eBay

inook30 · ‎07-24-2024

Hello everyone!

This is my last attempt to find an answer to my question. Yes I have watched video explaining this and read threads talking about this but non applies 100% to my situation. I hope I’ll find good infos here. So thanks in advance.

I have been selling on .com for years while living in the USA. I am now back into my home country (Canada) and I want to continue selling on .com. I understand I could just used my home address here in Québec but figured I’d prefer to keep offering cheaper rates to the US buyers.
So, I read crossing the borders myself to get to the closest USPS (a 75 miles road trip) isn’t an option. Any thoughts of that as of July 2024?
Then, I hear about Cross Border Shippers. Oh what I great idea!!! But while looking into it some more (a lot more!!!) I figured the 2 closest companies from me are in Montréal (around 190 miles roadtrip). In my opinion there has to be a better option. While Chit Chats offers a pick up option I can’t seem to find prices before I sign up. And if I go to the pick up company’s website it’s over 50$ to ship a 5lbs box to the Chit Chats branch. I’m thinking there might be a discount if done through Chit Chats but still probably not that much to make it worth it!!!

So here you go!!! I’m lost. I don’t want to close my store but would like to be able to make money out of it not spend all the profits on shipping costs.
Any suggestions, ideas, respectful and constructive comments are welcome.

inook30 · ‎08-01-2024

Hello sin-n-dex,

I have looked into shipping to the nearest US post office to me (in Beebee, VT) and with FedEx for 5lbs it would cost over $80. 😳

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-01-2024

@sin-n-dexmeant to ship the packages to Chit Chat's Burlington office, not to the post office.

Some Canadian sellers that use forwarding services such as Chit Chats do show that they are shipping from a US address on their listings. But you would still need to change your official address on ebay. Your banking information name and address have to be identical to your ebay name and address.

If you go to your personal information in your account settings you will see that the area for country is greyed out so it does not look like it can be changed and others have been told that they would have to start a new ID to change countries. But you can check with ebay customer service to double check if it can or can not be done. You can contact ebay customer service on one of their social media platforms on Facebook, Instagram or X. You can send a private message with your ebay ID and eBay email and they will reply though the reply is not instant.

sin-n-dex · ‎08-01-2024

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@sin-n-dexmeant to ship the packages to Chit Chat's Burlington office, not to the post office.

Some Canadian sellers that use forwarding services such as Chit Chats do show that they are shipping from a US address on their listings. But you would still need to change your official address on ebay. Your banking information name and address have to be identical to your ebay name and address.

If you go to your personal information in your account settings you will see that the area for country is greyed out so it does not look like it can be changed and others have been told that they would have to start a new ID to change countries. But you can check with ebay customer service to double check if it can or can not be done. You can contact ebay customer service on one of their social media platforms on Facebook, Instagram or X. You can send a private message with your ebay ID and eBay email and they will reply though the reply is not instant.

That's correct, you mail your packages to Chit Chat's main branch and they take them to the US, you don't mail stuff to a US post office, they won't know what to do with the box of stuff.

If you live in Canada, you need to be registered in Canada on eBay. You cannot use your US address to register your account because you will be subject to IRS tax laws, and you're not legally allowed to work in the US. You pay taxes in Canada, so register your account in Canada.

The ship from, return to, addresses would be your US mailing address. But the registration address is in Canada.

C.

inook30 · ‎08-02-2024

I get what you are both saying.

1- Main EBay account address needs to match the address on my bank account where I will receive the payouts. ✔️ And it seems like the main EBay address can’t be changed on .com for a Canadian address (I did send a private message to them on Messenger, waiting for a reply!) And just for the record in case other people come across this thread, I have dual citizenship so I am allowed to work in the USA. But I don’t think it matters since what seems to be important is the country I live at the moment.

2- If I use ChitChats I can use their US address as my ship from and return addresses. ✔️

3- After doing all that, do I have to start from scratch with my store on .ca? What about my feedbacks and all the listings? That part isn’t clear for me yet.

Thank you! I am sure you are helping lots of other people with their similar questions. I know for sure you are helping me.

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-02-2024

3. If you start a new ID with a Canadian address you will lose your current feedback and yes you would have to start from scratch. It would be best not to open a store until your listing limits increase.

If you do open a store later on you would have to figure out whether it was to your advantage to open a .com store or a .ca store. With either store you can list on either site but since the .ca store is billed in $C it may be slightly cheaper. But you would be billed in $C (for the store only) and eBay would convert it to $US before putting it into your $US account. However, .com stores do have some benefits that .ca store does not. I'm not sure offhand if those benefits are available if your store has been opened on .ca.

If you list on .com you would be paid in $US and if your account was in that same currency then of course it doesn't need to be converted. Some people have had problem linking a $US chequing account with a .ca account even though it was at a Canadian bank. @sin-n-dex should be able to say which bank has worked for her.

sin-n-dex · ‎08-02-2024

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
3. If you start a new ID with a Canadian address you will lose your current feedback and yes you would have to start from scratch. It would be best not to open a store until your listing limits increase.

If you do open a store later on you would have to figure out whether it was to your advantage to open a .com store or a .ca store. With either store you can list on either site but since the .ca store is billed in $C it may be slightly cheaper. But you would be billed in $C (for the store only) and eBay would convert it to $US before putting it into your $US account. However, .com stores do have some benefits that .ca store does not. I'm not sure offhand if those benefits are available if your store has been opened on .ca.

If you list on .com you would be paid in $US and if your account was in that same currency then of course it doesn't need to be converted. Some people have had problem linking a $US chequing account with a .ca account even though it was at a Canadian bank. @sin-n-dex should be able to say which bank has worked for her.

I opted for Canadian currency (for eBay to convert it) to not have problems down the road. I have never linked a US account from a Canadian bank to eBay, so I don't know which bank would be good for that. I actually don't have a US account in Canada anyway, my US account is in Niagara, NY where I had to fill out a W8-BEN and proof of not being a US person for tax purposes to be allowed to keep the account. But I can't hook this account up with eBay, and not having a US SSN associated with the bank account means I don't get privileges like online banking.

C.