eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎03-01-2025

I've read on the US forums setting up business policies allows changes to be made where all listings in a category are affected (to update shipping rates if things change). I'd like to be able to update shipping if the rate changes (whichever service I use).

Anyone set up business policies and have any tips? I've been using SixBit (and am a little hesitant to start a new database for my eBay.ca sales right off the bat), they allow presets to be done so I can change the preset and it will update all the listings at once.

C.

intimewithmusic · ‎03-01-2025

Do we need a forum thread? It's pretty straight forward.

Ebay Canada Business Policies

sin-n-dex · ‎03-01-2025

@intimewithmusic wrote:
Do we need a forum thread? It's pretty straight forward.
Ebay Canada Business Policies

I went to read the site, was just wanting some tips on what people do. I'm starting from scratch on this account, so I'm trying to get things ready so I'm not retroactively updating listings later on. I'm also used to using software that does a lot of things for me, so I'm not familiar with how it works on the actual site.

I've started setting up a few policies already for shipping, and what I like is that I can exclude countries from some types of listings (based on how things would have to ship), but include them on other listings. That's something I wouldn't have known without trying it out (unless someone told me)

You'll have to forgive the newbie posts, I originally set up in 1998 (and made changes as they occurred over the years), now it's as if I'm starting over. The Canada site is slightly different so I don't know where to find everything there either.

C.

intimewithmusic · ‎03-01-2025

Assuming you're talking about SHIPPING policies and not returns or payment policies.

It's a decision no one can make for you. You have 11,000+ lisitngs. At 1st glance, if you prefer Canada Post your shipping policies are mostly going to be Exp Lite, Exp Prcl or Trk Pckt. You may need a couple more policies for high value items IE lSignature and Insurance or size and then add Expedited Parcel with Handling adjustments to cover your extra expenses.

Warning! Don't slam out policies unless you know the consequences to your specific widgets. If you had one item that weighed 200 lbs and valued at $5000 and you let it come under the umbrella of International Shipping you are going to have a problem. Go slow.

Setting up Biz Policies should only take you a few hours to do the majority of your same size, under $100 value and similar destination items (unless, for some reason you need a large variety of couriers).

Having weathered Novewmber's postal strike I recommend adding a 2nd courier IE UPS while you're at it.

I sell everything from a single guitar pick up to to a full size xylophone. In my case I couldn't operate without Biz Policies after I reached about 500 items. Because of the variety I have more than a dozen shipping policies depending on the size, value and destination of the widget. To set them all up from scratch would literally take me a week.

Just an observation not a critisism. :>) Today you have started 4 threads. Managed Payments and Business Policies are features that have VERY different approaches based on each individual. Most of us are scrambling to figure out how Tuesdays tariffs will hit us and how we can mitigate that damage. Is it possible you're taking on too many things at once?

When I had a brick & mortar store I was paying $900 a month for Yellow Page ads. (Before internet) It never made sense to me but all of my competitors were paying more. One day YP sent me a fllyer saying "If you are overwelmed it's best to take a step back." I did. It was worth the $900.

Have you considered putting your store on vacation so you can work in the background? Your buyers can still see your listings. I chose a different route. I excluded the USA until I see what direction to take. this is where Biz Policies are handy. Doing that has the same affect however my US buyers can no longer see my listings.

With respect to business policies my recommendation would be to set up a few to cover your most similar items. Start with that. If you need more than 3 shipping policies you should wait and see how the first three serve your needs. There will be some tweaking required.

I mean no critisism but starting 4 threads in one day indicates youre "pedal to the metal". Call me extra cautious. Ebay USA represents a very huge market. eBay Canada represents only about 1% of that market. Before moving everything I would want to see how things go after Tuesday. If the de minimus is $100 or more your view may change.

Just an observation. Things will clear soon.

flipistics · ‎03-01-2025

@intimewithmusic wrote:

Having weathered Novewmber's postal strike I recommend adding a 2nd courier IE UPS while you're at it.

