eBay

lady.stark · ‎03-18-2013

I really think the eBay shipping calculator is off... when listing items in US$ with calculated shipping: a buyer just paid $2.97 for a Light Packet item and when I go to PayPal to pay and print the label... US $3.06!! Are they kidding me? The buyer paid less than $3 and *I* have to pay MORE than what he paid?

pierrelebel · ‎03-19-2013

"I think I won't use calculated shipping at all from now on"

What will you use?

Fixed shipping cost in US$ for your US$ listings?

As long as you purchase postage from Canada Post in Cdn$ and pay for it in US$ from funds received from your buyer, the same conversion problem will continue to exist.

One more time: the problem is NOT with calculated shipping it is the exchange differential (US$ vs Cdn$) and conversion fee charged by PayPal.

old.crows.nest · ‎03-20-2013

Sorry, I have not read through the entire Thread but have a question for the OP.

Does the Postal Rate in the listing match the Postal Rate charged on the Order Details Page? My PayPal is the same higher Rate that appears on the Order Details Page.

I have noticed more than a couple of my listings are inconsistent between the two amounts. Almost as is the Rate Calculator is adjusting something. And it is not consistent either, the discrepancy varies.

imageelf

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-20-2013

Sorry, I have not read through the entire Thread but have a question for the OP.

Does the Postal Rate in the listing match the Postal Rate charged on the Order Details Page? My PayPal is the same higher Rate that appears on the Order Details Page.

I have noticed more than a couple of my listings are inconsistent between the two amounts. Almost as is the Rate Calculator is adjusting something. And it is not consistent either, the discrepancy varies.

When you had this problem, what was the item number and how much was the shipping on the order details page? I think that I might know why its doing that but want to check on something first.

old.crows.nest · ‎03-20-2013

Thanks for the reply.

It was various amounts on various listings. At first I thought it was the Rate Increase but it is still happening I think.

Give me a few minutes.

imageelf

old.crows.nest · ‎03-20-2013

Info from .ca Site. Items listed in US Funds. All values shown in US Funds.

I never noticed this before this year and will have to dig up older listings to check but no time right now.

Listing # = Calculator Rate = Order Details Rate

200893759654 = US $5.38 = US $5.50 (sold Feb 17, 2013)

200877773304 = US $2.89 = US $3.01 (sold Jan 18, 2013)

imageelf

tobyshitzu · ‎03-20-2013

When you look at your listings now its showing the rate converted at todays exchange rate. Back when the buyers paid the CDN$ was higher and the CP Rates converted to US$ reflected that.

Nothing wrong with the calculator, nothing wrong with what ebay is doing.

old.crows.nest · ‎03-20-2013

Thank you for the reply Toby.

I had always assumed (as a Buyer & Seller that) the the Postal Rate shown in the listing was the one calculated for the listing on the day the item was listed. That it was fixed as of that moment in time, etched in stone, so to speak, a Rate that Buyers could count on to be constant? Like a promise.

imageelf

old.crows.nest · ‎03-20-2013

I was really hoping the OP would come back and answer my question about the inconsistency.

The reason is the thought that was forming in my mind was that eBay Shipping was recalculating the exchange rate at the close of listings and passing that new figure on, so that their Books would balance.

It stinks. I have been sitting here wondering why I have had very few feedback come in this year and what I was doing to hurt my reputation when it had absolutely nothing to do with me and everything to do with a new practice by ebay. They have ALWAYS told us (Sellers) to honour the posted shipping rate. I always have even if it meant eating 10 cents here and 30 cents there. I do not use their Shipping tool. (My local PO is a nice brisk walk away and it does my health good.) ebay would be all over us for charging more yet here they are adjusting the S&H Rate on the Invoice and making the Seller look bad X-(

At least now I know what is happening and that I will have to manually re-adjust every Invoice before sending one to the Buyer. Of course, last year ebay we didn't need to concern ourselves with sending Invoices, that they would look after that for us ::shakes head::

imageelf

old.crows.nest · ‎03-21-2013

Sorry, still hijacking this topic.

I went back and tried to figure this out but I really don't have a head for conversion rates. Even went to the Bank of Canada website to look up rates for recent past dates but it was to complicated for me to follow as I could not seem to find a graph depiction.

The thing is that as far as I can figure out there has not been enough of a fluctuation in the rate for ebay to justify sending out an Invoice that charges more in US Funds for Postal, if anything the rate should be lower, not higher. Something is seriously wrong with the program code past the fact that they SHOULD not be altering the Invoice at all, the number they are inserting is the S&H field of the Invoice has to be coming from some crazy math.

imageelf

pierrelebel · ‎03-21-2013

"there has not been enough of a fluctuation in the rate for ebay to justify sending out an Invoice that charges more in US Funds for Postal"

Unfortunately, yes, the Canadian dollar has fluctuated substantially in the last six months where at times it was worth more than the US dollar and at times it was worth less.

In general terms, the dollar has fluctuated between a 3% discount and a 3% premium to the US$ for a 6% swing.

Then you need to add the PayPal conversion fee of 2.5% and you can see a wider swing, depending whether you are buying or selling a currency (the 2.5% fee is added whether you buy or sell a foreign currency; the same is true at the bank and with most credit cards).

Since you are looking for a graph, please take a look at :

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CADUSD=X&t=1y&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=

as you can see, the fluctuation (Cdn$ vs US$) in the last six months has been substantial.

I have yet to see an actual charge by PayPal that was wrongly calculated. The problem is generally a lack of understanding of the current exchange rate and the conversion fee.

