OT (sort of) -- Some venting from an ebay seller

[byrone]

Originally Posted by jb217676

Pretty close-minded statement there. If all U.S. sellers thought the same as you, how would an upstanding Canadian like myself get any cards? Most auctions are U.S. based.

(maybe those cards were originally made from Canadian trees and are just returning home?)

There are 34 million of us, you know!

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by byrone

There are 34 million of us, you know!

On the subject of writing off Canadian bidders, sellers should consider that in auctions you want as many bidders as possible to achieve the highest auction result. The population of Canada is about the same as the State of California. Would you want to write off bidders from the State of California? Another fact to consider is that Canada's economy over the last couple years has been (at least by some measures) stronger than the US economy. Canadians are spending more freely than Americans. And the exchange rate movement has made it more affordable for Canadians to buy items priced in US dollars.

All that said, if a seller feels like writing off the market of a whole country...feel free to lose money!

Cheers,
Blair

[glchen]

I think the common reason a lot of sellers, including myself, don't sell to Canada is tracking/delivery confirmation, or lack thereof. Correct me if I'm wrong but it's hard to track packages shipped to Canada and because of customs, it takes forever. As a buyer, I had a cards arrive significantly faster that were shipped from Norway than were sent from Canada. The issue with tracking is that if the seller can't properly confirm delivery, the buyer can more easily scam the seller and get a refund through ebay.

[drc]

I sell non-sport photos where many collectors are international. I've always allowed international bidding, because someone bidding is to my benefit and someone not bidding is to my financial detriment. I haven't had trouble with winning bidders.

In general, it's not a good thing for the seller to be blocking bidders unless there is a specific, real problem.