More on the Buy Canadian ads

[lucitabby]

quote per Tyler:

"the 'Buy Canadian' banner is being used to showcase great deals from Canadian sellers. This includes great prices, good photos and buyer perks like free shipping. Not all items that are listed on eBay Canada will display."

So, I went back to the 87 books listed - photos were all so-so and most just had 1 pic - prices were not great - however, every single listing had free shipping.

I know free shipping can sometimes give you a boost in general searches but I had no idea the "Buy Canadian" ads would show only listings with free shipping.

I do think this should have been told to all Canadian sellers, or was I the only one in the dark?

[2756anderson]

Be even MORE impressive if any of the products being sold were actually MADE in Canada!

[femmefan1946]

You'd have to talk to Penguin about that.

They pretty well own all the publishing marks these days except for tiny independents like Tyche or Bundoran or ChiZine.

Even Harlequin, once the best selling and most profitable publisher in Canada has been taken into the fold and no longer works out of St Catharines.

Now you can look for Canadian authors-- CBC does a Canada Reads competition annually, and have finally started admitting that some people prefer genre works to self-indulgent 'mainstream' CanLit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhjO-sAvLm8

[momcqueen]

eBay has been telling sellers for ages to offer free shipping because buyers want/expect it.

Next will be free returns too.

[pinetreecottage]

Buyers expect more and more, because ebay goes on and on about "buyers positive shopping experience".  That is such an over-used cliche.  Buyers with common sense will realize, sellers cannot ship for free and sell the item for less than the actual value.  Now if ebay would lower the fees,  we might have a little wriggle room.  Fees are just numbers, they have no actual tangible value.  

No market place allows the advertiser (in this case ebay) to  dictate policy.  We the sellers own our own stock.  We must be able to decide pricing/shipping/return.  When I joined ebay 15 years ago, I did not, as far as I remember, agree to free shipping etc.

[femmefan1946]

But even 15 years ago, some sellers were offering Free Shipping.

As I keep posting, which is cheaper?

A $10 item with $5 shipping

Or a $15 item with Free Shipping?

"Free" shipping just means shipping is not a line item, it is included in the price being asked.

Like those decals on shop doors reminding us that shoptheft raises everyone's costs.

EBay suggests, but does not demand, Free Shipping.

Even in the 'media' categories, eBay has quietly stopped fussing about sellers who charge more than USPS media mail rates to ship our books and DVDs.

I suspect Free Returns will be much the same.

The cost of a percentage of failed transactions, resulting in returns, will mean that sellers will add something to their asking prices to cover the cost of those returns.

Which those of us who use Cookie Jar Insurance already do.

Our loss will not be lower profits on the items we sell, but perhaps fewer sales overall, in part because our prices are higher, an unintended consequence for eBay, and due to competition from US sellers with lower postage costs and Chinese sellers who are shielded from returns by high postage costs.

[cumos55]

Free shipping means no cost for shipping...  zero cost for shipping

That means ..... No ....cost added to the cost of the sold item....

Free shipping has never been defined on eBay....  

Putting the cost of shipping in the cost of an item   is.... not .....true free shipping.....

If an item is listed at $10 with shipping at $5.... True free shipping means the item sells for $10

[lucitabby]

Yes, all good comments, but, my point was,  when I see ebay advertising "Shop Canadian" & "Buy Canadian" I expect to see my items as well as your items.

[pinetreecottage]

As I sell only collectibles/preowned/vintage items, I have the freedom to add shipping or not.  Value and cost are two different things.  When you buy an item at the mall,  the total cost for making it and getting it to the store in the mall is all on the pricetag the customer pays.   To think it was shipped for free to its retail destination is unrealistic.  Breakdown of total cost, transportation makes up most of the cost.  

So those sellers with stores, selling  new items, will have to get very creative, if they are expected to ship for free, or go out of business.  In todays fast paced world, there is a price for having your purchase delivered to your door, it's called (shipping - postage).  My local super-market will now pack your on line order and deliver it FOR A FEE.  It's convenient and apparently nobody objects to the cost of delivery.

Why should it be any different here.

[femmefan1946]

Putting the cost of shipping in the cost of an item   is.... not .....true free shipping.....

TANSTAAFL

Everything has a cost.

That's why I keep rabbiting on about the BC minimum wage of 18 cents a minute.

A seller has to cover her costs.

If one of those costs is shipping, she can decide to make it a separate item or to include it with eBay fees, PP fees, procurement costs, insurance, payroll taxes, insurance, profit margin, utility costs and shrinkage costs in the asking price for the item.

Free Shipping is "no added shipping fee".