eBay

downsizing2018 · ‎09-03-2015

I have had two informatin notices about Canadian sellers listing in USAD versus CAD. Ebay states that historically sales are greater for us Canadians if we indeed sell in Canadian dollars, which is the opposite of what they have always advocated.

I see no feedback on or discussion on this - just wondering what everyone else is thinking here in Candada......

mr.elmwood · ‎09-04-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:
"...but Raphael was wrong..."

And I am wrong.

I know. We are all wrong.

And life does go on.

Such is the way it goes.

.
.
.

rose-dee · ‎09-04-2015

I wanted to add something to this discussion that I think all Canadian sellers should consider.

The cart has now been in effect on eBay.com for quite some time. Longtime eBay buyers will still be aware that there is another way to check out if they get stuck in a "dead-end cart" due to the .com cart dysfunction. However, anybody who is new to eBay in the last year or two may not even realize an alternative checkout exists. If they are routed into the .com cart when trying to buy from a Canadian seller, and get trapped there, unable to proceed, no one can blame them for giving up and going elsewhere to buy.

The point is that the longer this problem exists, the fewer U.S./.com buyers there will be who understand how to work around it.

How do I come to this conclusion? Because the only U.S. buyers who have managed to get through the maze and purchase more than one item from me (one-at-a-time) are those who have been on eBay for a few years (I always check after every such sale).

rose-dee · ‎09-04-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:
"...but Raphael was wrong..."
And I am wrong.
I know. We are all wrong.
And life does go on.

Well, you were complaining that eBay wasn't being transparent. I was trying to offer one reasonable explanation why that might be so, and why eBay's "analysis" might be impacted by factors they were not disclosing openly.

BTW, you yourself have pointed out Raphael's oversights and errors at times on the Wednesday board. He's not a robot. He misspoke in this particular instance, it happens. I'll take it up with him next week.

tobyshitzu · ‎09-04-2015

""the ".com cart disconnect" must surely have influenced those figures. "

Im not onbaord with the "conspiracies", and fully believe they said list in CAN$ because its really better to list in CAN$. And believed that long before they said anything based on looking at the completed sales on a regular basis

But the cart thing "influencing" their CAN$ statement doesn't make any sense at all. If anything, if the cart has any influence at all, it advantages sales in US$. Canadians with real volume (which is no one who posts here) have traditionally listed on .com in US$ because tools like channel advisor were not available to work on .ca and they needed something like that for their volume. So the cart works for those listings, while it doesn't for any CAN$ listing

rose-dee · ‎09-04-2015

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:

Im not onbaord with the "conspiracies", and fully believe they said list in CAN$ because its really better to list in CAN$.

Yes, that's absolutely right, it really is better to list in $Cdn! The point I was trying to make is that eBay hasn't given us any analysis as to why because the "cart disconnect" plays into those increased sales figures. Have you ever known eBay to be that honest about their failings?

But the cart thing "influencing" their CAN$ statement doesn't make any sense at all. If anything, if the cart has any influence at all, it advantages sales in US$. [...] So the cart works for those listings, while it doesn't for any CAN$ listing.

Yes, again, you're completely correct in saying that the .com cart benefits sales in $US, but only if you list on .com, i.e. not by Canadians listing on eBay.ca. This is where you misunderstand what I've been trying to say. If a Canadian seller (like me) who has been listing on .ca in $US switches to listing on .com, then the .com cart will work properly, and sales will likely increase as a result. That's really a no-brainer.

However, a Canadian seller who lists on .ca in $Cdn will suffer less from the .com cart problem (and therefore probably see slightly better sales overall) than a Cdn seller listing in $US on .ca. Nonetheless, a Canadian listing on .com in $US will probably be better off than listing in $Cdn on .ca if the majority of that seller's buyers shop on .com.

Where your buyers shop (i.e. .ca or .com - and likely other sites) does factor into the equation, which is why this "cart disconnect" doesn't affect all Canadian sellers to the same extent. To sum up, those worst affected will be Canadian sellers who:

List in $US on .ca, and
Have traditionally had a large proportion of U.S. buyers, and
Have items that would attract multi-item purchases.
I fit into all 3 categories, which is why I've finally decided to abandon .ca. Listing in $Cdn is a partial solution (forces .com buyers through the old checkout process), but will not bring back my multi-item orders because my U.S. buyers still won't be able to use their cart. IPR is the only other partial solution (will have a similar effect to listing in $Cdn, i.e. no .com cart function), but I personally dislike foisting IPR on my buyers. So listing on .com is the only reasonable option at this point.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-04-2015

@rose-dee wrote:
I wanted to add something to this discussion that I think all Canadian sellers should consider.

