eBay

luv4orphans · ‎05-02-2015

I am trying to offer free shipping within Canada to save on shipping fees but its so much more expensive than shipping to the US. I live in Ontario and if I want to ship this specific item to Vancouver its $13.88. To the US, its $8.13. And sometimes its cheaper to ship overseas. I know on this specific item it would be. How the heck do we offer free shipping within Canada and keep our items at a competitive price so that somebody will buy it.

Or should I go list on ebay.com. Offer free shipping to the US? And charge the guy in Canada the $13.88. Is there any way around this.

We are competing against the US market that offer low shipping or sometimes free.

Canada Post has now overhauled their site in the last couple of weeks but not to the better. They removed the EDIT key so now I have to retype the same thing over and over again to find the different shipping costs. How bright was that. And Expedited which is most time cheaper than Regular Parcel within Canada is now missing. I am getting Xpresspost which is way too much. Nobody will buy. Tracked which doesn't exist so I don't even know why they have that. And Regular which is more expensive than Expedited.

femmefan1946 · ‎05-02-2015

If you are in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, or Montreal, there are private companies that will take your parcels across the border for a small fee (about a loonie or toonie) and put them into the USPS system.

For the rest of us.....

As you already know Free Shipping means "the cost of shipping is included in the selling price".

But that doesn't mean you have to include all $8 of domestic cost in your asking price.

You will have to do some analysis of your own business.

If you need $10 for your item, and shipping it to the US costs $5, you could offer it at $15 with 'free' shipping to both Canada and the USA*.

Now that means that on your Canadian sales you are out $3, right? Well, maybe not.

Remember that with Free domestic Shipping you will not be charge FVF on any international shipping. No matter how high it gets. And with luck Free USA Shipping will encourage sales to the USA.

Most Canadian sellers find that 80-90% of their sales are to the USA, so that could make up the difference in the $3 'loss'.

Instead of looking at each sale individually, look at your month end totals.

Also keep in mind that -at the moment- with the loonie trading at 80 cents or so USD, you have a nice cushion from the exchange.

*You enter $0.00 as the shipping cost for your American customers.

luv4orphans · ‎05-03-2015

Thank you. I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around all this. I live in the Ottawa area. To ship this specific item to Vancouver is $13.88. To ship to Ontario I think was around $11.00, about the same as overseas. The thing weighs 66 grams but is wider than the 2 cm they allow me. Small envelope but too wide. For some reason I couldn't find the cost of Expedited on their website today which is sometimes less than regular parcel because of discount we get from paypal. To ship most areas of the US, Small Parcel Air is $8.13. That's almost a $6.00 difference. For me to up the price of this item to $20.00 it might not sell period.

I find when shipping within Canada the prices are all over the place and I can't get a handle on how much its going to cost unless I do my homework and check with Canada Post website. So much for that idea today.

If somebody from BC ends up buying this at $20.00 with free shipping I am digging myself into a hole.

Can I use the free shipping option only to the US or do I now have to list my items on ebay.com for me to offer free shipping to US only.

The only times shipping fees are consistent I find is when shipping to the US. Overseas are also more consistent than shipping within Canada. I usually end up with the short end of the stick at lot of times when shipping within Canada.

femmefan1946 · ‎05-03-2015

Comments tend to be invisible so I'm reprinting a lot of yours.

Thank you. I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around all this. I live in the Ottawa area.

Don’t panic.
It is complicated and expensive, but every other Canadian seller deals with this too.
First principle, the buyer is paying for shipping, not the seller. If he can’t afford it, that is not your problem.

To ship this specific item to Vancouver is $13.88. To ship to Ontario I think was around $11.00, about the same as overseas. The thing weighs 66 grams but is wider than the 2 cm they allow me. Small envelope but too wide. For some reason I couldn't find the cost of Expedited on their website today which is sometimes less than regular parcel because of discount we get from paypal.
Make sure you are checking from the Business pricing not the Personal. For some obscure reason, CPO don’t put all the services and rates on Personal, although there is not restriction on who uses what.

To ship most areas of the US, Small Parcel Air is $8.13. That's almost a $6.00 difference. For me to up the price of this item to $20.00 it might not sell period.
Yes.
Well, basically, some sales are not worth having.

I find when shipping within Canada the prices are all over the place and I can't get a handle on how much its going to cost unless I do my homework and check with Canada Post website. So much for that idea today.
Within Canada we are dealing with Regional, National and occasionally ‘isolated community’ prices. Think Hay River or Tuktoyaktuk.
For the USA, pretty well everywhere is the same price. (Alaska and Hawai’i are the exceptions.)

If somebody from BC ends up buying this at $20.00 with free shipping I am digging myself into a hole.
Eeek!
Free Shipping is advertising talk. Like BOGO sales (Buy One Get One). BOGO means that you pay the full price for the first item and get the second one ‘free’. Or to put it another way you pay some (complicated) discount on both items. The store is NOT losing money.
Free Shipping means the asking price includes the shipping price.
Which is cheapest?
A $5 item with $10 shipping?
A $10 item with $5 shipping?
A $15 item with Free Shipping?

Can I use the free shipping option only to the US or do I now have to list my items on ebay.com for me to offer free shipping to US only.
Of course.
All you have to do is put the cost for shipping to the USA as $0.00, using Fixed Price.
I do this for most of my Free (domestic) Shipping items.
I still charge for overseas shipping.
Keep in mind that if you use Free domestic Shipping, you pay no shipping FVF on any shipping charges.
Even if you send the overseas item by Overnight Gold Plated Flying Unicorn Service. With sequins and signature confirmation.

The only times shipping fees are consistent I find is when shipping to the US. Overseas are also more consistent than shipping within Canada. I usually end up with the short end of the stick at lot of times when shipping within Canada.
As I mention above, Canada Post considers not only dimensions and weight, but also destination.
For any other country, the destination is less obviously important.

You can use Calculated Shipping within Canada and Flat Rate for the rest of the world.

You can't use Flat Rate for USA and Calculated for overseas. Unfortunately.

luv4orphans · ‎05-03-2015

Thank you for your help. My concern about all this is if I don't offer free domestic shipping meaning Canada I pay fees on shipping. Well I always did anyways. I was trying to figure out a way to do away with that especially now that they have lowered our allowed limits to 40 per month. Because of what I sell I can never tell what shipping will be within Canada.

We can list up to 1000 I was told by ebay but if they don't sell we pay an insertion fee. Nice. A lot of times things don't sell the first time around. That could add up real quick

Offering free shipping to the US might help as a lot of buyers are from there. And charge a fee for shipping to Canada as I never know what it will be and I might end up with $2.00 for my $15.00 item minus ebay fees. Still will be costing me 10% on shipping fees because I am not offering free shipping in Canada no?