Postal label thru PayPal showing more or less cost than actually paid - correct when done thru cpc

[lorim9770]

Has anyone noticed that the amount showing on the postage label (generated thru PayPal) is not showing the correct postage paid?  I have seen differences from a few cents to several dollars. This doesn't happen when a label is purchased directly thru CPC via SnapShip.  The difference is not due to tax or other fees, but seems to instead be a random number.  Virtually none of my labels have been accurate for the past few months - doesn't matter if the amount is higher, but when it is several dollars lower, buyers often think they are being fleeced for shipping charges. There doesn't seem to be an option to opt out of the charges being shown on the label, at least for Expedited which many of my goods require due to weight. 

I have contacted both PayPal (who says it is a CPC problem) and CPC (who says it is a PayPal problem). I have started doing my labels through CPC instead of PayPal, but I miss the convenience of using PayPal to directly use the shipping fee paid to pay for the label. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Hello Lorim,

When you are attaching your Paypal label are you including both sections? If you would not like your customer to see the postage paid, it is alright to just include the top half along with any customs forms printed. Hopefully that will help and either Paypal or CPC resolves any issues.

-CM

[ypdc_dennis]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
... When you are attaching your Paypal label are you including both sections? If you would not like your customer to see the postage paid, it is alright to just include the top half along with any customs forms printed.

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For out of country destinations PayPal includes the shipping cost in the "Postage rate" section of the label.

Snap Ship allows that area to be left blank.

Shippo also leaves that area blank.

...

Never seen any paypal label where what I paid was different from what was on the label.

-..-

[ypdc_dennis]

duplicate message deleted

[ypdc_dennis]

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@lorim9770 wrote:

Has anyone noticed that the amount showing on the postage label (generated thru PayPal) is not showing the correct postage paid?  I have seen differences from a few cents to several dollars. ... none of my labels have been accurate for the past few months - doesn't matter if the amount is higher, but when it is several dollars lower, buyers often think they are being fleeced for shipping charges. ...

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Are you saying that amount you paid PayPal for the label does not equal the amount displayed on the label?

If you use Shippo the postage amount is not displayed on the label for the buyer to see, and the money is eventually taken from PayPal (if set up correctly).

-..-

[reallynicestamps]

I don't want my customers to see what I actually paid. It would not conform to the postage showing on the package in any case.

For the simplest example.

If I buy a single stamp in the PO I will pay $1.00 including tax, but the stamps shows a value of 85cents.

If I buy a booklet of ten stamps, it will cost me only $9.60 here in BC with 13% sales tax. Not $10.00.

If you used the discount stamps I sell on eBay, you would pay 68cents (80% of face, no tax) but the stamps would still show a value of 85 cents.

If you used a SnapShip label to send an $8.50 parcel (they don't sell letter rate labels), you would pay $8.07 for the label plus $1.05 tax, and again the tax doesn't show on the label.

Frankly, my costs are none of my customers' business.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

I don't want my customers to see what I actually paid. ...

But many foreign governments do regard it has their business to see the shipping cost for VAT calculations on incoming parcels ...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

I've been using Shippo since last year. Very rarely use Paypal or CPC. As far as I know, if customs does require the postage amount it should display when they scan the label along with any information they may require for processing. 

-CM

[ypdc_dennis]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

I've been using Shippo since last year. Very rarely use Paypal or CPC. As far as I know, if customs does require the postage amount it should display when they scan the label along with any information they may require for processing.

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That's true these days -- but electronic info available with the label is still a rather recent postal change and PayPal's label roots go back to the days when customs clearance only had paper processing (hence postage cost on the label).

[recped]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

I don't want my customers to see what I actually paid. ...

But many foreign governments do regard it has their business to see the shipping cost for VAT calculations on incoming parcels ...

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Which is why you shouldn't show anything, customs in the all countries I'm aware of only include the shipping amount in their tax calculations IF it is known, if it's not known (not shown on the label or on the packing list) they simply ignore and charge taxes only on the declared value.

Over the years I've seen plenty of eBay sellers ship items to Europe (UK especially) that are just "pennies" over the tax free limit and then to make things worse display the postage costs. Buyers in that situation get dinged for crazy amounts of taxes and then these sellers wonder why they have cranky buyers. I'd be cranky too if I had to pay 20% on a £16 item plus 20% on $20 shipping plus a handling charge of £10.

[momcqueen]

My Shippo labels show my Canada Post account number in the Postage Paid Field at top right of the label.

[pjcdn2005]

How does that relate to showing the cost of postage on a label?

[momcqueen]

My Shippo postage labels show NO dollar figure, only my Canada Post account number. Not only at the bottom next to SA but at the top in that place as well that reads ‘postage paid’ in relation to the section that also reads ‘no manifest required’. Is that not the ‘price’ to which users are referring in this post? Upper right-hand corner?

If the post is in reference to the data displayed at the left-hand half-side of the page with sales tax broken down, that’s another story. That section I consider a ‘receipt’. The right half of the postage page is the ‘label’ as in ‘Re: Postal label thru PayPal showing more or less cost than actually paid - correct when done thru c....’ Right? Good. I could show you an example but I’d have to blank all relevant data so as not to reveal sensitive information so it would be a largely pointless screenshot.

[momcqueen]

You will simply have to trust that the seven-digit number that I have obscured was not postage in the amount of $12,345.67. It's my Solutions for Small Business number. There is nowhere on the postage label that shows the buyer what amount I've paid for postage. Ever

[momcqueen]

Or at least not in the year that I've been a customer of Shippo. No cost of postage is shown anywhere to the buyer on my labels. 

[momcqueen]

Therefore, I would suggest that if the discrepancy causes you the OP worry (and I do agree that there would be buyers who may be offended that the amount shown doesn't match what you paid or what they paid) that you might consider using Shippo which doesn't show the cost of postage anywhere to the buyer on the postage label. At least, it doesn't for me. I cannot speak for anyone else's experience with it. But you might want to give it a try on your next international order. My only word of caution is to make sure you are careful with the service you pick, Shippo will always recommend the least costly and if that's untracked Surface Mail, you don't want it. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

In the past, on shipments I've received from the US, very rarely do you see the actual postage a seller paid unless they are one of the few that use stamps or purchase their labels at the post office. And in comparing what I was charged and the actual amount there usually was a "bit of difference" between the 2 amounts. Go figure huh?

-CM

[ypdc_dennis]

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@momcqueen wrote:

You will simply have to trust that the seven-digit number that I have obscured was not postage in the amount of $12,345.67. It's my Solutions for Small Business number. There is nowhere on the postage label that shows the buyer what amount I've paid for postage. Ever

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"Postage Paid" refers to who is paying.

The magic area is "Postage Rate" -- Shippo leaves this blank, PayPal inserts the ship cost here for USA/International.

[momcqueen]

I see, that explains it. Thanks.

[luv4orphans]

I have had the same problem on a few occasions and was wondering why. Its random. Not selling much of anything lately so haven't had that problem.