skytek

Hi guys,

Lots of replies in a short space of time, thanks!

I use Kijiji all the time for house hunting (we are renting) but as it is an annonymous free for all type site it attracts a lot of scammers and general time wasters. It is a real pity Canada doesn't have such a good online retail experience and the postal service is so slow and expensive. But as has been said earlier, they have to serve half the population of the UK and over a much much greater area. I used to sell things on ebay back home for a bit extra income and was planning on carrying on out here in Canada but that is going to be impossible now because there basically is no ebay in Canada. I expect Fiji and even the south pole would have a more thriving ebay community.

Online shopping here is still stuck in the 90s for the large part. I went onto th biggest pharmac chain's website today Shoppers Drug Mart only to find it is barely a site at all and you can't browse though it's products or see what all it sells. Being the equivalen to Boots I was surprised to see that.

One great place is Well.ca. They do free shipping and it usually comes in 48 hours!

I'm being stung hard every time I order things from USA. I bought a pair of new studio speakers (very popular ones) online. There were no sellers in Ontario unless I would drive for a day and pay a silly price. So I ordered from USA and upon delivery got stung another $148 in customs charges.

My partner here had never bought anything online and she's a young hip person herself. But she couldn't believe how easy it is to shop online back home. She now buys all her clothes and sunglasses from Debnehams online because she likes the prices, the quality of the clothes and the fact that they get her orders to her in less than a week and for only £10. Wheras she bought some sunglasses here online and it takes 2 1/2 weeks.

So I got to thinking...

Since there is no competition on ebay and the online shopping scene is a baron wasteland for the most part, why don't some of us take advantage of this and offer some services here in the online retail world. Like a really good ebay store or something.

iaink

An expensive lesson. Fedex or UPS?


ALWAYS use USPS unless the seller is absolutely adamant, and then consider walking away.

Canada Post quite often dont bother collecting the duty (especially when shipped to my work), and when they do its a flat rate brokerage charge of <$10. I've had $1600 saxes arrive tax free, Result! On the other hand I once bought a case, shipped by UPS, that cost more in brokerage and tax than I "paid" for it. Lesson learned.

iaink

Cos it will cost too much to ship anything... QED.

I suppose it could work if it was specific to a large city and you covered your own delivery costs, but outside in the rest of Canada the 3rd party delivery costs would probably kill any benefit.

Novocastrian

But that's covered off already by kijiji.

iaink

Right, but officialy kijiji is supposed to be about private individuals offloading used stuff in the classifieds rather than businesses operating at volume, although its pretty obvious that many businesses are exploiting it to shift product, just not in a "shopfront" way.

Lets not forget that kijiji is owned by ebay anyway... in the US its "ebay classifieds", or at least it was.

I was thinking that in the GTA an online shop that threw same or next day "local" delivery in as part of the service and didnt have to rely on 3rd parties to deliver would maybe work OK. In smaller, more spread out markets I doubt it would be viable, but who knows.

Almost Canadian

OK, stay clear of Canada Post. I send stuff via courier all over Canada all the time. I don't believe I have ever paid more than $15. I sent a large package to New Zealand not so long ago, I believe I obtained change from $50.

I would imagine that most of the packages I send would be of a similar size/weight to items one would normally buy on Ebay

iaink

Whats the minimum to courier something though? Looks like about $10 for fed ex ground to ship an envelope 25km from my office to home. $36 for Fedex Economy service.

$10 to shop a $10 item is the problem. Ebay is OK within canada for big ticket small items that can be shipped, but it makes no sense to me for the sort of small cheap stuff people use it for in the UK.

Novocastrian

I didn't know that. I did know that the french version of kijiji was take down and your browser now directs you to ebay.fr, so it makes sense.

Not very relevant but I use leboncoin.fr when looking for stuff online in that country.

jimf

I used to buy quite a few items on Ebay in the UK. I still use the UK account for small items that can be shipped direct from the UK or sent to someone in the UK who can then send them on to me. The range of items available in the UK is just so much better.

I've occasionally looked at the .ca site but never really thought there was enough on it to bother setting up an account even.

When you say 1/2 the people over 100 times the area thats a little misleading isn't it. The vast majority of the Canadian population is concentrated in relatively small areas in the country.

Lychee

I highly doubt it's because Canadians aren't internet savvy. Numerous studies over the years have shown they use the internet more than anyone else in the world.

E-Bay and online shopping hasn't become a normal part of the local culture or the local habit. Why? I'm sure there are a myriad reasons - Canada Post, etc. Not entirely sure why, but I don't buy "Canadians aren't internet savvy". Prohibitive cost of doing business by mail in Canada is likely the reason.

richardm123

I gave up on Ebay when I moved here. Canada post are daylight robbery.

conjonway

Just put up my first item for sale on eBay.Ca.

It is INCREDIBLY difficult to use compared to the uk site. And yes, part of the problem is the complexity and expense involved in the shipping totals.

Also, it continuously recommends you use US prices and shipping rates in order to reach a larger market. So it's really just like the only purpose for the Canadian site is to provide more stock for an American marketplace.

Novocastrian

It's perhaps slightly ironic though, that the first President of Ebay (not the founder) is a Canadian, one Jeffery Skol.

Like many successful Canadians, he's lived in Los Angeles for years.

tee1

I was looking for some skis the other week and thought I'd check out Ebay.ca.
I couldnt help but laugh, it makes Canada look like some vast uninhabited waste land In the whole of Canada, a country that loves skiing, 1 pair of skis was listed for sale

I don't think Canada post is just to blame, sure expensive shipping doesn't help but tbh I just think the benefits of internet shopping have caught on yet and is not part of the culture. Shops could at least list there stock on a website so I know from the comfort of my armchair if they sell what I want. And of those that do sell online please don't take a several days to dispatch. You can't blame the postal system for this type of stuff. Maybe im just used to the normal level of internet service in the UK for example order by 12pm for same or next day dispatch

Lychee

You're used to living in a country of 60 million people living within close quarters of one another so that next day dispatch is a reality. In Canada, the population of 30 million spread out across 5? 6? time zones with the flight prices the way they are, it's not surprising it hasn't become a reality.