Canada post ruins the ebay experience

[leogexx]

Recently I sold some items on ebay (I try this once a year usually) and with the shipping costs by Canada Post and the ebay fees ,it really doesn't seem to be  worth the time and effort to sell on ebay unless you have small envelope sized items or items you know will fetch a decent price. I find the high cost of Canadian shipping scares customers away or really effects the selling price . I have even had a customer (long time ago ) give me a negative for what the canadapost rates were.

[queen_anatolia]

I am certainly having this issue as a Canadian Seller. A few days ago, I sold a bunch of boy's onesies for $8.99 and $8.00 shipping. The listing was bought and when I went to ship, it turns out that the four onesies weighed over 7 pounds! Bringing the shipping to $12.66! So basically I sold my item for $4.00 approximately AND that is not even counting the 9% Ebay fee and Paypal fee. Which comes down to a loss of money and time for me.

Good learning experience. Now I only sell either things that can only be shipping in an enveloped or things valuable enough that clients will want to pay the CRAZY shipping fees posted by CANADA POST.

[puckstopshere]

Good learning experience

There is the key to the issue for many sellers.  Always know what it is going to cost to ship.  I bought a postal scale.  I was going to buy the shipping template that Canada post sells - but made one myself for a lot less money.   Canadian Tire has the Starfrit scale (up to 3 kgs.) on sale right now for $9.95.  I have owned one for years (and have a spare in the cupboard).  Best investment I ever made. 

Shipping rates can be calculated on line once you know the weight and the dimensions.  Sometimes, you never know hiw many items a customer will buy.  Get some different sized boxes (I get mine at No Frills in the morning - best selection).  Package different quanitites of items and run through the process.  THen you can say.  Shipping for 1 item= X, shipping for two to five items = Y, shipping for five to ten items = Z - for anything over that, message me for a quote.

When I first started out, I would package up the items I was selling, then I would walk to the post office - about a Km away and get my parcels weighed and get a shipping price to 3 diff. destinations - Canada (Newfoundland), the US (just name any state in the lower 48) or Russia (one of the most expensive).  Then, I could quote an accurate shipping rate. 

Selling on eBay is all about education - and it is mostly self taught.  The last time I got caught by charging too little for shipping was 12 years ago.  Never happened since.

[paintingartz]

I know exactly how you feel. I have weighed everything before, posted the weight and dimentions and it still doesn't help. After a recent bad experience, I was told by Ebay and Paypal to use only the service that included a traceable tracking number which the only option is express post. The cost difference? 16.98 VS express 110.00. When u add all the fees, your definately at a loss.When shipping light or sm packet international paypal posts a tracking number, but it acctualy won't track and just shows proof or shipping purchase.I am leaning towards closing my account and go with the free site.:)

[tobyshitzu]

Its true canadapost t ruins e commerce in Canada...But there is no way 4 onesies weighed 7 pounds unless you shipped a brick with them

[puckstopshere]

If you are shipping low cost (or value) items, you cannot provide trackable and traceable mail service.  The cost is outrageous.  This is why I don't get my postage on line.  I go to a Shoppers where the main clerk has been doing Canada Post services for 23 years.  That lady has saved me a bundle.  We have developed a great relationship and she really knows her stuff.  And all the other clerks were trained by her.  Heaven!!!

One has to weigh the value of the item against the shipping cost.  It is meuch easier fot me to write off a low value item and refund the money, than to have the customer pay big money for shipping - and get lousy DSR's because your shipping is too expensive. 

My philosophy - most sellers have their own methods and reasons for doing what they do.  I am not in business to eliminate Canada Post's deficit.  Although, I feel like I ahve helped out.

[puckstopshere]

weighed 7 pounds

Wouldn't be the first time a CP clerk has had something leaning agaisnt the scale.  Get your own scale. 

[pocomocomputing]

@puck, Why do you even bother to go to the post office?  Since you weigh and measure, you are just the last step from putting on postage yourself and dropping in the corner mail box.

Lettermail/Light Packet and most Small Packet all fit in the corner mail box.

Keep stamps at home for Lettermail and use PayPal shipping for those packages that can use it.

