WHAT'S WITH THE HIGH SHIPPING RATES FROM US?

[thebarterersdog]

I'm sure it's on a board somewhere but why have all the shipping gone up drastically by US sellers? Just saw an item lot 3.99 item, 59.99 shipping.... it was jewelry and not a lot of it.

[reallynicestamps]

Zombie thread but:

How do people sell things with shipping fees of only six dollars, eight dollars, when the post office is telling me it's going to cost me $12 or more to ship the same thing?  I don't get it.

• They may be using Calculated Shipping, which gives the correct rate from their zipcode to your zipcode. Parcel rates are based on dimensions, weight and destination. You were looking at Flat Rate costs to a single zipcode.
• They are buying Paypal shipping labels. I don't know about the USPS/Paypal pricing agreement, but here in Canada we get between 5% and 17% off PO counter rates by buying and printing our parcels at home.
• They may (but this is rare) be buying mint postage stamps at a discount from a local or eBay stamp dealer. I don't have much supply at the moment, but my normal price on postage is 20% off PO counter rates including taxes and shipping.

If they are using Flat Rate or Free Shipping, the shipping cost is included in the asking price. Look at the total the customer pays, not how it is made up.

Which is cheapest?

A $5 item with $10 shipping?

A $10 item with $5 shipping?

A $15 item with Free Shipping?

There are a lot of things offered on eBay that are just not suitable for mail order.

Very cheap items that sell one* at a time like 99cent sportscards or very bulky or fragile items like lead crystal vases for example.

American sellers also may be able to use Media Mail, which is slow and restrictive, but cheap.

There is also the entire "you don't need tracking if you use Cookie Jar Insurance' argument but that's for another late night. Over cocoa.

*Scrapbooking supplies sell cheap, but sellers seem usually to make multiple sales, reducing costs.

[neilly818]

Looked for a battery for my watch, found a good deal , 2 batterys $5.00 + $53.00 shipping . Texas to Ontario Canada. 53 bucks to ship little watch batterys to Canada,  **bleep**....?

[cooltoycars]

I was recently going to purchase four diecast cars from a US seller and asked for a combined shipping rate. The sellers response was that he had no idea how to determine the shipping as he used the "Shipping Calculator" provided by Ebay.com. I suggested that he simply add $1.00 per additional car, as I do, and it would be more than enough. The sellers response was that he couldn't do it. What an idiot! He lost a good sale because he was too stupid to even try to use his brain!

The WORST is this complete rip-off service called the Global Shipping Program. I WILL NOT BUY FROM ANY SELLER WHO USES THAT PROGRAM AS IT IS A SCAM THAT TRIPLES THE SHIPPING RATE TO CANADA!

[ypdc_dennis]

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@cooltoycars wrote:
The WORST is this complete rip-off service called the Global Shipping Program. I WILL NOT BUY FROM ANY SELLER WHO USES THAT PROGRAM AS IT IS A SCAM THAT TRIPLES THE SHIPPING RATE TO CANADA!

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The good old smuggler's lament...

GSP increases the cost of importing, not because of higher shipping, but by including tax collection and handling fees as part of the purchase.

-..-

I don't buy from sellers using GSP, but I do know what GSP actually does, and it's not a scam or rip-off. I prefer dealing directly with a seller since I don't trust GSP not to damage the order when it passes through their hands.

-..-

[cherywait_0]

Many people are gonna stop buying off eBay. It's that simple. Too bad so sad. I was gonna do alot of Christmas shopping on there but not now. They can shuv there outrageous shipping costs up their ***!!!! >_<

[jim7239]

Have you ever noticed two identical ads on eBay for the same item coming from the same place and ones $29.99 plus $10 shipping and the other ones $21.99 plus $18 shipping , what people see is this ones cheaper and they don't take the cost of shipping as adding to the value of the item. Here's the problem that I'm having right now, I recently bid on an item on eBay and the buyer accepted my bid so I agreed to pay for it, now here's the problem ,his original ad listed in Canadian funds a cost for shipping at $13.61 ,if you look at an ad and it has a C before the price that's to let you know it's Canadian funds ok so when I clicked on pay for this item the page that came up detailing the cost of the item and the shipping charges are listed and that's when I noticed that the shipping charge almost doubled from $13.61 to $24.99 both were listed as Canadian funds and that's not all, when I went to paypal to pay for it ,it then shows the total price in U.S funds and off to the side it shows the exchange rate from U.S to Canadian and when I calculated it they were charging me more then the listed going rate.

[i.am.vivian]

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@jim7239 wrote:
Have you ever noticed two identical ads on eBay for the same item coming from the same place and ones $29.99 plus $10 shipping and the other ones $21.99 plus $18 shipping , what people see is this ones cheaper and they don't take the cost of shipping as adding to the value of the item. Here's the problem that I'm having right now, I recently bid on an item on eBay and the buyer accepted my bid so I agreed to pay for it, now here's the problem ,his original ad listed in Canadian funds a cost for shipping at $13.61 ,if you look at an ad and it has a C before the price that's to let you know it's Canadian funds ok so when I clicked on pay for this item the page that came up detailing the cost of the item and the shipping charges are listed and that's when I noticed that the shipping charge almost doubled from $13.61 to $24.99 both were listed as Canadian funds and that's not all, when I went to paypal to pay for it ,it then shows the total price in U.S funds and off to the side it shows the exchange rate from U.S to Canadian and when I calculated it they were charging me more then the listed going rate.

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The C does not necessarily mean it is listed in Canadian funds, it could be the translation from a different currency but presented in CDN to viewers on dotCA.  I am thinking this is either a GSP item or the seller offered different shipping services and somehow you chose the faster but more expensive one. 

People used to be able to post item numbers on these boards and other members could look at a listing and really offer some useful help.  In the last few years people trying to get help by showing an item # get it removed and a reprimand most of the time so I wouldn't want that to happen to you. 

There is absolutely nothing in the content & usage policies that forbids a user saying exactly what the item itself was, the listed price and the exact date and time it sold.  That would assist other members in finding it and then they could find the problem and help you sort it out. 

Without posting seller IDs or item #s, can you say what it was, what the item location is on the listing, and when it sold?

[Anonymous]

Some sellers are registered with Canada Post to get fantastic lower rates, that is only how many parcels/packages per year which approved by Canada Post.

[83bj60]

It's just as valid today, if not more. I haven't purchased anything in the US for years now, unless I had no choice and got some Vaseline to be ready for the pain. Yesterday, item a laptop cable, $6.95, can't be found anywhere else after googling for three days. Less than one ounce, fits in a letter envelope. FORTY TWO FREAKING US DOLLARS for shipping.

Asked why, answered the usual bull**bleep** about brokerage, customs and taxes (Not only was it blatantly wrong, but they had the gall of pretending THEY would be paying it).

Advice to US sellers: we're not as dumb as your average Murican. At least have the decency to tell us you don't like selling to foreigners instead of insulting us with your bull**bleep**.

And they wonder why people hate them so much.

[hlmacdon]

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@83bj60 wrote:

Advice to US sellers: we're not as dumb as your average Murican. At least have the decency to tell us you don't like selling to foreigners instead of insulting us with your bull**bleep**.

And they wonder why people hate them so much.

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I would imagine European buyers who deal with Canadian sellers who will only ship via Tracked Packet feel the same way. Some sellers just plain don't understand international shipping and that is all there is to it.

[reallynicestamps]

ZOMBIE THREAD

from 2013

[tyler@ebay]

Hey everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began I have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread!