@hlmacdon wrote:It's not necessarily a confusion issue, or at least I don't see it that way. For me it relates to competitive positioning and natural price points. Ebay buyers are thrifty in nature. If the currency swings it effects search ranking with a whole class of buyers that shop by price filters/high/low.Natural price points still play a role in buyer behavior as well, although less so these days with algorithm driven pricing models. For other buyers there is an implied extra cost with the currency conversion that can put them off, but I think the notion that American buyers aren't comfortable buying abroad or get confused by currency is a meme that can be retired these days.
You may have a point that Americans are becoming more accustomed to buying abroad these days. However from a marketing standpoint, if a seller knows that the majority of his/her customers are going to be American, the less a listing appears "unusual" or "other", probably the better.
This of course relates directly to competitiveness and natural price points, as you say. Weird or unusual price points being arbitrarily displayed are one part of that argument, but so is the question of seller control over exact pricing. If I know my U.S. competitors are selling a similar item at $22.95 to their U.S. customers, I want control over a stable price point that remains competitive over time. This is one of the big problems I could foresee in listing in $CDN for my particular situation. I'd also say that volatility and fluctuations just don't look good to consumers generally, especially if the price appears to be rising.
Perhaps confusion was too strong a word, although I have seen a number of reports by Canadian sellers about U.S. buyers misunderstanding $CDN prices in Best Offer scenarios.
I'm not sure I agree that throwing $USD prices at Canadians is deadly, not because it isn't true where eBay.ca is concerned, but because I expect a lot of Canadian buyers go to eBay.com to shop, are well accustomed to dealing with $USD pricing, and understand the relative value of the currencies. I also have to admit that having been a frequent eBay buyer for years, the selection from Canada is poor in comparison to the U.S., whether you start on .ca or .com. I often filter for "Canada only" in search, but usually don't find what I want there (unfortunately).
There seems to be an impression that I'm critical of sellers (one in particular) who list in $CDN on eBay.ca, or that I believe it's somehow an inherently bad idea. I've never had that view, ever. I simply don't think it's the best choice for every Canadian seller -- which isn't the same thing. For those whose competitors and buyers are mostly American, anything that can be done to level the playing field makes sense. I've listed in both currencies at various times over the years, and have always done better using $USD listings. That would likely not be true if I had a different buyer mix.
I hate to end on a downbeat, but all of this discussion about US/Cdn currency variations may soon be moot. Since nothing else has been successful for him, apparently Mr. Trump has decided it's time to focus on trade this week, and specifically NAFTA. Who knows what chaos he'll churn up there.
