eBay

dianequeenofstuff · ‎02-23-2014

First off this old ID is with .com but I list on CA. ( I have 3 other ID's with CA)

In the past few months I have been getting emails from customers asking why the shipping rate is so high on items over a kilo?

I have come up with a few flippant answers (Canada Post must have signed a non-compete clause in the North American Trade Act) but I did sell two items in the last couple of months that weighed over a kilo and had to refund shipping.

The last time it was a $23. refund the time before it was about the same.

What that tells me when I look at the shipping page on Paypal is that because I have to change the measurements back to metric while the weight is still in kilos is that it's a technical glitch.

Or should I say the return of technical glitch?

Hard enough to sell stuff when your not able to cross the boarder to ship in the States, but to have eBay sabotage your sales too!

BTW it's not just this site that is experiencing the incorrect calculation of shipping rates, my power seller site that is all CA was the site that issued the first refund.

I like to wave my sword at windmills. You rarely get anywhere but it's fun to try.

rogerguitar67 · ‎02-25-2014

ebay shipping and invoice problems are nothing new they stump and block you on the invoice page, its just not fair to the seller its like we have to read the future to who will buy your item and you must know in advance where the live so you can make sure your shipping fees are correct before bidding is done on your item so you can revise your page before hand,and thats impossible i just made a sale and when it came to make invoice i was refused my option to recalculate shipping fees to the correct amount and if i was to ship with the fixed amount i would have given my item for free plus it would have cost me an extra 14$ out of my pocket to send i wish there was a way to make the people that run ebay to understand that we want to run a business properly without being hindered and get them to rectify these issues

femmefan1946 · ‎02-26-2014

I have to change the measurements back to metric while the weight is still in kilos is that it's a technical glitch.

Kilograms are a metric measurement. Canada Post went metric in 1974 and using any other system leads to errors.

but I did sell two items in the last couple of months that weighed over a kilo and had to refund shipping.

Are you sure the service you are using for Calculated Shipping is the same as the service you actually used? $20+ is a big difference. Were these overseas sales?

On the bright side, if your buyer was willing to pay $30 or $40 for shipping and you only charged him $10-20 with a $20 refund, he should be happy! It's when it goes the other way that it hurts.

dianequeenofstuff · ‎03-03-2014

Hi there, nice to see a reply.

There is a way to talk to the brass and I did last week.

He is now with eBay.com and forwarded my message to whom ever is in charge of .ca.

I sent him another message over the weekend having to do with him misleading me over the phone (so I have no documentation) making it appear that eBay had moved the lines behind me! It had to do with another issue I contacted him on in the past. I tend not to bother him if I can get congenial action on this board first.

I also mentioned that I had not heard from the person he forwarded this thread's question to. Hopefully, fingers cross, knock on wood, etc that I get a reply soon. I'm holding back all new listings over a kilo until we get this fixed.

I like selling on eBay BTW. I get to use many of my talents, photography, writing, problem solving...I get to go treasures hunting for stock while my clients are at their appointments, but the worst part is dealing with Canada Post's rates and eBay's glitches. It's no fun making sure that your shipping rates are reasonable for the stock you are selling.

I don't ship over seas items over a kilo. I'm not willing to pay the FVF on a $100 surface rate.

There are separate postal rates to the States, Canadians can not asked for a different handling fee to cover world wide shipping. I lost quite a few sales because of it and eBay and Paypal are not gaining all their fees.either.

The over charging through a non properly functioning system does cost the seller. I truly doubt that we are refunded the FVF on the refunded shipping. So my profit line went down $2.70 after the last refund. Calculate in time=money and it's higher then the obvious cash amount. I'm so glad the transaction was in Canadian dollars, saved the conversion time.

I will admit that when I took the time to help fix a similar problem when I had an eBay store, that they did give me a month's free rent. Still less then minimum wage but it was something.

I could have kept the over charge since I printed the label at Paypal and it would not show on the package, but I have a code of integrity that will not allow me to do that. Call me foolish but I prefer not to temp Karma's revenge. I'm not religious, I live by the Golden rule.

Neither of the customers I refunded said thank you. It appears that Paypal does not send them notice, or maybe there is a box I needed to check? I asked a seller for a shipping refund recently. He said he had sent it but I had to go to Paypal to see for myself, is where I'm drawing this conjecture from. Perhaps he did not add a note as I do or the buyers just gave me a smile.

I like to wave my sword at windmills. You rarely get anywhere but it's fun to try.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-03-2014

I hope that the ebay rep can get your problems worked out but with all respect, I haven't noticed any problems with the shipping calculator giving the wrong prices.

A couple of things that you said that I wanted to comment on...

I don't ship over seas items over a kilo. I'm not willing to pay the FVF on a $100 surface rate.

