You are sell items for $1.50 plus shipping.  Just use Lettermail/Letterpost/Light Packet with no Delivery confirmation or Insurance.

The risk of loss in the mail or being scammed is so low that you do not care if 1 in 200/500/1000 is lost.

Canad Post shipping options for DC or insurance are just too expensive to use for what you sell.

PS How the heck you you make any money sell an item for $1 to $1.50?  eBay fees/PayPal fees eat it all up. You are lucky to make 25 to 50 cents.

Why are your packages so thick and heavy?

I sell paperbacks and a 175-250 page paperback usually weighs less than 200 grams and is only 1.5 cm thick.

Even with a stiffener... Are you using cardboard? do you have a cheap source for Coroplast (corrugated plastic often used for signs)  Coroplast is lighter and stiffer than cardboard.

You may have to go to the canadapost.ca site to get the right rates for your packages. Take your time and plug in several destinations (I use 90210 for a US zipcode and provincial legislatures for Canadian postal codes). Make notes!

I agree that neither insurance nor Delivery Confirmation is necessary in your price range.If you add a few pennies to the Handling cost as a sort of self-insurance premium, you can comfortably refund on the occasional "loss" claim without losing money. The number of "losses" will vary by category.

Expedited Parcel is a business service and I am not surprised that a postal outlet clerk is not familiar with it. In addition, we get a 20-25% discount on the service when we print through Paypal.

Remember that some sellers will include shipping in their asking prices. (This means that the seller pays no FVF on any shipping fees they collect.) And some will use Expedited or Regular Parcel or USPS Global Priority or Media Mail . There are a lot of choices.

BTW, I agree about the price of your products. It costs an average of $3 to list an item (including your wages). Time to do some bookkeepping and see if you are actually making money. (I hope you are)

Good business plan, allow yourself to lose a little on cheap stuff while you learn how to sell.

I got my most recent batch of coroplast with an estate. The owner had saved every election sign he had put on his lawn for the last 10 years or so. Score!!

Your S&H is Shipping and HANDLING. However, when you see a seller offering Free Shipping, it just means his S&H is in the asking price. TANSTAAFL as Robert Heinlein pointed out. And it is no one else's business what you regard as "handling" although generally it means "packaging".

I use grocery store  freezer bags for waterproofing larger books (not ziplock of course) and poly envelopes for shipping smaller ones. I have been buying these on eBay. 140349069334 is the sort of thing I use.

but it does take time to find boxes and cut them up comic size. TANSTAAFL again. Time is money, 17 cents an hour in Ontario.

If I use the Paypal shipping label, Exactly. Please note that if you use Light Packet, you can print the label but the cheaper Letter rates need postage stamps (or PO counter labels). If there is a stamp dealer in your area, ask him if he sells mint postage lots. Discounts range from no sales tax (already a 5-15% saving) to 25% or so off.

I have listed some of my items as free shipping, and added combined shipping discounts for those that still have shipping costs. In order to reduce shipping costs, I will also list more comics in lots.

I will also try the PayPal shipping for light packet, to get the additional discount.

Good thing is, I am selling, so its a good start

Thanks for all the help.

I will also try the PayPal shipping for light packet, to get the additional discount.

There is no discount for light packet but it is an economical way to send less expensive items that are 2cm thick or less. In Canada, you should be able to use lettermail for many of your comics.

Would I be able to use Expedited Parcel although I am not a business?

I think (but not positive) that you need a venture one card to buy expedited at the postal counter. Anyone can apply for a venture one but at the counter, you only get 5% off expedited. If you use paypal shipping (no business needed) the discount is at least 20%.

A few observations:

You have booksellers buying from you - that tells me you are selling too cheaply, because they are going to resell.

When I buy items similar to yours - they always come rolled up in tubes - can that be done with comic books? It may be much less costly.

I would advise trying a few listings using Buy It Now and see what happens.

Old enough to know better. Young enough to do it again. Crazy enough to try

rosscd57 wrote:

A few observations:

 

You have booksellers buying from you - that tells me you are selling too cheaply, because they are going to resell.

 

When I buy items similar to yours - they always come rolled up in tubes - can that be done with comic books? It may be much less costly.

 

I would advise trying a few listings using Buy It Now and see what happens.

Comics need to be kept flat, so I ship them with cardboard stiffners and Do Not Bend stickers on them.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Any package sent within Canada can be sent as reg letter mail as long as it is small and under 22mm thick and not bigger then a average yellow enevlope.... reg mail however is not tracked.   You can choose to register your package for just a tracking #  But for a $1 or so more your  best option is to buy a prepaid Xpresspost enevlope.   You can fit quite a bit into a cushioned enevelope or they also have a cardboard ones which are cheaper... and all Xpresspost is tracked as well and includes $100 insurance coverage on most items .

lavenderdragonz wrote:

Any package sent within Canada can be sent as reg letter mail as long as it is small and under 22mm thick and not bigger then a average yellow enevlope.... reg mail however is not tracked.   You can choose to register your package for just a tracking #  But for a $1 or so more your  best option is to buy a prepaid Xpresspost enevlope.   You can fit quite a bit into a cushioned enevelope or they also have a cardboard ones which are cheaper... and all Xpresspost is tracked as well and includes $100 insurance coverage on most items .

Very vague and inaccurate post. Lettermail Oversize can be bigger than the average yellow envelope, whatever you mean by that. An 22 mm is wrong, it is 20 mm. While you can cheat and get away with 22 mm most likely, it may be returned.

As for Xpresspost Prepaid Envelopes costing $1 more with $100 insurance, show me a Canada Post link proving this.

Official Lettermail Non-Standard and Oversize within Canada

Minimum: 140 x 90 x 0.18 mm

Maximum:  380 x 270 x 20 mm

Weight: From 3 to 500 grams

Postage rates are from $1.29 (100 g) to $3.65 (500 g).

Canada Post Links:

Lettermail

Lettermail Pricing

As for Xpresspost Prepaid Envelopes costing $1 more with $100 insurance, show me a Canada Post link proving this.

I think that lavender meant that Expresspost is about a dollar more than Registered mail...which is true for the regional prepaid envelope....but not so much for the national.

femmefan1946 wrote:

do you have a cheap source for Coroplast (corrugated plastic often used for signs)  Coroplast is lighter and stiffer than cardboard.

I mailed a comic today using coroplast and bubblewrap . The postal worker said that it had to be sent as light packet USA, as it felt like "something" and not a document. I told her what was in the envelope. She consulted another worker who said, if I say it is document, it is a document. She did warn that the US postal service may open it up or return to sender.

Have you ever heard or had issues like this? Should I be concerned?

I have so much to learn, thanks.