If you get discount postage from a stamp seller, you save 25-35% off postage face value.

I only go to the post office for CN22 forms for mailing from home, for Expedited Parcel so I get an acceptance scan, and items that do not fit in the corner mail box.

I save money on gas to the retail Post Office in the Shoppers Drug Mart (1.5 km) and I save time waiting in line and time processing with the clerk. The other benefit is I take my packages to the corner mail box while walking the dog and getting exercise. Efficient. 🙂

[femmefan1946]

A onsie is a legless, sleeveless baby garment made of jersey isn't it?

How on earth could four weigh 7 pounds? That is a healthy weight for a newborn baby!

Even 700 grams would be high. I would be shipping those fastened to a stiffener to prevent movement and bunching and sent either Letter or Light Packet if they are under 500 grams. Maximum cost to the USA $3.65 + GST.

If you exceed 500 grams you would move to Small Packet Surface (which includes insurance) at $12.66.

It sounds as if the clerk moved you up to Small Packet Air, which is not in my experience any faster and would cost about $16.

But given these prices, it would make more sense to mail the items in two LP envelopes for a total of just under $8.00.

[cumos55]

As Canadian sellers on eBay  we learn  how to do things..by doing many things.

(1) by finding that special niche inventory 

(2) By using Canada Post to our advantage.

an example is the bookseller that only sells book weighing less than 500 grams  and for the most part less than 2 cm thick.

The book seller that sells expensive books with free shipping  and ships via USPS... and lives  about 200 miles north of the Canada-US border

(3) Using eBay to advantage... in spite of all of the rules.

They are the Canadian sellers that run a business that works.... But one has to work to make selling on eBay  a profitable enterprise.

And all those rules  make sense... accept the reality of being Canadian  and make it work.

Too many say it cannot be done..

Be creative... be agressive in a quiet way.... and

Make it happen!

And  when I show up at the post office... they  have learned from me.... not the reverse....

[th3_3b4y_g3n1u5]

I use a scale and check on Canada Posts website to find a rate. Sometimes the PO will surprise me and tell me I can ship the item for less.

Might be a bit of a hassle for larger volume sellers, but in cases like that, I would refund the difference in price for the shipping.

I think that it is always better to overcharge and refund the difference, rather than come up short.

[Anonymous]

Hey, everyone use PayPal Shipping and use  Expedited Mail (25% discount) for Canada and USA with insurance and tracking number.

It is cheaper to ship items to International by Air Small Packets with insurance than Light Packet via PayPal Shipping!!

It is not ideal to overcharge because eBay charges you the final value fees on the shipping costs and don't refund you if you refund the difference to your buyers!!  Not worth it.

Always have postal scales and weight them yourself and use PayPal Shipping to find information, much cheaper than goint to the post office.  I often get wrong informaion at the post office which are too expensive and too often, they claimed that they cannot insurance them when in fact, PayPal Shipping do insure them!!

[femmefan1946]

It is not ideal to overcharge because eBay charges you the final value fees on the shipping costs and don't refund you if you refund the difference to your buyers!!  Not worth it.

So you refund the actual amount that you overcharged, minus the eBay FVF which is part of the Shipping and Handling fee the buyer paid.

If you overcharged by $4.00 and you are paying 9% shipping FVF, your customer gets  a refund of about $3.68.

[dipmicro]

There is several sucesfull big sellers using CanadaPost for domestic shipping (FutureShop comes to mind). They get special rates, and I mean rates nobody on this board even dreams about.

There is no easy way to run succesfull international e-commerce business on top of CanadaPost. Pricing is designed for sending Christmas gifts once per year. Every succefull global Canadian seller I heard of is either using different carrier or moved distribution to USA or China. I deal with several large Canadian companies, who have HQ and R&D in Canada (so they enjoy lower Canadian corporate taxes), but distribution is in USA.

There is really nothing that can be done. Canada is simply not the e-commerce exporting country, period. If small e-commerce is your higher calling, move to USA or Hong-Kong, otherwise find some other way to support yourself. Canada is great for growing and exporting wheat, pharmaceuticals, machinery, industrial software and hardware and even sandy oil, but for small consumer goods - forget it.

