eBay

banners_only · ‎02-12-2017

It has now been 6 months that I have made the switch to .com with a US address using a brokerage company that uses USPS (they cross the border on a daily basis). I said I would come back here and let you guys know what was the result of the experience. By the way, this is my buying account, not the account I am using to sell. I sell mostly clothing (new and pre-own). As the title says I will address 3 things in my post:

1) Listing in .com in US currency

The change has been dramatic and my sales have gone up 300% from what I was selling on .ca. And for the last 3 months, it went up 500%.

2) USPS in Canada

80% of my sales are in the US - 15% in Canada and 5% Worldwide. Best move I have ever made. I used to drop packages daily with Canada post and my delivery time was about 6-12 business days to the USA. Now I ship 2 times per week and my delivery time in the US is about 2-4 business days. I get international tracking on all packages. In the month of January I saved a ridiculous 70% off my shipping cost compared to what I would have paid with Canada Post. I have sent maybe 600 packages in 6 months and NOT ONE PACKAGE WAS LOST OR DID NOT ARRIVE AT THEIR DESTINATION. And the cherry on top is that I get FREE shipping supplies from USPS.

3) Top Rated Seller

Since I now have my handling time set at 3 days I have lost my Top Rated Seller status but it has not affected my sales. I used to ship daily with Canada Post (and received my TRS status) but now I ship twice a week and lost my TRS Status.

I think you can see that moving to .com with a US address was a very good move for me!

ricarmic · ‎02-13-2017

Hi Banners/Kaymar!

Thank you very much for taking the time to post your experience!

Thank you also for remaining positive and providing extra useful information during the inquisition phase of this thread.

I appreciate your sharing your experience so I can think about it and the related concepts to determine whether or not it would be useful for me to adopt or experiment with in my branch of eBayland.

Please continue sharing experiences with us down the road and have an awesome day!

tobyshitzu · ‎02-13-2017

You presently have hats at USA US$7 and Canada US$18. When you were listing on .ca, you had it set up exactly the same in CAN$, USA ~CAN$9 and Ca ~CAN$23?

kaymar_88 · ‎02-13-2017

I really don't understand what you are getting at but I have never listed in CAN currency. I switched to .com when it was announces that we could not list in USD currency on .ca

Depending on the item, I make a little bit of money on the shipping but not that much. I just shipped a jacket and charged 18$ to a US buyer and the shipping cost me 19$. It was over 3 pounds. I am in the East and the buyer is on the West Coast. If he had been on the East Coast, the same jacket would have cost me around 11$.

I would say that 50% of the time I am even with the shipping, 30% I make a little and 20% I loose a little.

tobyshitzu · ‎02-13-2017

I was interested in "

om in US currency The change has been dramatic and my sales have gone up 300% from what I was selling on .ca."

Which made it sound like you were attributing the sales increase to changing from CA to US$ on com. Apparently that is not the case and you are just saying being able to ship with USPS increased your sales

momcqueen · ‎02-13-2017

Yes. Essentially the seller moved his whole business model into the USA. It's not a CAD vs USD analysis. It's a USA vs Canada scenario.

kaymar_88 · ‎02-13-2017

Ok I see. Yes my increase in sale has nothing to do with listing in CAN or USD since I have always listed in USD.

momcqueen · ‎02-13-2017

Clever. I'm glad that's working for you.

i.am.vivian · ‎02-13-2017

@banners_only wrote:
I have made the switch to .com with a US address
The change has been dramatic and my sales have gone up 300% from what I was selling on .ca. And for the last 3 months, it went up 500%.

Just to clarify, then, all other things being constant, it was the acquisition of a US address that caused your sales to increase by 500%.

Wow.

It must be that Americans are using the ITEM LOCATION choice of "US Only" a lot more than I would have imagined, since you say that is the only change from what you used to do 6 months ago to now.

kaymar_88 · ‎02-13-2017

More than a few buyers told me that they would rather deal with USPS for the returns. It makes it easier and cheaper for them to return a package by USPS to a US address than pay an International return label. My buyers get their packages on average within 4 business days.

i.am.vivian · ‎02-13-2017

I'm not at all surprised. Given the number of American sellers who want to only sell within the US (hence the GSP on everything) it would make sense that there would be at least as many buyers who similarly do not wish to look beyond their borders.