Shipping (ad naseum!!)

[2011limey1]

I'm on these posts a bit as you know but read them a lot.  I was always the one to :_|  when so many people were contantly talking about high shipping - just move on I used to think and that's what I used to do - but BOY, has it changed in the last couple of months. I read many of you sellers' concerns about how much Cdn. shipping is, and now US is going crazy too.

For instance, my friend likes a certain Avon eau de cologne and for her b'day thought I'd look on here - under Canada Only - as you know perfumes over the border you run the risk of it not even making it here. Just a few months ago I myself ordered two bottles of an Avon fragrance from a seller in Ont. and it was Make an Offer - got an incredible price (as compared to Avon.ca) and she shipped FOR FREE (Like most of China does.) Now when I looked at the same seller and all the others in Canada too in this short time span, its hard to understand why anyone would even bother buying from them.  The shipping for one small bottle from one province to another is totally outrageous........shipping is much cheaper on the official Avon site. There are no deals for the products themselves either.  Answer? wait for a sale on Avon.ca which they have all the time and you're SO head of the game.

Anyway, never thought I'd be bitching about shipping - haven't bought anything in quite a while, except  a nice little item with the last of my Ebay Bucks from China:^O  Won't be buying shoes/boots anymore from my fav. U.S. seller - again....shipping way too high.  Too bad.....so sad.  Ah well, thought since I joined in 2011, I was getting a bit addicted - so no, now I don't need Dr. Drew's help.

[femmefan1946]

The shipping for one small bottle from one province to another is totally outrageous........shipping is much cheaper on the official Avon site.

Domestic parcel shipping rates, especially National rate, have been amazing for years. Twelve shiny loonies to ship a paperback to Fort McMurray from Ottawa? C’mon!

But do remember that Avon is the manufacturer. They can set their price wherever they like. So the actual cost of shipping is higher than what the customer pays. The actual shipping is included in your price. (And who knows what the cost of manufacturing is? I seem to recall that iPhones actually cost $13 to manufacture and everything else is profits and fees. Probably an urban legend, that.)

It is also likely that Avon gets a discounted commercial rate since they have multiple shipments daily and package well enough that Canada Post is not faced with multiple damage claims. EBayers who use Paypal get a discount on Expedited Parcels negotiated by PP, and of course there are some discounts for any small business which signs up for VentureOne.

If this government really did want to encourage small (even micro) businesses like online sellers, they would consider subsidizing the PO for domestic and exported parcels.

[pierrelebel]

"they would consider subsidizing the PO for domestic and exported parcels."

This raises the first question: where would the money come from?

Answer: from our grandchidren since the government is running a deficit and needs to borrow the money to cover current expenses and subsidies.

And the next question: why should future taxpayers (our grandchildren) favour small home based mail order businesses at the expenses of other businesses or deserving social needs?  Would the money - if it were available - not be better used to create and maintain child care centres for low income earners? home care for the elderly and sick? etc...

There is no easy answer here but to suggest the federal government should subsidize eBay sellers is NOT is the national best interest.

[tobyshitzu]

Subsidizing the post office wouldnt even work.    The union would take advantage of CP being in better shape and hold the public hostage until it all went to them.  Ending the monopoly CUPW has on mail and putting CP into private hands is the path to eventual lower rates

[ggsale27]

I agree with you about CUPW Toby. The part about privatizing CP would not work though. That would be a case of one courier company undercutting the rest until they had sufficient market share, and then prices would go through the roof to maximize profit. If you think that CP rates are bad now ( and I do ), just wait and see what would happen under privatization.

[tobyshitzu]

Many countries have already privatized, with consumers left clearly better off (eg germany, new zealand

[pamdenac]

Hi!  Boy has shipping ever gotten expensive. I was over 1kg. by1 g and it all but doubled the shipping price from $12.99  to $ 24.99 . It seems that since Ebay and the post office got together, prices have skyrocketed. I put in a complaint to Canada Post to review bringing back the small packet category too. I doubt Ebay can do anything about it now but I blame the gougers at Canada Post. They say their expenses have gone up and people aren't mailing things as much as they use to. Then why am I standing in line at the post office every time I go in. Sometimes it is backed right out to the door. with one person on the counter.I wonder how the US does it and still manage to drive all those trucks and still employ so many people.

    Pamdenac

[rose-dee]

I wonder how the US does it and still manage to drive all those trucks and still employ so many people.

I seem to recall a news story recently reporting that the U.S.P.S. was going broke ... maybe this is why.

Shipping costs are rising at least in part because fuel costs are rising and Canada is a big country with a relatively small, scattered population.  In my view, shipping costs and related issues (like the eBay-Pitney Bowes "Global Shipping" programme) will eventually kill eBay sellers of anything but the cheapest, smallest items.  I think good sellers are trying hard to cope with rising costs and lower profits and still keep their prices competitive but I don't see things getting less expensive anytime soon, sorry to say. 

[brandeentertainment]

The only thing I ever waondered about Canada post is ok they send alot less lettermail then they did 20 years ago ... I wonder how much oversized lettermail has come up though..

I get it no more bills in the mail no more credit card statements and no more hand written letter but Oversized must have come up in leaps and bounds..

I mean ebay and amazon etc. all us sellers were not doing this 20 years ago so there must be an increase in there somewhere ...

I know everything cost more but when Someone like Canada post is at the heart of many businesses you would think they would find something that works ..I mean whats a $1 less per package if you can triple the amount of packages ..

I know it's not that simple but there has got to be something out there ,....

Within Canada we need a cheaper method for shipping item over 2cm under 500grams I don't care about tracking I just don't like paying $8 more because my parcel is 2.5 cm instead of 2 cm

[Anonymous]

In the last month I sold items to buyers in Brazil and Peterborough.  Both were tube shaped.  The parcel to Brazil resembled a large rock.  The parcel to Peterborough was a neat cylinder shape.  Both were light weight.  Canada post charged me extra for the cylinder shaped parcel.  I sarcastically asked if there was a certain added price if the parcel was a triangle shape.  Answer....Yes there is.  Good lord it's no wonder we try to cheat to save money.

Total Canada Post charge airmail to Brazil $10 plus change.  Total charge surface to Peterbourgh $10 plus change. 

Go figure. 

[pierrelebel]

"I mean ebay and amazon etc. all us sellers were not doing this 20 years ago so there must be an increase in there somewhere ..."

Not really.

The "mail order" industry (direct marketing) has been around for over one hundred years. What has changed is the advertising venue.

For example, stamp and coin dealers have been selling and shipping their products by mail for over one hundred years. The advertising methods (eBay vs Popular Mechanics) may have changed but the basic industry is still the same: dealers advertise a product, a consumer sees the advertisement (online or on paper), agrees to buy and pay and dealers ship by mail. Same old, same old. Like thousands of other dealers I was selling stamps by mail well before the internet came along. 

In the "good old days" kids would go door-to-door to sell subscription to Reader's Digest.  It would come by mail. Now the firm has filed for bankrupcy protection (Charter 11) last month. 😞

Older folks may remember book-of-the month club and similar organizations shipping regularly by mail.  Very little of that is still around today (mailing cost are too high).  What about those "get five 8 track tapes for $1 when you join..." Ooops long gone.

The point is that overall mail volume has been declining, despite the arrival of online shopping because the new "stuff" sold through new venues (eBay, Amazon, etc...) does not make up for the "stuff" that is gone or soon going.

The mail order industry will survive but many of the products (books, music, movies, etc...) previously sold by mail have found new, faster and cheaper delivery systems (Internet, e-reader,,,) cheaper than the mail.

And life does go on. 🙂