Why do Canadians not use ebay?
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 139
Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I'm living in Canada now (wow, 25C in March?! ) and loving it
BUT...
Why is Ebay.ca as baron as a Nun's lingerie drawer? Common items that would be available in their hundreds on Ebay UK get from 0-5 results and usually 4 of those are located in USA. Even looking at iphone 4s - I found only one completed sale on the whole of Ebay Canada.
I know online shopping in Canada is about up to the level the UK was at in 1993 but I thought ebay would have caught on here a bit more than...um....nothing at all.
I'm not even going to start on the postal service. 8 days to post a letter....TO MYSELF! And 3 weeks to post one from London to Toronto!
BUT...
Why is Ebay.ca as baron as a Nun's lingerie drawer? Common items that would be available in their hundreds on Ebay UK get from 0-5 results and usually 4 of those are located in USA. Even looking at iphone 4s - I found only one completed sale on the whole of Ebay Canada.
I know online shopping in Canada is about up to the level the UK was at in 1993 but I thought ebay would have caught on here a bit more than...um....nothing at all.
I'm not even going to start on the postal service. 8 days to post a letter....TO MYSELF! And 3 weeks to post one from London to Toronto!
#2
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
Vast distances and ridiculous shipping costs basically.
Kijiji is more on a local scale so cuts out those issues.
I use ebay a bit for stuff thats not easy or cheap to find locally, and usually end up dealing with sellers in the US. Its just a bigger market, 350M people instead of 35M.
Kijiji is more on a local scale so cuts out those issues.
I use ebay a bit for stuff thats not easy or cheap to find locally, and usually end up dealing with sellers in the US. Its just a bigger market, 350M people instead of 35M.
Last edited by iaink; Mar 21st 2012 at 7:31 pm.
#3
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I use eBay all the time. 557 or so deals over the years.
I even use it to buy stuff from shippers who will not send outside of the US. I just have it sent here and the good old USPS forwards packages to me in Nova Scotia. Works like a charm and the service is free. I have never had a problem.
Canada Post on the other hand charges me $145 plus tax to redirect my mail from Canada to here for six months. Daylight robbery !
I even use it to buy stuff from shippers who will not send outside of the US. I just have it sent here and the good old USPS forwards packages to me in Nova Scotia. Works like a charm and the service is free. I have never had a problem.
Canada Post on the other hand charges me $145 plus tax to redirect my mail from Canada to here for six months. Daylight robbery !
#4
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I haven't looked at it specifically, but I don't imagine that postal rates Canada/UK are so massively different that it is the reason why. I believe it is simply that Canadians are not very internet savvy. Compare most websites in most sectors in Canada with their counterparts in Europe and there is simply no comparison. Lack of competition and all that
#5
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
A box of sax reeds, maybe £2 to mail in the UK, $20 to mail from Vancouver. $3 from the US. Just one example why ebay fails. Canada post is a rip off, or more accurately cant be as cheap when servicing half the number of people spread over 100 times the area.
A lot of the deals my brothers do on ebay in the UK they pick up in person. Thats not all that practical here, not outside one or two large urban areas. I did drive to the other side of Toronto once to pick up a keyboard that I got on ebay for a steal, but thats an excption for a high value item that was worth the time and effort.
Last edited by iaink; Mar 21st 2012 at 6:45 pm.
#6
Banned
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 744
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
It is the postal charges.
#7
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I have
A box of sax reeds, maybe £2 to mail in the UK, $20 to mail from Vancouver. $3 from the US. Just one example why ebay fails. Canada post is a rip off, or more accurately cant be as cheap when servicing half the number of people spread over 100 times the area.
A lot of the deals my brothers do on ebay in the UK they pick up in person. Thats not all that practical here, not outside one or two large urban areas. I did drive to the other side of Toronto once to pick up a keyboard that I got on ebay for a steal, but thats an excption for a high value item that was worth the time and effort.
A box of sax reeds, maybe £2 to mail in the UK, $20 to mail from Vancouver. $3 from the US. Just one example why ebay fails. Canada post is a rip off, or more accurately cant be as cheap when servicing half the number of people spread over 100 times the area.
A lot of the deals my brothers do on ebay in the UK they pick up in person. Thats not all that practical here, not outside one or two large urban areas. I did drive to the other side of Toronto once to pick up a keyboard that I got on ebay for a steal, but thats an excption for a high value item that was worth the time and effort.
Post offices in Canada are quite empty at times and in my opinion they are pricing themselves out of the market due to slow delivery times, labour unrest, prices and bureaucratic attitudes.
#8
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Toronto.
Posts: 379
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I think people give Canada Post a bad rep...I posted a small letter/package to my dear old mum on Friday just passed from Toronto to Aberdeen, Scotland and it arrived yesterday, safe and sound.
#9
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I think people give Canada Post too much credit. I sent my nan a pair of yak slippers and the parcel took four and half weeks to get there and it cost $35 to post.
#10
.
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Cochrane, Alberta
Posts: 868
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I used to use Ebay all the time in the UK, especially building up to our move over here to get rid of all the crap (sorry, quality items ) that we weren't bringing with us. I don't use it here although my husband does but he tends to use it for more expensive stuff (science fiction) that you can't buy or sell local. The majority of the stuff he buys and sells is with the US.
For the sort of stuff I sell (mostly kids clothes and toys) I use Kijiji now instead. Like for like, it doesn't sell for as much as when I used to sell via Ebay in the UK but at least I get a little something for it and it gets it out of the way once we're done with it.
For the sort of stuff I sell (mostly kids clothes and toys) I use Kijiji now instead. Like for like, it doesn't sell for as much as when I used to sell via Ebay in the UK but at least I get a little something for it and it gets it out of the way once we're done with it.
#13
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
My only issue is the cost. $16 to send 4 kraft envelops with the kids school pics to the rellies in the UK just made me think next time I will just scan them and email. They got there soon enough. Quite often mail from here to the UK is quicker than local mail though, which is pretty bizarre.
Kijiji is an ebay alternative for me too.
Kijiji is an ebay alternative for me too.
#14
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
I would second www.kijiji.ca Everyone here seems to use it rather than ebay.
#15
Part Time Poster
Joined: Jan 2004
Location: Worcestershire
Posts: 4,219
Re: Why do Canadians not use ebay?
ebay works
I use it all the time,
What I don't do is by in Canada unless I have to, due to slow post and provincial taxes
Buy from the US its cheaper just avoid FedEx and UPS as they screw you on duty, just use USPS its fast and very reasonable
or buy direct from China Hong Kong, just check carefully what you're buying
I use it all the time,
What I don't do is by in Canada unless I have to, due to slow post and provincial taxes
Buy from the US its cheaper just avoid FedEx and UPS as they screw you on duty, just use USPS its fast and very reasonable
or buy direct from China Hong Kong, just check carefully what you're buying