This isn't a big deal since you can just change the shipping option in the policy and it'll update all the listings that use it.

intimewithmusic · ‎03-01-2025

Wellllll.... maybe. Again, I seem to keep repeating this but it depends on what you sell. It also depends on how familiar you are with the new courier you wish to add. If you haven't used UPS then just adding it on eBay might be OK if all you need is UPS Standard. If you don't know what UPS Standard is then you have a problem if your widget is too big or needs to get somewhere before it melts.

Like I said, it depends on the individual need. If you just flip the switch on the business policy without full understanding of the parameters and courier limitations your item may head off to a country or a state (Alaska or Hawaii) when you didn't intend it to go there.

You are right in that adding UPS Standard is easy provided UPS Standard is the correct choice.

regs43 · ‎03-01-2025

I have like 12 different policies. I generally sell Hockey cards, 4x6 photos, 8x10 photos and hockey pucks, and larger lots of stuff.

I do Lettermail in Canada with the option to Track as needed out of pocket or charged for properly (I do combined shipping for each additional item as 25cent on most items, some things are higher Pucks for example. All USA is basically $9.00 to cover Tracked Packet USA and I offer free combined shipping to the USA on 98% of my items.

I have a Policy for

Single cards (base cards $1-20 Value, and a bit cheaper to keep up with competitors)
Autographed cards/4x6 photos $1-$20 value (50 cents more expensive then the Base cards, allows me to upgrade to a Bubble Mailer easier with less loss if multiples bought)
Bubble Mailer Policy (for cards I want to send in a bubble mailer 100% of the time)
100 gram Tracked Policy
200 Gram Tracked Policy
8x10 photo Policy
Hockey Puck Policy

The rest are Policies for like 1-2 items (Lots or other random items that don't fit into the majority of the other categories)

Best to figure out how many different items you have, general costs if you put more then one in an envelope and go from there. As In Time With Music mentioned start slow and go from there.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-01-2025

@intimewithmusic wrote:
Assuming you're talking about SHIPPING policies and not returns or payment policies.

It's a decision no one can make for you. You have 11,000+ lisitngs. At 1st glance, if you prefer Canada Post your shipping policies are mostly going to be Exp Lite, Exp Prcl or Trk Pckt. You may need a couple more policies for high value items IE lSignature and Insurance or size and then add Expedited Parcel with Handling adjustments to cover your extra expenses.

Warning! Don't slam out policies unless you know the consequences to your specific widgets. If you had one item that weighed 200 lbs and valued at $5000 and you let it come under the umbrella of International Shipping you are going to have a problem. Go slow.

Setting up Biz Policies should only take you a few hours to do the majority of your same size, under $100 value and similar destination items (unless, for some reason you need a large variety of couriers).

Having weathered Novewmber's postal strike I recommend adding a 2nd courier IE UPS while you're at it.

I sell everything from a single guitar pick up to to a full size xylophone. In my case I couldn't operate without Biz Policies after I reached about 500 items. Because of the variety I have more than a dozen shipping policies depending on the size, value and destination of the widget. To set them all up from scratch would literally take me a week.

Just an observation not a critisism. :>) Today you have started 4 threads. Managed Payments and Business Policies are features that have VERY different approaches based on each individual. Most of us are scrambling to figure out how Tuesdays tariffs will hit us and how we can mitigate that damage. Is it possible you're taking on too many things at once?

When I had a brick & mortar store I was paying $900 a month for Yellow Page ads. (Before internet) It never made sense to me but all of my competitors were paying more. One day YP sent me a fllyer saying "If you are overwelmed it's best to take a step back." I did. It was worth the $900.

Have you considered putting your store on vacation so you can work in the background? Your buyers can still see your listings. I chose a different route. I excluded the USA until I see what direction to take. this is where Biz Policies are handy. Doing that has the same affect however my US buyers can no longer see my listings.

With respect to business policies my recommendation would be to set up a few to cover your most similar items. Start with that. If you need more than 3 shipping policies you should wait and see how the first three serve your needs. There will be some tweaking required.

