eBay.ca vs eBay.com for listing

[oldbaglady]

I have been selling on eBay for over 11 years now. I have always listed on eBay.com except for occasionally when there is a listing sale on the eBay.ca site. However, I am finding it harder and harder to keep track of Canada Post shipping prices and get my estimated flat rates right, so I am thinking of starting to list everything on the .ca site so I can use the shipping calculator. I usually get it right to the US, but if someone buys it from Canada or overseas, I am way off. Does anybody else do this? I worry about the exposure on the .ca site. I know they say that you get the same exposure on .com either way, but do you really? I do very little business in Canada, it is nearly all to the US, and I can't afford not to be seen there.
Terry

[pierrelebel]

" have been selling on eBay for over 11 years now. I have always listed on eBay.com except for occasionally when there is a listing sale on the eBay.ca site."

Ditto and whenever I decide to get more listings on eBay.ca I end up regretting it for a variety of reasons.

I'm sticking to eBay.com from now on.

[surplusdealdude]

I switched to .com this year and my sales went through the roof.

I think that, if you do most of your business in the US, stay with .com.

However, others will disagree. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[whoscloset]

Just check out the population.

Listing on .ca greatly increases those Canada sales. However, listing on .com offers a much wider potential customer base.

Given that listing rates for fixed price items has dropped dramatically, and that I list new items for which I have multiples...I duplicate listings for both sites. In the "old" ebay world where I paid a premium to list my items, this strategy was fiscally prohibitive, and I focused on the .com market. Now I have increased my Canadian sales dramatically by duplicating these same listings on the .ca site.

As with everything on eBay, your product line dictates your sales strategy.

[pjcdn2005]

I've only listed on .ca so can't give you an opinion on listing on .com but the majority of my sales are in the U.S. and I do sell a lot internationally as well so I am getting exposure. But, if I were you, I would probably stay on .com and try to work out a shipping cost system as there are many sellers who do believe that listing on .com does increase their business.

Perhaps you already do this, but I'm wondering if you could do a spreadsheet for shipping your most common items. For example, next time you sell a blouse, package it up, weigh it, mark down the dimensions on a spreadsheet and then do the same with a dress, suit, scarf etc Then figure out what it would cost to send each item to a central location such as Toronto & use that as your standard cost. I don't sell many items east of Ontario or Quebec so that system works for me though when I do sell closer to home, I usually refund some of the buyer's shipping cost.

[pjcdn2005]

Listing on .ca greatly increases those Canada sales. However, listing on .com offers a much wider potential customer base.

Given that listing rates for fixed price items has dropped dramatically, and that I list new items for which I have multiples...I duplicate listings for both sites


Hi Monique,:-)

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean but if I list on either of those sites and state that I ship to both Canada and the U.S. my listings will be seen on both sites so how would specifically listing on .ca mean more Canadian sales and how would the customer base would be wider if I listed on .com vs .ca?

Pam

[recped]

I switched my listings to .ca last Fall.......I have seen absolutely NO difference in activity.

[surplusdealdude]

> Hi Monique,:-)
>
> Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean but if I list on either of those sites and state that I ship to both Canada and the U.S. my listings will be seen on both sites so how would specifically listing on .ca mean more Canadian sales and how would the customer base would be wider if I listed on .com vs .ca?
>
> Pam

Some Americans prefer to buy from Americans, some Canadians prefer to buy from Canadians, especially with the costs of coming across the border.

So you'll have more people that consider you as a potential seller if you advertise on both sites. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[dipmicro]

Some Americans prefer to buy from Americans

I noticed eBay.com may discriminate non-US accounts (sometimes it's hard to tell with Best Match), so I have recently started an account registered from US (with rented US address). So far performance is abysmal, but it was expected from 18 listings and feedback (2).

[power_batteries]

... state that I ship to both Canada and the U.S. my listings will be seen on both sites so how would specifically listing on .ca mean more Canadian sales and how would the customer base would be wider if I listed on .com vs .ca?
> >
> > Pam
>
> Some Americans prefer to buy from Americans, some Canadians prefer to buy from Canadians, especially with the costs of coming across the border.
>
> So you'll have more people that consider you as a potential seller if you advertise on both sites.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
> - Ralph W. Sockman

It may also depend on how people search. If they use advanced search and choose only listings from ebay.com then listings on ebay.ca won't be listed and vice versa. (Usually not a big deal if not a lot of sellers in your category.)

Short section of advanced search:

Location

Only show items:
From preferred locations (e.g. .com: 'on ebay.com', 'US only', etc.)
(adv. search on ebay.ca: 'on ebay.ca', 'Canada only', ...)
Located in (.com: United States, Australia, Canada, ...)
Available to (.ca: Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, ...)



