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.

506emmanuel · ‎04-08-2016

I agree with you, Etsy is nice site too, I start to sell on it many years ago! 🙂 fees are reasonable too!!!

506emmanuel · ‎04-08-2016

I agree with you Brettjet, we will increase our price, we don't made money why we work in the red alltime, better we put in the cabbage, life is short. 🙂

canshal · ‎04-09-2016

This is a big mistake. USD is the norm for international trade. This will lose us the casual browser/impulse buyer in the U.S. When you make it more difficult for American buyers to see it CLEARLY in their currency, they will simply skip over Canadian listings.

canshal · ‎04-09-2016

Clear, concise and absolutely correct. It seems EBay tries at every turn to make things more difficult for Canadian sellers.

sleco69 · ‎04-10-2016

I've just received the message...

WORST EVER DECISION!

I do few listings of some of my best sellers products in $cad.

Which in fact, becomes less expensive with free shipping option than the same item is $usd,

(approx 50$ difference price on 500$ item value)

Guess what?

After 10-months of listings, the $cad items are not viewing at 20% and not selling 5% of the $usd listing item. Even though, the $usd item is approx. 50$ more expensive...

$CAD item are poorly display in the search engine. final point.

-Migrate my items (99% in $USD) on ebay.com will loose many years of good selling reputations on each items

-will put our listings even unview due incapacity to calculate accurate shipping options & rates , for Canada, USA and all other international countrys due to location & USPS shipping label creation.

-We will get sinked down with the late delivery rate instantly

-I've been already sinked down with the late delivery rate, starting on Feb.1st 2016, but calculated the rate from Sept.2015, causing me top-rated seller rank to Above standard.

-More, I sells Spas, hot tubs & pools parts, which April-May & june are the MOST IMPORTANT TIME OF THE YEAR FOR ME !

HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THE DESTRUCTIVE IMPACT OF THAT?

bm13821382 · ‎04-10-2016

Im sure the person who made this decision will be unemployed soon after the blunder that was made on this

how will it affect Canadian sellers the numbers show that if

if something is listed at 100 u.s. a Canadian will list it at 129.00 to make up the difference . prices will change daily based on the exchange rates. if the buyer has u.s. money in there account they will also have to pay an extra 4% for the pay pal exchange rate also on the shipping. that 100 purchase now cost 104 dollars u.s. also 4 % on shipping so a u.s. shopper now has to pay .

price 130 can = 100 u.s. shipping 15.00 Canadian = 11.50 u.s.

total Canadian price 145.00

total u.s. price 111.50 + 4 % = 115.44

most u.s. buyers have no idea that pay pal charges an extra 4 %. but Canadians have know that for years. I also suspect that pencil pushers at ebay did not know this also. the American buyers will make thousands of calls to paypal thinking they have been cheated so schedule extra staff. and American buyers will stay in Canada. the average unemployment in Canada is 13 months so the person that decided this I hope you live in Canada and have to wait that long.

arkh_angel · ‎04-10-2016

@bm13821382 wrote:

Im sure the person who made this decision will be unemployed soon after the blunder that was made on this

Wish you are right on that one.

What stumble me is how eBay is failing to fix major flaws on their site (I'm mainly thinking about the cart here, but is there someone here who like their new return system?), or to implement many things requested over and over by hundreds, if not thousands of sellers.

But they seems to be good at taking decisions no one ever wanted or requested.

I just can't believe how a company that constantly refuses to listen to their customers and stubbornly take decisions that negatively affects many of them can still be in business after all that time.

most u.s. buyers have no idea that pay pal charges an extra 4 %. but Canadians have know that for years. I also suspect that pencil pushers at ebay did not know this also. the American buyers will make thousands of calls to paypal thinking they have been cheated so schedule extra staff. and American buyers will stay in Canada. the average unemployment in Canada is 13 months so the person that decided this I hope you live in Canada and have to wait that long.

I don't think that's as high as 4%. IIRC for most banks it is 3%, and Paypal is 2.5%. But whatever the number is, it impacts the final amount. On things that are hard to find, a few dollars doesn't accounts for much, but for things widely available where a few cents makes all the difference, it does! Add this to the loonie having variations up to 2 cents in only one day, it makes quite a difference for someone forced to sell in CAD and trying to compete with US sellers!

Of course selling in CAD will be advantageous for fellow Canadian buyers, but that's not the primary market for most of us. Plus, as many said, Canada buyers are used to pay that 3% exchange rate on anything they want. Not the Americans, unless they're looking after something very specific and hard to find. Even if price is on par, they will go for their own currency first. Who wouldn't? I do.

Yes we can move our listings to .com to continue to list in USD, but there are many disadvantages for sellers, starting with those who need an exact shipping to be calculated. I'm not sure it will impact delivery standards but I stand to be corrected on that one.

This decisions looks much more to be governed by two main things: shareholders and cutting costs.

So far I'm not impressed at all by the sales this move have generated for me. April and May seems to be very slow months in terms of sales every year so it may not be a good example after all. Time will tell but that decision is very annoying no matter what.

I thought there would be thousands of Canadian sellers complaining on this forum since only two days after the announcement there was already 25 pages of reactions, but after almost three weeks it looks like most sellers either:

1. Accepted the decision and moved on

2. Are not registered on the forum or do not speak english or do not want to comment

3. Are not yet aware of the changes or are too small to care about it

Maybe there's not that many sellers in Canada? Don't really know...