Seriously, it only takes about $700 to get full dedicated truck taking your machine down to USA and only about $5-7k to fly 400kg piece of half million machinery to Europe, but it takes $111 to send inexpensive 1kg  $200 widget by air mail to Portugal. It may be actually good for Canadian economy, let the China make little worthless knick-nacks and we make space robotic arms, expensive machinery and vitamins and antibiotics for the world.

[tobyshitzu]

Its only oging to get worse for mailing in Cnaada with the rate Canada Post results are deteriorating.;   Radical chnge may not be far off http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1229655--canada-post-faces-bleak-finances-seeks-deal-from-union

[kumatenshi]

Canada Post is a ridiculous rip off. They keep touting how their prices are some of the lowest in the world and blah blah blah....yeah, right. That's why every other country I ever check out, would cost less if I lived there.

Anyways....as has been stated, it's best to use Paypal shipping. And you may not like it, your DSRs for shipping may take a hit, but you have to price your shipping so that you are not covering it (unless you REALLY want to)

Buyers agree to the shipping costs when they buy the item anyways. And a lot of them are uninformed about the fact it's shipping AND handling.

I price my S&H fairly and do not overcharge, but I still have it there, and I almost always will unless it's some really big, expensive item, in which case I'll usually absorb it myself to make it more attractive (I'm getting a fair amount of money for the item anyways)

If people don't buy it, then they don't.

I've never had anyone complain to me about my shipping. Ever. Or my costs. And the last time I had DSRs viewable, my shipping one was quite good (4.7 I believe it was at)

[kodemiester]

I am finding that Canada Post is not the only one ruining the ebay experience.  In the last couple of years I have rarely bought anything from anyone weather it is CND or US.  some of the shipping costs are insane, not to mention the actual shipping isn't worth a damn.  As I write this I have bought a pair of boots from a seller in Wisconsin, they shipped them with a tracking # on the 23 of July and there is still no record of the shipment available?  This is not the first time, or even second time this has happened, but I am totally fedup with it.  In no way am I blaming the sellers I have bought from, they have been excellent and kept in contact, but their hands are tied !!!!!!!!!!  The last thing I ordered, very small 2 bottles of face cream came from California.  I am in Alberta the package went from CA to Michigan to New York, crossed the border into Ontario and from there all the way to BC and then to me in Alberta................................over a month ??????????? I could have drove there and back 10 times.  This is just killing ebay for me, tired of it !!!!!!!!  Whatever the deal is that ebay has made with the postal systems is just a money grab for them, there is no service or discount being to ebay users, so certainly is not an advantage!

[kumatenshi]

@kode - You likely got a number that was given to the seller using Paypal shipping that was not an actual tracking/deliver confirmation number, Paypal shipping always gives a number, and if there is no delivery confirmation, it will basically just show that the information was submitted to CP on whatever date. Nothing more.

As for the item from the US, that sounds like it got shipped UPS and then got held up at customs for quite some time. Face cream would be held up at customs, no doubt about it, you know how Canada is paranoid about liquids and make up and what not on planes, same with imports.

Neither of which was the fault of CP. These are both problems of online ordering in general, especially from other countries. Customs is absolutely ridiculous and slow as can be.

[pjcdn2005]

As I write this I have bought a pair of boots from a seller in Wisconsin, they shipped them with a tracking # on the 23 of July and there is still no record of the shipment available?

According tot he listing, your seller was sending the boots with first class international which does not have tracking. The seller may have sent you the customs number which may show up on the USPS site IF it has been scanned but it's not often that a customs number will show up once it leaves the U.S.

USPS does have their problems as well however their prices within the U.S. with tracking and outside of the U.S. without tracking are  less expensive than what we pay here. Of course they also have 10 times the customers that we have here.

[konkolski]

I know a guy who goes across the border to ship with USPS. He is a full time ebayer. He just parks his car and walks across the border to the near by post office.

I can't go across the border yet but as soon as I can Canada Post will lose all my business with the exception of letter mail.