eBay

bpl521_sell · ‎03-23-2018

I was reading from a old thread that it is possible as a seller who say for example is a Canadian seller who sells on dot com in US currency to send Canadian buyers a invoice in Canadian dollars converted so the buyer can save on Paypal currency conversion fees. Is this ok to do, does Ebay frown on this or is it a violation somewhere down the line.

Assume the only way entice a Canadian buyer is to advertise this in the listing or is that a no-no?.

hlmacdon · ‎03-23-2018

@bpl521_sellwrote:
Assume the only way entice a Canadian buyer is to advertise this in the listing or is that a no-no?.

Safest way is create a listing on .CA for them in CAD at current FX rates of the day and advertise you will do so in your listing upon request. I would keep the end to end process through ebay.

bpl521_sell · ‎03-23-2018

@hlmacdonwrote:

Safest way is create a listing on .CA for them in CAD at current FX rates of the day and advertise you will do so in your listing upon request. I would keep the end to end process through ebay.

Sorry, not following. Are you suggesting that I create a duplicate listing on dot CA if a buyer requests. What happens if both sell?

femmefan1946 · ‎03-23-2018

Is the foreign exchange difference going to be pennies or several dollars?

Unless the difference will be substantial, it really is best to let the software do its thing.

Your labour is worth 18 cents a minute at BC minimum wage, remember.

If the problem is your own foreign exchange, as a seller, drop into your Royal or TDCanada Trust branch and talk to a manager about opening a US bank account.

The Royal owns RBCBank and TDCT owns TDNorth.

Both are US banks NOT Canadian banks held in US dollars.

We use RBCBank as an inheritance from the B&M business and auction.

The plus side is that your PP US dollar payments go into an American bank account and can be sent to your Royal US dollar account with no exchange. You will pay exchange when you transfer from US dollars to loonies, or you can use the US bank account to pay American invoices.
The down side is that the bank charges from US banks can be higher. Talk to the manager about ALL the costs.

You can get a US dollar charge card and cheque book too. Handy if you plan to visit the USA in spite of the current government.

recped · ‎03-23-2018

In theory you could send the buyer a PayPal invoice in CAD and then mark the item as paid.

Given eBay's current policy regarding off eBay sales I wouldn't risk this type of action which could easily be considered an attempt to take a transaction off eBay (even though it's not).

Unless we are talking about a huge amount of money it hardly seems worth the effort.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

momcqueen · ‎03-23-2018

If this is something you think is important, create ebay.ca in CAD with Canada Only as the market with everyone else in the world blocked, and then recreate that listing on ebay.com for everyone except Canada. That way, you're offering both but not duplicating it.

To be honest, I think it's a make-work project regardless of how you do it.

If your Canadian buyer is so adverse to paying USD, they'll send you a message to tell you so and you can figure it out at that fork in the road. But, yeah, if you want. Pick the CAD equivalent and Send Invoice via Paypal but the buyer still has to buy your listing on ebay and you have to manually mark it Paid. It's very important the buyer Purchase the item in question via ebay, or you'll get into hot water.

And you'd probably want to agree on the CAD equivalent of the USD price ahead of time.

momcqueen · ‎03-23-2018

And recped is right. This type of discussion is likely to trigger every message-scanning bot to send you all sorts of warnings about off-ebay dealings and you will be on the radar for funny business forever after that.

hlmacdon · ‎03-23-2018

@femmefan1946wrote:

The down side is that the bank charges from US banks can be higher. Talk to the manager about ALL the costs.

The competition amongst US banks is great. I currently pay $0 a year for my account which also includes MC debit and 100% refunded ATM charges. Works out perfectly as it provides a paypal linked account, free atm/debit card use as well as a debit card accepted at virtually all online retailers there. A decent alternative to the RBC/TD option if you are fortunate enough to be near the border.

hlmacdon · ‎03-23-2018

@bpl521_sellwrote:
@hlmacdonwrote:

Safest way is create a listing on .CA for them in CAD at current FX rates of the day and advertise you will do so in your listing upon request. I would keep the end to end process through ebay.
Sorry, not following. Are you suggesting that I create a duplicate listing on dot CA if a buyer requests. What happens if both sell?

A duplicate if inventory allows, otherwise a takedown of US listing and relisting via .ca as needed.

femmefan1946 · ‎03-24-2018

@hlmacdon-- Our shop was in Ottawa and the RBCBank was in North Carolina. Things may have changed because I think Royal is aiming at snowbirds now.

But I live in Oak Bay, which is the kind of community seniors retire to when they want to be near their grandparents.

Lots of snowbirds with second homes in FL and AZ.

And the customer base may mean charges are higher than a purely US bank, since they offer services (like 'cheap' cross border banking and transfers) that US banks have hissy fits about.

We set up the account in the late 90s as I recall, so things have changed. Inevitably.

OP-- If you don't have a B&M or very busy online business, for example if you are not registered for the GST, a US bank account may not be economically useful.

bpl521_sell · ‎03-24-2018

Thanks everyone, just too complicated and not worth the small advantage in sales. Like most state the conversion rate is not a heck of a lot of the purchase price. Duplicate listing with restricted shipping locations is just not practicable for me. Not saving me any money just the buyer. I don't sell enough either to open up a US account either. Our biggest disadvantage is the Canadian shipping.

ricarmic · ‎03-24-2018

This happens fairly regularly for me.

I simply tell the possible buyer that because it is on .COM I cannot change the currencies.

Generally the buyer still buys anyway.

This is one of the reasons after nearly 20 years of .COM only, I've developed a split personality and am selling stuff on both .CA and .COM now (Canadian centred stuff is being listed on .CA)

momcqueen · ‎03-24-2018

“Like most state the conversion rate is not a heck of a lot of the purchase price.”

No, the cost of currency conversion isn't much, like a per cent or three of total price. My suspicion is that what the buyer is really asking is: ‘Will you give this to me at par?’ But maybe isn’t bold enough to come right out and ask.