I mean no critisism but starting 4 threads in one day indicates youre "pedal to the metal". Call me extra cautious. Ebay USA represents a very huge market. eBay Canada represents only about 1% of that market. Before moving everything I would want to see how things go after Tuesday. If the de minimus is $100 or more your view may change.

Just an observation. Things will clear soon.

It's actually for my new account. On the current account with 11,000 listings, I'm using SixBit which has "presets", so I can make a shipping policy (yes, that's what I meant, the payment and returns is pretty basic and one size fits all), for each type of item by size/weight. I don't have lots of variety in items, it's all coins, stamps and banknotes.

I'm doing the policies on my new account so I can set up new listings with policies so that I can make easy changes to how to ship stuff and how much to charge, without having to update individual listings (should I end up with thousands of items listed there).

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-01-2025

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@intimewithmusic wrote:
Assuming you're talking about SHIPPING policies and not returns or payment policies.

It's a decision no one can make for you. You have 11,000+ lisitngs. At 1st glance, if you prefer Canada Post your shipping policies are mostly going to be Exp Lite, Exp Prcl or Trk Pckt. You may need a couple more policies for high value items IE lSignature and Insurance or size and then add Expedited Parcel with Handling adjustments to cover your extra expenses.

Warning! Don't slam out policies unless you know the consequences to your specific widgets. If you had one item that weighed 200 lbs and valued at $5000 and you let it come under the umbrella of International Shipping you are going to have a problem. Go slow.

Setting up Biz Policies should only take you a few hours to do the majority of your same size, under $100 value and similar destination items (unless, for some reason you need a large variety of couriers).

Having weathered Novewmber's postal strike I recommend adding a 2nd courier IE UPS while you're at it.

I sell everything from a single guitar pick up to to a full size xylophone. In my case I couldn't operate without Biz Policies after I reached about 500 items. Because of the variety I have more than a dozen shipping policies depending on the size, value and destination of the widget. To set them all up from scratch would literally take me a week.

Just an observation not a critisism. :>) Today you have started 4 threads. Managed Payments and Business Policies are features that have VERY different approaches based on each individual. Most of us are scrambling to figure out how Tuesdays tariffs will hit us and how we can mitigate that damage. Is it possible you're taking on too many things at once?

When I had a brick & mortar store I was paying $900 a month for Yellow Page ads. (Before internet) It never made sense to me but all of my competitors were paying more. One day YP sent me a fllyer saying "If you are overwelmed it's best to take a step back." I did. It was worth the $900.

Have you considered putting your store on vacation so you can work in the background? Your buyers can still see your listings. I chose a different route. I excluded the USA until I see what direction to take. this is where Biz Policies are handy. Doing that has the same affect however my US buyers can no longer see my listings.

With respect to business policies my recommendation would be to set up a few to cover your most similar items. Start with that. If you need more than 3 shipping policies you should wait and see how the first three serve your needs. There will be some tweaking required.

I mean no critisism but starting 4 threads in one day indicates youre "pedal to the metal". Call me extra cautious. Ebay USA represents a very huge market. eBay Canada represents only about 1% of that market. Before moving everything I would want to see how things go after Tuesday. If the de minimus is $100 or more your view may change.

Just an observation. Things will clear soon.

It's actually for my new account. On the current account with 11,000 listings, I'm using SixBit which has "presets", so I can make a shipping policy (yes, that's what I meant, the payment and returns is pretty basic and one size fits all), for each type of item by size/weight. I don't have lots of variety in items, it's all coins, stamps and banknotes.

I'm doing the policies on my new account so I can set up new listings with policies so that I can make easy changes to how to ship stuff and how much to charge, without having to update individual listings (should I end up with thousands of items listed there).

C.

