How much is a tracking number when shipping through Canada Post to US and Canadian destinations?

[chaldo2010]

I sell my items at a decent price that will cover shipping costs. But I usually ship without tracking numbers when possible to avoid the extra fees............sometimes the tracking number plus shipping ends up costing me more than what I sold an item for. I know it's safer to use tracking numbers when shipping.

[nubian_treasures]

"ends up costing me more than what I sold an item for."

You do not pay for shipping or tracking, the buyer does.

You need to go to Canada Post's website to determine shipping and tracking costs if you're using a flat rate. The amount they charge is the amount you should charge your buyers plus a little extra to cover the cost of bubble wrap or other packing materials, enveleopes or boxes.

[femmefan1946]

Most of your items seem to be in the $20-$30 range including (Free) shipping.

A non-delivery claim would cost you less than that (because you do not really lose the profit part).

Rather than worrying about tracking, I would look into Cookie Jar Insurance.

Based on your actual loss claims, you would add a few pennies or even a dime, to every asking price and toss those pennies into a virtual Cookie Jar.

If you get a claim, you pay the customer promptly out of the Jar. Paypal does not get involved, which is good for your selling account. The customer is as happy as she is likely to ever be. You may get positive fb instead of neg or neutral.

If you get one claim in 100, 100 dimes is $10. Would that cover the cost of refunding $20?

Remember your costs are procurement, fees, and postage only. Is your margin 100% ? 50%?

And with a Mutual Cancellation, you would get some of those pesky fees back too.

But it comes down to - do you have a lot of claims? Is charging more for postal tracking or for Cookie Jar Insurance worthwhile?

[chaldo2010]

So...is there a specific cost for a Canadian tracking number / US tracking number.

Some buyers expect and sometimes demand a tracking number AFTER I have shipped out their item, then I have to kindly inform them that I charged them that a tracking number would have cost me an additional $_.

Yesterday I went to postal office to ship something, it was approx $7 without tracking and if I purchased a tracking number it was an extra $9! - wasn't even worth it because the item I sold was approx $12. With my Venture One card, it's a dollar or so less...big woo.

So it's pretty crazy to pay $9 for a few digits. Thanks to Canada Post I guess.

[chaldo2010]

Thanks you for your reply. But what the buyer pays for sometimes barely covers a tracking number, it's just good for shipping fee. Otherwise, there's no point in selling on eBay with all those FVF and PayPal deductions.