"Canadians aren't looking to Canadian sellers first and foremost on eBay. That's where eBay.ca could do some work (IMHO)! "
That is a very dangerous line of thinking. It is called protectionism and does not work too well.
To suggest eBay should give some kind of priority to listings by Canadian sellers when viewed by Canadian buyers invites eBay to do the same for American sellers on eBay.com
Canadians would lose that battle!
The last time eBay.ca tried to give some special consideration for Canadian sellers (tracking exemption for TRS), it only took a month for American sellers to react and for eBay to pull the plug on Canadians.
Many years ago - back when sellers were charged $0.35 fee for gallery (display of the image in search result pages) - eBay.ca tried something to give Canadian sellers a break: a flat $50 a month for unlimited "gallery:". Yes, you guessed it - within a month the deal was off. It was so darn unfair to American sellers!
At the end of the day we have to compete with what we have, not by having special consideration given to us by eBay Inc (an American corporation) because we are Canadians.
"currency differential to help"
Maybe we are talking oranges and apples.
When I refer to listing in Canadian dollars, it does not mean selling for less.
It means getting in Canadian dollar the same equivalent value. For example, if an item is worth (in the seller's opinion) US$ 175.00, then I would offer it to the equivalent Cdn$ 190.00.
(or US$ 17.50 list at Cdn$19.00)
It would not cross my mind to give away the currency differential. There is no point in that.
"Although such things do help Canadian sellers to reduce costs"
Those free subtitles are available to all, Canadians and Americans! (they just don't know about it!) 
@pierrelebel wrote:"Although such things do help Canadian sellers to reduce costs"
Those free subtitles are available to all, Canadians and Americans! (they just don't know about it!)
True, but aside from some ex-patriots in the Louisiana area, how many Americans do you think would be able to navigate through the .cafr site en français in any case? 
Which is probably why not a lot of them take advantage of it (or even know about it). If they accidentally landed on the site, they might think they'd ended up somewhere in European eBayland and quickly hit that back button.
The other factor is that a US seller who wanted to use that site wouldn't get the same seamless access that we Canadian sellers do -- again, another special perk. When listing promos appear on my Summary page, the option is always there to use either .ca or .cafr. I'm not sure, but I doubt that option is available to US sellers even if they'd want to use it.
@pierrelebel wrote:
When I refer to listing in Canadian dollars, it does not mean selling for less.
It means getting in Canadian dollar the same equivalent value. For example, if an item is worth (in the seller's opinion) US$ 175.00, then I would offer it to the equivalent Cdn$ 190.00.
(or US$ 17.50 list at Cdn$19.00)
It would not cross my mind to give away the currency differential. There is no point in that.
I did in fact understand from your earlier posts that would be your approach, Pierre. But see my comments in Post #50 above. My point was that unless my items had particular appeal to Canadians (and might not be so easily available outside Canada as well), why would I want to list at a price that might be higher than possible US competitors? It would turn off Canadian buyers, and might dissuade US buyers who may not bother to check the $US currency conversion figure on the listing.
It's not apples and oranges, but stamps and sewing patterns. 
There isn't anything in my products that really has any special significance to Canadians, so I'm fairly certain I'd be doing myself a disservice to try listing in $Cdn just to attract a few more Canadian buyers, at the cost of chasing off my US purchasers.
I'm so frustrated .... I've been able to read this thread but I wasn't able to reply for the last hour or so, due to some glitch, and there were so many comments I wanted to make. It's like having an argument with your husband when you have laryngitis. 
In any event, as time passed, others have said what I wanted to. Sometimes I feel like rose-dee is in my head because she often says exactly what I'm thinking.
"why would I want to list at a price that might be higher than possible US competitors? It would turn off Canadian buyers, and might dissuade US buyers who may not bother to check the $US currency conversion figure on the listing. "
Higher?
It is not higher and I do give credit to potential Canadian buyers to be smart enough to see the numbers for what they are.
I doubt very much that the average Canadian buyer would think an item priced at Cdn$ 190.00 would be more expensive than an item priced at US$ 175.00 (approximately Cdn$ 190.00). Canadians are not that dumb, are they?
Similarly, an American buyer seeing Cdn$ 190.00 (approximately US$ 175.00) would not be deceived, would he? Are American eBayers that stupid? I do not think so.
I know you would not get confused. Why do you think your potential Canadian buyers would be?
I feel there is a big misconception out there.
My point remains the same: if you are happy with your current sales volume listing in US$, ignore my suggestion and keep doing what you are doing. For those who are unsatisfied with the sales volume and feel they should be getting more business from Canadians buyers, all I am suggesting is: give it a try. What is there to lose?
@rose-dee wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:"Although such things do help Canadian sellers to reduce costs"
Those free subtitles are available to all, Canadians and Americans! (they just don't know about it!)
True, but aside from some ex-patriots in the Louisiana area, how many Americans do you think would be able to navigate through the .cafr site en français in any case?
Which is probably why not a lot of them take advantage of it (or even know about it). If they accidentally landed on the site, they might think they'd ended up somewhere in European eBayland and quickly hit that back button.
The other factor is that a US seller who wanted to use that site wouldn't get the same seamless access that we Canadian sellers do -- again, another special perk. When listing promos appear on my Summary page, the option is always there to use either .ca or .cafr. I'm not sure, but I doubt that option is available to US sellers even if they'd want to use it.
You use cafr.eBay.ca to get free subtitles. The listing is viewed on eBay.com or eBay.ca English sites. No French is seen by the buyer on English sites since they are not logged into cafr.ebay.ca.
"how many Americans do you think would be able to navigate through the .cafr site en français in any case?"
???
Take a look at the link to eBay.com available in post #25
What do you see that would confuse an American buyer? That is exactly what is seen on eBay.com, including the "free" sub-title in search result pages!
"And do you get another 50 free on this site (non-store)?"
NO. Whatever number of "free" listings you are entitled to (with or without a store or during a promotion), the total number of "free" listings is the total of your listings combining .ca and .cafr. So, if your limit is 50, you can have 20 on .ca and 30 on .cafr.
Since .cafr provides free searchable subtitles, there is no point in using .ca only.
"I'm still wondering though about inviting comments or questions in French."
Been on eBay for sixteen years, Over 105,000 transactions, My name is as French as they come. Yet, I do not think I had twenty inquiries (average one a year) in French over the years (except when I was selling stamp catalogues many years ago and some were asking for the non-existant French edition).
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