I should add that this account is going on time away (sometime tomorrow, haven't decided what time yet), and the new account on eBay Canada is going to have listings added, if the tariffs hit Tuesday. Right now they're verifying my bank account to make sure I can get paid, so I'm not in a hurry, just trying to get the new account up and running if I am going to use it. Since it's not really a new account (10 years old but hasn't sold since before MP), I'm kind of learning stuff as I go.

If I'm on time away here (on the dot com site that ships items to the US, and can't change that), I want to potentially keep selling to Canada, I have another 3000 items to list, so I thought I'd start up a fresh account on eBay Canada while the tariffs sort themselves out.

C.

flipistics · ‎03-01-2025

@sin-n-dex wrote:
It's actually for my new account. On the current account with 11,000 listings, I'm using SixBit which has "presets", so I can make a shipping policy (yes, that's what I meant, the payment and returns is pretty basic and one size fits all), for each type of item by size/weight. I don't have lots of variety in items, it's all coins, stamps and banknotes.

I'm doing the policies on my new account so I can set up new listings with policies so that I can make easy changes to how to ship stuff and how much to charge, without having to update individual listings (should I end up with thousands of items listed there).

C.

Just as a minor note, you may actually need a second payment policy if you list any items for auction.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-01-2025

@flipistics wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
It's actually for my new account. On the current account with 11,000 listings, I'm using SixBit which has "presets", so I can make a shipping policy (yes, that's what I meant, the payment and returns is pretty basic and one size fits all), for each type of item by size/weight. I don't have lots of variety in items, it's all coins, stamps and banknotes.

I'm doing the policies on my new account so I can set up new listings with policies so that I can make easy changes to how to ship stuff and how much to charge, without having to update individual listings (should I end up with thousands of items listed there).

C.
Just as a minor note, you may actually need a second payment policy if you list any items for auction.

I won't be requiring immediate payment (for fixed price listings). Is there anything else that I need a policy for that's specific to auctions?

C.

flipistics · ‎03-01-2025

@sin-n-dex wrote:
I won't be requiring immediate payment (for fixed price listings). Is there anything else that I need a policy for that's specific to auctions?

C.

I don't *think* so, but I can't remember for sure. I very rarely use auctions. I just remember that I had to set one up for them that was separate.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-01-2025

@flipistics wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
I won't be requiring immediate payment (for fixed price listings). Is there anything else that I need a policy for that's specific to auctions?

C.
I don't *think* so, but I can't remember for sure. I very rarely use auctions. I just remember that I had to set one up for them that was separate.

Good to know, auctions I will do (possibly before I even do fixed priced listings). I run 99 cent auctions on the US site and wanted to move them to the CA site to attract more Canadian buyers (since it's items Canadians would be more interested in).

I need the tariffs to be sorted out before I run the auctions, the buyer who bids the most (on 80% of what I list) is in the US, and I need to know how I'm going to ship to him. He won't bid if he has to pay tariffs, and I need to consider them if using a DDP option.

C.

cottagewoman · ‎03-01-2025

Just finished setting up a rate table for all Canadian regions/zones based on Stallion domestic pricing. They have very good rates to urban centers across the country. This new store is only visible to Canada for now until the dust settles somewhat after Tuesday. Sucks starting out on a brand new account, but I was in USD and didn't want the double whammy conversion on Canadian sales so had to set it up.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-01-2025

@cottagewoman wrote:
Just finished setting up a rate table for all Canadian regions/zones based on Stallion domestic pricing. They have very good rates to urban centers across the country. This new store is only visible to Canada for now until the dust settles somewhat after Tuesday. Sucks starting out on a brand new account, but I was in USD and didn't want the double whammy conversion on Canadian sales so had to set it up.

I'm kind of doing the same thing, but I haven't purchased a store subscription on the CA site (since I don't know if I need to be doing that yet). I want to wait for my bank account to be verified before I start listing, so meanwhile I'm processing inventory and taking pictures so that I can start listing later in the week.

