request the appropriate sales taxes if they pay me before I can issue an invoice. There are important legal issues here to consider.
This only hurts my business and I will looking for an alternative marketplace for most of my stock,

Have you tested a .com listing to see if taxes are carrying over? Tax tables are tied to an ebay country site, but if your account is a Canadian account, the Canadian tax table should carry over regardless of where you list. You won't visibly see it in your site preferences for those country sites, but it should add taxes to the listing.

pierrelebel · ‎03-25-2016

"my issue is that I cannot add a Tax Table in the .com website for Canadian Provinces,"

Yes you can.

It is very simple

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/pay/checkout-tax-table.html (make sure to list the table on .ca)

When preparing your listings on eBay.com be sure to select : tax table applies

Thousands of GST/HST registered Canadian sellers listing on eBay.com have used the tax table for years.

maritimemedals · ‎03-25-2016

Hi,

Tax tables on ebay.com are for the US only and not Canada, you have to manually add the taxes before the customer pays for them, otherwise you have to absorb the tax or try to collect it after sale, both are BAD FOR BUSINESS

pierrelebel · ‎03-25-2016

"it is something they should be moving towards given this provides a much easier way of handling the late shipment issue"

Maybe eBay Inc has other long term plans where worldwide sellers use their domestic site, in local currency, instead of all jumping on eBay.com (in US$). More so since online commerce, including eBay, is quickly moving towards "free shipping".

Already eBay.com has more than 50% of all listings offering "free shipping"; the percentage is higher is you count American sellers only. If their eventual goal is to make it 100% eBay cannot encourage foreign sellers to use eBay.com. It would defeat their plan.

pierrelebel · ‎03-25-2016

"Tax tables on ebay.com are for the US only"

Once again, fill the tax table on .ca - it will apply to eBay.com listings when Canadians make the purchase.

pierrelebel · ‎03-25-2016

I should add that after the tax table is created on eBay.ca, it does not apply retroactively and you must revise all current listings to show tax table applies

lee_vc · ‎03-25-2016

This is just another bad idea. Complete detriment to the sellers. Likely scare of many U.S. buyers who don't want to deal with cdn $$. Just another form of control. I remember a time when you could be proud to be a good seller, they make it harder and harder all the time.

maritimemedals · ‎03-25-2016

Thanks, you are correct, I checked it out and my tax table does apply, that makes things easier,

pierrelebel · ‎03-25-2016

"many U.S. buyers who don't want to deal with cdn $$"

That is an opinion.

I frankly do not think Americans care since they pay PayPal in US$, not Cdn$. And the same is true for British buyers who pay in Sterling, not Cdn$ and German who pay in euro, not Cdn$.

Thousands of Canadians sellers have been selling on eBay (and elsewhere) in Canadian dollars for years and have been successful doing so.

kanto_cards · ‎03-25-2016

Oh heck yeah! Well Said Sir!

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-25-2016

@hlmacdon wrote:
@i.am.vivian wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:
Canadians are a very small percentage of the eBay.com world. We are welcome of course but we are not that "special" as we will never bring that big percentage of business (like the Chinese for example). That is simple reality.

It is also a simple reality that these kinds of integrations are becoming less complicated, easier to implement, and more prevalent around the globe. I see the Chinese example as a starting point, not the final finish.
They are not even remotely complicated nor expensive to implement. Shipping API's are quite straightforward to implement (and are not frequently updated) as is limiting them to specific accounts by location to avoid the wrong services being used causing buying confusion. Considering the vast number of foreign based sellers using .com as a global marketplace it is something they should be moving towards given this provides a much easier way of handling the late shipment issue that everyone is skirting by fudging handling times and using generic shipping services. But like Pierre said, the Canadian team probably couldn't make a business case for it even if they had any desire to do so.

I admit that I know nothing about programming or setting up a website but I do suspect that very few things are simple on eBay when it comes to making changes on the way things work. It's one thing to set up a brand new system it is another thing to add something on to a system that has had thousands and hundreds of changes made to it over the years.

2013reh001 · ‎03-25-2016

Just a thought. If in fact this is a better deal for Canadian Sellers, You might want to remove or justify the comment in the shipping policy section of the Ebay.ca listing procedure that says "Listings in US$ attract more buyers and are 15% more likely to sell"

What do you think?

pierrelebel · ‎03-25-2016

""Listings in US$ attract more buyers and are 15% more likely to sell""

That sentence was first inserted over ten years ago. At the time eBay.ca was relatively new and an analysis of listings on eBay.ca showed at that time that odds were 15% better than a listing would sell if listed in US$. (for example, if 70 listings in Cdn$ would sell out of 100 and 80 listings in US$ would sell out of 100, the conclusion they arrived at was that US$ were "15% more likely to sell" - 80 over 70)

That was then, this is now.

In early 2015 eBay.ca conducted a more elaborate up-to-date analysis and concluded that what was correct ten years ago had changed. They posted that information last year. In the meantime eBay.ca took steps to encourage sellers to use Cdn$ instead of US$ when listing on eBay.ca which eventually lead to the new policy announced a few days ago to switch eBay.ca to a single currency site (Cdn$) like all other eBay international sites.

What was an exception (dual currency) no longer will be.

As far as still having that sentence somewhere on the site, that's typical eBay. They are not very good, have never been in fact, in updating all the information as changes took place over the years.

hlmacdon · ‎03-25-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I admit that I know nothing about programming or setting up a website but I do suspect that very few things are simple on eBay when it comes to making changes on the way things work. It's one thing to set up a brand new system it is another thing to add something on to a system that has had thousands and hundreds of changes made to it over the years.

Therein lies the difference. Those with experience know this is not challenging.

I get it, we aren't China and any changes won't bring the same level of ROI based on numbers alone. We still haven't seen an economy international shipping option added for .ca despite this being a prominent issue since the introduction of the late shipping defect. But hey the number say it won't effect you so don't worry about it right?

2013reh001 · ‎03-25-2016

Thank You.

iwc · ‎03-25-2016

Faced with same problem. Actually contacted Revenue Canada in reference to Global Shipping. After a month got a ruling that I could not get back import fees. I see this as an end to Ebay.ca. 80%+ of Canadian sellers sell in US. American live in there tiny world have no concept of Euros, Pounds, Yen, Aussie, NZ Etc Etc. Ebay was designed and built for US, other than China Ebay will continue this tradition.