eBay Bucks - again

[cow_in_a_cape]

Ok, as po'd as I am about eBay taking the ebay bucks away from Canada. One of a few screwy moves that seem to adversely affect Canadian users of eBay (not that eBay really seems to inclined to care about that from what I have read with some of the other posts on here)

The message that was sent to everyone regarding eBay bucks stated that they could at least be collected until March 31 2013, now since at least the afternoon of March 21 2013, not one listing I have saved in my watched list, now lists eBay Bucks.

So I don't know if eBay decided to pull the plug ten days early or what, but it would appear that not only axing the program was enough, now some yoyo decided to pull the plug on their own schedule. So um, eBay how about leaving the damned program turned on until the end of the month like you stated in the email you sent out, when you made you decision to put it to Canadian users of eBay?

[pierrelebel]

http://pages.ebay.ca/rewards/faq/canadaclosure.html 

at the bottom:

you can email the eBay Bucks team at ebaybucksteam@ebay.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

[aqyera]

Canadians are such a whiny bunch. I never heard any Brazilian to complain they don't have things people have in USA and I know way more Brazilians than Canadians.

Relax people, it's just some pennies Ebay is "giving back" to you. Go buy sme fluerescent bulbs on Ebay, save some money.

Just kidding, don't buy any fluorescent bulbs on Ebay. I only buy on Ebay stuff that I can afford to throw away and there is not much I can afford to throw away, so I cannot care less about few dollars per year in Ebay bucks.

[crafty_cat_lady]

Ebay will never "get back to you" about this. I've been waiting for a long while now to the answers to my question of whether Canadians were using the program too much, or not enough. For me, it's a big enough issue to get upset about since the "bucks" I get are sometimes enough to essentially pay for some item I've been wanting (or at least make a significant dent in the shipping charges).

[pierrelebel]

"I've been waiting for a long while now to the answers to my question of whether Canadians were using the program too much, or not enough"

That question was answered last week (or was it the week before) by an eBay employee on one of these boards.  The level of participation by Canadians in the program was lower than expected and not creating the extra expected revenues.

It is not the first time we see rewards program cancelled because they did not generate the extra sales and revenue expected.

I do not have any "inside" numbers from eBay.ca but, let's say that eBay generates on average about 10% fees from every transaction and pays out 20% of that in "rewards" (2% of transactions).  That is a huge percentage given out by eBay.  In other words one dollar out of every five received from sellers would be given out to buyers a "eBay Bucks". Unless there is a very substantial rate of participation and huge increase in business, the program is a failure ("fail to meet our expectations").  Any business facing the same lack of positive results would reach the same conclusion: cancel the program.

Many eBay sellers are known to include a "small gift" with every purchase. Why?  To generate goodwill and hopefully offset the cost of these "small gifts" through higher sales. It works for many. However, if a seller realizes that there is no net benefits in the program, it would make sense to stop doing it. 

I have often wondered why LCBO in Ontario provides AirMiles to buyers purchasing their products. It is a huge cost to LCBO (millions of dollars a year) and I cannot believe it makes any difference in their overall sales. As a taxpayer and by extension shareholder of LCBO, I would approve if the rewards program is cancelled. 🙂

As far as I am concerned, while I regret the loss of rewards (eBay Bucks) eBay had every right to pull the plug and certainly does not owe me any detailed accounting for their actions.

We as Canadians face many challenges using eBay and competing with American sellers.  They seem to have all the advantages starting with a much larger domestic market and lower domestic shipping costs.  That is life.  We need to appreciate every little advantage we may have and available to us on eBay such as doubling (from 50 to 100) the number of monthly free listings by using both eBay.ca and eBay.com, using the free subtitles available on eBay.cafr, etc...  

We do not live in a perfect world.  Let's make the best of what we have.

[pjcdn2005]

We as Canadians face many challenges using eBay and competing with American sellers.  They seem to have all the advantages starting with a much larger domestic market and lower domestic shipping costs.  That is life.  We need to appreciate every little advantage we may have and available to us on eBay such as doubling (from 50 to 100) the number of monthly free listings by using both eBay.ca and eBay.com, using the free subtitles available on eBay.cafr, etc...  

We do not live in a perfect world.  Let's make the best of what we have.

Well said!