We are not charged fvf on the actual international shipping rate. Instead, we are charged fvf on the lowest domestic rate when we do have an international sale.

There are separate postal rates to the States, Canadians can not asked for a different handling fee to cover world wide shipping. I lost quite a few sales because of it and eBay and Paypal are not gaining all their fees.either.

Why would you need a different handling fee? It costs the same amount to package an item to the U.S. as it does to other countries. Yes, there are separate postal rates to the states which is why you have to tell the calculator which service you want to use to the U.S. and which service you want to use to other countries. If you don't list the United States separately from other international countries, the calculator does not know which service you are using and therefore which price to quote.

You mentioned having problems with shipping on items over a kilo. If you could show a listing number of an item that had the wrong price, then someone here might be able to figure out the problem. As far as the imperial measurements showing up when you use Paypal shipping, that has nothing to do with the shipping calculator calculating the wrong amount on your listings. I've seen that fairly often on items under a kg but the listing itself has calculated the shipping price in metric.

the_d_consortium · ‎03-03-2014

Hi PJ,

we are charged fvf on the lowest domestic rate when we do have an international sale.

Please give me a link to this information.

I have been looking at handling fees as a way to recoup some of the FVF on the shipping rate.

(I won't go into that diatribe of how unfair this is to honest sellers).

Item sold for 15.25 shipping included - Paypal took .74, eBay took $1.56 Canada Post took $3.79 you get my drift?

I don't think it's unreasonable to try to recoup some of those fees.

Add a listing fee if you go past your 50 free.

If you print out your shipping, add hydro, ink, paper and tape.

I suspect since you have no problems it's because this ID is with eBay.com but I sell on eBay.ca because of the shipping calculator.

It really should not matter since the listings are on .ca

Here is the most recent listing sold

371010003764

I did sell a heavy magazine rack to Montreal in the fall. There was no problem with the shipping being incorrect.

No problems with small or light packet other then eBay stopped saying which type of shipping the buyer chose on the order details page, but it's easy enough to figure out.

This seems to be a more recent problem since I did not start getting the emails from customers asking why the shipping rates where so high until after New Years or was it in Dec?. Not just on this site but on my power seller site too.

dianequeenofstuff · ‎03-03-2014

Just to clarify

Looking at the top of the thread page I'm signed in as Dianequeenofstuff, I did sign out of The D Consortium but I'm posting as The D Consortium above.

Must keep a closer watch on the reply page in the future.

I like to wave my sword at windmills. You rarely get anywhere but it's fun to try.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-04-2014

I suspect since you have no problems it's because this ID is with eBay.com but I sell on eBay.ca because of the shipping calculator.

It really should not matter since the listings are on .ca

Correct, it doesn't matter. Your location is Ontario so that is where the calculated shipping will come from.

So with item 371010003764...are you saying that the shipping was incorrect on that listing? If so, was it wrong for Canada or the U.S,what was the actual shipping cost compared to what the listing says and what dimensions and weight were entered.? I didn't see any other shipping costs stated for any other countries even though the listing states worldwide shipping.

Btw, for CP expedited parcel, the shipping cost is based on dimensional size, not on weight. So you could have a 900 gram package but pay for 1.5 kg because of the size of the box.

I don't have a link that says how fvf on shipping is charged but you should be able to look at any of your invoices and see what you were charged for. If you sell something to a U.S. buyer you should be charged fvf on either the shipping rate that the buyer paid or on the lowest domestic rate, whichever is less. So if you had free shipping in Canada but the buyer paid $10 for shipping to the U.S., you should pay $0 for shipping fvf.

This seems to be a more recent problem since I did not start getting the emails from customers asking why the shipping rates where so high until after New Years or was it in Dec?. Not just on this site but on my power seller site too.

Small packet and expedited parcel rates did go up in January but only about 3%.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-04-2014

Question - Why do you quote costs for both regular parcel and expedited parcel within Canada? Expedited parcel is less expensive, slightly faster and has an automatic $100 insurance so why not give buyers that option only? Because you have regular parcel first, your buyers will see the most expensive shipping cost on the search page.

dianequeenofstuff · ‎03-04-2014

So with item 371010003764...are you saying that the shipping was incorrect on that listing?

The shipping was correct on the listing.

I knew as soon as I saw the invoice that the buyer had paid more then $20 over what the rate should have been both times this happened.

Which is why it leads me to believe that the listings measurements where being calculated in inches not CM

This has happened before when I had some eBay sanctioned add on. Killing the service fixed the problem.

If so, was it wrong for Canada or the U.S,

I looked at another item over a kilo and it appears that the shipping inside Canada is correct. I have no idea what the shipping to the States shows,

what was the actual shipping cost compared to what the listing says

Buyer paid: $62.17

Actual cost after my Paypal discount was $33.63 CAD (I took advantage of the over payment and added the additional insurance on $300 because the buyer had an unconfirmed address)

and what dimensions and weight were entered.?

