Any news when is ebay going to merge the US and Canada rate shipping calculators?

[itolduandso]

Shipping rates across Canada soared recently. Shipping to remote coast areas north of Québec for something as heavy as 3 kilogram costs now about 60-70 CAD. This is more than a double the rate it takes to ship same item anywhere Alberta which would cost me about 30 CAD, all while the disctance to anywhere in Alberta is more than double the distance to north of Québec from where I ship from.

I understand this is because of fuel surgarge which is more for distance plus there are things like destinations that do not have any major train route, airport or even any highway or only route transport etc..

Recently I sold something without knowing the rates went up. So I ended up paying the buyer to purchase my item. The total cost of the item plus my estimated shipping was way below what the shipping costs. So I had to pay more money on top of everything to get it shipped.

I sell mostly to US so I am set up on Ebay.com site because I want US dollars.

The issue is Ebay is promoting the idea of free shipping, suggesting sellers who offer free shipping sell more and buyers buy more and bla bla bla... Yes, okay, buyers know the trick, but free shipping trick does work to certain extend. Offering an item for 40 dollars with free shipping is generally better than offering item for 20 dollars and 20 dollar shipping. 

The issue is how on earth am I going to know how much shipping do I need to add to the item seller price to be able to make a profit without ending up with licking my wounds.

Free shipping used to work even a year ago before the rates went through the roof. So I used it quite a bit without making losses. Now with shipping charges being so drastically different across Canada. 

Ebay shipping calculator is pretty much useless when it comes to that because Ebay.CA site is setup for Canada and the US version of the calculator is setup for the US.

If I was going to do 2 listings of the same item, one on Canadian ebay and one on US Ebay, then I am quite certain Ebay will shut me down because I am double listing. But how are sellers supposed to setup the rate calculators now for both Canada and US if we need to set different rates for different regions. 

Ebay is moving so slowly with any updates and changes to the site. It's been years and still the rate calcualtors haven't seen any updates of any sort. 

I don't use Ebay.CA US Shipping calculator because if I do, I would have done no single sale this year. For the items I sell ebay shipping rates from Canada to US were nuts, at least that's what I have seen last time. 

As I said, I prefer to use free shipping, when I can. I rather offere free shipping and some sort of surcharge for urban areas.  Regardless, even if I use calculated shipping on ebay, I can't setup both for Canada and US in the same rate calculator. 

Ebay seller support is a total disgrace to sellers. I say a disgrace because it's not just the website, the mobile app is just as awfully behind if not more when it comes to seller support.

[byto253]

I don't see that changing as the .com site provided for calculated shipping out of the US with a US carrier and .ca for out of Canada and a Canadian carrier.

[recped]

I really can't make any sense of your main post so I'll stick with your Title question.

Any news when is ebay going to merge the US and Canada rate shipping calculators?

My guess is NEVER.

[flipistics]

The rates shouldn't be THAT high (I don't think). Get a Canada Post Solutions for Small Business membership, which will give you a level 1 discount initially. If you're in a rural area, you'll also get 20% off the level 1 rates until the end of the year as a special promotion. If you aren't in a rural area (and it sounds like you probably have access to a cross border shipper), the cross border shipper may offer domestic service as well at a steep discount.  Also, try to use the flat rate boxes when you can (assuming they're cheaper for you) and even the flat rate regional bubble mailers.

To the point you were making though, I think there's a small chance it might actually happen. eBay currently has a tax problem with Canadians who sell on the US site and ship in Canada, and that's absolutely a solution that might fix it. Make sure you mention it on the monthly Q&A post. Squeaky wheels and all that.

[pjcdn2005]

I doubt that the Canadian calculator will ever be on both sites.  if you want to use the calculator just for Canadians you can list on .ca and ship just to Canada. Then on .com you can have the the same listing without shipping to Canada. 

[itolduandso]

Here are discounted Canada Post rates I am getting on my Canada Post account:

2nd column is HANNA, Alberta, T0J 1P0, Canada

3rd column is KANGIQSUJUAQ, Quebec, J0M 1K0, Canada 

The differencial gets larger with size of the package. I am only listing here a few sizes.

The 1st column is weight in grams and the combined size in inches (L+W+H)

[itolduandso]

I was merely providing the background to my question, exactly to avoid the following types of responses:

1. why you don't use ebay calculator

2. why you don't use ebay shipping method

3. why you don't use Ebay.CA for your Canadian listings

The response to why the 3 options don't work for me is in the long post (sorry for not having been more clear).

Yes, the question that matters is in the Title. Thanks for providing your opinion.

[itolduandso]

Is this safe to do? 

Should I get from ebay in writing they will be okay with that 2 accounts posting same item to different markets.  All I read about is you can't douple post. The ebay bots are pretty stupid when it comes to that. Getting 2 strike will land me on the probation and getting another one will suspend me for good. 

[recped · Accepted solution]

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@itolduandso wrote:

Is this safe to do? 

Should I get from ebay in writing they will be okay with that 2 accounts posting same item to different markets.  All I read about is you can't douple post. The ebay bots are pretty stupid when it comes to that. Getting 2 strike will land me on the probation and getting another one will suspend me for good. 

