Need help with shipping to Eorope, Britain,etc

[rocky_point_tile]

Hi folks

It's my first time posting in the forum and I'm hoping someone might be able to offer some help. I've noticed some of my competitors are offering shipping to Europe, Britain, and Australia. We sell glass tiles. The boxes are quite large. For example a typical box could weigh around 35 lbs and is 17" x 16"x 7" in size. Definitely not shipping t-shirts at these weights.

My competirors shipping rates on comparable weights are around $35 - $40.00. 

If anyone could offer some direction it would be appreciated!

Thanks

[pierrelebel]

"My competirors shipping rates on comparable weights are around $35 - $40.00. "

Are your competitors Canadians or Americans?

What carrier and specific shipping service do they offer in their listings?

[triber]

Shipping to the UK and Europe is VERY expensive, especially if you want to insure it. I had to stop selling all packages last January to these countries when the shipping costs went up so much. I now only offer shipping using letter mail.

[rocky_point_tile]

These are American comps plus one Canadian. The shipping level offered is listed as International Priority Shipping. 

We can get a cross border courier to take our mail into the USA if we need to in order to access lower rates.

Thanks for any help

[pierrelebel]

"We can get a cross border courier to take our mail into the USA if we need to in order to access lower rates."

That may be the only competitive way of doing it.  USPS is generally much cheaper than Canada Post for shipping large parcels overseas.

The question is: is it worth it?  Is there enough business in Europe and the UK to warrant the extra trouble?

[rocky_point_tile]

Hi pierre
It's a good question and the only way to find out is to have a try at it first and see if it generates some extra $$$. I do use USPS quite a bit and the rates in the domestic USA are good. However, the posted rates online for my weights are up over $120.00 per box. This is what has me scratching my head. I'm sure these comps are subsidizing part of the cost. However, even if they are eating $80.00 a box they would not break even regardless of where they buy their inventory from.

[pierrelebel]

Unfortunately it is no longer possible to determine where a seller sells through feedback.

In the "good old days" one could spend a few minutes, check the country where buyers leaving (or receiving)  feedback were located to get a quick understanding of a seller's marketplace.

Maybe your competitors simply do not actually sell overseas despite offering low shipping costs.

The only way to find out is to offer low shipping costs and see if it attracts overseas customers. 

Same question: is it worth it?

[rocky_point_tile]

Pierre
I thought about this, but at the same time they risk negative feedback if they turn around and tell the customer they can't ship after the transaction is completed. 

Thanks for your help though!

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@pierrelebel wrote:

Unfortunately it is no longer possible to determine where a seller sells through feedback.

In the "good old days" one could spend a few minutes, check the country where buyers leaving (or receiving)  feedback were located to get a quick understanding of a seller's marketplace.

Maybe your competitors simply do not actually sell overseas despite offering low shipping costs.

The only way to find out is to offer low shipping costs and see if it attracts overseas customers. 

Same question: is it worth it?

---

[mr.elmwood]

Well, I plugged those numbers into usps.com and got results of $125-$154 US $ per box. There is no way they are eating $100 in shipping costs. There is something else at play.

You are making a fundamental error: " regardless of where they buy their inventory from". A good seller does not "buy" inventory, they acquire it. On average, over the years, I acquired my inventory at a cost of $7 per my realized retail of $100. Some of your competition is not paying anything for their inventory.

[rocky_point_tile]

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@mr.elmwood wrote:

Well, I plugged those numbers into usps.com and got results of $125-$154 US $ per box. There is no way they are eating $100 in shipping costs. There is something else at play.

You are making a fundamental error: " regardless of where they buy their inventory from". A good seller does not "buy" inventory, they acquire it. On average, over the years, I acquired my inventory at a cost of $7 per my realized retail of $100. Some of your competition is not paying anything for their inventory.

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Mr Elmwood

They just might be getting it for free! They would have to be to pull it off at those rates.

Cheers

[pjcdn2005]

The shipping level offered is listed as International Priority Shipping.

On ebay if the shipping term listed is International Priority Shipping the item has been listed through the Global Shipping Program (GSP) The term isn't for any one particular service as they use different services in different countries.  The GSP often has less expensive shipping for heavier items. I imagine that is because they receive a bulk discount.

If you meant that the listings specificy "USPS Priority Mail International" then those sellers are not using the GSP.

[mr.elmwood]

Pj, there is still a huge gap between $40 and a $120.

OP, do ya have a fer instance that we could look at?

[rocky_point_tile]

I agree!

I get some very steep discounts with a couple of service providers. Even with those relationships they can't touch that kind of rate. 

[pierrelebel]

I think PJ is right.

rocky_point_tile

check a few of your American competitors with that $40 rate to UK and/or Europe.  Are they offering ...

(you know they offer GSP if you see "import charge" under the price in the listing).

[pjcdn2005]

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_clu=2&_fcid=3&_localstpos=&_stpos=&gbr=1&_nkw=glas...

[rocky_point_tile]

It does show import charge at an amount of $0.00 estimated in the shipping details.

[rocky_point_tile]

By the way, thanks everyone for the help!

[mr.elmwood]

I still don't get it. Most of those are from the same seller with a FB 232000. No way can they ship air for half of what a flat rate box is under 20#.

Larger ones they are charging 1/3 to 1/4 quarter of what USPS is showing. That makes no sense.

[rocky_point_tile]

I just found this in one of the sellers listings....

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html#paymentsplit

[pjcdn2005]

The gsp does not use USPS. They probably ship out hundreds of parcels a day so I imagine that they do receive some very good discounts from the carriers that they do use. It's also possible that the sellers are not providing the correct dimensions or weight in their listings although I would think that PB would eventually notice that.