Canada Post Rates Go UP... Profit Goes Down...

[canadabeltbuckles]

For those of us who offer Free Shipping as an incentive for Buyers, and ship via Canada Post, well, we just lost more profit...

Light Packet to the USA up by 16 cents.
Small Packet to the USA up by 24 cents.

Shipping in Canada as well has gone up...

I don't dare raise my prices to compensate for the increase in shipping fees, with fear of losing sales.

Should I change my listings to include a small shipping fee? How would that affect my eBay listings, or will it? Will it decrease my sales? Probably...

I am interested in knowing what, if anything, other Powersellers are doing to combat the increase in shipping fees from Canada Post?

The majority of my sales are to the USA, and ship either light packet or small packet...

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[plasmaco]

Amero...

Sorry to contribute to your workload, but what the hell is a 999 fine BRASS bar ???

I can live with your thousands of 1 and 5 grain gold bars crowding the results every time I want to see Canadian gold bars 🙂 , but come on, what were you - and a lot of others too - smoking when 999 brass was invented... On a second thought, don't answer that 😉

Now, don't go all serious on me, it's just a question somewhat in a friendly ribbing kind of way ]:)

[ameroindustries]

LOL 😛

Ya really dont ask me it sells .. Your the first one to bring that up i never really thought of it .. Guess its .999 fine Brass :S

I made a 5 grain Platinum bar Spelt it Platnium and only one person outta 500 who got them .

Which reminds me i gotta make .999 Fine Bronze .

Hey i only have 5 grain gold bar 1 grain gold bar is out Next week 🙂 also 10 grain gold bar comes in March 😛

[plasmaco]

Man, it's really amazing that it works... but hey, you must be doing something right...

It still boggles my mind that people don't realize that an alloy by definition can not be .999 pure.

Sure, it's pure brass. Except brass itself is an alloy of at least two elemental metals, copper and zinc. With traces of a lot of other stuff. See this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass#Brass_types for more info.

But, hey, go for it ! 😄

And I agree, bronze is a lot fancier than brass. ]:)

And about your new grain sized gold bars, I have but one word.

Joy.

Now I really won't find a real gold bar anywhere before page 38 in a search result 😛

[ameroindustries]

LOL ya i really dont know what i was thinking when i made it brass .
Ill have to send you a few for renewing my memory .. Im gonna make 5000 bars in " .999 Bronze "

LOL when im done your gonna have alot of scrolling to do im releasing 1000 new designs this year and at this rate i should produce 3.5 million bars 😛

Such a silly thing they are :S

[dipmicro]

Why do people buy the brass bars, what is the purpose ? Do they make something out of it or it's just some kind of nostalgic item ?

[craftycatsattic]

Another good way to cut shipping costs is to cut packaging costs. I am now sourcing most of my poly mailers in the US (from an ebay supplier!) at a quarter of the price I pay for them here (and yes even from guys like Chiswick and Uline).

I have always made price increases each and every year but not for every service. Sometimes you just want to keep a certain price point and absorb the cost. I've made most of my increases this year on international shipments because they are the ones that have jumped the most and thankfully their DSR's for S & H don't count!

[plasmaco]

Craftycat...

Another thing you might want to try is this:

Buy the largest available size of bubble mailer, and a heat sealer.
Cut the mailer in halves or quarters, and just seal them with the heat-sealing machine.

I get my large size mailers from Uline, I can cut them up in 8 to fit my smallest item, and I save about 75% of the cost, compared with the price of the resulting smaller mailers.

And I look extra super professional, as I got questions of how did I get the item in the envelope, there are no flaps... 🙂

[westernstargifts]

Negative Reports to suppliers about pricing strategies are not uncommon from some competitors.

Yup, my supplier told me that my competitor calls him all of the time to complain.

Ummm... Judy, I don't think you should have indicated that our supplier told you that I, as your competitor on eBay, called him all the time to complain. I don't think he would like that statement...

I will ask him when I see him next week.

No supplier in the world would call one of their clients and tell them that another client complains all the time about them... You get my drift...

Then how would you know whether or not he received negative reports from me?

I would appreciate it if you would no longer repsond to my posts in the future please. If you would like to start your own post, then please do so, and I will not comment on your posts either.

I would appreciate it if you stopped sending me rude emails telling me what a terrible person I am. You always seem to end them by telling me not to bother answering them. Well, I didn't. And I didn't ask for another forum on this board. Don't post negative comments about me in your posts if you don't want me to comment on them.

And kindly remove the negative statements about your competition on your About Me page.

