eBay

sylviebee · ‎08-25-2017

I know I've asked about this several times and always get good help, but for some reason shipping small inexpensive items within Canada always leaves me stumped. My sales of this type are few and the guidelines never feel clear.

The item weighs just under 250 grams and I'm shipping to the next town. It's about 24 by 16 by 4 cm.

Is there a less expensive way to ship than via Expedited at a cost of over $10? There must be a better way?

vintagenorth · ‎08-25-2017

As far as I know, expedited is the cheapest way to ship anything other than Lettermail within Canada. Lettermail or oversized Lettermail can't be over 2 cm thick.

sylviebee · ‎08-25-2017

@vintagenorth wrote:
As far as I know, expedited is the cheapest way to ship anything other than Lettermail within Canada. Lettermail or oversized Lettermail can't be over 2 cm thick.

Thanks. That's what I keep concluding as well It just seems off that I can ship almost anywhere on the planet for less or just a little bit more than I can ship to a town less than 100km from me. Keep thinking there has to be a method of shipping that would work and I'm just able to locate it.

momcqueen · ‎08-25-2017

Unless you're in the mood to take a road trip and drive it by car, I think you're stuck with Expedited Parcel. I am only half-joking, I am sometimes tempted to deliver the locally-shipped items myself. But then you run into the potential for paypal issues if the buyer has paid for shipping and not being able show tracking that says Delivered. Paypal is safe for Local Pickups but the invoice has to clearly state Local Pickup.

fergua3 · ‎08-26-2017

unfortunately, the minimum package charge on even the smallest packages is pretty high, with CP. This creates the situation that I can ship smallish items (eg around the size of a pocket book) to Hawaii or even Australia for much cheaper than I can ship them across the street. It's been like that for a long long time but many Canadian buyers don't understand this and may think they are being gouged by the seller on shipping.

On the bright side, fairly large packages don't cost a heck of a lot more than the small ones via CP, so that's something I guess..

gorillascalesca · ‎08-28-2017

Biggest problem facing Canadian sellers. There really is no solution. We will never be able to compete with the international sellers on small, inexpensive widgets.

momcqueen · ‎08-28-2017

No, we likely will not.

That's when the time comes to really think of ways to add value to your service that compensates for higher postage costs with better service or increased customer satisfaction. If we cannot complete on price, we can on customer service.

wonsxela · ‎08-28-2017

Yeah that's what I do with my Pokemon cards, to work around the high shipping costs. I try to group complementary cards together in the same listings. They would end up farther down the list if one were to search for those cards and sort by price, but overall it makes them look like a better deal because the shipping price is already combined, if that makes sense.

momcqueen · ‎08-28-2017

That does make sense, that's exactly the kind of added value I was talking about.

ypdc_dennis · ‎08-29-2017

@sylviebee wrote:
... The item weighs just under 250 grams and I'm shipping to the next town. It's about 24 by 16 by 4 cm.

Is there a less expensive way to ship than via Expedited at a cost of over $10? There must be a better way?

You'll have to wait until January to see if Lightweight Parcel goes beyond the testing stage for Canada Post.

Lightweight Parcel (concept testing):

Length + width + height is less than 90 cm (no side longer than 41 cm)

Max weight of 500g

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Proof-of-Concept-New-Lightweight-Parcel-Product/m-p/37962...

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