Another eBay glitch....

[westernstargifts]

Attention CANADIAN and INTERNATIONAL buyers: Please request a final invoice when you are ready to pay - DO NOT use the automatic checkout as shipping rates are not being displayed correctly. Ebay is currently attempting to rectify this problem.

This was posted in a Canadian eBay store.

[westernstargifts]

My daughter asked me today what is going on with eBay. She purchased a small item from a US seller and with shipping included it came to about $6. The seller emailed her and told her the shipping charge was actually around $18 and gave her the option of paying the higher shipping or having the order canceled. She opted to cancel the order and bought the same item from a Canadian seller. She said if US shipping rates are going to be that high she will buy from Canada.

I know there have been changes to USPS rates but does anyone know if they have drastically raised their prices?

[zarzuella]

No, Judy - the USPS increases were modest (by Canada Post standards anyway!)

Your daughter should report this transaction to ebay (non-performing seller) as this is the kind of rip-off that hurts all sellers and further tarnishes ebay's already shady reputation.

[whoscloset]

Actually, from what I understand Ann is right...except for Global Priority which is what most U.S. sellers use to ship internationally. That is the only service with which they can get tracking of any sort and the prices rose dramatically.

[westernstargifts]

I thought that maybe it was the eBay glitch with the shipping calculator that caused the wrong shipping rate to be computed. I hadn't thought about the non-performing seller aspect.
I'm glad I did a lot of buying from the U.S. last year. The majority of items came Global Priority and they really packed those envelopes full!

[jakeeangel]

What shipping calculator are you guys talking about using? eBay Canada doesn't have one. The only calculator provided by eBay is on .com and only for use with USPS. What are you talking about? If you're using that one it's no wonder it's wrong. Unless you ship from the US it's of no use to Canadians shipping from Canada with Canada Post. ?:|

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[zarzuella]

I think Judy is referring to buying from US sellers who include the USPS international shipping calculator.

[jakeeangel]

Ah! Thank you. I was confused for a second there.

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[westernstargifts]

Actually this is a Canadian seller that I bought from a few times last year. He is the one who had this displayed at the top of his listings.

I send out light weight things and have never had to use a shipping calculator. And I still don't know everything that is available to Canadian sellers yet. I just assumed that this was something you could get through eBay. Now I am not sure what he was referring to. I'll have to go back and check his listings to see if it was fixed.

Sorry about the confusion!

[zarzuella]

There is a Canadian seller who wrote/designed and sells an international shipping calculator for Canadian eBayer's. Don't remember his eBay name .. maybe someone else knows him and has tried the product.