This post includes several years of experience, may seem long, but if you are struggling with your shipping costs, it's worth it to read till end.
Btw. ChinaPost lately increased prices by 40% (November) and USPS jacked-up Canada rates incredibly beginning 2013. Ebay's response in form of GSP is actually not bad for purchases in value of several $hundred, but fails miserably on trinket purchases in value under $50. And yes, you can create 6 digit revenue per year by selling trinkets online from Canada.
CanadaPost Oversized Lettermail
Use CanadaPost oversized lettermail for small thin trinkets whenever possible. Do not be afraid to send items without tracking, most shoppers are honest and appreciate good service and CanadaPost rarely looses a letter, because unlike parcel, it can be stuffed into mailbox and does not need to be picked up at PO. 1 lost out of 1000 sent would be too high. There is going to be some losses, do not sweat it, take it as business expense.
Eshipper.com
Canadian discounter for UPS, Purolator, DHL and others. Basically they aggregate the volume from their customers to achieve very good contract rates. They have been around for many years, solid billing, reachable customer support in case of rare issue.
Example rates
- Canada, L2E2L5 to USA, 93933 (4,500km) ... UPS Standard, 2 days ... $15.20
- Canada, L2E2L5 to USA, 93933 ... UPS Express Saver, 1 day ... $27.06
For $27 we can reach almost entire continental USA within 1 business day! This is better than most US small sellers have, just make sure to talk to your local driver to find out cut-off for express shipments so they can get on plane same day.
- Canada, L2E2L5 to 89173, Germany ... DHL Express Worldwide, 1 day ... $34.66
- Canada, L2E2L5 to 5127, Australia ... Aramex Express, 4 days ... $30.26
Aramex is often the cheapest, but they are awful, if there is anything within 10-20% of their price, I choose the other. DHL is awesomely fast and often not that much more expensive. Cannot go wrong with UPS or Fedex, UPS is #1, Fedex may be little sluggish at times, but also a solid professional attitude and service.
CanadaPost Parcel Services
I am not saying CanadaPost is bad, but they seem to be stuck in 1990. They provide solid, though sluggish and overpriced, service and seem to be ever increasing prices and decreasing service levels. They are in shipping what Rogers or Bell are in telco industry - many people just use them because of inertia and then they act surprised how much less can they pay for almost similar service when they discover smaller and/or younger competitor.
I was senind a 1.5kg parcel to Slovakia to my family, and did some comparison
- CanadaPost, 6-10 business days ... $109.56 or $93 via PayPal ShipNow
- DHL Express, 1 day ... $60.71
- ended up sending by ChitChats' Express for approx $19, came in 2wks and on time before Xmas
CanadaPost is often, but not always, the best game in town for domestic, but never directly. Either use PayPal ShipNow or other resellers, like ChitChat's Express (below).
Examples:
- Canada, L2E2L5 to N2E3R1 ... 1lb ... CanadaPost Expedited Parcel, 1-2 days ... paid $8.55 incl tax via PayPal
- Canada, L2E2L5 to N2E3R1 ... 1lb ... Purolator Express, 1 day ... $7.46 incl tax
As you can see, I myself am guilty of inertia as currently all of our small trackable domestic mail goes to CanadaPost and I could have saved a dollar and trip to PO by using Purolator (free pickup even for single parcel). Currently my routine small mailings go all through CanadaPost and only my larger heavier shipments go via courier, for example this one:
- Canada, L2E2L5 to H4P1A1 ... 27lb ... CanadaPost Expedited Parcel, 3 business days ... $34.23 incl tax and $675 insurance
- Canada, L2E2L5 to H4P1A1 ... 27lb ... UPS Standard, 1 day ... $17.46 incl tax and $675 insurance
ChitChat's Express
There is more cross-border couriers, we chose ChitChat because they are awesome and reliable. It's a small family run business located in Toronto and we have been with them for 2.5yrs. Billing is mohtly and they do not have sophisticated system like big couriers, so I know only estimate for the shipments, but my estimated monthly total is usually within 5% of the billed amount, so I attribute that to scale tolerances and whatever. For the value we are getting, one would be fool to harass them with $10 difference on $800/m invoice. They are quite busy and they are somewhat picky about their clientele.
They offer 4 services we use - US forwarding, CanadaPost Expedited Parcel, International Economy and UK Tracking
US forwarding is basically a drop at USPS or UPS in Niagara Falls, NY. They drive daily, so if you give them a mailpiece before cut-off and it gets on the manifest, it's in the USPS hands next morning. The cost is $0.65 for First Class Mail (under 13oz) or $1/5lbs on larger mailings.
You need to be able to print your own USPS/UPS labels and ChitChat will charge you $0.65 per small mailpiece. We use Endicia at $15/m + postage for all USPS and Eshipper for UPS.
CanadaPost Expedited Parcel
This is just discounted CanadaPost Expedited Parcel. They do not offer any label, but you need to bring it or they pick-up with your other mail, for us there is 1-2 days extra delay, but the price to some domestic destinations beats PayPal by far.
Cost is $7.90 + $1.54 * weight_in_kg. Canada-wide flat rate
Example: 2kg parcel will cost $7.90 + 1.54*2 = $10.98 anywhere in Canada
International Economy
Cost is $0.50 + $12.15 * weight_in_kg, min $1.70, World-wide flat rate
Example: 0.45kg parcel will cost $0.50 + $12.15*0.45 = $5.96
Service is decent to most EU countries. Australia/NZ are on the slow side - 4-6wks. I do not have recent experience with Asia nor South America, but last time I remember most of South America is a black hole for mail.
UK Tracking
Cost is $13.26 for 0.5kg, up to $23.26 for 2kg, then $17.96 + $2.50/0.5kg
Example: 4kg tracked parcel will cost $37.96
Includes $70 coverage or add coverage at $12/$700 ($24/$1400, etc)
Delivered by Parcelforce, usually very fast too.
Happy Holidays and All the Success in the New Year 2014 !
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