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.

momcqueen · ‎03-26-2016

I'm okay with it. I'm one of the sellers that's achieved greater success with listing in CAD these past three years.

pierrelebel · ‎03-26-2016

"NO one is OK with this change, "

Possibly you are unhappy with the change. However, I am not.

I have been listing on eBay since 1998. I list in US$ on eBay.com and in Cdn$ on eBay.ca (since 2003). Over 105,000 transactions from 1998 until 2011 (when I semi-retired)

Both sites in both currencies are working fine for me. Thousands of other Canadian sellers have done very well listing and selling in Cdn$ to Americans and other worldwide customers.

There is a lot of fear of the unknown out there. Do not let it get to you. If management at eBay.ca tells you that your sales will be better or at least as good listing in Cdn$, why not simply trust them?

It is in their interest for you to do well - the more you sell, the higher the prices you get, the more commission they earn. Anyone thinking that eBay would suggest something where sellers fail is not thinking it through.

morley11 · ‎03-26-2016

I cannot believe that this is being forced upon eBay sellers from Canada. I've been selling on eBay now for over 16 years, and have always told so many people to use the site. I cannot even begin to tell you how upset this change makes me. I have sold thousands of items and every single one is in US dollars, and easily more than 50-60% of my sales are to US buyers. I have no doubt that I will lose a vast majority of these buyers immediately. Buyers, especially new ones, never feel comfortable with purchasing in a foreign currency, plus with the current exchange rate, they will see a much higher number in Canadian dollars. Regardless of seeing it in US fund and being able to purchase the item still in US funds, it is the stigma of seeing a higher number related to their purchase that will push them to other sellers. But the really big issue that stands out more than anything else, it's the exchange rate issues. I would be forced to constantly adjust my prices as the exchange rates move. If I calculate my starting price in Canadian dollars to show up as $9.99 US and then the dollar moves a tiny % higher, then my item all of a sudden becomes $10.01 - and ALL sellers eBay or elsewhere know that a US buyer will always go to the selling at $9.99 instead of $10.01. This change has NO advantages of any kind and will certainly see a drastic negative change and increased difficulties in sales for all Canadian sellers. The only advantage I see is likely how much eBay will benefit in the money that they will make changing currencies for US buyers.

If I am forced to make this switch, it will be nothing but problems. There is no plausible argument that can possibly convince me that this will be a benefit in any way. It looks like my very long and enjoyable time on eBay.ca is coming to a forced end. And the suggestion about switching to eBay.com is not even remotely realistic. I was forced to change to eBay.ca so that I could use Canada Post. With shipping from Canada, how the hell do we set up Canada Post on eBay.com?! I'm very unhappy at this unnecessary change. And judging by this forum topic, I'm not alone!

Stop this idiotic change before it's too late.

momcqueen · ‎03-26-2016

There is no stopping it. You may want to give CAD a try before moving all your listings to ebay.com. CAD has worked for me. If instead you decide to continue to list in USD but on ebay.com. ebay Canada staff are creating a tool to help migrate listings to ebay.com.

I encourage you to take the time to read the announcement in its entirety on the Announcement page. (Also read the backgrounder.) Don't be fooled by all the fear-mongering, knee-jerk reaction on this discussion thread. The vocal minority is always loudest. Successful CAD sellers are too busy selling things to complain about changes for the better.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@west-island-electronics wrote:

That exchange is my profit margin. With the exchange I was able to offer free shipping on all my items,and monthly sales, in turn ebay making a larger profit off my fees.

I don't know why EBAY makes these decisions for us, it should be the sellers right to sell their products in which ever currency they want.

All this causes is a lot of price changing, and ALOT of time to alter all my listings, and less exposure.

Don't see the benefits at all, all I see is a pile of work, and work I will not be compensated for.

We just got threw this whole defect system, just when Ebay was taking a turn for once in the sellers favour, they spring this on us.

Very disappointing as a Canadian seller.

Hi beaconsfield-electronics

I hope I can help a bit by clarifying two things.

1. You get exactly the same exposure to US buyers whether you list on eBay.ca, or on eBay.,com, and whether you list in USD or CAD. eBay.com search treats items listed on eBay.ca just like items listed on eBay,com, so long as there is shipping on the listing for US buyers.

2. A few sellers have talked about the need to change prices all the time. And I suppose if you're determined to hit a specific price in US dollars that is true. But if you are trying to hit a specific price in US dollars, you should list in US dollars on eBay.com.

Another way to look at it is that when you list in CAD you are in control, whereas when you list in USD you are living with foreign exchange risk to your margin and/or competitiveness.

