What Shipping Policies Have You Chosen
Please share your policies for shipping in Canada and USA for item under 250g and over 250 grams. I'm not too sure what to select when there are so many options. For example, do you choose Canada Post Regular, Calculated, Expedited...? Which ones do not eat up all of your profits?
Thanks all
7 comments
flipistics
·1 week agoI use eIS for international. For domestic items under 250g I use calculated expedited lite, and for all other items I use rate tables for domestic which allows me to ship them out with whatever service I want.
katoro-4
OPyesterday at 8:50 PMI appreciate the help. Can you give tips on how to use the rate tables effectly?
flipistics
·yesterday at 9:52 PM@katoro-4 The hardest part is figuring out what values to set them up with. I don't know if my approach is the best one, but it seems to be working pretty well for me. I use the tables by weight, and when entering weight into an eBay listing I usually choose numbers near a break point (249g, 499g, 999g, 1.5kg, 2kg, etc).
I took a bunch of time and created a spreadsheet. I took a few postal codes in each province, both urban and rural, and then took quotes from Shipping Chimp, Click Ship, and EasyShip for each of those locations, at several different weights (0.5kg, 1kg, 2kg, 5kg, 10kg, 20kg), for Canada Post, UPS, ICS, and CanPar. Starting soon I'll also add Sendle to the list once they relaunch. I broke the quote down into approximate base cost (without fuel surcharge) so I can modify the surcharge via a variable each week when the rates change. I can tweak both the base cost and the price per kilogram to try and figure out a set of variables that makes sense for each. I then combined the results into a chart where I could see the difference between my estimates and the actual rates to those locations.
Once you figure out the base cost and the price per kilogram that you're happy with for each region, you can simply add those into your rate tables. Note that the below is calculated for my postal code and could be different for yours.
transtraders
·2 weeks agoI use calculated for Canada and EIS for non-media items to USA.
For media items to USA I do flat rates.
katoro-4
OPyesterday at 8:49 PMThanks for replying. Can you say why you use EIS to the USA rather than Small Packet or something else?
transtraders
·10 hours agoToo much uncertainty with tariffs/duties for non-media items, I just let EIS handle that, less of a headache for me.
john_koenig99
·2 weeks agoOnly you can decide, really, because shipping options are not a "one fits all" kind of thing.
I personally stay away from anything that is not Canada Post, but I am enrolled with eIS (that makes a difference). I also use ChitChats as a back up shipping option, for those cases when eIS or CP are not the most cost effective for the buyers, based on their location.