Paypal Shipping cost - Is it Accurate

[around_again_records]

Well, hello again everyone

I made a sale, I made a sale, yay!

I have a problem though. The ebay shipping calculator showed shipping costs at 11.78

When I printed the label through Paypal the cost was 7.72. I've double checked the weight and measurments and both addresses and everything looks good.

So my question is Why this disrepency? Is this normal?  I thought the price quoted with the ebay calculator included the Canada Post Cost plus any handling cost that I charge minus the 25% discount for shipping with Paypal.

Even if the 25% discount is not included with the price shown on ebay, the shipping cost should still be 8.83.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem. If I'm going to use the calculator (and I prefer to do it that way) I have to know that it's accurate. If it's not it causes all kinds of issues. For one thing, the buyer paid right away, so I will be charged Final Value Fees on the higher value. I also don't plan on charging more for shipping than what it costs me so I've refunded the (supposed) overcharge.

The other issue is because there is such a difference in price, I'm worried that the item will be returned for insufficient postage, and obviously I don't want that to happen.

Can I trust the Paypal prices and labels

[dipmicro]

It does not matter if PayPal has a mistake in the coding, they generate valid label.

The question is "can you trust ebay calculated shipping" ?

[around_again_records]

Sorry, never mind. I finally found where to look up Expedited shipping on the Canada Post Site. (had to go to the business section and then Click on the link to see what I could save with a Venture 1 card)

Anyway now that I found the Expedited rate at CP, I would say that with the extra discount the Paypal label is correct.

the only way I can think of to solve the difference between the ebay calculater rate and what i actually pay, is to put a note in my ad not to pay until I send an invoice. Then I could put the correct postage on the invoice???? OR hmmmm, I'll have to check, is there a way to give the discount with the ebay calculator???

Any suggestions are welcome

[around_again_records]

The question is "can you trust ebay calculated shipping" ?

Yes indeed, I think that is the problem, based on what I saw when I found Expedited on Canada Post. Paypal is correct, the ebay calculator shows far too much which doesn't help to entice sales. 😞

I'll have to think about this and find a work around. I really don't want to try to calculate all the rates myself. Every parcel will be different. It would be really nice if I could count on the calculator to do the work.

[bb_cool_stuff]

Congrats. Great price & a bidding war also.

[pocomocomputing]

eBay does have a way for showing a lower shipping cost for the eBay listing using calculated shipping.

In My eBay -> Site Preferences -. Shipping Preferences -> Click Show on the right

Find "Offer this Canada Post shipping rate", click Edit on the right.

Now you can set a Global calculated shipping discount from 5 to 70% for Domestic shipping (within Canada) and for International shipping (USA and world).

Now very important. These discounts affect Calculated shipping set up in a listing and not Flat Rate shipping.

If you set the domestic shipping discount to 25%, then all your listing using calculated shipping for Canada buyers will show a lower cost by 25%.  The buyer sees no discount, just the discounted price.

Since Expedited Parcel using PayPal shipping has a 25% discount, the listing will show the lower price to the buyer and charge that amount when bought.

Now the PayPal 25% discount usually is about 20-21% I would suggest that you use the global shipping discount of 20%. This is close enough to actual shipping cost with you getting a few cents more most of the time.

If you have some items with Domestic shipping using Flat Rate, the discount will not apply to them. So items that you can send using Lettermail Oversize within Canada will not show discounted rates.

Now here is the problem with the global calculated shipping discount. If you have some listings with another Canada Post service like say Xpresspost within Canada and use calculated shipping, then Xpresspost will show in the listing at 25% off.  PayPal only gives an 8% discount on Xpresspost so you lose 17%.

No problem if you only use Expedited parcel within Canada. Set up the discount for domestic and remember no to use any other shipping options within Canada.

For International shipping, you can setup a global calculated shipping discount also. But here it gets tricky.  Expedited Parcel USA has a 25% discount. Great, do the same setup as for Canada. But now if you use Small Packet Air USA or International and use the calculated  shipping for them, then you discount Small Packet when there is no discount for you and you lose on shipping cost. SO you have to use Flat Rate shipping for all other options for USA and International. This can works because Light and Small Packet are one price within the USA and Light Packet is one price to the rest of the world and Small Packet International varies slightly within Canada Post world zones.

So you can force the global calculated shipping discount to work for you for Expedited Parcel USA. Just pay attention to how you set up your shipping and all will be fine. You will be able to show a lower shipping cost and still benefit from calculated shipping charging close to the actual rate based on the buyers location.

[femmefan1946]

I tend to offer Regular Shipping domestically, when I don't offer LetterMail, and actually use the discounted Paypal Expedited Shipping labels. I believe this shows a lower cost to my Canadian customers and if the discount is less than the difference between the two services, well, I have "handling" costs too. Bubblewrap ain't free.

If the buyer even notices, which considering that PP labels do not show the actual shipping cost, I have "upgraded" the service.

If the difference is egregious, I have been known to refund some of the s&h charged. Everyone likes a discount.

[around_again_records]

Thanks everyone, very helpful! I'm going to have to put you all on my Christmas card list. This forum has really been a big help to me.

Pocomo: You deserve a card and a gift. That works perfectly. I've set it up for a Domestic discount, and that's EXACTLY what I wanted. I knew it had to be there, but I would have never found it on my own. I only plan to use Expedited for Canadian shipping so no problem.

