eBay

triber · ‎06-06-2014

I have a request for a quote to mail a heavy package to Australia, but when I put in the specifics on Canada Post, the only options given are Priority, Xpresspost and surface mail. Is there no airmail expedited shipping to Australia?

rockp5233 · ‎06-06-2014

I think if it is over 1 kg it is not accepted by airmail !

triber · ‎06-06-2014

Thanks, then the cheapest rate would be $184, for items costing $60! Not going to happen.

pierrelebel · ‎06-06-2014

Can you divide the lot into smaller packages under one kilo?

triber · ‎06-06-2014

Yes, I gave the buyer that option Pierre, with 4 items it still comes out to over $80. I won't ship surface mail Internationally any more, and airmail is so expensive now.

rockp5233 · ‎06-06-2014

... you may go with surface, mail (air and Surface) to Australia is really reliable !... But it might take 4-6 weeks with surface !

femmefan1946 · ‎06-06-2014

Time is the problem.

Yes, Surface mail is reliable for delivery, although the longer anything spends in transit the more likely the chance of damage, but if a purchase does not arrive within 45 days the customer would win an Item Not Recieved dispute.

Life in Australia is expensive. Aussies are used to paying high prices for imports. Not that they particularly like it.

If you have an established, frequent customer, you may be confident in using Surface Mail. But for a one-off sale, no.

triber · ‎06-06-2014

This is a one off, plus it's china, I don't want something like that to be in the postal system any longer than necessary.

toff3 · ‎06-06-2014

But it might take 4-6 weeks with surface !

Rockp,

Ha ha, that's a good one! More like 6-10 weeks, in my experience.

Tom

lady.stark · ‎06-06-2014

I would suggest to use Xpresspost then, since they have an on-time delivery garanty. If the buyer is willing to pay that price of course.

toff3 · ‎06-07-2014

Lady Stark,

Are you seriously suggesting that Triber should quote his buyer a postage cost of $184?

Do you realize that the present airmail rate of $2.50 for an overseas letter represents an increase of 175% AFTER inflation on the 1981 rate (the year before the Post Office department became Canada Post, a crown corporation?

When will it dawn on Canadians that Canada Post, in its efforts to keep itself in business, has lost all control of its International airmail rates?

Tom

femmefan1946 · ‎06-07-2014

Are you seriously suggesting that Triber should quote his buyer a postage cost of $184?

As pierre often says, some things are just not for mail order sales.

The cost of mailing may be acceptable to the buyer, if she is a collector and this is an important piece to her. Or she may choose to keep looking closer to home.

Her choice.

lady.stark · ‎06-08-2014

@toff3 wrote:
Lady Stark,
Are you seriously suggesting that Triber should quote his buyer a postage cost of $184?

Yes. As I said, if the buyer wants it bad enough, he/she will pay. Especially if it is a one of a kind item that cannot be found elsewhere. A seller should NEVER decide what is and what is not acceptable for a buyer. Everyone is different.

I once had a buyer - also from Australia - purchasing 3 items from me. The total weight was so high that shipping the items individually by Air Mail or together by Xpresspost was the same with a difference of about $4. I wrote to the buyer, explained the situation calmly in details and let him decide. The buyer decided to go with Xpresspost because of the on-time delivery garanty. He received his items faster than usual and he left positive feedback with a 5 star rating.

As for your other comments... I don't see the point you wanted to make... what has the rate from 1981 have to do with the actual rate? That was almost 25 years ago!

xtremetech99 · ‎06-08-2014

Either way international shipping for heavy items over 1 LB gets expensive. I try to stay away from international.

I just shipped 2LBS and it was 40$ with Canada post. You could aramax or DHL . They specialize in international shipping .

lady.stark · ‎06-08-2014

Correction to my previous post: I wanted to say "almost 35 years" and not 25 😉

Triber, what is the weight of the package?

toff3 · ‎06-08-2014

Femme and Lady Stark,

You are both missing the point, which is, are Canada Post's airmail rates overseas fair and reasonable? I maintain they are not, not by a long shot. If you disagree, fine, you have no argument with me.

Femme wrote

As pierre often says, some things are just not for mail order sales

As I often say, postage should have nothing to do with the value of what's being mailed. Postage should depend on size, weight and speed of delivery. I am guessing Triber's package weighs around 6 kg and is not huge. For such a package the USPS offers two airmail options (plus the top-of-the-line courier service), the cheaper of which (approx. USD100) is about the same as Canada Post's surface rate (approx. CAD100). The USPS options appear fair and reasonable to me. To me, CP's demand of $184 for a single airmail option (discounting Priority Worldwide) is simply unconscionable.

Lady Stark,

You ask, what has the postage rate in 1981 to do with today's rate? Well, it does provide some sort of comparative standard. How else would you be able to decide whether today's price is fair and reasonable?

In 1981, the postage for an overseas letter was $0.35 (double the domestic postage of $0.17). Inflation alone would have increased that price in 2014 to $0.91. Today's rate of $2.50 is 175% higher than the inflation-adjusted rate and is triple the domestic rate of $0.85.

Perhaps you feel that $2.50 price is justified. Personally, I think it's crazy. I now think long and hard before I mail a letter overseas. I like to mail Christmas cards overseas but am not prepared to pay $25 for sending a measly 10 cards overseas next December. As far as I'm concerned, Canada Post, in offering these outrageous rates, is shooting itself in the foot.

Tom

rockp5233 · ‎06-09-2014

Yes I know but I should provide PC timeframe... To be sure I always inform my int'l buyers that it will be more -/+ 8 weeks.

In a world where we can transfer 1 million buck in less than 1 second it is very strange that it take 8 weeks to ship a small package in another continent.... Really !!!

toff3 · ‎06-10-2014

Rockp,

Not that strange. Finding out how Canada Post handles the mails is akin to pulling teeth (CP's attitude is, it's none of their customers' business) but there is good evidence that surface mail to a particular country overseas goes into a bin/container and when that's full or nearly so, it's dispatched. So right there your mail piece could lie undisturbed for quite some time in some CP sorting plant, perhaps far from the sea. Then that bin/container gets loaded on to a ship that's not even necessarily destined for the particular country your mail piece is going to. God knows how long the bin/container will take to reach its destination. There may be transfers en route. The possibilities for delay are endless. That's why the USPS, for example, eliminated overseas surface mail more than a decade ago.

The problem for us Canadians is that CP cannot follow the USPS's example because CP's air rates are so extortionate very few people would pay them. To sweeten the bitter pill, CP claims surface delivery overseas will take place in 4 to 6 weeks. Of course they're merely trying to hoodwink their customers. CP are notorious for not levelling with their customers.

Tom