[westernstargifts]

Unfortunately, my competition on eBay monitors everything I do, as far as pricing strategies, shipping fees, etc..

How flattering that you are following my lead and putting photos depicting the design themes in your listings. Pretty soon your store will look just like mine.

[westernstargifts]

250557305629

[dipmicro]

I don't dare raise my prices to compensate for the increase in shipping fees, with fear of losing sales.

Should I change my listings to include a small shipping fee? How would that affect my eBay listings, or will it? Will it decrease my sales? Probably... .

Create multiple listings of your best selling product, it should be something that moves frequently. One with included S/H, one with extra S/H. Let it sit for a week or two and see.

Every buyer has different reasons and buying patterns. Many sellers do the multi-list and I seek ones with S/H specified, because when buying several items, total cost is usually lower than buying bunch of items with shipping included as free S/H items are usually tailored for buyers with single item per order.

[recped]

[westernstargifts]

Watch it recped. The competition is liable to use that photo, or one very much like it, in his listings.

Pass the popcorn please.

[plasmaco]

Why don't you two make friends, raise your prices by 20% and throw a party for each other with the profits ?

Or just gang up on me ? 😛

Seriously, why keep murdering each other by selling the same stuff 2 cents cheaper than the other seller had it yesterday... nonsensical, if you ask me...

Then again, nobody asked me... 😉

[westernstargifts]

Why don't you two make friends, raise your prices by 20% and throw a party for each other with the profits ?

Or just gang up on me ? 😛

Seriously, why keep murdering each other by selling the same stuff 2 cents cheaper than the other seller had it yesterday... nonsensical, if you ask me...

Then again, nobody asked me... 😉

:^O
:-D:^O

[canadabeltbuckles]

Sorry, it should be 'introducing' not 'introducting', ever have one of those days?? I've had the same day All Week! Remember that movie 'Groundhog Day', where the guy wakes up everyday, and it is Groundhog Day all over again? 🙂

[westernstargifts]

I am going to be introducting some new products on my sight very soon.

I already know what products they are Frank. Oscar asked me a year ago if I wanted to sell them and I said no.

[dipmicro]

I did not mean to step into cross-fire, but western, coppergifts both make 200-300 sales per month on eBay. By looking at the listings, none of you is trying very hard.

No offense to none of you, but you seem pretty equal when it comes to number of sales. By copying one can only get as good as the original, so you better pick someone who is doing way better.

There is one seller on eBay who screwed me little over a year ago on $2k wholesale trade. The product was a dud. They do 1mil sales on eBay, 2mil off eBay, I talked with the owner, pretty nice guy, but he will never cough-up the money once in the pocket. I hate them with vengeance, but never copied anything they do, just take a look sometime what they are selling and what type of advertising works best for them. My sales steadily go up while I learn from them, while they need 40 people to run the gig and are struggling for cash I currently do about 15% of their sales with just my wife - profit comes from price, volume and efficiency.

Profit comes

[plasmaco]

I guess this forum is populated by the same button pushers...

When you honestly want too help people, it turns out that it's not welcomed.

I got the message loud and clear, I'll keep minding my own business...

I'm outta here !

[canadabeltbuckles]

Plasmaco, your comments are welcomed on any of the posts I make in this forum.

As a Powerseller, you have the right to post entries or responses to posts that others make. Your comments in this post were not offensive to me what-so-ever, so please do not stop posting, you may have gotten the wrong impression from some people. Your comments are always welcome, and no one can stop you from putting in your 2 cents worth, as they say.

People like myself post a topic for discussion and welcome input from other eBay Power Sellers like yourself.

This partcular topic began with a discussion about the increased Canada Post shipping fees as of Jan. 11 2020, unfortunately, some people take it as an opportunity to voice their frustrations, and as an opportunity to 'Bash' the competition.

I think we should all remember what this forum is all about, it is to discuss issues related to being Power Sellers on eBay, and the concerns and questions that arise as a seller on eBay. It is to offer assistance to new Power Sellers, and it is an opportunity for in-depth discussions between the more senior Power Sellers on this board... 🙂

Since becoming an eBay Power Seller, I have benefited from a great deal of insight from other Power Sellers who monitor this forum, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who have responded to my posts asking for help. You have provided assistance to me in many areas, without hesitation, and have made my experience as an eBay Power Seller very pleasant.

So please do not leave the forum plasmaco, nor stop submitting on posts in this forum.

If it were not for people like yourself and other eBay Power Sellers, others like myself would have no resource for valued information.

Best regards,

Frank