eBay

2budds · ‎01-30-2004

Where do I apply for Canada Post shipping discounts 10-15% off counter rates for Canadian Powersellers?
twobudds

rd1000 · ‎01-30-2004

when you find, let me know.

I thought I was getting a 5% discount with Venture 1 until I noticed the price was exactly the same with or without the card. The post office explained to me that it is the same price, you just get a tracking number and insurance.

I tried the ebay powerseller online discount and the final price I got was higher than the one I get at the counter.

mirakbiz_inc · ‎01-30-2004

Guys, forget about the Power seller's discount. The best way to deal with this is to contact Canada Post directly and request to open an account. They will ask you how many packages a week do you ship, to give you an idea their level 2 discount is for people that will do about 1,000 parcels a year, their level 3 is for 2,500

So, if you do about 20 parcels a week say so, you will qualify for the level 2 discount.

I use the EST desktop software, and bought a small thermal printer so that I can use the free thermal labels provided by them (CPC). It's a lot cheaper than printing the labels in my laser printer, because the toner cartridge alone is more expensive that what I paid for the thermal printer. Besides since my stuff is small now I can use smaller mailers because I no longer need to attach a 1/2 letter size label to them.

Just my two cents

your-chic-shopper · ‎01-30-2004

2budds

Scan throught the powerselller threads there is a lot of good info on setting up a Canada post account

I woulld encourage you to NOT OPEN a powerseller account . If your packages are the same size all the time , then yoyu may want to consider using the program Canada Post provides for free as a download

However if you are unsure of the size and weight of the item till it is packaged . I would recommend opening an account with Canada Post and mannually writing the manifest your self for shipping . We as powersellers have placed some info on manually writing a CP manifest , It very easy and just as fast if not faster then the program

Two small things to remember when opening an account with CP
1) Do not tell them you are selling on Ebay , it will confuse Canada Post and will in the long run give you less options
2) Do not tell Canada Post you have acess to the internet , once again this will confuse Canada Post . They will give you less options

The best thing to do is open a CP account. Tell them you will be shipping say 2000 parcels a month. That you have a small business and sell to America . They will push the free downloadable program on you . It's best to just hold off using it , for the time being . Tell them you do not have access to the internet at this time , but will soon and will need to write thte manifest manually . Get all the free supplies Canada Post offers .

Then once you get all the stuff ....Ship some with the writen manifest . Maybe 2 weeks later call and get the info for the program

This way you as a business get to decide what works better for you . Then Canada Post making the choice for you

Email me if you have questions
Todd

bookworms-den2004 · ‎01-31-2004

your-chic-shopper
Hi Todd
I just opened an account for a level six and its been hell so far.The people at the postal office don't know the mailing codes or have the correct mailing forms.So far i have no idea what i am actually paying for anything that got sent out today as compared to the Venture card.The representative from Vancouver said that it would be a cheaper cost to all my postings if done on the computer.Here anything regarding this as to saving more as before i heard that there was a hidden fee somewhere?
Don

bookworms-den2004 · ‎01-31-2004

twobudds
There was a link in Ebays powerseller page.I got a call from Vancouver once i went through this link.
Don

your-chic-shopper · ‎01-31-2004

This is why I would strongly encourage you to open the account then come onto the board and ask questions

Yes there are two levels

There are levels in Canada
And Levels in America

They are on the same account you open with CP. It's best to shoot for the stars when opening an account with Canada Post. Meaning over quote the amount of boxes you will be shipping. You wiill never get charged if you over quote , yoyou will just get a better rate

Once again do not tell Canada Post you have the internet , or ebay . This will confuse them and they will give you less choices

Oh yes the downloadable program from CP has a hidden brokerage fee , however it's only on packages 1kg or over shipped ground to USA. And does not apply to any other services to America. This is why I think it best to maually write the info onto a manifest till you know your sizes of the packages , yoyu will be sending

mirakbiz_inc · ‎01-31-2004

The mentioned "hidden charges" are actually the brokerage fees that are part of "commercial expedited parcel to USA” The difference between commercial and regular is that in the commercial, you are agreeing to pay for such fees, so I don't understand why do some people keep complaining (just read the agreement)

Note that commercial was designed for big companies trying to compete against American ones by making the boarder issues disappear to the end customer.

