eBay

jt-libra · ‎05-14-2016

There are many, many successful media sellers in Canada. I've noticed that some have already switched to $CAD but most are still listing in $USD, as am I (on another selling account).

When I have used all my free listings, additional listings on .ca are only 5 cents, but are 30 cents on .com. DVD's and CD's are low-priced items (unless you have something very rare or out-of-print) so 30 cents is cost prohibitive on 200 - 300 additional listings a month. As well, there is a shipping cap on .com which is fine for U.S. sellers and their low-cost USPS rates, but many DVD and CD boxsets require a parcel rate through Canada Post.

I haven't yet decided what to do. On my health and beauty account, I have basically stopped listing new items. Part of the reason is that I have not had time due to unforeseen family circumstances and I'm not sure whether I want to keep this selling account. I don't have the patience for eBay's ever evolving policies that require far too much of my time, energy and patience. Cosmetic items, skin care, cosmetic bags, etc. each require a unique description and can take 30 minutes to an hour to describe properly, as any seller of unique items can attest to. Over the last little while, I've experimented with listing some items in CAD .... of those, probably 90% are Canadian buyers; 10% U.S., but I'm talking about 5 or 6 items a month. When I list in $USD, I probably have a 65% US vs 35% Canadian ratio and approximately 35 or 40 items a month.

Media listings, on the other hand, are easier to manage and, surprisingly, these items still sell very well, given the variety of streaming services available. Listings do not require a great deal of time. If they're new, you can use a stock picture or, if used, taking one or two pictures is usually sufficient. I'd like to sell off the stock I have, which is fairly large, with dozens yet to be listed. My experience indicates that items in CAD do not sell as well as those in USD but I'm faced with 30 cents for additional listings as opposed to 5 cents on .ca. And, of course, the free shipping I offer within Canada has been very beneficial.

I'm wondering if there are other more experienced media sellers who can provide a better cost-benefit analysis for me to consider. The time for the change is fast approaching and I would love to hear what other sellers have to say.

Thanks for any input you can offer.

pierrelebel · ‎05-14-2016

"on another selling account"

I am curious. What are the advantages of having more than one selling account?

jt-libra · ‎05-14-2016

@pierrelebel wrote:
"on another selling account"

I am curious. What are the advantages of having more than one selling account?

It just makes sense to me. I like to keep health and beauty items separate from DVD's and CD's.

If someone is looking for a particular brand of mascara, they don't want to see a Wedding Crashers DVD or a Frank Sinatra CD in the mix. If someone is looking for a CD, they may choose to browse other music I am selling. They don't want to scroll through anti-aging creams and shower gels.

It's worked very well for me.

jt-libra · ‎05-14-2016

@jt-libra wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:
"on another selling account"

I am curious. What are the advantages of having more than one selling account?
It just makes sense to me. I like to keep health and beauty items separate from DVD's and CD's.

If someone is looking for a particular brand of mascara, they don't want to see a Wedding Crashers DVD or a Frank Sinatra CD in the mix. If someone is looking for a CD, they may choose to browse other music I am selling. They don't want to scroll through anti-aging creams and shower gels.

It's worked very well for me.

I should have also mentioned that if a potential buyer has questions regarding skin care or ask for a recommendation based on their skin type, they are more apt to view me as an "expert" in the area of cosmetics and skincare (which I do in fact know a lot about).

And because I know a lot about movies, not only new, popular movies, but also the small niche of documentaries, foreign films, etc., I get questions related to directors, movie score, country of origin, etc.

If you sell different categories within one account, I think you're perceived as less of an "expert" in each.

pjcdn2005 · ‎05-14-2016

I didn't realize that they were still charging 5 cents on .ca...that's quite a difference. Plus of course on .com you have the shipping caps to worry about. There is one poster musicyouneed who sells cd's and has written a few posts about their experience of listing in C$. If you haven't already seen their posts, you might want to check them out.

reallynicestamps · ‎05-14-2016

My plan is to put anything that can be shipped LetterPost/LightPacket on dotCOM in USD with Free Shipping to North America.

At least until the loonie goes to 95 cents USD.

Since my procurement costs are in CDN and my postage is in CDN (even when I am buying discount postage), I'm good with Free Shipping.

Just a note to those who fear it: "free" shipping really means that the cost of shipping is included in the asking price.

If anything needs to move by parcel post I'm keeping it on dotCOM to allow me to access Calculated Shipping.