Expect a new batch of complaints around June and August 1st when sellers who were unaware of the change will hit the wall and be no longer able to sell or relist in USD.

"Why make it simple when we can make it complicated?"

sleco69 · ‎04-11-2016

Prices appear in $CAD on ebay.com, when items is listed in $CAD, see my screen capture

bm13821382 · ‎04-11-2016

I posted a comment but nowhere to be found did you guys realize that paypal charges an extra 4% on top of the normal exchange rate and this will be deceiving to the u.s, buyers and after Canadian sellers adjust there price to match the u.s. price the price of an item will change daily . you guys should be ready for an onslaught of calls regarding this matter.

raphael@ebay.com wrote:
eBay Canada's managing director Andrea Stairs has published a note to give additional background on the rationale behind this decision.

http://announcements.ebay.ca/2016/03/22/7752/

pierrelebel · ‎04-11-2016

"paypal charges an extra 4% on top of the normal exchange rate"

Could you please advise where exactly you received that information?

As far as I know, all members are aware that PayPal charges a currency conversion fee of approximately 2.6% whenever a currency conversion is involved.

If a listing by a Canadian seller is in US$ and the item is purchased by a Canadian buyer, BOTH the seller and the buyer will pay PayPal a currency conversion fee (hidden in the conversion factor). If the item had been listed in Cdn$, neither the buyer or the seller would have paid such fee. Money saved by both buyer and seller if listed in Cdn$.

If the Canadian seller lists in Cdn$ and received payment from an American buyer, then there is no currency conversion fee payable by the seller but PayPal will incorporate a conversion fee of about 2.6% to the payment made by the American buyer.

On the other hand, if the same Canadian seller lists the same item in US$ and it sells to the same American buyer paying in US$, while no conversion fee will be paid by the buyer, the Canadian seller will pay PayPal 2.6% currency conversion fee when the US$ are converted into Cdn$

"be ready for an onslaught of calls regarding this matter."

I have sold over 100,000 listings on eBay in eighteen years. Tens of thousands in Cdn$ in the last fifteen years to American buyers. NOT once did any buyer complain about the currency conversion fee. Not once.

The sky is falling... the sky is falling... the sky is falling.... NOT.

ferret-mom · ‎04-11-2016

The Canadian seller will pay a conversion fee only if that seller chooses to deposit the funds in a Canadian bank account.

However, if the Canadian seller chooses to keep the US funds in the PayPal account to use for future US$ purchases, or transfers the US funds to an account in the US, the conversion will not apply.

pierrelebel · ‎04-11-2016

That's correct.

However, my understanding after reading tens of thousands of posts over fifteen years on eBay-Canada is that most Canadian sellers come to eBay to sell their "stuff" and generally withdraw to their bank account most the the proceeds received through PayPal.

Full time sellers - like myself prior to my retirement - view things differently of course and often keep US$ funds in PayPal or transfer to a US bank. My comment tried to cover most Canadian sellers which is why I stated "the Canadian seller will pay PayPal 2.6% currency conversion fee when the US$ are converted into Cdn$".

ferret-mom · ‎04-11-2016

Not to belabour the point Pierre (just waiting for spring so that I can get outside,,,,), but in the case of some sellers, half the fun of selling on eBay is being able to "earn" US dollars to spend either online or in person while vacationing south of the border.

Even if I were to be paid 30% more by listing my "stuff" in CDN dollars, it would not give me the same thrill as pocketing US currency to spend in the States, while cutting PayPal and financial institutions out of the deal on the exchange...

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-11-2016

@sleco69 wrote:
Prices appear in $CAD on ebay.com, when items is listed in $CAD, see my screen capture

That screen shot is from .ca. The search screen on .com will never shown any currency other than $US. The listed currency will show up on the listing when it is clicked on but not in search view.

pierrelebel · ‎04-11-2016

"half the fun of selling on eBay is being able to "earn" US dollars"

Many Canadians enjoy selling in US$. I get that.

My post did not address that issue.

jewelgarden403 · ‎04-12-2016

I have been selling on eBay for many years and the reason I sell is to make money. Canadians have not been my customers, for the most part. Basically, I like making it as easy as possible for the people who are shopping in my store to make purchases. Are all the countries in the world changing their prices to their country's currency? If not, then why are we being singled out? Shouldn't ebay be supporting us instead of issuing orders that we know will cost us dearly? I am so disheartened that I have been looking around to find a place to sell that values our knowledge and contributions. Perhaps, you should try opening a store of your own and see if your sales show what ours have for years. It is just logical. Everyone in the world knows it! Please reconsider.

deeeight · ‎04-12-2016

Ebay has stopped answering this topic and the spring seller update topic. That's pretty telling that this was never about discussing and always just a slap in the face.

And while paypal is now a seperately traded company, the chairman of the board of directors is the former CEO of Ebay, and Ebay is still the largest shareholder. When the split happened, every shareholder of ebay stock got paypal stock (before the public trading began) on a 1 for 1 basis. In other words, if you owned 100 shares of ebay stock, you then also owned 100 shares of paypal stock.