Regular expedited parcel US is not available on the EST (that's the name of the program) yet, it will be soon.

Telling them that you do 2000 parcels a month if you don't will must likely force them to eventually realize that you don't move the volume that you said you would do, and therefore cancel your discount. It's like having a buyer to tell you to give them a wholesale price for 2000 units and after you give them a great deal, they just say "OK, I'll take one at that price"

Doing the manifest and labels by hand, is very time consuming (my time is worth a lot), the EST gives you immediate feedback of actual cost (including cube adjustments) as well as ETA

It even provides reporting tools

In my opinion, doing things manually instead of using the computer doing for you is absurd

Again, this is just my two cents (well four cents now)

amberwoodottawa · ‎01-31-2004

If polled, how many people here selling into the US would agree that we should pay our customer's brokerage fees for shipments into the US, as well as duties as I had been informed by my CP rep, using Expedited?

Count me out, so I use the manual method and save those fees (most of my goods shipped into the US are via Expedited and exceed $200 US so they are subject to those charges).

I was told by my CP rep that the customers of Canada Post requested that the brokerage fees be included in the automated system however he could not tell me which customers made such a request to pay more than they had to.

With respect to cubing. By using the automated shipping tools you will ALWAYS be charged the higher of the cubed or actual weight. By using the manual method, I reflect only the actual weight and 60% of the time I am charged the actual weight as recorded which is the lesser of the two for my products.

My dimensions of packed goods is always different so I will neve know my dimensions until I pack my products which is when I am shipping them and not when I am telling my customer how much he should send me for shipping (custom packed, custom-made boxing). As such the automatic tools are of no use for my business and it appears not to my advantage anyway as I would be charged more in using them, and that is worth alot to me.

Malcolm

your-chic-shopper · ‎01-31-2004

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Note that commercial was designed for big companies trying to compete against American ones by making the boarder issues disappear to the end customer.
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Sounds like someone is listening to CP's take on things. While I understand your comment , I completely disagree. Canada Post is not a courier company , they are a package company. 80% of the business Canada Post does are on packages under the value of 200.00 dollars to America. This means if the value is under 200.00 then fees you are being charged are going into Canada Post pocket. If 80% of there business is packages , then they are making profit above the shipping cost at my expense
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Quote
Telling them that you do 2000 parcels a month if you don't will must likely force them to eventually realize that you don't move the volume that you said you would do, and therefore cancel your discount
_______________________________________________-

Hay when I make that statement I am only quoting what I have been told by Canada Post Rep . When you ship with Canada Post , you will struggle to ever get an increase up too a higher level once your level set with Canada Post. Your better to start high , at the most Canada Post will pull you down a level in a years time . Getting pulled down a level is not a big deal . Canada Post discount is crap ,level 1 to 6 is a savings of pennies . Canada Post will lead you to believe it really big "bull crap "

Quote
Doing the manifest and labels by hand, is very time consuming (my time is worth a lot), the EST gives you immediate feedback of actual cost (including cube adjustments) as well as ETA

Tell me something ?? How many packages do you ship in a day personally ?? not staff just you

Personally I can ship 70 to 100 packages a day . That's writing the CP manifest manually. Making the boxes , . You can have Canada Post prefill a lot of the info

When you write a CP manifest to America , all that is needed is the persons name and state and weight. Place the paypal packing slip on the package, then add the tracking sticker . That's it your done
_____________________________________________________
Quote
In my opinion, doing things manually instead of using the computer doing for you is absurd
________________________________________________
Remember the computer is not doing the typing for you. You are manually typing more info then I have to place on the CP manifest.
When you write the info onto a CP manifest , all info can be done in 30 seconds . When placing the address on the package , do not write it out . Use the paypal FREE packing slip provided too all Ebay users. Canada Post gives you free clear packing slips , you can order them by the thousands

Lastly if you are shipping items that are always the same weight and size 1kg and under(all the time )to America. The CP program EST is the way to go

However if your items are over 1kg or your items vary in shape and size,(this happens to be most Ebayers). Then writing the manifest will be faster