I'm hopeful the tariffs will be short lived because of mayhem (if de minimis goes away, I'm hoping it won't). I just need to wait and see what happens on Tuesday and keep tabs on the news and this forum this week. I don't like the idea of not being able to sell for a bit, but I'll take a few days off selling if I can get back to it before long. I want to run auctions and I have two bidders that will bid on most of the items, but they are both in the US, and do not want to pay tariffs. So waiting to see what happens.

C.

intimewithmusic · ‎03-01-2025

Wow, you have a lot going on. It's good to hear you are staggering things and taking a time out. Sounds like you're on the right track. You will be glad once you get business policies under control. It does make it easy to zig and zag. If you do acrue a bunch of policies I recommend starting the Name of the policy with a number. : IE #1 Domestic Exp Lite Tracked Packet Int UPS Standard

When you create a listing, if the policies are numbered you see the number first and are less likely to accidently apply the wrong policy from the drop down menu.

If you're planning to ship to the US from your eBay Canada account remember to account for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico etc if you prefer the item only goes to the lower 48. Even then sometimes things go wrong. Somehow a buyer makes a purchase. It's not a bad idea, for those listings, to include in your description that you only ship this item to the lower 48 or "the continental 48". This got me off the hook once. Somehow someone in Peurto Rico bought a very heavy expensive item from me. I called eBay and the CSR said with my description exception it was okay for me to cancel the order.

UPS: If you decide to add them the eBay UPS Standard for domestic costs a little more than CP Exp Parcel for small items.

Should you want to ship high value or large items domestically or to the USA UPS is great but consider opening an account with UPS. Through their site you get a lot more options for signature, insurance etc plus they tell you when you create a label whether or not they actually go there. You can call them and a sales rep will set your account up. For small domestic items eBay labels work.

Hopefully this gives you some help. Like @regs43 also said, go slow and do a few categories at a time.

Good luck!

flipistics · ‎03-01-2025

@intimewithmusic wrote:
Wow, you have a lot going on. It's good to hear you are staggering things and taking a time out. Sounds like you're on the right track. You will be glad once you get business policies under control. It does make it easy to zig and zag. If you do acrue a bunch of policies I recommend starting the Name of the policy with a number. : IE #1 Domestic Exp Lite Tracked Packet Int UPS Standard

When you create a listing, if the policies are numbered you see the number first and are less likely to accidently apply the wrong policy from the drop down menu.

If you're planning to ship to the US from your eBay Canada account remember to account for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico etc if you prefer the item only goes to the lower 48. Even then sometimes things go wrong. Somehow a buyer makes a purchase. It's not a bad idea, for those listings, to include in your description that you only ship this item to the lower 48 or "the continental 48". This got me off the hook once. Somehow someone in Peurto Rico bought a very heavy expensive item from me. I called eBay and the CSR said with my description exception it was okay for me to cancel the order.

UPS: If you decide to add them the eBay UPS Standard for domestic costs a little more than CP Exp Parcel for small items.

Should you want to ship high value or large items domestically or to the USA UPS is great but consider opening an account with UPS. Through their site you get a lot more options for signature, insurance etc plus they tell you when you create a label whether or not they actually go there. You can call them and a sales rep will set your account up. For small domestic items eBay labels work.

Hopefully this gives you some help. Like @regs43 also said, go slow and do a few categories at a time.

Good luck!

PR is annoying. You can't buy a tracked packet label through eBay if they have the country set to PR, and if they set it to USA with the state as PR I don't think you can buy UPS labels through eBay. To make matters worse, you can't edit the country.

As far as domestic UPS goes, it's worth checking out a few other options, especially if you have a tax number since eBay doesn't break out the taxes. Both EasyShip and ClickShip have UPS options that are often (but not always) equal to or cheaper than eBay's. I believe both also offer added insurance options. You can also access, among others, Sendle (EasyShip) and ICS and Purolator (ClickShip) through them. Shipping Chimp offers some very, very good Canada Post rates domestically, in some cases lower than expedited lite without the size and weight restrictions if it's within the same province. I've used all three without any issues or upcharges so far, but the risk is obviously yours if you use them.