40, 40, 40, cm

2-3 kilo

Small packet and expedited parcel rates did go up in January but only about 3%.

And for anyone else viewing this thread light packet had the increments changed. We totally lost the light packet category in the 500 gram range to the States. It's the same price as small packet air, check the CP pamphlet on shipping rates.

That should have had me editing all my light packet free shipping listings over 150 grams. In a way, I just put them on sale!

I like to wave my sword at windmills. You rarely get anywhere but it's fun to try.

dianequeenofstuff · ‎03-04-2014

Question - Why do you quote costs for both regular parcel and expedited parcel within Canada? Expedited parcel is less expensive, slightly faster and has an automatic $100 insurance so why not give buyers that option only? Because you have regular parcel first, your buyers will see the most expensive shipping cost on the search page.

I'm actually new to the Venture one card and am still working out the bugs.

I'm not about to edit all my listings again and again and again, I'll just work it out as I write up new listings.

Thanks for pointing out the advantages.

I like to wave my sword at windmills. You rarely get anywhere but it's fun to try.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-04-2014

@the_d_consortium wrote:
Hi PJ,

we are charged fvf on the lowest domestic rate when we do have an international sale.
Please give me a link to this information.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/insertion-fee.html#fvf

Please note it is not the lowest domestic rate but the first non-express domestic rate. So order of domestic shipping options is important when you list with more than one shipping option.

What is not mentioned in the link is what rate is used when you have calculated shipping for your listing on eBay.ca for the domestic Canada option.

The calculated shipping from and to your own postal code is used to compare to International shipping options costs and the lower is chosen to be used for shipping FVF calculation.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-04-2014

@dianequeenofstuff wrote:
Question - Why do you quote costs for both regular parcel and expedited parcel within Canada? Expedited parcel is less expensive, slightly faster and has an automatic $100 insurance so why not give buyers that option only? Because you have regular parcel first, your buyers will see the most expensive shipping cost on the search page.

I'm actually new to the Venture one card and am still working out the bugs.
I'm not about to edit all my listings again and again and again, I'll just work it out as I write up new listings.
Thanks for pointing out the advantages.

If you use a Venture one card at the Post Office, you can use Expedited Parcel within Canada and save 5% over Regular Parcel rates. Plus you get $100 insurance included and a guaranteed delivery time to most cities within Canada. If you use PayPal shipping labels for Regular Parcel, you will get an 5% discount over Regular Parcel rates and insurance for $100 free. However, you should use Expedited Parcel with PayPal shipping labels since it gives you an 18% discount over Regular Parcel rates at the Post office (no Venture One) and a 13% discount over Expedited Parcel at the Post Office using Venture One. Also you get $100 insurance and guaranteed delivery time (Same as using Expedited Parcel at the Post Office using Venture One card.)

For Expedited Parcel USA, you get the same 18% discount using PayPal shipping labels compared to Expedited Parcel USA (no Venture One Card) and 13% compared to Expedited Parcel using Venture One card discount of 5%.

So using PayPal shipping labels saves a significant amount over using the Post Office. But you need to measure and weigh you packages correctly at home. You have to be very careful with Expedited Parcel (and Regular Parcel) because it uses Dimensional Weight (aka Volumetric Weight). If you list with one set of dimensions in the listings and then end up shipping with different package dimensions and trigger a higher shipping rate because of dimensional weight. This is one of the reasons why sellers sometimes complain that the eBay.ca shipping calculator is not working or wrong. (this along with the difference in minimum dimensions for for Expedited Parcel Canada and Expedited Parcel USA)

DW = L (cm) x W (cm) x H (cm) / 6000

So if you had shipping dimension in the eBay listing of 30 cm x 20 cm x 10 cm, the DM is exactly 1 kg. If the actual physical weight of the the package is under 1 kg, even 250 grams, you will be charged for 1 kg.

If you ship and use a slightly bigger box of 30 cm x 20 cm x 11 cm, the DM is 1.1 kg. So the same package above will ship at the 1.5 kg rate.

For Small Packet and Light Packet, dimensional weight is not used but there are minimum and maximum limits on the dimensions.

As for editing your listings, you should be able to bulk edit shipping options. However, I would be careful and do a test of 5 at a time and verify what happens. If it fixes a few test runs of 5 at a time, then bulk edit 100 at a time.

Bulk edit is nice but if used incorrectly, you make a lot of errors in one shot. I personally am quite comfortable with bulk editing many parts of my listings but I have not done shipping options in bulk. So be wary of this advice to bulk edit shipping options.

When using eBay bulk edit, always do test runs on 2 listing at first, then verify, then try 5 listings and verify, then if all okay then try a larger amount.