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Here's the "writing"

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/listing-policies/duplicate-listings-policy?id=4255

You don't even need a second ID (same rules apply if you do).

A .com listing that does not ship to Canada and a .ca listing of the same item that only ships to Canada complies with the policy.

[itolduandso]

Okay, that helps. Thank you.

[byto253]

Ah, so basically for .com do not offer shipping to Canada, and vice versus, for .ca don't offer shipping to the US.   

[recped]

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@itolduandso wrote:

Okay, that helps. Thank you.

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Another thing you might look at for Canada is the Flat Rate Shipping Tables. Found in Site Preferences -> Shipping preferences.

https://www.ebay.ca/ship/rt

I'm not sure if it functions for a Canadian account listing on .com but it might. With the tables you can specify flat rate shipping rates by general location.

[reallynicestamps]

Recently I sold something without knowing the rates went up. So I ended up paying the buyer to purchase my item. The total cost of the item plus my estimated shipping was way below what the shipping costs. So I had to pay more money on top of everything to get it shipped.

If you have something bulky and heavy, you need to use Calculated Shipping.

And you can only accesss Calculated Shipping from dotCA.

If you make your listing available to both Canada and the USA on dotCA, both Canadian and American customers will see the cost of shipping to their doorstep.

I don't use Ebay.CA US Shipping calculator because if I do, I would have done no single sale this year. For the items I sell ebay shipping rates from Canada to US were nuts, at least that's what I have seen last time.

Yes.

But you still have to pay them to ship to the USA.  So you may as well let the customer know the true cost of shipping.

Or you will lose money on every sale

I prefer to use free shipping, when I can.

Free Shipping is not free.

It is a subset of Flat Rate Shipping.

In this case the Flat Rate is $0.00.

And you have folded the cost of shipping into your asking price.

Which is cheaper :

A $10 item with $5 shipping?

A $15 item with Free Shipping?

Which will attract more customers?
General opinion is that Free Shipping will override the higher asking price. It's emotional not logical.

You are not allowed to charge your buyer more for shipping than you advertise. On the other hand, Best Offers do not include the advertised shipping cost.

When you use Calculated Shipping all your problems with urban, isolated, and foreign addresses disappear.

ebay shipping rates from Canada to US were nuts, at least that's what I have seen last time.

EBay shipping rates, if you have a Solutions for Small Business card, are the same or lower than Canada Post rates.

Because eBay is passing their discounts on to those sellers who use their shipping labels. You can also use SnapShip and Shippo to get the same rates , but you will need that SfSB account for any of them.

Here are the current rates:

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/information/app/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

If you are in a major city, you may be able to use a freight forwarding service to ship your packages to the USA and put them into the cheaper USPS mailstream.

The one most mentioned (and happily) here is chitchatexpress and a smaller company is Stallion Express.

I don't use these myself since the closest chitchat is in Langford BC, over an hour of driving from my home.

[reallynicestamps]

If you are able to register with a US address and a US bank account on dotCOM, you would also be reporting to the IRS for money earned in the USA.

At the moment there is a bid todo on the dotCOM Boards because eBay is required to send income tax forms to any seller who receives more than $600US in payments.

[reallynicestamps]

bid todo = big to do

[itolduandso]

Canadian sellers with residencial address in Canada selling on Ebay.com in US dollars excempt from reporting to IRS, unless of course I use US warehouse or US services to sell my things.  That's aside of any obligations related to sellers who have USA based US bank account, but that is another story.

Yes, free shipping trick does work not only because it is emotional but also because Ebay shows the listings sorted in "best match" by default, unless the buyer saves the setting lowest listing price + shipping, which many buyers don't even know it exists. This setting is not persistent and is gone unless the cookies are preserved or the structured link is saved. It is optically easier for the buyer to see the cheapest price when there is one number than two numbers that need to be counted. If I was going to sell in Ebay.CA, then offering free shipping would make even more sense because otherwise my listing would show converted into something like 164.87 price + 13.52 shipping. Good grief if the buyer has to add these up. 

Buyers like free shipping and Amazon knows it works. Convenience is the catchword and it starts with "con", but that's how consumer likes it.

Yes, I use Chitchats, Stallion  etc... of course. 

You can't use calculated shipping on Ebay for anything for shipping from Canada. Flat rates would work, but I would need separate Canada, US and International. Not possible. On ebay.COM, Canada is together with Intenrational. On Ebay.CA, US is together with International. I can't setup different rules. Can't have say, Canada calculated shipping but International flat on ebay.COM.    I would need to move to Ebay.CA to use Canada calculated and US /International flat.  That would work for me but I prefer US dollars for my US sales. So Ebay.CA doesn't work for me.

It is what it is. I am asking too for too much. 

So I will need to separate listings into Ebay.COM for US and Intenrational and Ebay.CA for Canada only. 

[rosscd57]

Every one knows that there is no such thing as free shipping. Shipping is just buried in the price of the item. They could actually charge more for shipping and who would know. I think Amazon actually does that.

I use only Canada Post and I sell in US dollars, so that helps the shipping cost right there. Then in order to compete with the US sellers shipping fees, I bury  25% of the acutall shipping costs in the purchase price - this usully reduces the appearace of the shipping costs lower than the US competition.

This method of course only works with flat rate shipping.