Suppose you list long tail inventory in CAD for $75, and you have an $18 profit margin on the item. Now, on any day when the US dollar rises against the loonie, my price goes down for US buyers on that day. I didn't have to edit anything. Or if the opposite happens and there is a big climb in the Canadian dollar, instead of having to increase prices to protect my margin, I'm still collecting $18 Canadian on each and every sale. You would still need to revise your listings if, say, you decided you could live with less than $18 profit to compete with sellers competing with the same item at CAD$70, But the difference is that your prices are adjusting in USD automatically to maintain your margin when you list in CAD. You get to make conscious decisions about your margin instead of reacting after the fact.

universal-heros · ‎03-26-2016

can yopu do both using Turbo Lister?

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@nanaimoonline wrote:

Where is a guide for Canadians to sell on eBay.com ?

How is the shipping calculation supposed to be different from eBay.ca ?

We need guides for this!

Hi nanaimoonline

The migration tool will help map your eBay.ca shipping services to the closest US shipping services.

If you are using calculated shipping, you'll need to switch to flat rate or stay on eBay.ca.

We have mapped out some details to help you. In the FAQ page, we have provided the complete list of service mappings that will be used by the tool.

In the section called "Using the eBay Listing Migration Tool" there is a question and answer for "How exactly are shipping services mapped from eBay.ca to eBay.com"? http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/list-in-cad/usd-retirement-faqs.html

I hope this helps.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@gr88stuff wrote:

This will be disastrous for Canadian sellers and for eBay Canada.

You are forcing us to post on eBay.com from now on, until you change that rule too and force us to list only on eBay Canada in CAD currency by which point I will stop using ebay entirely after selling here since 1997.

Fire the person (or committee) who came up with this insane, ill thought, stupid, reckless, blind, dumb, crazy, unbelievable, disastrous, and suicidal new rule.

I am also with other posters who think that all posts from China should be in Yuans, Mexico posts in Pesos, South Africa posts in Rand and Israel posts in Sheckels; fair is fair.

All sellers who list on eBay.com must list in USD. Chinese sellers who list on the Chinese site do list in Yuan. Mexico has no site of their own and the business team would love to have something like eBay.ca where they can list in their own currency if they choose yet still have their items show on eBay.com in US dollars.

The eBay.ca site is the only eBay site out of any of our global sites that gives you complete access to eBay.com with the same search treatment as if you had listed on eBay.com..

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@paintingartz wrote:

I am VERY upset. Ebay has cut off Canadians from reaching the top group of customers and blocked us from making the most profit we can. When you sign up to sell on Ebay they recommend you set your dollar to USD. Why? To reach the largest customer base. If Ebay knew this was a target group in USD, I can only conjure up why they made this decision. There is no other reason it would seem than stopping profits for Canadian Ebay sellers, while not changing or discounting Canadian sellers for fees and so on to compensate for cutting us out of more than half the competition. I wonder will all sellers be forced to use the currency of their country? I noticed several sellers who are not from the UK using pounds as currency. I feel my days of selling and paying fees for a service I find myself on the phone correcting errors and glitches regularly simply will not be worth my time. VERY disappointing Ebay!!

When you see other international listings in US dollars on eBay.ca, there are only three places that listing can be created: eBay.com, eBay.ca or cafr.eBay.ca. When you list on any other eBay site except eBay Canada there is no choice of listing currency.

Many sellers from those sites list directly on eBay.com because the UK site does not automatically feed all inventory into the eBay.com site like the eBay.ca site does.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@i_remember_that wrote:

Why is the US amount displayed in such a small font and grey? If the buyer is on ebay.com the US value should be displayed more prominently (ie. larger than Canadian value) and not in such a way as to be looked over. The way it is it almost fades into the background defeating the purpose..

Thanks for the suggestion, We have some really brilliant guys who work on the global item page product team, and they are really fond of running experiments and using usability labs, etc. I suspect they've tested this quite a lot to get to the current treatment.

I ran the global view item team for eBay many years ago to help fill in for a maternity leave, and I think we have come a long, long way since then.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@Anonymous wrote:

The survey was done the same way eBay does all of its user surveys. Some clown at head office comes up with a dumb idea to prove they do something all day and then they survey all of his/her lackeys that never disagree with the boss.

That's a pretty hilarious vision of how we work. It in no way resembles eBay's back office discussions. Most of our employees buy and sell on the platform and are pretty passionate about their point of view.

