Shipments from China

[wishimayantiques]

Hello, I recently had a whole bunch of items I was going to purchase from China....yes I know some things are taking a while due to strike....but as of today some of those listings now say "Does not ship to Canada". And some of the items that were free shipping now have crazy shipping quotes. For example a pair of earrings for $2.00 with free shipping now says $150.00 shipping cost!!! What!!!!

Did all my favorite sellers just stop shipping to Canada because of the strike? Have they(China) been told to stop shipping to Canada? Anybody else notice this with the items they are watching?

I just bought something yesterday and the seller sent me an email saying it's out of stock. No it's not! But now when I go into the listing....same thing...they've changed their shipping to Does not ship to Canada.

Canada Post has ruined my Christmas the last two years as a seller on ebay and business owner. And now it's looks like they're gonna do it again with my sales and the items I can buy. Unbelievable.

[tyler@ebay]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

@greatlakes52013

ebay needs to send out a notice to all china sellers and all other country sellers that the Canada postal strike is now over and ended.

This is a member to member Board, but tyler@ebay  holds a Discussion Board on Wednesdays.

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Thanks for the tag @femmefan1946!

Hi @greatlakes52013 - while the strike is definitely over, I'm not certain that Canada Post has allowed for the shipment of international mail since they asked them to stop mid-November (but that may just be less newsworthy).

When I check their website, it looks like they do say that international items are expected, though a delay into March of 2019 is anticipated. Based on that, I can see why some sellers from other countries aren't planning on shipping to Canada any time soon.

Either way, we communicated the end of the strike with members via email messaging, so it sounds like the members you're working with have made a business decision to not ship to Canada for the time being. 

[greatlakes52013]

Unfortunately not, when I communicate with the sellers they are surprised and quickly change the shipping back with the option to send to Canada - so it's definitely not a business decision to close off their one of their markets. I think it more that any message sent by ebay wasn't in their native tongue... or wasn't done at all. I mean nobody I know received any sort of notice from ebay re: the Canada post end of strike. And the strike is over seeing as I've received mail the past number of days and it's been publicized widely in Canada with the government mandating back to work legislation. I wish ebay would make more efforts to communicate cross culturally across their platform.

[zee-chan]

The from-China necklace and earrings I bought on Oct 26 were delivered today! Exactly 6 weeks and given the CP strike, I'm actually impressed! Though I think they likely misdelivered to my neighbour's mailbox instead, because they were left in front of my door (someone rang the doorbell earlier but I was in the bathroom).

They had a ship from address at Brunei and Kyrgyzstan. I have never heard of these two countries until today 

[femmefan1946]

Brunei is one of the richest countries in the world. And an absolute monarchy.

[zee-chan]

I'm just curious if those Chinese sellers actually have a warehouse in those countries for mail that's bounced back due to undeliverable address, or if the address on the package is even real lol. I still think my items are physically shipped from China but simply had a different shipped-from address...

[stanguay1978]

Look like "free shipping" from China is coming to an end!

I've come across this on the Globe and Mail:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canada-post-phasing-out-controversial-shipping-di...

 It's sad but I can understand that Canadians sellers (or businesses) being clearly unable to be price competitive with "China state-subsidized" untracked shipping!

Well, the ride was great while it lasted... 

[ypdc_dennis]

That's an article from last year. China Post international prices did increase at the start of 2018, with more increases expected over the next 2 years.

...

As for "free" shipping -- even China has never had free shipping.

China has had really cheap mail, which made including the ship cost in the item price easy for Chinese sellers.

Opinion: China Post is small seller friendly versus Canada Post being big seller friendly.

-..-

[femmefan1946]

That's part of the ongoing UPU treaty negotiations that have persuaded China Post to give up its 'developing country' status and the low UPU transfer fees such countries get.

Prices to Chinese sellers will continue to rise until 2021.

I expect to see a lot of Chinese sellers shipping from countries that still are (properly) able to charge the 'developing country' rates.

Shopping for cheap shipping is not confined to China. We get a lot of stamp auction catalogues from British firms who ship from Malta, for much the same reason.

[3islanders]

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tyler@ebay wrote:

Either way, we communicated the end of the strike with members via email messaging, so it sounds like the members you're working with have made a business decision to not ship to Canada for the time being. 

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Has the end of the strike been communicated to postal services, not just members?  Maybe this is Canada Post's job, but does eBay have any connections?  I was looking around Aliexpress last night; previously loads of free-shipping items.  Now most say "does not ship to Canada" or offer $147 DHL shipping on $5 items.  There was a blurb at the top of the page that China Post has suspended delivery to Canada.  Apparently they haven't been notified? or just have decided not to resume shipping yet?

[momcqueen]

It's Canada Post's call on that, and given they're forecasting March of 2019 delivery for international mail they already have in possession, I'm not certain they want more. If you feel strongly about it, call Canada Post. Their 1-800-number is listed on their website, or you can tweet them. 

[momcqueen]

The embargo was lifted by Canada Post on Nov 27, I have now read. The sellers not shipping to Canada are now doing so by choice, as they are probably concerned about the publicized delays in delivery affected their rates of Item Not Received and rightly so.