eBay

rose-dee · ‎07-15-2015

For anyone who "didn't get the memo" from Canada Post, I thought I'd post it here, as it could inconvenience or confuse some sellers over this coming weekend:

"The following services will be unavailable Saturday, July 18 to Sunday, July 19 while we perform essential maintenance:

canadapost.ca – new profile creation, changes to existing profiles and access to FlexDelivery
epost.ca – all services

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and we thank you for your patience."

momcqueen · ‎07-16-2015

I got it too. What impact do you suppose this will have on Paypal Shipping with Canada Post? Or the postal counters. Does anyone know?

ypdc_dennis · ‎07-16-2015

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I got it too. What impact do you suppose this will have on Paypal Shipping with Canada Post? Or the postal counters.

The effected services on the list should have no impact on paypal shipping.

Over the counter should as usual, with only FlexDelivery having any impact.

That's assuming they don't accidentally take down more of the Canada Post computer network than planned with this repair/update job.

rose-dee · ‎07-16-2015

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I got it too. What impact do you suppose this will have on Paypal Shipping with Canada Post? Or the postal counters. Does anyone know?

CP's work this weekend could slow down Paypal shipping, but I'd say likely not. Nonetheless, forewarned is forearmed.

momcqueen · ‎07-16-2015

Oh yes..... it's all coming back to me now. The last time Canada Post announced a planned outage, I recall it went twice as long and ran into a second day of work stoppage for all online tools. Mobile wasn't affected at the time.

I use the Canada Post website for two things and two things only:

1. To give my domestic buyers an EXACT delivery estimate in terms of business days for their package as I might be the only seller annoyed by the vagueness of ebay.ca's 'one to eight business days' which is neither accurate nor truthful as the 'one' is only good if a buyer lives, like, next to me and delivery to remote and northern communities in Canada takes up to and including 13 or even 14 business days from my location; and

2. HS Codes for international shipments. I need those codes for customs and, as I discovered the last time there was an outage, there may be other places online to find the codes but I am leery as to their trustworthiness. At least one code I found on an alternate site was not the same as another I'd used before. If it's a random website providing the information, what is it to them to give the wrong code? Suddenly, an innocent box of diecast cars destined for New Zealand has been commandeered at the border for having been declared as containing live bull frogs or something.

Naturally, I am being somewhat facetious.

Does anyone have an alternate site for HS Codes up their sleeve? Thanks.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎07-16-2015

I took a quick look at your listings, and it seems they are all toys, so I don't understand why you need to look up HS Codes. I admit I didn't look at each and every one of your listings in detail, but Toys are under Chapter 95, and everything I saw of yours should fit under 950300.

However to look up HS Codes, there are lots of legitimate sites. Here is an up-to-date Canadian one:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2015/html/tblmod-eng.html

I like this Hong Kong one for the way it's set up, but it might not suit everyone:

http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/trader/hscode/

femmefan1946 · ‎07-16-2015

I had to find an HS code yesterday (for a philatelic sale) and found the number very easily.

But the PP shipping label would not allow me to enter it.

So I used 000000000000 instead and the form was happy.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-16-2015

Did you take out the decimal?

femmefan1946 · ‎07-16-2015

I tried putting in spaces and leaving out decimals and shortening the number line from 10 to six.

Pfft.

I was ready to bring my handy envelope of $8 stamps over to the PO and confuse the new girl by paying for the Expedited Service with those, when the 00000000000 string worked.

Or at least allowed me to print the label.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-16-2015

It should be 6 digits, no numbers and no spaces.

970400 - used postage or revenue stamps and the like or unused not of new or current issue

490700- unused postage (I assume this must mean new or current issue stamps)

The data is from this site -

https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/tdst/tdo/crtr.html

momcqueen · ‎07-16-2015

@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:
I took a quick look at your listings, and it seems they are all toys, so I don't understand why you need to look up HS Codes. I admit I didn't look at each and every one of your listings in detail, but Toys are under Chapter 95, and everything I saw of yours should fit under 950300.

