canada post rates and ebay calculated shipping

[kitschnvintage]

Yesterday I had an auction end, shipping costs $17.55 invoiced to buyer. Today the Canada Post fuel surcharge rate increase went into effect ( the first Monday of every month it changes , could be up or down, but it's the first Monday of every month which I did not know) so when I went to the post office to mail the box the cost was $17.60 - not a huge increase but it made me wonder if anyone knows .... when you list an item on ebay , whether it is an auction format or store format , are the shipping costs "locked in" based on the rates of the day you have listed the item ... or if your listing goes on long enough will the calculated shipping rates fluctuate in real time with the Canada Post rates? 

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

I would say that it based on real time but if you want to check, go to that listing today, enter their postal code/zip and country in the shipping tab and see what rate it gives you today.

If you had printed your label through PayPal shipping and used expedited parcel you would have paid about 18% less and about 14% less ffor tracked packet USA.  eBay sellers get a discount there....easier and less expensive than paying at the p.o.  The extra saved should pay for your packaging costs and perhaps some of your eBay fees.  Or...you can pass the discount on to your buyers by setting that up in your account. -- shipping preferences

[kitschnvintage]

Ah yes , checked the other fixed price listings and they show the new rate ... I wonder if  it was a live auction though, someone bids when shipping costs are XX and when they win the auction they are invoiced a higher amount because the Canada Post rates just happened to go up ... that could be a little annoying. 

[esclyons]

keep in mind if you are billing actual shipping costs you are losing money.. as ebay and paypal fees take there cut of shipping fees as well.

[kitschnvintage]

Yes I know.... If I was a full time seller trying to actually support myself with an ebay business I would really have to rethink all of the shipping strategies ( costs, supplies time etc etc). A s a person just trying to downsize my collection and a get a reasonable-ish-ish return back on my "investment"  then I'm ok with taking the bit of a hit with the ebay and paypal fees ... I think Buyers appreciate seeing that they've paid "exactly" (or less if possible) what it cost to ship when they are footing the bill. I know as a Buyer I watch shipping charges like a hawk ... 50 cents extra might not seem like much but if you have bought 2849 things x 50 cents extra ... that's a lot of other things you could have bought 🙂 

I'll try the paypal labels ... the one time I tried my computer settings wouldn't allow the window to open ... security issue thing ... ha

[pjcdn2005]

You may need to go in to your browser settings in order to 'permit' that page to open. You should only have to do it once.

[pocomocomputing]

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@themodernowl wrote:

Yes I know.... If I was a full time seller trying to actually support myself with an ebay business I would really have to rethink all of the shipping strategies ( costs, supplies time etc etc). A s a person just trying to downsize my collection and a get a reasonable-ish-ish return back on my "investment"  then I'm ok with taking the bit of a hit with the ebay and paypal fees ... I think Buyers appreciate seeing that they've paid "exactly" (or less if possible) what it cost to ship when they are footing the bill. I know as a Buyer I watch shipping charges like a hawk ... 50 cents extra might not seem like much but if you have bought 2849 things x 50 cents extra ... that's a lot of other things you could have bought 🙂 

I'll try the paypal labels ... the one time I tried my computer settings wouldn't allow the window to open ... security issue thing ... ha

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PayPal shipping labels tries to open a popup once you have filled in all the information and want to print the label. Most browser have popup blockers and will block the PayPal popup since they think it is a threat. Somewhere on the screen you will see a message or a counter showing a popup was blocked. If you click on it, it will let you allow popups from that site and remember it when you use PayPal labels again.

I think the first time you do a label, it is blocked and you have to allow it after but you lose that first label to the blocker and you have to go to PayPal to reprint the label and it will work then. Don't create another label by repeating the whole PayPal shipping label process. Go to the reprint for the label you just created. I did this on a new computer last year and only once so it it hard to remember exactly how it worked.

So you will have to think a bit on what to do. Try to be methodical and keep track of what you do and post back how it goes for others to know what happens.