Listing in your own currency - how's it going?

[Former_Member]

There was another thread on here awhile back about listing in your own currency. A lot of people were saying they were just trying it out or were thinking about making the switch. I'm curious to get an update - if you made the switch to selling in your own currency how's the change treating you? Have you noticed a decrease in US sales? An increase in domestic sales? No change? Would love to get some feedback - I posted a thread in business a few days ago and didn't get much of a response.

I'm seriously considering making the switch to save on paypal fees and just to make my general paperwork easier. However the vast majority of my customers are in the US and I' m concerned that I may lose some buyers after making the switch.

[cindylouwho2]

I've never tried but I am thinking of using CAD for my other shop, so I would be interested in seeing some current updates.

[sockysocks]

I changed to British pounds earlier this year. I'm still getting just as many US buyers (new and repeat) and more from the UK than when I listed in USD.
It's much easier dealing in your own currency and I plan to stick with it..

[Former_Member]

Thats great sockysocks! im thinking of changing too but also afraid it will effect my US buyers. Im based in Ontario. Its nice to hear it is working out for someone!

[Former_Member]

Sockysocks: I've heard from a few people that their domestic sales increased when they switched to local currency. I'd love if that happened I get very few sales within Canada right now. I'm glad to hear that your US sales have stayed steady.

I was all ready to try out local currency for awhile and see what it did to sales and then they implemented relevancy so I thought I'd see how that effected sales before I made any changes. Now with this ad thing it doesn't really seem like a good time to make the switch. Then Christmas is coming up. I'll maybe make the switch at the beginning of the new year and try it out for a bit and see how it goes. Of course Jan sales are usually slow so..... damn is there ever a good time? :)

[Former_Member]

I have never had that many sales on Etsy, but most of my sales have come after being able to list in AUD, possibly because I felt more confident that I wouldn't have to keep manually changing my prices to reflect the value of the Aussie dollar, which has over the last year or three jumped around from USD 0.70 to a recent high of almost USD 1.10

[Former_Member]

I changed my currency during a sales drought in March and I'm happy with the results, I'm still getting some sales from the US but now the majority of my sales are within the UK.

Before the change I used to get hardly any UK sales. I do prefer to sell within the UK since I don't have to worry about customs and airmail problems. It has also given me a UK customer base on my Facebook page who come and visit me at fairs and it's fantastic to meet my fans :)

[cindylouwho2]

I thought you would find this thread interesting:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/9033176/page/1

in it there are many Americans who say they rarely buy outside of the US, but more importantly, a few who say they would not buy from another Etsy seller who doesn't use US currency

[Former_Member]

Yes, its interesting - I trade in US dollars and I have very few Australian customers and mostly US and a sprinkling of Canadians. But I would like to try AUD as the dollar values move all over the place.

Perhaps Etsy should provide our shops with have an automatic currency converter so that everybody can access us without having to think about it, like most online retailers currently do.

[Former_Member]

Evaelena, there is already a currency converter on Etsy, but naturally as the currency is always bouncing around it can only be approximate . . . the last few days for example.

[Former_Member]

I have more European sales compared to last year when I used USD for selling.
US sales haven't dropped, so it's win-win situation for me.

[Former_Member]

I changed from $$$ to £££ a few months ago and my sales have been AWFUL!!

It's impossible to know if it's because of that though. And although I'm tempted to switch back, if my sales pick up now it *might* be because Christmas is coming.

Opinions? I didn't just switch for fun, it's because I sell on a UK site too and it was driving me mad trying to keep my prices the same between £ and $.

I noticed I was in a "below $50" treasury today, but actually the price was £49 which is ABOVE $50. So that person, at least, was confused.

[Former_Member]

This is an old thread but I can now give an update as I made the switch from USD to Canadian $. I guess that would have been about a year ago now. Heather is did seem for the first little bit that sales took a dip for me but I don't think it was the dollar change as I had the busiest Christmas ever last year. I do not regret my switch to CAD. It makes paperwork so much easier for me now. Also I don't have to worry about losing money depending on what the exchange rate is at. The majority of my sales are still to the US - no change there. I find that a lot of people in the US don't even notice that I'm in Canada even though it is listed in Canadian. Heather I would stick it out through Christmas at least to see how sales do. I can see how that would be super frustrating trying to keep prices the same on different websites. I think you will find that in the long run it is much better to sell in your own currency. That is my opinion anyway.

[Former_Member]

An interestng topic, I have wondered if listing in Canadian currency would bring in buyers from Canada who seem scarcer than hen's teeth!
I would love to hear the results from those of you who have.

[LaughLand]

I switched to selling in Australian dollars as soon as I could, ages ago now. Overall, it has made no difference to the percentage of my sales that are local or international. I sell about one third internationally and two-thirds locally.

But it is so much easier for me. I don't have to change my prices when the currency fluctuates, and I don't pay the currency conversion fee when I withdraw money from Paypal. The customer does as it is built into the US$ price that they see. My international customers don't seem to be put off by the price being an irregular amount, or the price changing when the currency does, or even the small increase in the price they pay. Overall, my sales have increased since this time last year, but the ratio of local/international is the same.

[Former_Member]

thanks for the reassurance!

Elizabeth, I have a few canadian customers who bought from me (in UK) in USD! I think I've had one since switching to ££

I will try to stick it out. The other thing I've noticed if I view in $$$ my prices seem to change so often. I wonder if that puts people off too, if they go to the shop one day and see a price then the next time it's different because of the exchange rate - mind you, I doubt anyone except me would scrutinise so closely.

I do hate the silly prices though. £25 is a nice round price, $40.40 less so! Yesterday when i checked it was just under $40 which is better for search I think, if people are searching "under $40"

[Former_Member]

I made the decision a few weeks ago to list in Canadian dollars everywhere I sell online. After years of using US dollars, we'll see how it goes.

Listing in my own currency just makes things easier for accounting purposes.
Although, like Heather said, the prices do look odd when seen in US dollars.

[Former_Member]

When we list in Cad dollars we seem to be losing money right away, now that our dollar is higher.

[Former_Member]

Sorry I meant US dollars!

[ufer]

I have changed my shop for a year now. I was tired of PayPal charging me every time I needed to transfer the funds to my bank account. Now, I don't have to worry about it.
Most of my customers are from the state. I don't see any difference at all.

[Former_Member]

Personally, I don't mind what currency a shop uses. Each person on Etsy can set the currency that they see Etsy in and the currency conversion is done automatically.

If working in your own currency works for you and saves you $$$ on paypal fees, why not do it?

It doesn't put me off at all to see prices listed as $USD40.37 or whatever it happens to be. If the price is what I'm willing to pay, I'll pay it.

Every now and then I switch my view to Yen, Pesos or Shekels just for a change of pace.

[Former_Member]

in a way it's not the answer I was hoping for - if my downturn isn't about currency, I guess it's back to the old SEO tweaking *yawn*

thanks everyone

[Former_Member]

Sorry about that Heather!

[Former_Member]

LOL you're forgiven - and you know what? I've just made a sale to a new country, Finland, and that is ALWAYS exciting!

[Former_Member]

Haha Heather I just sold a mask to Armenia! It's always exciting to ship to new countries! Also I have no problem with odd looking prices. Then again I have my currency in CAD so all US shops have strange numbers so I'm pretty used to it.


Re if selling in CAD increased sales to Canada. I haven't found that it's made any difference. I have had an increase in local sales after doing a few shows where people took business cards. Other than that it's still very rare to get a sale from Canada.