Canada Seller, Ships from Canada, List as US Seller?

[1962shop]

I was not sure how to title this. I am a Seller in Canada. I ship everything from here. List on Ebay.ca, because Ebay reps told me my items show on .Com & .Ca. I was paying the Ebay.com store price for a while cause I accidently signed up there, but had a rep change it to the Canada store price. Much less, due to exchange rate. I do know many sellers in Canada ship via a forwarding service over the border, so they can say they are a US Seller/item location US. I personally don't feel comfortable doing this cause it seems "misleading" to me, saying my item is located in the USA , when its not. So, my question would be is it allowed for me to have a US address, call it a "US seller" like these sellers have, but ship from Canada, and state I ship from Canada/Item location Canada ? I don't know if it is true that Having your store listed as a US Seller gets more sales than a Seller listed as Canadian, since your items show up on both anyway. 90% of my sales are to the USA. 

[silverpinups]

You can have a eBay.CA subscription and list on eBay.COM. I've been listing in USD and shipping from Canada for close to 15 years now....

You will have to use flat rate shipping if listing on eBay.COM. If calculated shipping is important to you then continue to list on eBay.CA.

[silverpinups]

"I personally don't feel comfortable doing this cause it seems "misleading" to me, saying my item is located in the USA , when its not. So, my question would be is it allowed for me to have a US address, call it a "US seller" like these sellers have, but ship from Canada, and state I ship from Canada/Item location Canada?"

Also it's against eBay policy to misrepresent your selling location.

[retroman_studios]

Back when I had a store and did alot of US sales, I used the zip code of my forwarder's US facility as my location, as when the item entered the US, that's what the label stated. Plus for most forwarder's they give you a "address" you can use, not for returns or mail, but to satisfy postal regulations, you need a return address.

Now, that is a thin line. But it worked and I was giving service that was perhaps only at most +1-2 days what a US seller would give.

What I do now is list on .com and give my Canadian location, and indicate I am shipping from outside of US. This from what I can tell is allowed as I am fully representing my location, whether I use a forwarder or CPC.

[ricarmic]

I'm very interested as to how the CSR was able to switch your store to a Canadian store pricing?

Did you have to end all your items and restart them?

I ask because I've "always" had a .COM store because there was no .CA when I started. My understanding was that to migrate my store from .COM to . CA I'd have to cancel the .COM store, ending all the listings and create a .CA store and relist them all. With 4,000 items that's an insurmountable job. Even ending and restarting would be awful as I file my items via the listing number so all of them would have to be pulled and changed physically on the items.

It most assuredly would be nice to be paying $299 $C per month instead of $299 US!!!

I'm hanging onto a wee glimmer of hope that something has changed recently that allows this to happen seamlessly now!

[ricarmic]

In regards to the original question you have, I don't know if "ships from" affects sales in your category, but I have seen sellers in my category acquire neutrals and negatives from buyers that have discovered they're shipping from Canada when their location says USA, and I live in the somewhat "happy" selling category of stamps.

My own experience says that there will be a higher sell through rate based on the site, ie if you want to sell more to folks in the USA, list on .COM, if you want to target Canadians, list on .CA (and one can do both irregardless of whether the store is .COM or .CA based). That is how I generally list my items, stuff I'm targeting at USA/International goes on .COM, stuff that is targeted at Canadians is listed on .CA. (everything I sell shows located in Canada)

On both .COM and .CA I am regularly selling to both Canadians and Americans so there is for certain cross pollination so to speak.

[femmefan1946]

Before you ask if, ask why.

The reasons that we are required to give the location of the goods are delivery time and import fees.

It takes longer to receive a purchase that has to travel from Iqaluit to San Diego, than it would from Chicago to San Diego.

While you should adjust your handling time to allow for any delay in getting the purchase from you to your forwarder and from the forwarder to the USPS counter, I can see no reason not to state your shipping location as being in the USA.

And unless your items are high value, import fees don't really come into it, since US residents have an $800US  duty free allowance.

The problem with listing on dotCOM is that you are forced to use Flat Rate shipping which can be a problem when your chosen service includes destination as a factor in setting the cost of shipping.

[teenytrinkets]

I agree with you. Both 3rd party tracking and USPS tracking make it obvious you're shipping from a forwarder, and that, coupled with the USPS acceptance delay, is sure fire way to attract potential negs. Risky!

However, if CAD sellers that live very close to the border are bringing over their parcels themselves, directly to the US, I think that qualifies to earn the US Shipper designation, despite where their residence may be.

I started shipping sometimes with ChitChats and it is slightly faster for the US, but super slow for Canada. I've had to adjust my handling times and shipping methods so I can continue to be flexible.

[2dogsdeals]

We are in  Toronto, list on .com (and have for 24 years). We send items via a cross-border shipping service that ships via Buffalo New York. We were told by ebay itself while with them reviewing our account at eBay Open 2018 to list our item locations as Buffalo as that is where all tracking exists for them since we are using USPS - not Canada Post - for items. 

As well, in our opinion only, we feel that some US sellers would prefer to buy from a US location vs. any location outside of the US. So showing up on .ca with exchange rates could complicate sales. 

[1962shop]

Thank you for your reply. Since listing is Ebay.ca , your items show the same on .com or .ca , so this is where I get confused as to does it really make a difference then, as to where I do/enter my listings ? And the flat rate , OK, thats great, so then I don't have to pick calculated at that moment , as i always do. Thats good to know. BUT, do you still say you are a Canada Seller and ship from Canada ? Most of my sales go to the USA, so I wonder if all this really will make a difference ? 

thanks so much,  Susan 

[1962shop]

I like how you do it now.  I know people here in Calgary that say , they use that forwarding service out of Montana with USPS boxes, but just seems not right.  There location is not Montana ! UG. 

Thank you for your reply, I am glad o know others feel like I do.

[1962shop]

I agree, and I called Ebay and asked about sellers doing this, but they seemed to not care, or thought it was OK . i still think location, is location , not where I forward it to, the stuff does not sit in a Montana Warehouse ! LOl

[1962shop]

thank you. I agree with how you do it. Ebay tells me if I list on .com or .ca, it is seen by both, which is true is I look up my items not signed in. Do you think it helped sales listing in the USD ?

[1962shop]

Hello, No it was just last month when I realized I signed up online on the .com price for the last 10 months ! lol. So, I called, and all she did was cancel the .com Subscription, and then gave me a .ca subscription. I only have 250 listing at moment. No, nothing had to end either. It was all within minutes. I don't understand why they don't adjust the price to the country accordingly ! Good luck !

[1962shop]

thank you for your reply. I do have to think about the Flat Rate prices, I am getting a great rate now with the Netparcel, so I think I can adjust.

[1962shop]

Thank you for your reply. I use mostly Net Parcel now though the pay Pal platform. There rate was even less the FlagShip whom I signed up for to try. The rates are 90% of the time lower than Canada Post, and for International, WAY less.

[1962shop]

I do wonder about buyers preferring a "US seller" , I wonder why though? We have great exchange rates! And Ebay reps on the phone told me the same thing as you mentioned above.