Will Ship to Canada and USA ONLY test

[markiku]

I`m baffled as to why I sell a bit more internationally to Europe and Australia rather than to the USA  and Canada

I Just cancelled international shipping to everywhere except for Canada and USA, Hoping that my items will be better ranked on the .COM AND .CA ebay sites with more concentration in North America.

Sorry UK and Australia this might be for a short while.

This is only a test to see if the USA and Canadian sales increase

I know the timing might not be great with March break around the corner but let see.

I get this odd feeling that my items are pushed where the shipping rate is more expensive causing me to pay more on final value fees

Any suggestions or feed back on the matter , did anyone ever try this before

[momcqueen]

If your sales outside North America are stronger than your sales within, I'd suggest it's due to the relative scarcity of your items in those markets. I highly doubt the algorithm supports your theory that it's about search manipulation based on higher final value fees on shipping. 

[markiku]

Thank you for your response , you are very right with it being the scarcity of some items

I came to conclude this test because a Canadian competitor of mine who ships from the USA has almost 5 times the amount of feedback that I have and only sells to the USA only.
So far 2 sales from the same person in the USA since my first post.
I`m curious to see the reverse by selling only to Europe and Australia / NZ

[reallynicestamps]

a Canadian competitor of mine who ships from the USA has almost 5 times the amount of feedback

• If he is shipping from the USA to the USA his shipping charges are lower than yours
• If he is giving his location (ie the location of his product) as USA, he's getting a patriotism bonus from his buyers.
• since he doesn't sell internationally and you do, you are getting the business he refuses.

Are you in a geographical position to use a reshipper like chitchatexpress, redstallion etc to reduce your US shipping costs?

[ypdc_dennis]

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@reallynicestampswrote:

 ... Are you in a geographical position to use a reshipper like chitchatexpress, redstallion etc to reduce your US shipping costs?

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ChitChatsExpress (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax)

StallionExpress (Toronto)

RunninRed (Winnipeg)

DYKpost (Calgary, Edmonton)

All allow Canadians to use USPS domestic shipping if the parcel is under $800 in value.

[markiku]

yes I`m about 40 minutes from the closest chitchats but an 1 hour and 20 minutes round trip drive is too much especially in the winter, unless Im selling $150 or more a day,
hopefully I will convert this fall, if sales don`t improve,
At the moment I ship daily on weekdays with CP.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@markikuwrote:
...

I get this odd feeling that my items are pushed where the shipping rate is more expensive causing me to pay more on final value fees

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FVF on eBay.CA shipping is on either the value of your Canadian domestic shipping rate or your International shipping rate -- whichever is lowest.  You shouldn't be paying more. 

[juhech-0]

I know a lot of friends who use Chit Chats and can't get to a branch. Either they will use a cheap courier service or mail in their packages. Depending on your volume something worth exploring as you can still save money by doing this as USPS postage rates are cheap for lightweight items.

[rosscd57]

I took a look at the category for the items you sell on .com and of course all the Canadians show Canadian dollars and the Brits come up in pounds.

However, if you look at .com the US listings seem  show much cheaper - they are not of course but the Canadian listing look much more expensive cause you have to see the little notice that says "from Canada" - I really don't think it dawns on most US buyers that there is dollar value difference.

Perhaps you should do a test and sell some in US dollars.

[markiku]

well some US buyers do contact me asking how come the price for them is more expensive so I end up explaining to them about the difference of the Canadian dollars to US Dollar some seem to exCept it and purchase and some don`t, thinking I`m ripping them off
Just last week a guy asked me that when he had the item in his shopping cart it was more expensive, so it was converted in Cdn dollars


I had to open the gates to the Usually countries due to others contacting me , not being able to purchase since there was no shipping price, This was a short lived test