Shipping costs

[cardcollector984]

Hey guys. I am looking to start selling my sports cards on eBay. Up until now I always sold in Facebook sports card groups. I buy bubble mailers from stores and then ship them at Canada post for about 2 bucks with tax. When I make a post on eBay I notice I have to get my dimensions of the package correct and have a bunch of different shipping options. On my first post I thought I accurately described the dimensions - but when the item sold my options for shipping started at 16 bucks for Canada post letter mail. Can someone walk me through the correct measurements / shipping I should select so that I can charge buyers 2-3 $ shipping instead of 15?

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

-Under my eBay, click on the 'listings' tab. 

-Click on the tab to the bottom left of the screen that says 'business policies'

-Click 'Create Policy' and select 'Shipping' from the drop down menu.

-Under domestic shipping, there is a drop down menu. Choose Flat: Same Cost To All Buyers.

-Under the drop down menu, you can choose your shipping service. You can also set a cost to the right of the service. 

-Important: I would highly suggest using Economy Shipping (1 to 15 business days) instead of Canada Post Lettermail (2 to 6 business days).

-You can still send using lettermail, but this means that your buyers get a more realistic time frame since lettermail does take longer than 2 to 6 business days. It will ensure that you don't have buyers opening Item Not Received cases because their item didn't come in time. 

-Save the shipping policy, and exit.

Once you do this, you do not have to follow these steps each time you list an item. You can just select the shipping policy. Alternatively, if you plan to use this same shipping policy for every item, you can set it as your default policy so that everything you list automatically uses this policy. 

[reallynicestamps]

Canada Post went metric in 1974. Any other measurement system will give you errors.

You cannot buy LetterPost online. You can buy stamps or labels at the post office and discounted mint stamps on eBay.

What you saw was a Tracked Parcel rate.

Registration for tracking on higher value shipments ONLY works in Canada, if you have to ship to the US or overseas, use Tracked Packet.

Small Packet USA is not tracked, but if you enter the invoice number, sometimes the system is fooled.

[byto253]

If you are in a location that has it, check out Chitchats express for tracked shipping to the US at much lower shipping rates for light items such as cards.  e.g. Tracked packet with a Canada Post SBS discount of 5% is around $14, Chitchats will be $5 to $6 and likely faster.

Lettermail is ok for lower value ones where the hit for an occaisional item not received case is not to bad, but tracked is better to protect yourself.  

[reallynicestamps]

If you use LetterMail, you have to build in a little Cookie Jar Insurance for the occasional report of  non-delivery.

And you have to know your emotional level of acceptance for those losses.
No Returns is not No Refunds.

If you cannot prove delivery, you will be refunding.

BUT

Most people are honest and most sellers report a one percent or usually less annual loss to Failed Transactions, including this sort of "shoptheft".

CJI just means putting a few pennies from every sale into a virtual Cookie Jar for the eventual inevitable Claim.  Some sellers have so few claims that they consider the Cookie Jar a profit centre.

[recped]

I've shipped several thousand items via Lettermail in Canada, never had an INR or even a inquiry about a missing/late delivery.

It's rare to have delivery take longer than 5 days and 3 (business) days is pretty normal to any major centre in Canada (shipping from Toronto).

Why even worry about it given that the OP is sending out low value trading cards where the only alternative service would cost $10 - $15 and simply isn't feasible.

[reallynicestamps]

If you are selling a card for $2 (or a lot of 10 cards for $20) then you paid much less for each card.

When you have to refund, the procurement cost, not the selling price is what you lose.

Mind you, your costs also include any eBay fees that are not refunded, plus your time. (I use the BC minimum wage of 25c a minute to reckon the value of my time.)

[rocketscollectibles]

On my first post I thought I accurately described the dimensions - but when the item sold my options for shipping started at 16 bucks for Canada post letter mail //

You are not forced to buy a shipping label from eBay, its just an option. If you selected lettermail and charge a flat rate to the buyer, you do what i guess you used to do, you ship with a stamp. And after you can go mark your order as shipped manually

Dimensions on listings are kinda useless if you charge a flat rate. They just need to be accurate when you offer the calculated shipping option, then the buyer can pay the right price for shipping

[teenytrinkets]

For lower-cost cards, you should definitely just send lettermail.

For any cards that are collectible-worthy, or for larger lots, you can add $9.75 (for Canada anyway) to the lettermail rate to send registered. This will give you a tracking number, and insurance (although I believe no insurance to the US). It's the cheapest way to get a tracking number directly with Canada Post.

I agree ChitChats is the way to go for US sales, if you have one near you.

I would select "Economy Shipping " 1-15 days for your listings to ensure you give your lettermail packages enough time to arrive. I also believe this discourages scammers that are repeat INRers because they'd have to wait 3 weeks to open a dispute. 😉

[reallynicestamps]

@teenytrinkets 

You are talking about Registered Mail, which is tracked within Canada but not necessarily outside our borders.

You can't buy Registration online either, you have to go to the PO for that.

Generally if you include manhours at $15 an hour minimum wage, Registration is probably the same cost (if not the same price) as Expedited.  And we get a tiny discount on Expedited with our Solutions for Small Business number.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/business/small-business.page?

[teenytrinkets]

@reallynicestamps

Yeah, registered won't work for everyone, but it's wonderful for me and my more expensive Canadian shipments ! I'm at the post office 3 times per week, so no added man hours for me, either. These days it saves me at least $7 when I ship out east. It's a great option to have, all things considered!

[regs43]

Registered is cheaper all around if mailing a single sportscard with tracking and its uner 100g, even with my Level 2 solutions discount. For my Zone the cheapest I get with expedited is

Ottawa to Toronto area postal code
10.50 base rate after discount regular 12.53
1.94 fuel surcharge
1.62 tax for ON aka HST
14.06 Total

If I register its

1.94 stamps for under 100g resigtered
9.75 register fee
1.52 tax HST on the total
13.21 Total

Well worth my time to wait in line and I go 5 days a week anyhow. This is the closest zone example and only gets worse the farther the item needs to go!

When things are over 100g I usually just print a label since the label is about the same price usually maybe cheaper if its close to me, otherwise I always mail registered under 100g, that fuel surcharge is a killer!

At 100-200g I do more price figuring and see what worth my time then.

USA I just print a label for tracked packet, its like 12.41 for a single sports card off the top of my head

[byto253]

Are you anywhere near a Chitchats drop off spot?  I was just checking a 100gram shipment from Ottawa to Vancouver and tracked it is $9.30 all in.   And to the US it is about $5 to $6 tracked.  

[regs43]

Closest in Ottawa is a 20-25 minute drive each way, so not worth it. My post office is a block from my house.

Also I only generally track stuff when its like $80 or more, and I'll choose to eat a bit on shipping in those times with a bit extra built in all around.