Also, as many have pointed out on this thread - even though we have made a ton of improvements over the last few years, there are still lots of things that need attention - including some broken experiences. We don't need to dream up things to do -our biggest problem is that the list is a kilometer long.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@eyeball123 wrote:

The link tool is not working and the instructions given do NOT work.

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/list-in-cad/migration-tool-usd-listings.html

I want to try to move ONE listing to eBay.com to "test it"

Hi eyeball

The current version is just a lookup tool. As it points out on the page you cited, the tool is coming in May.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@tch_ca wrote:
Re: Retirement of USD from eBay.ca Selling Flows in reply to maritimemedals ‎03-22-2016 09:43 PM maritimemedals wrote: I have been selling on ebay.ca for the last few years, the items that I sell are valued on the open market in US dollars only hence if I am forced to list in Canadian dollars a considerable percentage of my market has disappeared, it is forcing me to reconsider my business strategy. Why change something that works, it is very inconsiderate and stupid, it will cost me money and in return ebay money through lost sales I understand your perspective. It's why I for one was almost certain our study would show that Canadians listing in USD would be more successful. In fact I was one of the people who pushed back and insisted on recounts and additional analyses before I had to admit that what we were seeing really was an advantage for CAD. So then you look at the buyer experience wondering how this can be. It's from the evolution of ecommerce and our marketplace, eBay's global marketplace platform makes it seamless to buy items listed in foreign currencies. Buyers don't need to figure out how much to pay in their own currency because they see the amount in their own currency, ------------------------------- Rodney, you sound like a broken record. The ONLY people that would possibly be in favor of this are Canadian buyers It's obvious why they would want to force Canadian sellers to list in CDN. I can't see ANY seller being in favor of this. What what be their argument????? You're really not making anything better so stop claiming so. You are REMOVING an option that is easy to manage for many sellers. Here are clear issues with this decision for sellers who currently chose to list in dual currencies (And there are MANY). Here are some issues you will run into having to manage one or both of the sites. All of these are operationally SIGNIFICANT in my opinion. If you chose to only sell in Ebay.ca 1. You will only receive CDN currency. If you also buy on Ebay, you will likely have to convert back to USD since many Canadians buy in in US. 2. You will no longer be able to manage timing as to when and if you want to exchange currency. 3. The price of your item will constantly change in the eyes of a US buyer due to fluctuating exchange. 4. If you purchase goods in USD your margin will change with the fluctuating dollar and possibly force you to adjust pricing.. If you chose to only sell on Ebay.com 1. You will not be able to use "Print Shipping Label" tool from the Ebay.com seller manager interface as it does not support CPC. You will likely have to to go directly to PayPal, find your transaction and print that way. 2. You will loose some Canadian buyers as they won't want to convert. 3. Your shipping cost will vary for Canadian buyers with exchange and offering free shipping will eat into your margins. If you use both sites to manage your inventory 1. As far as I can tell, you will have to contend with two separate ebay store interfaces and tools. 2. You'll constantly be burdened with listing links bumping you to the wrong site. Questions, arise. Will the USD listings be only visible on the com site and CDN on the ca site using Selling Manager Pro?. How will Turbo Lister be impacted?

I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record. A lot of people are asking the same questions, and I'm giving the same answers because, well, those are the true answers. 🙂

But let me help with some of those issues:

1. You will only receive CDN currency. If you also buy on Ebay, you will likely have to convert back to USD since many Canadians buy in in US.
TRUE

2. You will no longer be able to manage timing as to when and if you want to exchange currency.

Or you won't need to, because you are now operating in your own currency instead of taking currency risk on as part of your business.

3. The price of your item will constantly change in the eyes of a US buyer due to fluctuating exchange.

True. And that's a good thing. Your item will tick down in response to FX drops immediately, without requiring revisions. US buyers don't care if your prices change, they just care if your price is a price they want to pay.

4. If you purchase goods in USD your margin will change with the fluctuating dollar and possibly force you to adjust pricing..

True. If you purchase goods in USD you should list in USD, for the same reason we think sellers who acquire inventory in CAD should list in CAD.

List on .com

1. You will not be able to use "Print Shipping Label" tool from the Ebay.com seller manager interface as it does not support CPC. You will likely have to to go directly to PayPal, find your transaction and print that way.
You can also print from my eBay or from the order details page.

2. You will loose some Canadian buyers as they won't want to convert.

True. Converting is no big deal for Canadians, but ship time and border fees are, so they like to see Canadian items. If you miss out on a few Canadian buyers by listing in USD, that would be why.

