Powersellers: email Canadapost with your complaints at this address:

[skminus]

I added this to the thread about losing our Powersellers shipping discount, but thought it worth a thread by itself.

Register your disgust with Canadapost's discontinuation of the PS's shipping discount by sending an email to :

trudy.trudeau@canadapost.ca.

I have emailed them with all my concerns, and urge every Powerseller to do the same. My email is in post #28 in the original thread, at the top of the discussion board, titled:

'CanadaPOST PowerSeller Program Ending In Sept 2006,

The recipient, Trudy, is away until July. 31, but let's send her our emails now, in the hopes that some one at Cpost will actually listen. They listened last year when we complained about them raising rates on letterpost if the contents weren't just paper. Maybe we can make them listen again.

SKM

[skminus]

An update on this. I received this email today:

Dear Sharman, I wanted to let you know that Trudy just returned from holidays and has forwarded a copy of your email to me concerning the discontinuation of the ebay Powersellers program. I will be investigating your questions and will let you know as soon as I have the answers.

Regards,
Ted Froats
Marketing Manager, Parcel Division

Ted Froats' email is ted.froats@canadapost.postescanada.ca

We need to show Cpost that we are unhappy with their discontinuation of the PS discounts. Instead of 18% discount on within Canada mailings, we will be reduced to 8%. That's a 55% drop in the discount. Email him today!

[finells]

Just to let everyone know the powerseller discount was a crock....just call canada post and tell them how much you ship (DO NOT say you are an ebay powerseller) and they will give you a much greater discount. I get 12%-15% off.

[jasonsportscards]

finells really? now does the only for packages? of greater then letter size, or would it conform to all natures. as i send my stuff out in bubblemailers, and the norm is 1.05 for my bigger packages. i sent out 30 alone today, what a sour look i got from canada post lady, but she knows that weekend for me are busy

[jakeeangel]

Any discounts are applicable only for packages. Nothing is discounted for lettermail. I don't think even Small Packet gets discounted.

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[skminus]

UPDATE: Received this today (long letter attached.) I've highlighted some text. Comments? I interpret it to mean as long as we ship at least 100 non Canadian parcels per year, we can still keep our discounts, and I've sent an email to Mr. Froats to clarify that.

August 9, 2006

XXXX
XXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX
Victoria BC


Dear XXX SKM,

I am sending you this letter in response to your email concerning the cancellation of the eBay Powersellers Parcel Program. First let me say that Canada Post is committed to providing reliable, efficient and cost effective shipping solutions. This allows the shipper to choose the service that’s best for them, and they only pay for the options that are needed.

eBay sellers are important to Canada Post, and it is why we work so closely with eBay Canada to develop innovative programs such as the integrated shipping platform to make shipping that much easier.

The eBay Powersellers Parcel Program was implemented to encourage eBay sellers to use Canada Post shipping services while we developed the integrated shipping platform. As you know, now that it is up and running we will be cancelling the Powersellers Parcel Program on September 31, 2006.

When the program was first set up we determined the three volume discount levels for the agreements we established based on information from eBay. The information we used indicated the volume of sales made by eBay Powersellers in a one-year period and we translated that into the number of shipments we would expect from each Powerseller. For example an eBay Powerseller who sold 750 domestic items, or 100 International items, in a year would have been eligible to use the 40855514 Powerseller Parcel agreement.
At the conclusion of the Powersellers Parcel program, a complete analysis was conducted of each and every one of the participants to determine their actual shipping volumes. 1,700 Powersellers signed up for the program. 1,400 who signed up did not ship any items under the program. Of the remaining 300 who did ship, those that had enough shipments in 2005 to qualify for a CPC shipping agreement, are being contact by a CPC sales representative to be offered their own agreement. The minimum number of shipments required to qualify for an individual agreement is 100 International shipments, and / or 750 domestic shipments. The majority of the 300 participants did not meet this minimum and we suggested they migrate to the integrated shipping platform where they would receive an 8% discount on domestic and 9% discount on International rather than pay full retail rates with no discount. As well, we also recommended that for their non-eBay shipments they become members of our VentureOne program that provides for a 5% discount at our retail counters.