There is a Preview feature in bulk edit (you have to use customize to see the preview column and move it to the far left so it is handy to use) that you can see what has happened to an individual listing when bulk edited. You can use this Preview to check many changes but not all. If you can see your changes took effect, then you can submit and save all of the changes.

You should fix you listing to save on FVFs in the long run. But when you are comfortable knowing you can fix using bulk edit.

pocomocomputing · ‎03-04-2014

@dianequeenofstuff wrote:

Small packet and expedited parcel rates did go up in January but only about 3%.

And for anyone else viewing this thread light packet had the increments changed. We totally lost the light packet category in the 500 gram range to the States. It's the same price as small packet air, check the CP pamphlet on shipping rates.

That should have had me editing all my light packet free shipping listings over 150 grams. In a way, I just put them on sale!

Not lost the Light Packet 500 gram category but lost the price advantage over Small Packet. I know that is what you mean but it came out sounding a bit strange above.

Light Packet rates went up considerably for the three rate categories of 150, 250, 500 but down for the 101 to 150 grams. So using the new 150 grams class has been a positive change for a few items that can take advantage of that little decrease compared to the old 100 gram maximum.

As for Light Packet USA 251-500 gram rates being the same as Small Packet USA rates, yes there is no advantage to LP other than maybe a slightly faster delivery time.

For Light Packet International, the 250 gram and 500 gram rates has always been higher than the same Small Packet Air rate for Europe and many countries in the world. But Light Packet is faster than Small Packet Air in my opinion. ot worth the paying for the potential extra speed in my opinion.

I noticed that you offer Small Packet International Surface. Many seller do not use surface because of the long delivery times of 4 to 6 weeks or more and buyers starting Item Not Received claims since the PayPal time limit for claims is 45 days (6 1/2 weeks).

Without insurance on Small Packet, there is not much protection fro Sellers anymore. So higher risk. Some third party insurance can be used but has limitations on what countries are insured and what items are insured.

What is your experience with Small Packet Surface? Have you shipped that way internationally and how many buyers make INR claims?

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-04-2014

Please note it is not the lowest domestic rate but the first non-express domestic rate. So order of domestic shipping options is important when you list with more than one shipping option.

Thanks for the correction Poco. 🙂

the_d_consortium · ‎03-04-2014

What is your experience with Small Packet Surface? Have you shipped that way internationally and how many buyers make INR claims?

This could be a whole other thread!

The first time a small packet took it's time to get to France the buyer did retract the negative feedback but that was before INR claims.

The last time the buyer was in England and put in an INR claim when it was past the set number of weeks.

It arrived the next day but it was a pain filling in all those forms for 9 magazines that where suppose to go letter mail but the quantity pushed them up over a kilo. Then I had to chase after him to release my funds at Paypal.

I just took it as part of my Summer of "Suckage"/Trials of Job, that I went through last year.

Often enough I warn the buyer that it can take 8 to 10 weeks for surface items to arrive.

4-6 weeks is not at all accurate.

I just used the bulk editor on a around 1,000 listing descriptions, it works a lot better then it use to. Only crashed out twice on me.

Since all of my listings are in HTML format, they had to be edited individually.

Thank you Pocomocomputing for sharing your information.

dianequeenofstuff · ‎03-04-2014

Whoops forgot to check my sign in again, sorry about that.

I like to wave my sword at windmills. You rarely get anywhere but it's fun to try.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-04-2014

Buyer paid: $62.17

Actual cost after my Paypal discount was $33.63 CAD (I took advantage of the over payment and added the additional insurance on $300 because the buyer had an unconfirmed address)

and what dimensions and weight were entered.?

40, 40, 40, cm

2-3 kilo

The listing says that shipping to the U.S. Is $60+ so I'm going to assume that the buyer was in the U.S.

According to the Canada Post website, shipping a parcel to the U.S. that is 2.5 kg; 40cm x 40cm x 40cm is $60+ so even with the Paypal discount, shipping would cost much more than $33.

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s4

If you paid $33, the actual dimensions entered when printing the label could not have been 40x40x40cm, otherwise shipping would have been more.

Based on what I've noticed on my own calculated shipping listings, when you went into paypal shipping, you would have seen that the shipping dimensions were showing as 40x40x40 inches rather than 40x40x40cm. All you had to do was change the term inches to cm and leave the numbers the same as those were the numbers that you had in your listing and they were correct.

In your OP you said that you had to change the numbers back to metric so I suspect that you thought the numbers were wrong too so you changed both the numbers and the unit of measurement which would have resulted in the wrong total for shipping cost. Perhaps you got confused when doing the conversion and ended up with 16x16x16cm (16"=40cm)

Because the cost is based on dimensional weight, the cost for a label that was 16cm would be much less for one that was 40cm.

Does that sound like a possible explanation?