Alternatives shipping carriers
Summary: chicweb initiated a discussion about the availability of shipping carriers for Canadians, noting the limited options in certain areas such as Trois-Rivières, Quebec. mrdutch1001 mentioned similar challenges in Saskatchewan and considered taking a break from selling on eBay. ilikehockeyjerseys, 2nd-time-around-jewelry, and byto253 contributed by listing various carriers and sharing personal experiences with services like Chitchats and Purolator, noting the impact of the Canada Post strike. There was also discussion about the legality and implications of using alternative carriers during a strike. Suggestions were made about eBay possibly partnering with shipping services like Stallion to better support sellers. The overall theme was exploring alternatives to Canada Post and discussing their practicality and costs in various regions.
I think it would be good to have a list of all the shipping carriers available to canadians. There might be already a post about it (if so, I'm sorry).
I know, where we are (In Trois-Rivieres, Quebec), we only have UPS and Fedex. (If there's more, I don't know). There is no way we can use Chitchats or anything else (no drop off here).
I checked Intelcom and might have to contact them, but there is no integration on eBay for them and I think it need some kind of volumes?...
To ebay team? Wouldn't it be a good idea to offer your own shipping method using carriers like that? A bit like Global Shipping? Just brainstorming here.
So, where are you from and what is available to you? Maybe it can help the others in the same region as you.
flipistics
·1 year agoStallion offers 3PL services (warehousing, packing, shipping). If you're in an area without alternatives and have items you know will sell quickly, that might be an interesting option even after the strike. I don't know what the costs are like compared to Amazon's offering (also a potentially interesting option).
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoLettermail/Expedited Lite Alternatives:
-Chit Chats Select
Doesn't use Canada Post. Has some exclusions (rural, etc), but they aren't clear about what addresses qualify. Likely safe for a major city. Costs approx. $10.
-Stallion UniUni, FleetOptics, ICS
These will cost $7-$10. Keep in mind, you simply cannot ship to some addresses without Canada Post. There will either be no option, or ICS will charge a very high rate. A recent example I encountered, a 200g size 0 bubble mailer to Sturgeon County Alberta. $3.50 Lettermail, $7.80 Expedited Lite, $45 ICS.
If you are going to take orders using Stallion or Chit Chats, you are going to encounter a lot of problems due to address type cancellations because there simply is not an option to ship to a large chunk of areas at Lettermail or Expedited Lite rates.
You could consider using the generic Economy Shipping designation (18 business days) and an extended handling time, with no specific carrier promised. That way, orders that qualify for Stallion could be shipped right away, and orders that require Lettermail or Expedited Lite can be put aside until there is more clarity on the strike (rotating, full, concluded, etc) or the buyer cancels.
Because eBay has no Stallion integration, it makes it difficult to use in this situation. This should show eBay that a parternship with Stallion, if at all possible, could be beneficial. Sellers need Stallion integrated directly into eBay's label program so that they can use shipping calculators. Even if it is a simplified version of Stallion that defaults to the cheapest non-Canada Post carrier.
tryubik-useonlyasdirected
·1 year agoSo is utilizing an alternative carrier considered scabbing?
chicweb
OP1 year agoNo. And even if it was, I would do it.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoIn what way? I don't have an agreement with the Canada Post union. Canada Post does own Purolator, so if you have any political opposition to supporting Canada Post during the strike, you could avoid Purolator. Otherwise, I don't see how it is relevant.
Most people already use multiple carriers, it just happens that in some cases Canada Post is the most ideal. There is a subset of sellers who only use Canada Post, but I don't think that is out of any loyalty. It's more of a if it's not broke, don't fix it type situation.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoHere is a list from another website:
NetParcel
https://www.netparcel.com/home.action
Purolator
https://www.purolator.com/en
UPS
https://www.ups.com/ca/en/Home.page
DHL
https://www.dhl.com/ca-en/home/express.html
Intelcom
https://intelcom.ca/en/
Dragonfly
https://dragonflyshipping.ca/en/
FedEx
https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/home.html
CanPar
https://www.canpar.com/en/shipping/shipping_canada.htm
Globex
https://www.globexcourier.com/services/shipping-canada/
Shippie
https://www.shippie.ca/
ChitChats
https://chitchats.com/
chicweb
OP1 year agoWill they still be operating?
katlover1952
·1 year agoYes they are but they are not unionized & do not even work in sync in any way. Go figure.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoYes, they are owned by Canada Post but aren't part of the labour union striking. They will still be operating.
2nd-time-around-jewelry
·1 year agoThanks for the list. I just signed up with Chitchats here in Vancouver B.C. Their location is less than 5km from my home. Will also use UPS if not too expensive as they are also close by. Just wondering if you are able to manually put in Chitchats tracking number on eBay.
katlover1952
·1 year agoUnfortunately I live in a pretty rural area & really only option is Purolator but their costs will be much higher than what we get off eBay which will certainly deter sales. Darn posties they always like to pull this at Christmas.
byto253
·1 year agoYes you can, Chit Chats Express is in the pull down menu for carriers. You use the Shipment ID number, as shown in the picture. This is one I dropped off today. I blanked out the actual number.
Chitchats auto updates the tracking as well, and you can select when that happens. I have it set for the day after I buy postage as I often get them ready in the evening for drop off the next day. If I buy the postage the same day that I drop an item off I sent a message along the lines of "..thanks for the purchase. Just a heads up that it was shipped today but the shipping company will not update the tracking in eBay until tomorrow."
byto253
·1 year agoand Sendle - https://www.sendle.com/
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoSaskatchewan has limited alternatives for occasional/infrequent sellers and as I am not willing to engage in signing up with companies that I know nothing about,and/or other sellers haven't used as well as these lesser known couriers that may or may not be prepared for increased volumes of customers; so I will just do "Time Away" for my eBay activities...
chicweb
OP1 year agoI know that for Intelcom, as an example, they are used by Amazon where I live. They always ship Amazon's packages to us.
I really think eBay should look into something with them to offer to sellers. The difference is that Amazon has their warehouses while eBay, well, everything comes from us, sellers.
But I never sell on Amazon. So I don't know. Do sellers send also their items to whereever Amazon tells them to (Warehouses? Carrier's locations? Don't know).