Making Shipping Affordable

[magicsellerplus]

Hey everyone I'm in Canada and I am looking to start selling on ebay.  I am going to be selling card repacks (magic the gathering) and the repacks will only weigh like 150 grams.  I was looking at auctions like mine and they use Canada post lettermail so Ijust send it like I would a letter?  and they usually have an option for additional items at a lower price.  How would I go about shipping say 20 repacks?  I know that I can easily send one but how do you economically ship larger volume so cheapily through Canada Post? Thanks

[reallynicestamps]

Most people are honest, so tracking and insurance is not really necessary. The postal system rarely loses or damages items. But rarely does not mean never.

For a package that weighs 150 grams and is 2cm or less thick, Lettermail is your best choice. No tracking or insurance, but cheap and uses Air Mail.

Canada rate is $2.20, USA is $3.30 and overseas would be $7.60.

You may, as a new seller, want to restrict your sales to North America, until you get used to shipping.

Only use Air Mail services overseas. Surface is NOT cheaper, because it takes months for your shipment to arrive, by which time your unhappy customer has gotten a refund from Paypal for non-delivery and left you negative feedback.

You can "self-insure". This means including a tiny amount , perhaps a dime, in every Handling Charge as an insurance premium for the very rare instance where the customer claims not to have received the item. You refund him and ask him to refund the refund when the item arrives.

Since you are dealing with gamers, a high testosterone lot (even the GirlGamers*) self-insurance is probably more important for you than for a book and stamp seller like me.

Oh, btw, in my opinion, bubble envelopes are not a secure as you think, and they will make your package thicker than the 2 cm maximum for Letter rated mail.

*Even the totally adorable Felicia Day is a pretty tough cookie.

[reallynicestamps]

When you get into multiple packs, you are looking at approximately 3 kilos weight. Different ball game entirely.

Again with gamers, and the higher value of the larger lot, you should be using a Tracked service.

Check out the canadapost.ca website for pricing and maximum sizes. I wrote out a chart for my own use, but it stops at 2 kilos. Even there, shipping a Tracked Parcel to Australia can cost $70.00. Don't panic about this. If the item is unavailable in the customer's country, he will pay it. (Not you. Him.) Or he can shop elsewhere. Some sales are not worth having.

[tobyshitzu]

At 3kg expedited it is.  If you are sending less then that but more then 1 oversize letter worth domestically it can be chepaer to send 2 or 3 letters instead of 1 parcel.

Most large retailers (future shop etc) make extensive use of bubble envelopes including for packages much larger then lettermail.  Recived 100+ games today in 3 packages from the same place.  Ones that were 10+  in large paper bubble envelopes are all fine.  Unfortuntaely many that were packed tightly in a box were obvioudsy crushed with many badly damaged

[pjcdn2005]

For your packages too big for lettermail you can use Paypal to print your shipping label as there are discounts on specific services. Expedited Canada and USA has a 18% discount from regular parcel counter rates. Tracked packet U.S. has a 14% discount and I think (but am not sure) that Tracked packet international as the same 14% discount.

[pjcdn2005]

I forgot to mention that for packages under 1 kg to the U.S. and under 2kg to other countries, you can also use small packet air. Unlike expedited, this service does not have delivery confirmation or any type of insurance. It's a less expensive alternative for packages that don't have a high dollar value.