How do I know all this

Logically I tried the EST CP program . I could never ever ship 100 packages in a day using the EST program . I used the program for 6 months, so I truly gave it a good test

mirakbiz_inc · ‎01-31-2004

Between my ebay sales and my website I ship about 30-40 packages a day. Please note that this is just a part time thing for me, I actually work for a third party logistics company (senior management) that's why I feel comfortable talking about this , after all that's my career.
Although I wish I could create an interface to dump the information from my checkout into an order file to be uploaded to EST, I survive by using a program that allows me to copy the whole shipping info from the checkout email and paste it separately into EST all in about 5 seconds. Picking, Packing and Processing an order takes me less than a minute.

Don't take me wrong, I'm not attacking anyone for the way they do things, I just mentioned my point of view, since I beleive that it's fare for people asking for advice to get more than one opinion.

Regarding packaging guys (the ones that ship multiple sized articles, and high cube) if I was you I would have a few standar sized shipping containers, input those into EST and that way you could pre-determine the cubed weight for your items. Of course you will always get charge the higer one (that's why it's done) but at least it will provide consistency to your business

Again just my two cents

:-)

amberwoodottawa · ‎01-31-2004

Great idea and we tried it but we find that if we ship a guitar in a triangular box, often the CP warehouse guys dont bother trying to figure out the cubic dimensions.

Second of all. I have 200 different types of guitars and I am willing to bet that there are at least 50 different lengths so standardizing the packaging would have me paying a higher shipping amount for smaller guitars to fit into the same package that a larger instrument fits into and I am then faced with putting in extra packaging materials to safeguard the musical instrument inside.

My guitars already come in their own cardboard boxes whcih are triangular in shape however we are dealing with the 50+ different sizes of packaged instrument depending on which one we sell.

As it is, we cut back our sale of guitars by 85% due to cubing and that was 50% of our business. We are looking at some options right now.

Your attitude is one which I wish CP would adopt and that is the result of recognizing that we all operate different businesses and there isnt a one-solution for everyone.

CP believes that there is and that we can all fit into a mold. Until they recognize that is an impossibility they wont be able to fully satisfy us and meet our needs for shipping.

I must admit that I am extremely tired of hearing my SP rep continuosly tell me to use the online shipping tools. He has visited my business and seen that it is an impossibility or perhaps just impractical.

I can certainly see the ebenfit of it if my comic book sales took off. Great stuff. One item packed into the same size envelope and I could do a couple of hundred lables at once. Heck I even purchased 2 thermal printers and have the huge CP lable roll ready to go. I just wish my CP guy would either come up with a better solution for my instruments or drop trying to sell me on something that is not suited for me.

Not unike walking into a mens store and someone tries to sell you a size 30" waist pant with a 34" leg when you weigh 200 lbs and are 5'9, it just doesnt fit!!!

Malcolm

your-chic-shopper · ‎01-31-2004

For me , premade packages would be impossible . I combine shipping then form a box around the combined items

Something that I am sure you know
quote
input those into EST and that way you could pre-determine the cubed weight for your items
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Yes but what happens if the package is heavy and you have cubed it . Then you have charged the cubed charge, this could be cheaper then the weight charge . So you still have to weigh the item even when you cube an item. Canada post wants me to go through so many hoops , making it easier for them .
I am with Malcom , I weigh the item and ship it . 90% of my packages when shipped through the manifest are never cubed by Canada Post . Personally I have continued to do it this way since the day Canada Post changed it over to either cubed or weight , whatever is great .

In the old days with Canada Post , you weighed the item and shipped it. They changed it to make more money . The American Postal service does not charge a cubed rate? So this is a cash cow for them, when I ship to America. . Others may find this incorrect , I am only a little ticked with the way Canada Post treats me as a customer . So if I make it a little harder on them , I feel a little better.

Hay at least I do not call them and ask them to packages my items for $7.00 as they advertise

amberwoodottawa · ‎01-31-2004

I actually did ask my CP rep if they would come and pick up my instruments and package them for $7 each. In many cases it would be cheaper and certainly less time consuming than us having to do it.

He told me that I better not try it! I am curious why he said that but he offered no further comments on the subject.

Malcolm