Things were easier to accept when the US$ was worth Cdn$ 1.50. Everyone could immediately convert and understand the fact our dollar was much weaker. However, since we have been playing on both sides of parity in the last few years, it gets more confusaing for many.

old.crows.nest · ‎03-21-2013

When you look at your listings now its showing the rate converted at todays exchange rate. Back when the buyers paid the CDN$ was higher and the CP Rates converted to US$ reflected that.

Nothing wrong with the calculator, nothing wrong with what ebay is doing.

Following your logic, that eBay is doing nothing wrong by keeping the shipping rate updated on an ongoing basis rather than fixing the price on the date the item was listed (which I am sure is what they used to do) then a Buyer could easily experience a deviation in the Postal Rate from the first day the item is listed to what it reads at the close of the Listing or Auction? Correct?

Is there a page where ebay explains how they handle posted Shipping Rates?

How long have they been doing this real-time (live) Postal Rate?

imageelf

old.crows.nest · ‎03-21-2013

Thanks for your help Pierre. I very much appreciate the graph and your explanation is very helpful in clarifying the application of exchange rates.

My understanding is that ebay used /uses the straight exchange (not cash) when determining the calculated Postal Rate to add to the listing. I was sure that this was a one time calculation and that the rate could be counted on to permanently display as it was generated.

Apparently not, as every listing of mine I opened: completed and current shows exactly the same US $ amount for US Light Packet shipping regardless of when the listing was active.

With your help in providing the graph, I see that this is /was impossible as there were various applicable exchange rates during the time period.

This means as wrong as I think it is on some levels for ebay is to provide a live calculated Shipping Rate, Toby was correct to point out that is what ebay is doing.

(As if life isn't complicated enough.)

imageelf

pierrelebel · ‎03-21-2013

"My understanding is that ebay used /uses the straight exchange (not cash) when determining the calculated Postal Rate to add to the listing."

This is a bit tricky.

eBay shows an approximate conversion value daily for both the selling price and shipping cost is a conversion is required (when listing in Cdn$ and viewed on eBay.com for example)

The converted value is for information purposes only and is approximate. It is relartively accurate at the time it is posted (not a week later) It does NOT include the 2.5% (or whatever) fee is charged by whoever converts the foreign currency.

So when looking at eBay's estimated converted value (price or shipping charge) one should always keep in mind that they are approximate, will vary from day to day, and are subject to a conversion fee when paid.

And yes, I wish eBay would be candid in explaining these converted values. But we all know eBay and candour are oximoron.

old.crows.nest · ‎03-21-2013

Thanks Pierre.

I am very grateful for your time given to explain this to me.

imageelf

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-21-2013

Nothing wrong with the calculator, nothing wrong with what ebay is doing.

As old crows nest suggested, I'm fairly sure that the calculator is not doing what it used to do.

If I understand correctly, the calculator is displaying the U.S.$ conversion of the true calculated amount and that's what the international buyer will see. So if a 150 gram package for light packet USA is calculated at $5.53Cdn, it will show as $5.39 U.S. But when the buyer is invoiced, the amount shows as $5.53 U.S. Is that how it is working?

I'm sure that in the past the buyer saw $5.53 and was invoiced $5.53. It doesn't make sense to show them one price and invoice them another.

Am I just missing something here?

old.crows.nest · ‎03-21-2013

Nothing wrong with the calculator, nothing wrong with what ebay is doing.

As old crows nest suggested, I'm fairly sure that the calculator is not doing what it used to do.

If I understand correctly, the calculator is displaying the U.S.$ conversion of the true calculated amount and that's what the international buyer will see. So if a 150 gram package for light packet USA is calculated at $5.53Cdn, it will show as $5.39 U.S. But when the buyer is invoiced, the amount shows as $5.53 U.S. Is that how it is working?

I'm sure that in the past the buyer saw $5.53 and was invoiced $5.53. It doesn't make sense to show them one price and invoice them another.

Am I just missing something here?

Nope and neither did I as far back as my memory serves me these days.

I had the reasonable expectation that ebay would show the true shipping rate at the time the listing was active in the listing after the listing closed. But no, every single one of my completed listings shows today's conversion on the shipping rate not the correct one as it was when the Invoice was actually generated. Means if Buyers do not consult the Invoice, or even if they do, they can go back to the listing once the item arrives and possibly see a completely different amount than they paid and what the postage might reflect ... and there goes the S&H Star rating X-(

imageelf

old.crows.nest · ‎03-21-2013

p.s. oops, I was not reading your reply correctly, exactly, but my reply is still in line.

The Buyer is billed the correct conversion amount as per the rate at the time the listing invoice is sent.

Where the deviation occurs is that the shipping rate in the listing does not continue to display that rate, it shows a "live" market conversion for all dates past that point in time. Not sure when this change occurred but as far as I am concerned (at the very least) once the Buyer pays the rate displayed should be locked in.

imageelf

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-21-2013

ohhh...I totally misunderstood what you were originally saying.

But I honestly don't remember the shipping price reflecting any active exchange rate in the past, other than in brackets. I rarely do calculated shipping for the U.S. or other international so that could be why I never noticed but it just seems odd to me. I wouldn't notice it on Canadian calculated shipping when I posted in U.S. $ because I only see the cost to my postal code.

If they are doing that with calculated shipping, why wouldn't they do it with flat rate as well?

For example on item 271174146866, I listed in C$ and if a U.S. buyer looks at it in the shipping tab on .com or .ca they see the Cdn rate, not the after conversion rate.