As I mentioned, Canada Post offers a complete suit of shipping and delivery services that where designed so that a shipper can choose the service that provides for the needs of each shipment based on speed, options and cost. For example, if you need guaranteed delivery, a signature from the recipient and additional insurance coverage then you could use either, Priority Courier, Expedited parcel or Xpresspost depending on the speed required.

I trust this answers your questions and I hope you continue to use Canada Post for your shipping requirements.

Sincerely Yours,



Ted Froats
Marketing Manager, Parcels Division

[tobyshitzu]

Wow, only 300 people ever took advantage of the power seller discount??? I was always amazed at those with the power seller logo continually whining about the glitchy paypal version, wondering why they would put up with that and forgo the discount. It looks like there msut be piles of ebays with that mindset, pay more just to have the address filled out.

[lilybean@ebay.com]

skminus,

I did see your letter to Canada Post regarding the discontinuation of the PowerSeller Shipping Discount Program, and I see you received a response from Canada Post.

First, let me remind you that a number of Canada Post employees will be hosting an information session tomorrow on the Canada Town Square board from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET. I encourage you to bring this matter up here again.

Second, I am happy to discuss any shipping-related manners with you, and put you in touch with a Canada Post representative who can review your volume shipments and discuss your account options. Please let me know if you want me to initiate this. Feel free to email me at lilybean@ebay.com.

Regards,

lilybean

[youreinthebook]

After reading through yesterday's informational session my expectations for anything truly beneficial coming from the Canada Post/eBay partnership are at an all-time low.

My favorite part was when tobyshitzu pointed out that the new Light Packet schedule, which is supposed to be "aligned" to Letterpost rates did, in fact, include a fee hike.

[tobyshitzu]

I emailed some contacts at CP while that thread was ggoing on and got a very quick brief response from the COO "We chose to go with the small packets weights"...but made no mention at all of my main point about "Exclusive to post offices" will make it so difficult to use. He was well aware of what I went through with outlets as he became involved when I was having so many problems with outlets and became aware the local supervisor received the complaints but didn't bother to follow up on anything.

[itsagyp]

Here is the letter I sent to the email abve:

Hello

I'm a small business person based in Ontario and I'm expressing to you my absolute disgust with Canada Post. Your new Light Packet service is nothing but a blatant cash grab and you know it. In your press release regarding the service, you say that the prices are in line with Letterpost but in truth, they are not. I ship out items in the 150g-200g range and your change is going to take $600 per month directly out of my pockets and you're giving me absolutely nothing in return for the additional .76 cents USA and $1.00 International you are charging in rates.

There is absolutely no reason that Canada Post needs to charge more for packages with goods that weigh the same as packages that contain paper. When a customer returns a shirt to me, it costs them $1.80USD! You're already charging more than a dollar above the USPS rate and now you're raising it an additional .75 cents???? What the heck is that?? I ship out 600 packages a month and a customer from the USA who ships one package gets a better rate than me? Canada Post takes over USPS packages at the border and their rate is still better. Do you have an explanation??

I will be fighting this with everything I've got. I will not stop until there are news spots on CTV, City TV, and in every national paper. I've already got Canadian Businessweek doing a spot in their next issue. This is absolutely wrong and you're going to single handedly decimate tens of thousands of small businesses in Canada who sell small items with a value of $10 or less. I've already got my local MP working on this and they will be raising quite a fuss at the Federal level. What you're doing is wrong. Period.

If you don't reverse this morally wrong cash grab, I will simply take my $3000 per month in revenue that I've been giving to Canada Post and have my items shipped across the border with a mailhouse to be dropped directly into the USPS. I will take as many other small businesses I can with me and will do whatever I can to take business away from Canada Post. You need to smarten up.

Please respond and address my concerns or lose a customer who's business has been growing by 65% annually for the last 3 years and anyone else I can take with me. Also, while you're at it, tell me why your "Tickleopes" don't have to go as a package. They aren't paper!!! What's good for the goose is good for the gander....

Regards

Aaron McNeil
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