The cart has now been in effect on eBay.com for quite some time. Longtime eBay buyers will still be aware that there is another way to check out if they get stuck in a "dead-end cart" due to the .com cart dysfunction. However, anybody who is new to eBay in the last year or two may not even realize an alternative checkout exists. If they are routed into the .com cart when trying to buy from a Canadian seller, and get trapped there, unable to proceed, no one can blame them for giving up and going elsewhere to buy.

The point is that the longer this problem exists, the fewer U.S./.com buyers there will be who understand how to work around it.

How do I come to this conclusion? Because the only U.S. buyers who have managed to get through the maze and purchase more than one item from me (one-at-a-time) are those who have been on eBay for a few years (I always check after every such sale).

That really doesn't prove anything.

Although I agree that it is a problem that listing in $U.S. allows a buyer to initially add one of your items to the cart, I don't agree that listing in Canadian dollars is necessarily going to result in more multiples purchases so I don't think that factor affected any sales differences that ebay .ca released. That's not saying that I 100% believe their results but I don't agree with your conclusion.

btw...They have made a slight change on the .com cart. When I click on buy it now on one of your items on .com, I still see the add to cart on the second page but when I actually click on add to cart, it works differently than it did a few months ago.

rose-dee · ‎09-05-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

"That really doesn't prove anything."

I have to disagree, I think it does. What it proves is that it will be more and more difficult to find buyers who even know there is anything but the cart on .com. There was a period of several months prior to the "cart disconnect" when my U.S. buyers were, for whatever reason, able to purchase more than 1 item in a combined order, and I had a regular multi-order business from both new and long-time eBay buyers. It all worked perfectly.

That has stopped completely since the fall of 2013. Now it's only long-time eBay buyers who figure out (occasionally) how to get around the problem by buying one at a time, paying full shipping on each, and then messaging me to fix up the mess afterwards.

The reason I see this as a concern for Canadians listing on .ca in $US and selling mainly to the U.S. is that I've noticed a decline in "longtime" eBay members purchasing from me since the cyber attack. I'm getting a far greater percentage of really new eBayers than I ever had before. And if they're Americans, they will be used to using a cart checkout.

"Although I agree that it is a problem that listing in $U.S. allows a buyer to initially add one of your items to the cart, I don't agree that listing in Canadian dollars is necessarily going to result in more multiples purchases..."

This is not exactly what I've been saying. I've been trying to point out that if eBay did their survey in early 2015, sellers listing in $Cdn on .ca will not have been impacted by the cart disconnect, whereas many Canadian sellers listing in $US will. In other words, the survey results will have been skewed by that factor if the statistics were not corrected for it.

Meaning that listing in $Cdn will not necessarily result in more multiple purchases, but that the overall sales of Canadian sellers who list in $US will necessarily be more heavily impacted by the cart disconnect in any survey taken of all Canadian sellers. Accordingly, Canadian sellers listing in $Cdn will statistically do better overall than their counterparts listing in $US. It's a subtle but real distinction.

Again, there are doubtless a number of factors mixed into the reported 5% to 10% increase that eBay found in its analysis, but the "cart disconnect" is certainly one of them.

Another way of looking at it is this: if the .com cart disconnect didn't exist, and U.S. buyers were able to checkout seamlessly on purchases from Canadian sellers, then eBay's survey may have found that their earlier advice (i.e. that Canadians listing in $US were somewhat better off) still held true.

I should add that the only reason I'm setting out these issues is so that other Canadian sellers might recognize that there are more factors at play in eBay's "pronouncement" than may meet the eye.

In the end, Canadian sellers who do list in $Cdn will avoid the worst of the cart disconnect problems (short of facilitating their buyers to make multiple purchases), so doing so will at least immunize them from the confusion .com buyers would otherwise encounter.

"btw...They have made a slight change on the .com cart. When I click on buy it now on one of your items on .com, I still see the add to cart on the second page but when I actually click on add to cart, it works differently than it did a few months ago."

