Updates to the Canadian PowerSeller Program

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi everyone!

Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Vaughan. I work in the Seller Development team at eBay Canada. In my role, I am focused on bringing new sellers to eBay and helping our existing sellers (like yourselves) grow.

One of the areas that I have been working on is to improve the Canadian PowerSeller program. I wanted to share some of the improvements that we've made to date:
1. SquareTrade discount. We have secured the same promotion for Canadian PowerSellers as American PowerSellers. The discount is 30% off SquareTrade subscription services. You can find a link to the promotion through the PowerSeller Portal on the Other Promotions page under Benefits (http://sales-reports.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?PowerSellerPortal&powersellerpageid=9)
2. PowerSeller events. We will start advertising on-line PowerSeller events and any in-person events, including US events that are close to Canadian borders, on the CA PowerSeller portal.
3. On-line eBay shop for PowerSeller merchandise. We are looking into making the on-line shop available to Canadians, but we do not have a definite answer as yet. Once we know if it will be feasible, I will update everyone via the Boards.

I am going to be spending more time on the boards so feel free to send me questions/comments and I will do my best to respond. If you have specific questions about the PowerSeller program, I would love to hear them.

Cheers!
Vaughan

[eserafini]

1- Is there a future for SquareTrade on eBay? is the discount worth anything? will SquareTrade do more than eBay does... in my opinion not worth it.
2- How many on-line PowerSeller events and any in-person events, including US events that are close to Canadian borders occur near the Québec border or IN Québec...none so not worth it.
3- to come... not worth it yet if ever.

Is that all that eBay.CA could come up with? Elaine
TimelessClassicElegance

[mrarmbo]

useless post ...square trade is the biggest rip off on the planet....weak, ineffective and cost prohibitive to say the least

you should concentrate on getting more buyers to the site...thats how we all started out, as buyers...if you bring in enough new blood, some of the buyers will turn into sellers naturally and your purpose will have been served

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi Eserafini/mrarmbo,

Thanks for sharing your feedback with me. We will continue to work on improving the program so please continue to share your feedback. More importantly, I would love to hear your ideas about how the PowerSeller program can better support our large sellers.

Mrarmbo, I completely agree with you that we need to focus on bringing more buyers to the sight. Having more buyers will benefit us in two ways: increase the success of our existing sellers and increase the number of future sellers since many buyers will turn into sellers as you mentioned.

Cheers!
Vaughan

[thebonnieshop]

Vaughan, I am pleased to see you on this board. A couple of things that I would like to see investigated. One thing that I really appreciated as a seller were the joint Canada Post-Ebay Powerseller Flexi-pack bags that were available to us last year. They have since been discontinued and my inquiries to Canada Post tell me to call Ebay and vice versa. It was a small thing but at least it seemed like a perk for some of us. Can we try to get something like that back? The second is the runaround we seem to be getting with Canada Post on the "one month free shipping" we were offered as Powersellers last year when we signed up for electronic shipping. I have yet to speak to anyone at Canada Post who can tell me what this was about and how it was to work. More than a year has passed. Can you help?

[whoscloset]

Hi Vaughan,

Thanks for posting! Here are a few things that would REALLY help out Canadian PSers.......

1. Most Canadian PSers operate on the .com site as the large majority of their sales come from the U.S. As such, it would be of immense value if the tools, such as SMP, on the .com site supported Canadian sellers. I currently have to send out all my auction invoices manually so, on the rare occasion I sell to a Canadian, I can add GST and PST into the Insurance Required area of the invoice. It would make life much easier if .com SMP supported the two-tiered Canadian tax system.

2. Allow Canadian sellers to enter contests such as "Best in Stores" if their store is listed on the .com site. It's ALL about the exposure.

3. Educate the U.S. buyer on their own customs laws. Many do not know that they can import $200/day from Canada without penalty.

4. Keep those discount listing days coming! It really helps off-set the handicap we have with our much higher shipping costs.

Have a great day!

Monique

[profsportsfishing]

i think ebay is making big mistake allow scam artist sell with no feed backs at all. i think everyone would be more secure if they had to earn it to sell. Recentl there some many new sellers you dont which one is real anymore due this fact

[bad_manors]

Hello Vaughan,

It's great to see you levelling the playing field a bit for Canadian PS'ers.

That said I think one of the most productive places you could start is to talk to Canada Post about a number of issues.
Their assertion that they want PS business seems like a bumper sticker to me. We've had numerous conversations with them about some service problems. We got obfuscation, hang ups and the overall sense that they really didn't want to talk to smaller volume PS folks.
One thing I really don't get is the fact that small packet air doesn't qualify for Venture discounts.
Is there a program that might be an incentive for a small PS to stay with Canada Post?\
Is there a reason for the disconnect in their customer service?
Thanks for looking at ths Vaughan. I wish you well in making eBay an even better place for us to do nbusiness.

Brad

[eserafini]

Hi Vaughan,

Try the same benefits US PS get.
We are very very very poor cousins.
+ benefits that US sellers get with USPS vs what we get from Canada Post...it is ridiculous.

Elaine Elaine
TimelessClassicElegance

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi Brad,

Thanks for sharing your comments. We are working to improve the shipping experience for eBay sellers. You will definitely hear from me and other members of the .CA team once we finalize our plans to improve shipping.