3. Your shipping cost will vary for Canadian buyers with exchange and offering free shipping will eat into your margins.

True.

If you use both sites to manage your inventory

1. As far as I can tell, you will have to contend with two separate ebay store interfaces and tools.

Actually, subscribe on either site and you can list on both sites. Your store works for buyers on both sites and shows whichever inventory ships to that site.

2. You'll constantly be burdened with listing links bumping you to the wrong site.

FAIR.

USD listings be only visible on the com site and CDN on the ca site using Selling Manager Pro?

I think that is correct. Certainly, you always need to revise and manage listiings on the site they were created, across all eBay interfaces.

3. How will Turbo Lister be impacted?

If you list USD listings to the eBay,ca site with TL on or after June 1st, you'll get an error and the listing will be rejected when you try to submit it.

Anonymous · ‎03-26-2016

@tch_ca wrote:
"You can print labels on your .com-listed items from My eBay on eBay.ca." You can now. But that will obviously change.

No plans to change that.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-26-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
@tch_ca wrote:
Re: Retirement of USD from eBay.ca Selling Flows in reply to maritimemedals ‎03-22-2016 09:43 PM maritimemedals wrote: I have been selling on ebay.ca for the last few years, the items that I sell are valued on the open market in US dollars only hence if I am forced to list in Canadian dollars a considerable percentage of my market has disappeared, it is forcing me to reconsider my business strategy. Why change something that works, it is very inconsiderate and stupid, it will cost me money and in return ebay money through lost sales I understand your perspective. It's why I for one was almost certain our study would show that Canadians listing in USD would be more successful. In fact I was one of the people who pushed back and insisted on recounts and additional analyses before I had to admit that what we were seeing really was an advantage for CAD. So then you look at the buyer experience wondering how this can be. It's from the evolution of ecommerce and our marketplace, eBay's global marketplace platform makes it seamless to buy items listed in foreign currencies. Buyers don't need to figure out how much to pay in their own currency because they see the amount in their own currency, ------------------------------- Rodney, you sound like a broken record. The ONLY people that would possibly be in favor of this are Canadian buyers It's obvious why they would want to force Canadian sellers to list in CDN. I can't see ANY seller being in favor of this. What what be their argument????? You're really not making anything better so stop claiming so. You are REMOVING an option that is easy to manage for many sellers. Here are clear issues with this decision for sellers who currently chose to list in dual currencies (And there are MANY). Here are some issues you will run into having to manage one or both of the sites. All of these are operationally SIGNIFICANT in my opinion. If you chose to only sell in Ebay.ca 1. You will only receive CDN currency. If you also buy on Ebay, you will likely have to convert back to USD since many Canadians buy in in US. 2. You will no longer be able to manage timing as to when and if you want to exchange currency. 3. The price of your item will constantly change in the eyes of a US buyer due to fluctuating exchange. 4. If you purchase goods in USD your margin will change with the fluctuating dollar and possibly force you to adjust pricing.. If you chose to only sell on Ebay.com 1. You will not be able to use "Print Shipping Label" tool from the Ebay.com seller manager interface as it does not support CPC. You will likely have to to go directly to PayPal, find your transaction and print that way. 2. You will loose some Canadian buyers as they won't want to convert. 3. Your shipping cost will vary for Canadian buyers with exchange and offering free shipping will eat into your margins. If you use both sites to manage your inventory 1. As far as I can tell, you will have to contend with two separate ebay store interfaces and tools. 2. You'll constantly be burdened with listing links bumping you to the wrong site. Questions, arise. Will the USD listings be only visible on the com site and CDN on the ca site using Selling Manager Pro?. How will Turbo Lister be impacted?
I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record. A lot of people are asking the same questions, and I'm giving the same answers because, well, those are the true answers. 🙂

But let me help with some of those issues:

1. You will only receive CDN currency. If you also buy on Ebay, you will likely have to convert back to USD since many Canadians buy in in US.
TRUE

2. You will no longer be able to manage timing as to when and if you want to exchange currency.
Or you won't need to, because you are now operating in your own currency instead of taking currency risk on as part of your business.

3. The price of your item will constantly change in the eyes of a US buyer due to fluctuating exchange.
True. And that's a good thing. Your item will tick down in response to FX drops immediately, without requiring revisions. US buyers don't care if your prices change, they just care if your price is a price they want to pay.

4. If you purchase goods in USD your margin will change with the fluctuating dollar and possibly force you to adjust pricing..
True. If you purchase goods in USD you should list in USD, for the same reason we think sellers who acquire inventory in CAD should list in CAD.