That being said, I've ended up putting some items that I want on dotCOM on dot CA with an asking price bump because of the horrible Transition Tool which I still can't get to work.

carter-dress*casual · ‎05-14-2016

jt-libra · ‎05-14-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I didn't realize that they were still charging 5 cents on .ca...that's quite a difference. Plus of course on .com you have the shipping caps to worry about. There is one poster @musicyouneed who sells cd's and has written a few posts about their experience of listing in C$. If you haven't already seen their posts, you might want to check them out.

I have read some of musicyouneed's posts and I believe she had listed some of her items in CAD and was going to evaluate how it affected her sales. It seems to me she wasn't too happy with the result. If she reads this thread, maybe she can comment.

Thanks.

jt-libra · ‎05-14-2016

@reallynicestamps wrote:
My plan is to put anything that can be shipped LetterPost/LightPacket on dotCOM in USD with Free Shipping to North America.
At least until the loonie goes to 95 cents USD.
Since my procurement costs are in CDN and my postage is in CDN (even when I am buying discount postage), I'm good with Free Shipping.
Just a note to those who fear it: "free" shipping really means that the cost of shipping is included in the asking price.

If anything needs to move by parcel post I'm keeping it on dotCOM to allow me to access Calculated Shipping.

That being said, I've ended up putting some items that I want on dotCOM on dot CA with an asking price bump because of the horrible Transition Tool which I still can't get to work.

I haven't tried the migration tool yet so I can't comment on that.

With my DVD's and CD's, I include shipping within Canada because these items can ship for $2.95 plus tax (a very light-weight DVD can ship for $1.80). So if I ask $7.95 USD for a CD (approximately $10.30 CAD), I can ship for $3.10, including tax, and still have around $7.00 left before fees. However, the same items costs $5.70 to ship to the U.S. by light packet, so I can't include free shipping for U.S. buyers. I ask $2.95 USD and add to the postage the equivalent I would have paid to send within Canada.

And, of course, any heavier boxsets are listed on .ca so I am not restricted by the shipping cap.

mrdutch1001 · ‎05-14-2016

Although I don't sell that many LP records anymore, I switched over to listing them in CDN last fall when .ca initially started pushing listing in CDN. and I will be leaving them on.ca more so because of the cap on shipping than for the listing currency. Most of the other categories I list in are gradually being accepted in their CDN currency but any higher priced items just don't seem to go anywhere when listed in CDN, so still debating on what to do with those.

recped · ‎05-17-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I didn't realize that they were still charging 5 cents on .ca...that's quite a difference. Plus of course on .com you have the shipping caps to worry about. There is one poster @musicyouneed who sells cd's and has written a few posts about their experience of listing in C$. If you haven't already seen their posts, you might want to check them out.

I didn't realize it either and after checking (rechecking) the current fee schedule the only 5 cent listing fees I can see are if you have an Anchor store. The old 5 cent Media Insertion fee is gone as far as I know.

As for the topic of this thread....I plan to switch to listing in CAD since the shipping caps on .com are not really workable.

I recall one of musicyouneed's posts early on with the switch to CAD, comment was a lot more Canadian buyers and fewer US. My experience is also many more Canadian buyers as of late but all my listings are still in US Dollars!

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

musicyouneed · ‎05-17-2016

I sell CD's/media.

I am so happy that when they told us the writing was on the wall about Cdn $ on .ca and they offered free listings as long as you listed in Canadian $, I made the switch to Cdn $ in March/April. It took a really long time, if you spend 2 minutes per listing x 850 listings that is 28.33 Hrs to convert them. I also list on .com.

I am not unhappy with my sales to date with Canadian $. Sure I don't get as many US buyers but I still am happy with my sales. I will continue to list on both and may switch listings back and forth.

I posted this on another thread:

Well sales were a little lower but only by maybe 5 to 10, but overall I am OK with my sales for April.

I list on both .com and .ca and sold a total of 47 for the month of April.

on .com I sold 17 - 13 were US buyers, 2 were Cdn, and 2 international

on .ca I sold 30 - 9 were US buyers, 14 were Cdn, and 7 were international.

on .ca I have about 800 listed and on .com about 300. Also when I changed over to Cdn $, I did reduce my prices and shipping cost for the buyer, so that is probably why I had quite a few Cdn sales. I am also sell in a field that demand is less and less each month.

My conclusion is that listing in US$ attracts more US buyers, however, I did have a lot more international and some US buyers listing in Cdn. I am going to continue to list in both currencies. I'll just move them back and forth between .ca and .com and see how it goes.