To your comments about customer support, I have little insight the CS programs at Canada Post. I will share your comments with our contacts in their organization and hopefully they will try to improve the situation.

Cheers,
Vaughan

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi Elaine!

Could you outline some of the benefits that US Powersellers receive that are not available to Canadians so I can try to bring those benefits to Canadians.

I did an internal analysis and identified a handful including some of which I have addressed above. I want to make sure that I am not missing something that is important to you as a seller.

Thanks!
Vaughan

[fenian]

Hi Vaughan.........It seems, from reading the postings on the US board, that PS folks down there get lots of little "gifts" sent by eBay to acknowledge they're out there. Sure, I can live without a business card holder or a nice pen or a Christmas card........but....there are optics involved here. It's not what the item(s) is/are, it's that we'd like to be recognized equally for contributing to the eBay bottom line. It can be frustrating to read constantly that below the border they receive nice little thingees, while up here, we get nothing........Thanks for keeping an eye on things for us........and (feel free to insert the politically/socially/psychologically correct expression for the occasion/non-occasion of your choice, otherwise...)...Merry Christmas......... Michael

[redsniper88]

Hi Vaughan:
I have to agree with my fellow PowerSellers...as a neighbour to the USA, we should be treated with the same regard. It's frustrating sometimes for Canadians to fully participate in eBay contests because 99% of the time they are only geared to US Residents. Seems silly to me since we are neighbours that share in cups of oil and lumps of wood...
Although I have been taking advantage of the reduced listing days...it is encumbering to have to wait almost 2 months for the credit to come through our accounts. Can't eBay figure out a way of getting a code to sellers with Canadian addresses so that we can enjoy the discount as it happens rather than having to wait? This would be great...especially since we are becoming very inundated with shipping costs and lack of the same resources that are available to our southern neighbours.

Thanks for listening to me whine. Happy Chrismas to you and yours 🙂

[systemagic]

At the last Powerseller event in Burnaby B.C. on Oct. 6th it was announced that attendees would be receiving a $25 credit to their PayPal account. It's December 13th and no credit has occurred. Is/was there any intent to honour this promise?

[grade_a-stuff]

I'd love to see Paypal have a more reasonable exchange rate when we withdraw U.S. funds from the account. Why is their exchange rate 12.5% when the actual rate is 15.5%?

I list in US funds to attract US buyers and get hit for 2.9% paypal fee, then an additional 3% when I withdraw funds?

I have noticed that US sellers seem to be able to offer lower shipping charges than I can as well.

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi Fenian/redsniper88/systemagic/grade_a-stuff,

Thanks for all your comments. They are all quite helpful for me so keep them coming. Let me address each comments one at a time:

1. I am aware about the "gifts" that US PowerSellers get. I am working hard to make sure Canadians receive some of these as well. Keep your fingers crossed and your eyes on your mailbox!

2. I wish we could issue real-time pricing credits for promotions. Everybody at eBay Canada completely agrees with you redsniper88! We are working on a fix, but it is a fairly complicated issue.

3. Systemagic, you should have received an e-mail with a $25 credit from PayPal. These e-mails were sent about soon after the event. If you have not received it, why don't you send me an e-mail with your details (name, userID, e-mail etc.) at vaughan@ebay.com.

4. Hi Grade_a-stuff, we completley agree with your comments on both PayPal and shipping fees. We are working on improving both those things for our sellers. Once we have some concrete changes, we will communicate them to the Community!

Thanks again for sharing your comments. Hope you all have exciting plans for the holidays.

Cheers!
Vaughan

[gloriaguides]

Hi Vaughn, Glad to see someone is taking an interest in Powersellers. I would like my Turbo Lister program to quit offering UPSP mailing options and provide me with Canada Post shipping option, but still be able to use .com to list on (80% of my sales are to the USA). We all have to list on .com to BE powersellers and there should be better shipping options listed. Gloria

[whoscloset]

Hey Vaughn, any thoughts on those ideas I posted early on in the thread?

Monique

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi Monique,

Thanks for following-up with me. Sometimes I have so many things on my plate, I forget to respond to each thread. I agree with the points that you've provided.

1. We are working on a better tax solution for Canadian sellers. I will have to look into integrating the solution to our selling tool like SMP and TL.
2. It would be great to have Canadians included in those contests. I will have to look into see what it takes to make it happen.
3. We have been undertaking efforts to education our US sellers. In September, we published a Community Chatter article to US Sellers dedicated to the topic of Selling to Canadians. We have also been trumpeting the message at eBay Live and any time we interact with sellers from South of the Border.
4. I love discounted listing days myself!!

Hope you are ready for the holidays! I'm enjoying the new snowfall we recently received in Toronto.

Happy Holidays!
Vaughan

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi Gloriaguides,

I'm not sure I understand your comment about having "to list on .com to BE a powerseller". The powerseller program does not require you to list on a particular site. In addition, there is practically no difference between listing on eBay.ca and eBay.com - your items will be searchable by Canadian and US buyers so long as the item is made available to North America.

With respect to TL, if you choose to list the item on eBay.CA then you will see CPC shipping options.

Hope this helps!
Vaughan