List on .com

1. You will not be able to use "Print Shipping Label" tool from the Ebay.com seller manager interface as it does not support CPC. You will likely have to to go directly to PayPal, find your transaction and print that way.
You can also print from my eBay or from the order details page.

2. You will loose some Canadian buyers as they won't want to convert.
True. Converting is no big deal for Canadians, but ship time and border fees are, so they like to see Canadian items. If you miss out on a few Canadian buyers by listing in USD, that would be why.

3. Your shipping cost will vary for Canadian buyers with exchange and offering free shipping will eat into your margins.
True.

If you use both sites to manage your inventory

1. As far as I can tell, you will have to contend with two separate ebay store interfaces and tools.
Actually, subscribe on either site and you can list on both sites. Your store works for buyers on both sites and shows whichever inventory ships to that site.

2. You'll constantly be burdened with listing links bumping you to the wrong site.
FAIR.

USD listings be only visible on the com site and CDN on the ca site using Selling Manager Pro?
I think that is correct. Certainly, you always need to revise and manage listiings on the site they were created, across all eBay interfaces.

3. How will Turbo Lister be impacted?
If you list USD listings to the eBay,ca site with TL on or after June 1st, you'll get an error and the listing will be rejected when you try to submit it.

Rodney, you're saying that SMP works different than SM?

The free version does show all listings/info on and from both sites.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-26-2016

This isn't related but perhaps you can mention it to someone in the tech department.

Monday is not showing as a holiday even though CP is closed. A buyer from Toronto purchased an item from this morning and the first estimated delivery date is Tuesday. There is no mail pickup until Tuesday so there is no way that a package will be in Ontario that day.

item 351667830373

Thanks

pbg1981 · ‎03-26-2016

Also wonder with the changes to Canadian Currency - for ebay.ca --- WILL THERE NOW BE AN IMPORT CHARGE AUTOMATICALLY SLAPPED ON EACH SALE LIKE THEY DID IN THE US ????

Seems like eBay stays awake every night just trying to figure out how to charge us more and more. Like the money exchange.... we get whatever ie: .72 on the $1.00 - but they also have to take 2 cents or more on the dollar as well.

Makes one wonder if they really want the Canadians on eBay at all.

They say they will SUPPLY US WITH A 'TOOL' to do lump sum changes in MAY ... but they will block out the US funds in JUNE.

If they have it all sorted out NOW, WHY CAN'T WE START TO DO IT NOW????????????

lorraine_carol · ‎03-26-2016

Rodney...I listed one item on .ca in CAD as a trial exercise as BIN. The item # is 401094341182 (a popular ladies item that sells well).I noticed under "Shipping" at the top of the page, not the drop-down menu at the bottom, and it states;

"Delivery: Estimated between Tue. Mar. 29 and Wed. Apr. 6 ".

My question is, do these dates change daily, if not, then they are incorrectly advising people when to expect it.

I do realize these dates are "Estimated" however if this particular item sold today, on a Canadian weekend or even Monday, not a holiday, "Mar. 29" is completely not feasible. My shipping method is Canada Post Expedited-USA.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.Ro

Lorraine

pocomocomputing · ‎03-26-2016

@pbg1981 wrote:
Also wonder with the changes to Canadian Currency - for ebay.ca --- WILL THERE NOW BE AN IMPORT CHARGE AUTOMATICALLY SLAPPED ON EACH SALE LIKE THEY DID IN THE US ????

Seems like eBay stays awake every night just trying to figure out how to charge us more and more.    Like the money exchange.... we get whatever ie: .72 on the $1.00 - but they also have to take 2 cents or more on the dollar as well.

Makes one wonder if they really want the Canadians on eBay at all.

They say they will SUPPLY US WITH A 'TOOL' to do lump sum changes in MAY ... but they will block out the US funds in JUNE.
If they have it all sorted out NOW, WHY CAN'T WE START TO DO IT NOW????????????

Import Charges are part of the GSP program which is for USA located sellers only. Canadian seller with an address in Canada cannot use the GSP. If the Canadian seller uses an USA address for their shipping address and has access to USPS shipping, I believe they can use the GSP.

So Canadian sellers listing on ebay.com, no import charges will show in their listings.

momcqueen · ‎03-26-2016

I can answer that. Whereas eBay.ca displays more general terms for a delivery estimate, ebay.com gives the specific date. But that date changes each day it's viewed and assumes the buyer makes and pays for the purchase. The delivery estimate also includes your handling time. Ebay.co.uk shows the same dates as eBay.com.