C.G.

[bestbranddeals]

> Some Americans prefer to buy from Americans
>
> I noticed eBay.com may discriminate non-US accounts (sometimes it's hard to tell with Best Match), so I have recently started an account registered from US (with rented US address). So far performance is abysmal, but it was expected from 18 listings and feedback (2).

I want to register on ebay.com and can get a US address but what about Credit card. you have to provide that and does the address need to match ?

[pjcdn2005]

Some Americans prefer to buy from Americans, some Canadians prefer to buy from Canadians, especially with the costs of coming across the border.

Surplus, I'm sorry but I must still be missing something. Regardless of which site I list on, my item will still be shown as being in Canada. If I did happen to list on .com, how would they even know or would they even notice?
I've had buyers who didn't realize I was in Canada.

So you'll have more people that consider you as a potential seller if you advertise on both sites.

Maybe this is the point that I'm missing...What do you mean by advertise?

Pam

[pjcdn2005]

power_batteries, I hadn't thought of that before but I do agree that the way people search will make a difference in some cases.

[dipmicro]

I want to register on ebay.com and can get a US address but what about Credit card. you have to provide that and does the address need to match ?

There is two ways eBay verifies new registrations. One is credit card, another is automated phone call. No need for credit card. eBay also does not seem to care if US eBay account is associated with Canadian PayPal account for receiving payments. All in all, eBay is a swiss company until Obama catches them 🙂

[recped]

All in all, eBay is a swiss company until Obama catches them 🙂

eBay International AG is wholly owned subsidiary of eBay Inc. (a Delaware registered Corporation)

[surplusdealdude]

pjcdn2005 ,

Regardless of which site I list on, my item will still be shown as being in Canada. If I did happen to list on .com, how would they even know or would they even notice?

Your "item location" tells them that you're in Canada.

And, as power_batteries pointed out, people that use advanced search to screen their sellers will be eliminating you through their preferences.

What do you mean by advertise?

All of your listings are advertisements, no matter what form they take.


I want to register on ebay.com and can get a US address but what about Credit card. you have to provide that and does the address need to match ?

ebay.com will tell you that you have to have a US credit card, but that's BS.

You can still BE a Canadian seller registered on .ca but have your store on .com. You just use your existing credit card for that.

To move your store, you'll have to close your .ca store and then go to .com and reopen it there.

CAUTION - you will have to REDO ALL your listings to conform to .com categories and regulations. The store framework remains the same (ebay saves that for 30 days), but the listings have to change. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[pjcdn2005]

It feels like we're going around in circles. 🙂 I am probably not being specific enough as I still don't know the answer to what I was asking about. I’ll be more specific.
Here is the post that I originally asked about.


Listing on .ca greatly increases those Canada sales. However, listing on .com offers a much wider potential customer base.

Given that listing rates for fixed price items has dropped dramatically, and that I list new items for which I have multiples...I duplicate listings for both sites



I get the impression from these comments that the seller is saying they list on .ca and on .com and pay double to do that. I agree that .com does offer a much wider potential customer base but my point is that a seller receives exposure on both sites if they ship to U.S. & Canada even if they list on just one of the sites. If someone is willing to pay double then there must be a benefit that i don't realize. I was curious what that benefit would be.

The answers I received were that some Americans like to buy from Americans, Canadians buy from Canadians, that some searches would exclude me because I'm Cdn...etc... I agree with all of that but regardless of where I list, I am still a Canadian so even if I listed on .com, a pro American buyer might not buy from me because as Surplus stated, my item location tells them where I live. And if a buyer did a search for an item asking for only items in the U.S., I would not show up on the search even if I listed on .com. (I tried that with Pierre's id) However, if they do search for items on .com only, my items do show up because I ship to the U.S.

Surplus I appreciate that you answered my questions but while my replies were based on my original question (which wasn’t stated well), I think your replies were based on each question by itself. 🙂

Soooo, is there a benefit to list on both sites and to pay double? If so, what are the benefits. I am really curious about it and would also like to know in case I'm missing a way to increase my sales.
Thanks!

[surplusdealdude]

is there a benefit to list on both sites and to pay double?

(You're not going to like this)

Maybe.

It depends on the product.

The only way to find out is to do a trial run - list some on .ca, some on .com and some on both and see what happens.

Despite being a common ground for all sellers, ebay is still a custom-design place for each seller - each seller has to find out what works FOR THEM. -------------------------------------------------------------------

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.
- Bertrand Russell