Can you be more specific? What do you mean by "works differently"? I'm still grasping at straws, hoping I can avoid having to switch to .com, but I only have a window of a couple of weeks to decide.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-05-2015

I have to disagree, I think it does. What it proves is that it will be more and more difficult to find buyers who even know there is anything but the cart on .com.

No, it simply proves that some buyers with higher feedback purchased more than one item from you. The cart does not need to be used for single purchase items so I'm sure that even a brand new ebayer realizes that they can click on buy it now and then pay for an item just like your 'experienced' buyers did.

There was a period of several months prior to the "cart disconnect" when my U.S. buyers were, for whatever reason, able to purchase more than 1 item in a combined order, and I had a regular multi-order business from both new and long-time eBay buyers. It all worked perfectly.

Yes and you 'concluded' that was happening because the .com cart must have been working for .ca listings at that time. When I said that .ca listings have never worked in the .com cart and explained how your customers could pay for multiple purchases at that time, you still insisted that the cart must have worked. I assume that once Raphael confirmed that the cart did not work on your listings, you believed it. (or maybe you still don't believe it) But as I explained before, buyers could purchase and pay for multiple orders at that time the same way they could before the cart was put into play and the same way they can do on .ca now if they don't use the cart. Until there was ipr on those items, the cart could be bypassed for multiple purchases.

It's interesting that you mention that new buyers used that method. From what I remember, new buyers had a more difficult time figuring out how to combine orders using the old system and tended to pay for each item one at a time...just like they are able to do now.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-05-2015

Can you be more specific? What do you mean by "works differently"? I'm still grasping at straws, hoping I can avoid having to switch to .com, but I only have a window of a couple of weeks to decide.

It would be faster for you to check it for yourself. They have not made the cart work for .ca listings but you will see that they will have made a change as far as what happens when a .ca listing is added to the cart. I'm not sure if it is really a positive change and I can't see it affecting your decision but perhaps I'm wrong.

rose-gatherer · ‎09-06-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

"The cart does not need to be used for single purchase items so I'm sure that even a brand new ebayer realizes that they can click on buy it now and then pay for an item just like your 'experienced' buyers did."

That's may be true, but it's surmise on your part to assume that new eBayers will realize this. It's equally probable that inexperienced eBayers who do try to use the cart to buy more than one item from a seller like me are going to find it impossible and may not realize that they can still purchase one-by-one. Besides, carts are becoming the norm on so many online venues. It's easier and more convenient if you're making more than one purchase. I think that is where buyers will be inclined to turn on eBay, especially since they can now "save" their proposed cart purchases to process later.

There was a period of several months prior to the "cart disconnect" when my U.S. buyers were, for whatever reason, able to purchase more than 1 item in a combined order, and I had a regular multi-order business from both new and long-time eBay buyers. It all worked perfectly.

"Yes and you 'concluded' that was happening because the .com cart must have been working for .ca listings at that time. When I said that .ca listings have never worked in the .com cart and explained how your customers could pay for multiple purchases at that time, you still insisted that the cart must have worked."

That was then, this is now, which is why I said "for whatever reason". It really doesn't matter to me anymore whether it was or wasn't the cart functioning. What matters is that the checkout actually worked for my U.S. buyers, they received my automated shipping discounts, things were just fine -- at least for a time. I would be ecstatic if eBay could somehow just undo whatever was done to make it all go awry, and return to that point.

"It's interesting that you mention that new buyers used that method. From what I remember, new buyers had a more difficult time figuring out how to combine orders using the old system and tended to pay for each item one at a time...just like they are able to do now."

Nonetheless, as I say, I've yet to have a new eBayer (anybody with less than about 100 FB) make a multiple purchase from me by buying one-by-one since this cart problem started. Those who have had several years on eBay are apparently more successful. It's simply been a fact over the last 1-1/2 years that newbie buyers aren't getting through to make multi-item orders, and it caught my attention. There is something happening in the background that is making it harder for them to figure out how to check out. Since I'm seeing a far greater percentage of new eBayers buying from me these days, it only makes sense that listing on .com could increase multi-item sales from new eBay buyers.

Frankly, in my view, eBay has never had a checkout system that worked consistently smoothly and easily for buyers over the years (and I say this from experience, having done a lot of buying on eBay before I started selling). Compared to other sites, eBay's checkout has always seemed rather convoluted and difficult.

