In 1995, a Canadian purchased a broken laser printer from AuctionWeb, a new company for buyers and sellers, for $14.83. Since then, this company has sold millions of items. This is the company we today call eBay. Worldwide, there are 138 million eBay users and over a billion active listings. Selling on eBay Canada in 2023 is easier with a guide.
Today, we know eBay as a marketplace but it did not start as that. In the beginning, eBay was an auction place. Later, in the early 2000s, eBay expanded its services beyond auctions and introduced fixed-price listings. This enabled sellers to sell items at a set price without going through the auction process.
eBay has introduced many things in the last twenty-eight years. However, the most widely celebrated one has to be the feedback system. This system allowed buyers and sellers to rate and review each other based on their experiences. It is no wonder that eBay quickly became the no. 1 destination for eCommerce businesses to sell their products. Selling to Canada on eBay is a dream for many small business owners and this blog post is a complete guide on how to sell on eBay Canada in 2023.
FUN FACT
How much does it cost to sell on eBay Canada?
Unlike Shopify, eBay doesn’t charge monthly fees for sellers. This is why a Shopify store shipping strategy will look different from an eBay store shipping strategy. As a seller, you need to pay two types of fees for eBay Canada – Insertion Fees and Value Fees.
- Insertion fee – This is similar to a listing fee. Sellers are charged one insertion fee per listing, per category. Up to 200 listings are free every month. Sellers who have an eBay store may get more.
- Final value fee – It is exactly what it sounds like. When your product sells, eBay charges a final value fee.
There are also additional fees – Advanced listing upgrade fees & Supplemental service fees.
If you are on board with this, you’d want to know how to get started.
How do I sell on eBay Canada?
To begin, you need an eBay account. Let’s understand how one can actually open an eBay account –
1. Register
If you already have an existing account on eBay.com, you can use the same account for eBay Canada by selecting Canada as your country at the time of signing in. If you’re new to eBay, you can register directly on eBay Canada’s website. The Registration page looks like this.
Enter the details and get started. Choose a Business Account if you have a registered business, are a nonprofit organization, or regularly sell many goods. If not, choose a Personal Account.
2. Answer some basic questions
3. In order to avail low selling prices and bring all your listings together – Set up an eBay store. This is optional.
There are five kinds of subscriptions in this and each has a different fee structure –
- Starter
- Basic
- Premium
- Anchor
- Enterprise
Source – Shopify
4. Decide what to sell
Every marketplace is unique in its own way. Good for you, eBay is the most seller-oriented marketplace out there. Also, eBay provides a tool known as Terapeak that helps merchants identify trending product categories and helps them make informed decisions.
4. List your products & optimise the descriptions
Create a listing in the seller hub settings. When you start your account, you get only 10 listings. Read all about eBay’s Listing policies here. Make sure you don’t sell restricted items by checking eBay’s restricted list.
Keywords are very crucial to the eBay algorithm. It is therefore recommended that you spend some time optimizing your product pages with keywords as they increase your chances of visibility.
5. Pricing
Now that you have zeroed in on the product, the next big task is pricing your product. There are two ways to sell your products on eBay – Auction-style or BUY IT NOW style. eBay’s pricing model works on wholesale. Buyers need to bid on the items they want over a certain period of time. The highest bidder wins the item. This doesn’t mean eBay does not have products which you can immediately buy. Some products are listed under the “Buy it now” option.
One way to decide the prices for your products is to check what your competitor’s prices are. If you are reselling a product you can enter the product’s brand and name and find out the prices.
6. Set up shipping
eBay offers two types of shipping programs.
- eBay’s Global Shipping Program – In this, sellers ship the parcel to eBay’s global shipping centre, located in Kentucky, and they take it from there. This is the most popular option sellers generally opt for.
- eBay Guaranteed Delivery – If you are offering same-day or one-day handling, have completed around 100 transactions per year and have a late-shipment rate of less than 5%, choose eBay Guaranteed Delivery.
The next steps are purchasing a shipping label, providing tracking details, and shipping the item. You can either do the packaging on your own. Alternatively, you can let a 3PL do it for you.
eBay offers a plethora of carriers and your entire delivery experience depends on which carrier you choose. As shipping in Canada is expensive, you need to know which carriers cost the cheapest and provide an impeccable delivery experience. With a reliable and affordable carrier, you can even provide Free Shipping.
ShippingChimp – ShippingChimp is the most suitable option if you are a small eCommerce brand owner selling on eBay Canada in 2023. Most of the national carriers have a tiered pricing structure that does not fit well with small businesses. In this case, ShippingChimp works best as there is no tiered pricing and discounted shipping for small business owners. Moreover, tracking packages with ShippingChimp is smooth and easy. If someday you decide to move to Amazon from eBay, you can do so effortlessly using ShippingChimp.
7. Promote
After listing, top sellers who have had recent sales can promote their products.
If you want to place your listing on the top of eBay search results you need to click on the “Sell it faster” section at the bottom of the listing page. eBay will then request you to set your ad rate, expressed as the percentage of an item’s final price that you’ll pay to eBay.
If you want to delete the confusion and pay an upfront flat fee, the Promoted Listings Express program is for you.
Promoted Listing Advanced is another option that gives you advanced controls. With this, you can budget, select keywords and do a lot more.
8. Set up your returns policy
Most sellers offer a 30-day or 60-day free return policy to increase the number of products sold. You can choose to follow in their footsteps or create your own policy.
eBay offers an opportunity to sellers to sell products of different qualities. Unlike Amazon, eBay is much more flexible on quality and you don’t really have to shell out a lot if you are selling a low volume. For SMBs, that’s a great starting point.
FAQ
- What is arbitrage?
Arbitrage means buying low in one area and selling higher in another area. Generally speaking, arbitrage works better for people who are familiarized with certain product categories.
- Can I sell on eBay for free?
When selling on eBay Canada in 2023, if you list fewer than 250 products per month, you don’t have to pay a listing fee on eBay. You can pay up to 12.55% of the total sale price once an item is sold, depending on the product category you are selling in.
- How are the sellers protected?
In order to protect the interests of the sellers, eBay’s seller protection includes automated detection systems to prevent problems such as chargeback fraud. If your products receive unreasonable negative feedback, eBay has ways of removing that too. Read all about eBay’s selling policies here.
- Can eBay sellers cancel an order after payment?
According to eBay’s cancellation policy, a seller can cancel an order up to 30 days after a sale, even when the buyer has already paid. Read all about eBay’s payment policies here.
- Is eBay better than Amazon?
eBay and Amazon are different. When it comes to better options for sellers, eBay is a competitive choice.
FUN FACT
Now that you have all the information you need, what are you waiting for? Start your entrepreneurial journey today! Selling on eBay Canada in 2023 is easier than you think.
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