When the Canada Post strike happens again in May, some of those other options are going to be lifesavers.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-02-2025

@intimewithmusic wrote:
Wow, you have a lot going on. It's good to hear you are staggering things and taking a time out. Sounds like you're on the right track. You will be glad once you get business policies under control. It does make it easy to zig and zag. If you do acrue a bunch of policies I recommend starting the Name of the policy with a number. : IE #1 Domestic Exp Lite Tracked Packet Int UPS Standard

When you create a listing, if the policies are numbered you see the number first and are less likely to accidently apply the wrong policy from the drop down menu.

If you're planning to ship to the US from your eBay Canada account remember to account for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico etc if you prefer the item only goes to the lower 48. Even then sometimes things go wrong. Somehow a buyer makes a purchase. It's not a bad idea, for those listings, to include in your description that you only ship this item to the lower 48 or "the continental 48". This got me off the hook once. Somehow someone in Peurto Rico bought a very heavy expensive item from me. I called eBay and the CSR said with my description exception it was okay for me to cancel the order.

UPS: If you decide to add them the eBay UPS Standard for domestic costs a little more than CP Exp Parcel for small items.

Should you want to ship high value or large items domestically or to the USA UPS is great but consider opening an account with UPS. Through their site you get a lot more options for signature, insurance etc plus they tell you when you create a label whether or not they actually go there. You can call them and a sales rep will set your account up. For small domestic items eBay labels work.

Hopefully this gives you some help. Like @regs43 also said, go slow and do a few categories at a time.

Good luck!

For business policies I've done two categories so far (coins and tokens, and single stamp lots), that's based on size and how to ship. I also anticipate I'll have less problem shipping a card with some stamps to some of those VAT collecting countries than a coin in a bubble mailer, so stamps have more destinations I'm willing to send them to.

I'm getting my last packages done up for Stallion today and the time away starts around dinner time (since Stallion said they will do same day across the border tomorrow if I get it to them by 2pm). Still going to Stallion in Mississauga today to send all the packages I've got so far, that's basically for my own peace of mind. There might be a few strays this afternoon that will go tomorrow. I don't want to take any more time away from selling than I have to, but after today we have to wait and see what tomorrow and Tuesday bring, and then I can take the next steps needed to start selling again.

C.

intimewithmusic · ‎03-02-2025

Wow. Your fortunate to have access to a lot of services. We don't have those. Being north of the border and in my niche most everything for me goes to the USA. We just have UPS or Canada Post. The UPS store does offer Purolator and Fedex drop offs.

If there is a strike in May I will likely be forced out unless I can move out of my niche. I believe this may happen to a lot of us. To extrapolate on that it makes me wonder if there's a possibility eBay Canada will sell itself off or else merge with dot com. If enough Canadians rely on US sales and they suffer for long enough to drop out that would be possible. I don't think domestsic sales could increase enough to compensate for the loss. Even today eBay Ca only has one foot in the pool in a temporary office space in Toronto. Let's hope not. Maybe things will resolve.

If Canadian sellers are forced out of the US to sell in Canada that will have a compound effect by increasing the local competition for Canadian sellers who already rely on domestic sales. There's only so much disposable income to go around. We'll have to wait and see and pray to the almighty De Minumus! Please make it $250 or more!

flipistics · ‎03-02-2025

@intimewithmusic wrote:
Wow. Your fortunate to have access to a lot of services. We don't have those. Being north of the border and in my niche most everything for me goes to the USA. We just have UPS or Canada Post. The UPS store does offer Purolator and Fedex drop offs.

ICS and Sendle both appear to have drop points in Kelowna (probably the same one). Shipping Chimp prints off Canada Post labels (at least for where I am in Northern Ontario) and I just drop those off as normal at the post office. EasyShip and ClickShip give access to a lot of different shipping options depending on where you live.

None of those may help a lot with respect to USA sales and tariffs, but they may help you tremendously in terms of domestic sales.