However to look up HS Codes, there are lots of legitimate sites. Here is an up-to-date Canadian one:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2015/html/tblmod-eng.html

I like this Hong Kong one for the way it's set up, but it might not suit everyone:

http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/trader/hscode/

Thanks, I'll tuck that away for future reference. I do sell mostly toys but every order is packed with a 'free gift with purchase' which varies according to a number of different factors. It is with that I ran into difficulty the last time Canada Post went down.

rose-dee · ‎07-16-2015

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Thanks, I'll tuck that away for future reference. I do sell mostly toys but every order is packed with a 'free gift with purchase' which varies according to a number of different factors. It is with that I ran into difficulty the last time Canada Post went down.

Industry Canada also has an "official" HS code section that I like for the way you can drill down to specifics. It's called the "Canadian Importers Database" (CID) but is just as valid for exporters like us.

I determined the 10 or 12 most likely items I would need a code for, printed out the pertinent pages from that site and highlighted my key items on each page. I stuck the pages in a binder that I keep by my desk so I don't have to go online looking for codes online anymore. Here's the link:

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cid-dic.nsf/eng/home

Go to the left side of the screen and choose "Search by Product". You'll get a top hierarchy list from which you can choose that will bring up more detailed items.

rose-dee · ‎07-16-2015

Whoops, sorry, ran out of editing time. That link above is wrong, the federal government has moved some pages around since the last time I checked. The HS code lookup is at:

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cid-dic.nsf/eng/h_00019.html

(Use the "Search by Product" at left to find the top hierarchy of products and from there get the codes).

BTW, "nes" in the lists means "not elsewhere specified".

momcqueen · ‎07-17-2015

@rose-dee wrote:
Whoops, sorry, ran out of editing time. That link above is wrong, the federal government has moved some pages around since the last time I checked. The HS code lookup is at:

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cid-dic.nsf/eng/h_00019.html

(Use the "Search by Product" at left to find the top hierarchy of products and from there get the codes).

BTW, "nes" in the lists means "not elsewhere specified".

Thanks, rose-dee. If not for your explanation above, I'd wonder as to the reason there were so many Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES) denoted within the lists. Haha.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎07-17-2015

The "drill down" is simply item specifics in the Harmonized System, exactly the same as on any other site that lists complete HS codes. However, the descriptions use short forms, there is not as much detail (important for new users) I find the set up on this site to be more awkward to use than some others. And exactly as you discovered - pages move around regularly - newly appointed middle and upper management and new ministers must leave their mark somehow.

Anonymous · ‎07-17-2015

Really, no biggie deal. We don't have mail service on Saturdays and Sundays in small towns.

vintagenorth · ‎07-18-2015

The effected services on the list should have no impact on paypal shipping.

Over the counter should as usual, with only FlexDelivery having any impact.

That's assuming they don't accidentally take down more of the Canada Post computer network than planned with this repair/update job.

Ha, just tried to print off a small pkt label through PayPal. No error message, just wouldn't go to PayPal to print when I clicked on "Print Shipping Label". Guess I'll try later.

choppsshopjg · ‎07-18-2015

Same with me! I can't print from the print shipping label button on ebay and neither off the paypal site. Hope this doesn't last long!

momcqueen · ‎07-18-2015

Canada Post Corporation's twitter says nothing but 'the system is down' https://twitter.com/canadaposthelps and I suppose that means all day tomorrow as well.....?

momcqueen · ‎07-18-2015

I put my store on Vacation Settings to be safe, adding the notation that Canada Post is down for scheduled maintenance and, therefore, orders cannot be dispatched. Am I the only person who feels it is somewhat ridiculous that they're shutting it all down for up to 48 hours just so they can do maintenance work? Like.....? All e-commerce in Canada is supposed to come to a grinding halt because they're upgrading their servers? I do wonder now if the postal counters are operating as if it's business as usual. Perhaps I will discover for myself tomorrow, the business day here is all-but over without any sales on my end which is not terribly surprising given it's summertime and a weekend. All the same, couldn't the corporation do this overnights instead?