Details on shipping and handling fees

[mila_2002]

Hello, I need some help or advice. I am trying really hard to reconcile the shipping and handling costs from the eBay calculated costs (Canada Post) and what I really end up paying.

It also appears that the 'handling' cost is not added.

Is there a way to find the actual cost breakdown of the shipping and handling? All I see is one figure and no details.

I have made three sales recently, and I always come up short. Frustrating. Thanks.

[lady.stark]

Do you use flat rate* shipping or calculated on your listings? If you use calculated shipping, the weight you enter on eBay should also include the box/envelope weight and the exact box/envelope size (in cm and grams/kg). Ortherwise, you will always come up short.

*Handling cannot be added to flat rate, that's why I asked.

[reallynicestamps]

You are a buyer?

The seller can add a "handling cost" which covers packaging materials usually, although it may cover insurance or gas money.  It's the seller's choice how much it will be.

The amount of the handling cost is not disclosed to the buyer.

And really, you don't know how much the seller paid for shipping either.

Some sellers get a discount from the  published Canada Post rates by buying with a Solutions for Small Business account with CPO. Some buy discounted postage stamps, saving even more. Some overseas sellers have governments who subsidize export postage heavily.

Basically, the seller's cost is not the business of the buyer. The buyer sees the bottom line, price +shipping.

If the price is too high, don't buy.

If the price is reasonable, buy.

[reallynicestamps]

For a seller, the usual reasons there are differences between the price you think you should be charging the buyer *.

The usual is a problem with measurement.

Are you using metric measures? Canada Post went metric in 1974 and any other will give an inaccurate result.

Is your scale accurate? Bring it with you to the Post Office and weigh your item there on both scales. My scale weighs short by 4 grams. This can make a big difference and I really must replace it**.

When you are shipping with some services the dimensions may not work for some countries. I don't ship parcels often enough to have those numbers in my head, but you can find them here:

https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/kb/details.page?article=how_to_use_find_a_ra&cattype=kb&cat=sending...

*And remember the shipping cost is entirely covered by the buyer not the seller.

Even Free Shipping just means the cost of shipping has been added to the asking price for the item.

Which is cheaper a $10 item with $5 shipping or a $15 item with Free Shipping?

** It's a Starfrit kitchen scale that weighs up to 5 kilos and I bought it a decade ago for under $20 at Canadian Tire.

[reallynicestamps]

From another thread

yp-dc dennis wrote:

The elephant in the room is Volumetric/Dimensional weight. Calculated as L x W x H divided by 6000 (regular) or 5000 (expedited).

1.88 kg for Regular parcel

2.25 kg for Expedited parcel

Small Packet USA (and Tracked Packet USA) does not have a dimensional weight modifier, so is treated as the actual 0.25kg. Parcels to the USA do have the modifier, so Packet for the win.

[esclyons]

I See you are a seller, so when you use calculated shipping, you are always going to be at least 10-15% short, on every item you ship, as eBay and Paypal take their fees from your shipping charges as well.  you need to add a couple of dollars to all your items to pay for those fees..

[reallynicestamps]

True, except that Paypal takes their fee (30c plus 2.5-3.7% of total payment including any US state sales tax) immediately while eBay takes their 10% later, in our monthly bill.

But always a good reminder to keep an eye on costs, even those we don't see immediately.

[mila_2002]

Thank you all for your comments. Just to be clear, in this case, I am the seller and I have been properly using the sizing options for calculation of the shipping costs/options. In my case, I have been using metric sizes. - no confusion there. I have also a Small Business account which provides small savings.

I will explore further, but it appears that eBay is using the estimated shipping cost (Canada Post)  - before taxes - and this is what is showing to the prospective buyers.

Again, not having access to the breakdown of the eBay calculated shipping figure does not make it easy.

Lesson learned in this case, from now on, I will most likely 'overestimate' the shipping cost by oversizing the weight and dimensions. So here is another question: is there somekind of reference table with Canada Post, that shows sizes and weights that I could use to price shipping? Their calculation tool is convenient but there is too much guess work.

Thanks

[ypdc_dennis]

Easy enough for you to check.

Look at one of your listings. See what ebay displays as the calculated shipping cost.

Then go use the Canada Post calculator:

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

to find the actual cost from the postal code you gave ebay as your ship-from-location to the ship-to postal code that ebay has for you.

Are you printing your own labels or are you buying your shipping at your local post office?

Sales tax only applies to shipping in Canada.

[pjcdn2005]

You don’t see a breakdown but if you have a handling cost on your listing, it should be added to the total.  Are you putting the correct dimensions on your listings as that can make a difference.

If the info on the listing is correct,perhaps you could pick one listing and give us the dimensions and weight used,  the receivers postal code or zip code handling cost , which service you used, what the buyer was charged and what you were charged.  Someone may be able to help.  

Unrelated..I wouldn’t bother putting regular parcel in your listings for Canada as it is often more expensive and slower than expedited.  In some of your listing, regular parcel is listed first which means the buyer may be seeing the more expensive postage when they are searching.

edit...when I replied I had missed most of the other answers given so I probably posted info you had already  been given.

[pjcdn2005]

As far as I know the taxes should be included when ebay calculates the shipping.  I rarely use calculated shipping but it is usually fairly accurate so I don’t think it’s a tax problem.  Can someone confirm tgat tax and fuel surcharge is added when eBay calculates tax? Since the information is   from CP I can’t see that not being included.