COVID-19 is creating unprecedented challenges for eBay’s small business sellers across Canada and around the world. We’re monitoring the situation closely and our eBay community—our buyers, sellers and employees—remains our top priority.
This page includes details about how eBay Canada is supporting and protecting our community in this difficult time. We will update this page as the situation evolves—please check back for new information.
Customer Service update: How to get the help you need
Despite some changes brought on by the impact of Covid-19, eBay customer service is open. We have thousands of colleagues available to support you, and you can visit our Help and Contact Us page.
Up & Running: How we are helping small businesses get online.
Over the last few months, eBay Canada launched Up & Running, a program specifically designed to help brick and mortar retailers to get online and selling. Small businesses who are new to eBay can learn more about the program here.
Be the Entrepreneur: eBay has created a hub of helpful resources and tools to help smaller, individual sellers get started. Check out the Be the Entrepreneur program here.
Price gouging, prohibited items: What we're doing to protect our customers. We have taken significant measures to block or quickly remove items that make false health claims or offer products at inflated prices in violation of applicable laws. As of April 2, we have removed or blocked more than five million listings. Learn more about the measures we're implementing across our marketplace.
If you see an item that violates our policies, please report it.
Specific items being blocked include:
- Health care masks including N95/N100 and surgical masks
- Hand Sanitizer/Gel
- Disinfecting Wipes
We are also restricting the listing of the following items:
- Toilet Paper
- Diapers
- Baby Formula
- Baby Wipes
- Tampons
Shipping: Where to get the latest updates
Carriers within Canada are considered essential by the government at this time, and our team is in direct communication with Canada Post, UPS and FedEx. Domestic and US deliveries are continuing as usual, with alterations to their signature required processes to incorporate social distancing. Deliveries to many international destinations have been suspended by some carriers. We recommend excluding the affected countries from your listings to avoid a bad buyer experience.
There are service disruptions around the world as local shipping carriers suspend deliveries. Canada Post is currently not accepting mail and parcels for a number of international destinations due to a temporary service disruption. In response to this development, we are temporarily suspending transactions from buyers in the following countries:
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Morocco
- Kuwait
- Macedonia
To deter future purchases, buyers in these countries may still be able to view listings in search, but if they select the listing, they will see a message indicating that the item "does not ship to their country". Buyers will not be able to checkout and will be warned throughout the experience the product will not ship to their location.
IF YOU ARE A SELLER
How to get updates about running your business
Find the latest updates from eBay—including details of seller support, protections and shipping updates—on our Announcement board and our new COVID-19 Community Hub. The hub also provides sellers with a place to connect with eBay, share support, and ask and answer questions with fellow sellers.
IF YOU ARE A BUYER
Please check out our page on supporting our Canadian small businesses open for business.
You can connect with other members on the eBay Community Boards where you can find real-time advice across discussion threads, forums, in addition to our Help & Contact page. We'll be staying connected with you through the boards and listening to your feedback.
Thank You
Like so many companies, we are doing everything in our power to help our community navigate these uncertain times. We ask that you are patient with us and each other, and treat everyone with kindness. While this situation is unprecedented, we are optimistic that all of us will ultimately emerge stronger and more resilient.