I can remember the days, many years ago on eBay where sellers would practically beg buyers (in listings) to please not use the eBay checkout system. Now, 12 or 13 years later, we still don't have a completely functional system across eBay's sites. It's ridiculous that such a major online venue would continue to be unable or unwilling to help customers breeze through the payment process everywhere on their platforms.

rose-gatherer · ‎09-06-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

It would be faster for you to check it for yourself.

Apparently it's no longer possible for me to "test" using my own listings, even with my alternate ID, logged onto .com. I've tried a few times, and always get an error message that "You are not allowed to purchase your own listings".

It obviously makes sense to prevent people from buying their own items, but I don't remember it being banned previously. Perhaps a recent change?

I would have to find a Canadian buyer's item that I know is listed on .ca in $US in order to check, unless someone here would be willing to test on a couple of my items. In any case, I'm getting tired of forever trying to figure out what sort of new wrinkles are going on in the background. Soon it will be moot in any event once I switch to .com.

rose-dee · ‎09-06-2015

Apologies, I got stuck in my other ID there for a few minutes.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-06-2015

@rose-gatherer wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:

It would be faster for you to check it for yourself.

Apparently it's no longer possible for me to "test" using my own listings, even with my alternate ID, logged onto .com. I've tried a few times, and always get an error message that "You are not allowed to purchase your own listings".

It obviously makes sense to prevent people from buying their own items, but I don't remember it being banned previously. Perhaps a recent change?

I would have to find a Canadian buyer's item that I know is listed on .ca in $US in order to check, unless someone here would be willing to test on a couple of my items. In any case, I'm getting tired of forever trying to figure out what sort of new wrinkles are going on in the background. Soon it will be moot in any event once I switch to .com.

I just tried it on another id and I was able to put an item from this id into a cart so I don't know why you were unable to do it.

jt-libra has quite a few listings done on .ca in $US

art-in-the-making · ‎09-06-2015

omg

"How likely are you to recommend using eBay to a friend?"

very likely

likely

somewhat

possibly

a little iffy

I think I left the kettle on

jt-libra · ‎09-07-2015

Rose, while viewing your listings on .ca, I selected two of your items and placed them in the cart as shown:

When I searched for the identical two items while in .com, there was no option to place the items in a cart. There was no "Add to Cart" button at all. Just a "Buy it Now".

jt-libra · ‎09-07-2015

Rose, twice I've posted a follow-up to the screenshot of the cart on .ca, showing step-by-step screenshots of what I see on .com when I attempt to click on Buy it Now for one of the two items I had selected on .ca. Both times they appeared briefly on this thread and then disappeared, and I don't understand why. They were similar to many, many screenshots that appear on this Board when trying to describe a situation.

Were you able to get a glimpse before they disappeared?

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-07-2015

When I searched for the identical two items while in .com, there was no option to place the items in a cart. There was no "Add to Cart" button at all. Just a "Buy it Now".

You have to click on buy it now first. On the second page you will see an add item to cart. The change I am talking about happens once you add the item.

jt-libra · ‎09-07-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

When I searched for the identical two items while in .com, there was no option to place the items in a cart. There was no "Add to Cart" button at all. Just a "Buy it Now".

You have to click on buy it now first. On the second page you will see an add item to cart. The change I am talking about happens once you add the item.

When I noticed that you had said second page, I did click on "Buy it Now". That's when I posted another screenshot, for rose-dee's information, but, for some reason, that post disappeared ..... twice! I have no idea why. So I didn't compose the post for a third time.

rose-dee · ‎09-08-2015

Thank you for going to so much trouble with this 'jt' . I must have missed the step-by-step screen shots, but thank you for posting that screen shot of the two items being purchased via .ca.

Do you recall what you saw when you attempted to purchase more than one item on .com? That's what I'm interested in. If you didn't end up in the "dead-end cart", then eBay has changed something in the past few months.

It's so frustrating not knowing exactly what my U.S. buyers are seeing from one month to the next. And if there has been a change in the checkout flow, it's even more frustrating that Raphael didn't see fit to describe it to us at the Wed. board hour, since he knows what an issue it is for many of us.

I've decided that listing on .com is the only option if I want to rid myself of this problem, but I keep hoping eBay might be tinkering with things in the background to the point that they might actually jury-rig the checkout to work for .com buyers. Faint hope, I know...