posted on October 13, 2000 08:10:42 PM
Just curious if any Canadian sellers out there feel that its tougher getting good dollars for your auctions compared to US sellers. I've been selling on Ebay for about 2 years and what I used to get 4-5 bids are lucky to get 1. I don't know if its just that the market is getting flooded or if just slow all around. The same items that are offered by the US sellers that I have listed seem to be getting more bids than mine. Just curious if any Canadians bidders feel the same way. This is not sour grapes but I'm just curious because I've had a couple bid retractions due to the reason of they didn't realize they were bidding on a Canadian auction. One person even emailed me and said the time factor (shipping) and the possible problem with international shipping was the reason.
posted on October 13, 2000 09:53:03 PM
I've been selling [antiques & collectibles] on eBay for close to 3 yrs, no problems here finding bidders for the "good" stuff.
I get lots of bids. You could post a liink to one of your closed auctions and people here would comment on it. Or email me with an aucion # and I'll give you my thoughts
posted on October 14, 2000 04:58:41 AM
It's the postal service.
I just bought a video from southern Ontario and it took two weeks just to send them my check. It's not that far from Minnesota. I don't have a clue as to when I'll ever see the video. It costs more and its just a bother. The one package I sent to Canada was smashed in transit. The insurance is very high priced. You have to really want something to buy from Canada. Although the Canadians are very nice and I've had no trouble there.
posted on October 14, 2000 05:57:51 AM
Lettermail from MN to ON takes 3-4 days on average. I've received payment from Norway, via Lettermail, in one week.
BTW - Before you start putting the blame on our postal system, perhaps you should read this thread?
posted on October 14, 2000 11:19:57 AM
I think it depends on what you are selling. We sell mostly antiques and collectibles and have not had a problem. Some of the Canadian giftware that isn't available in the US does quite well also. Most of the items that we ship by air arrive within a week. I have been shipping to the US for almost half my life as I have relatives there and I have never had a parcel go missing.
It is sad to say but often just one bad experience either buying or selling may stop a person from dealing with Canada again. I have seen time and time again where Canada is referred to as "overseas" by some people in the US. Yesterday someone pointed out to me a discussion in the ebay Soapbox about shipping to/from Canada. As long as attitudes like this prevail between our countries there will be problems.
Hopefully more buyers from Canada will realize that they are responsible for their bids and that they should not expect an item to be marked as a gift and that they will have to pay all Customs fees. Hopefully more buyers and sellers from the US will realize that it usually only takes one week for payments to arrive and that packages sent to them usually arrive within one week to 10 days. We are dealing with problems and misconceptions on both sides of our border and this will not be solved overnight.