I'll leave International and US alone for now until I check out the Expedited USA prices compared to Small Packet. So far Tracked Packet looks out of the question. I understand what you're saying though and how to set it up so it discounts one service and not the other. I'm printing out your instructions for future reference.

Thanks again everyone

[Anonymous]

I recently checked Canada Post's new postage rates and checked PayPal Shipping to compare and they came up with:

USA: Light Packet Air up to 100g PayPal $2.78, Canada Post $2.20  58 cents too much by PayPal.  Charge GST/HST

USA: Light Packet Air up to 250g PayPal $5.53,  Canada Post $7.60  $2.07 too much by Canada Post.  No Taxes

USA: Small Packet Air up to 100g PayPal $7.80,  Canada Post $2.20   $5.60 too much by PayPal.   No Taxes

USA: Small Packet Air up to 250g  PayPal $7.80, Canada Post $7.60  20 cents too much by PayPal.   No Taxes

International:  Light Packet Air up to 100g  PayPal $5.20,  Canada Post $4.36   84 cents too much by PapPal.   No Taxes

International: Light Packet Air up to 250g  PayPal $10.00, Canada Post $7.60   $2.40 too much by PayPal.   No Taxes

International: Small Packet Air up to 100 g PayPal $9.10,  Canada Post $15.20  $6.10 too much by Canada Post.  No Taxes.

Is that normal??  Or did PayPal/Canada Post make bloopers or what?    Did PayPal Shipping gouge us all the way for years or is it normal?

Anyone knew?  Should we complain and who should we complain to??

Any suggestions/advices??  Thanks.

[pjcdn2005]

Paypal and prices at the post office or at an outlet have always matched

Some of your figures are incorrect.

USA: Light Packet Air up to 100g PayPal $2.78, Canada Post $2.20  58 cents too much by PayPal.  Charge GST/HST

You are supposed to be charged  gst/hst on postage for international items IF the total is under $5. The $2.20 you are referring to is for for oversize letterpost up to 100 grams. that is supposed to be used for documents only, not merchandise.

$2.78 for light packet up to 100 gr is correct.(some people will ship merchandise using letterpost but technically, that isn't supposed to be done)

USA: Light Packet Air up to 250g PayPal $5.53,  Canada Post $7.60  $2.07 too much by Canada Post.  No Taxes

US light packet is $2.78 up to 100 grams; $5.53 for 101-250 grams;$8.89 for 251-500 grams

USA: Small Packet Air up to 250g  PayPal $7.80, Canada Post $7.60  20 cents too much by PayPal.   No Taxes

small packet air up to 250 gr is $7.80. I believe that $7.60 was the 2012 price.

International:  Light Packet Air up to 100g  PayPal $5.20,  Canada Post $4.36   84 cents too much by PapPal.   No Taxes

$5.20 is correct. $4.36 is for oversize lettermail for documents, not merchandise

International: Light Packet Air up to 250g  PayPal $10.00, Canada Post $7.60   $2.40 too much by PayPal.   No Taxes

$10 is correct for 101-250 grams

International: Small Packet Air up to 100 g PayPal $9.10,  Canada Post $15.20  $6.10 too much by Canada Post.  No Taxes

International small packet air depends on which country you are shipping to

To the UK -up to 250gr is $9.10; over 250 up to 500 gr is $18.20

All the info is at this link -- http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/prices/CPprices-e.pdf

[pocomocomputing]

Off topic. I was looking at the link provided by PJ

All the info is at this link -- http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/prices/CPprices-e.pdf

I noticed an error in the USA prices pages. Page 14 should be a list of USA states, not worldwide countries. It is supposed to be a list of Priority USA states for use in determining the rate. It should be a list like Page 16 which is a list of Xpresspost USA states. Most likely it is identical to the Xpresspost table in content.

If it is an error (I am reasonably sure), it is just one more example of how bad Canada Post operates with their rate changes this year. The documentation has had so many errors in it. Amazing. Does no one at Canada Post know their own rates and rules? Can anyone there proofread a document and make it correct?

[pierrelebel]

The table on page 14 is correct and offers codes for the USA, its possessions (sych as Guam, Micronesia, etc...) and worldwide

It is titled

Priority

™ Worldwide – USA Prices

[pocomocomputing]

This annoying posting bug that does not accept edit changes after preview messed up my previous post. I correct the error I remember (24), the others I do not remember what I corrected.  My apologies if there are any other corrections needed to my post.  I will have to start using Windows copy to clipboard to save my posts after making changes after preview in case the changes disappear again.. So annoying a bug.

Corrections applied again

Yes, page 14 appears to be correct. It is the same information as page 24 Priority Worldwide - International Prices. Both give the same codes. My confusion is from the table having all of the other countries there that are not part of the USA and its possessions. The other countries are not needed since they are not part of the USA. Only a very small subset of the page is for "USA Prices". A similar page to Xpresspost which has only USA states and possessions would only be needed with the appropriate codes.

I did notice that the USA states of Alaska and Hawaii have a footnote stating there is a surcharge of $8.50 for using Priority Worldwide.  By using the Worldwide table instead of the state table, they had to "fix" the World country table lookup for these two distant non-lower 48 states.

My mistake in not understanding how it worked. I did know that Guam and other possessions existed and actually saw Guam in the table on page 14. But I did not actually look at how it worked because the Xpresspost setup by states and possessions made more sense as a way to show USA prices.

Apologies to Canada Post. Because of their recent past mistakes in these documents, their credibility is poor.

[pierrelebel]

"Because of their recent past mistakes in these documents, their credibility is poor."

I totally agree with you.