Shipping calculator: share your thoughts here

[vaughan@ebay.com]

Hi PowerSellers,

One of the frequent requests that I receive from the Canadian Community is for a shipping calculator integrated onto eBay.ca. To help me better understand the need for an integrated shipping calculator, it would be great to hear from the Community as to the benefits and support for such a feature. By having an integrated shipping calculator, I referring to a shipping calculator similar to the one available on eBay.com where buyers can input their postal code and automatically receive a shipping quote.

Please share your thoughts on having a shipping calculator on eBay.ca as well as provide answers to the specific questions listed below:
As a seller,
-Would you use an integrated shipping calculator if it was available on eBay.ca?
-Approximately how much time would you save by using a shipping calculator when listing your items (percentage-wise)? In other words, how much time do you spend determining your shipping costs or replying to shipping cost questions?
As a buyer,
-Would you be more likely to buy/bid on an item if the listing used a shipping calculator?

I look forward to hearing your answers!

Vaughan

[acurael]

We'd use it if it worked. The current option of specifying shipping charges DOES NOT WORK and we are LOSING SALES because of it. (see here: http://forums.ebay.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=500005939&tstart=0&mod=1144286213210)

We currently utilize flat shipping rates purely to save on time. Having to look up and quote for each individual customer is a gigantic time killer. With the current setup, sometimes we win, sometimes the customer wins.

Having a built in shipping calculator based on destination postal code would be ideal. Please ensure that it is NOT just Canada Post though. Provision for UPS and other couriers would be most beneficial.

As a buyer, yes, a shipping calculator would be an incentive to bid.

[mtfman]

How about just added the DARN Postal code in the auction for both Sellers and Buyers with there user id . So at the end of the auction we as Sellers do not have to guess at the shipping or make contact with the buyer. If American Ebay can place the zip code ...why not Ebay.ca place the Postal code

You already provide the postal code too us with the closed auction info

[stittsville11]

I agree with providing the postal code automatically when a potential buyer asks a question. I do not think I would incorporate a shipping calculator.

[poupas2]

Absolutely use it.
I specify flat rates. I do this because if I dont specify a flat rate, I get overloaded with shipping quotes. Yet using flat rates means someone in my province is paying the same price as someone across the country. Same for the US.
Basically it would increase sales because of cheaper shipping prices. Buyers would know they are getting a realistic shipping price. Buyers also dont have to wait for a response from the seller about the shipping rate if the seller hasnt specified a rate.
Another problem is when you are selling multiple items in one auction. You put in a flat rate, and then you HAVE to put in a flat rate for each additional item. You cant turn this option off, it has to be done. Which is ok sometimes, but when you get into international delivery, and a few of your items put the shipping charge over the small packet minimum, it puts the price way up.
Shipping calculator is the way to go. No question.

[zarzuella]

I'd love to use a shipping calculator, but not on the.ca site. Many of us were selling prior to the advent of the .ca site. I have my store on .com, and list auctions on .com because if I try to list on .ca I encounter all types of glitches, most notably difficulty combining .com items and .ca items on a single invoice. The ability to utilize a Canadian shipping calculator on .com would be very useful, but I am unlikely to list on .ca again until the two sites are better integrated. Ann

[weedsellit4u]

Hi,
I would use it if..
it worked for USA, Europe, Australia and Canada.
it was integrated with Canada Post Desk top shipping tools. and gave us our existing discounts we have set up with Canada post as a business account.
it integrated with Blackthorne.
And actually worked.

Right now I have tweaked our listings usicg Blackthorne to include my shipping charges for every item and to every location we ship to. The new templates make it very easy to create them and add them to every listing.

This shipping calculator would have to be a real hummer to get us to use it.

[ezrecreation]

I have been selling on ebay.com and ebay.ca since 2000

until recently i have listed all on ebay.com/motors because i sell motorcycle parts and i get better exposure on the ebaymotors categories from the .com site.

recently the shipping calculator was given to us on ebay.ca but we can only select canadapost services.  it is ok, and works great (for me anyways) but it is only good on small items because when you take a large item like a motorcycle gas tank, couriers are much quicker/cheaper to use. 

the other flaw is that the international services offered by canadapost do not offer a tracking # and we all know what happens if paypal wants that for a claim, we lose every time.

so to avoid this i have used Purolator for 10 years, but when i list on ebay.com i have to calculate 4 different price zones and put it im my listings, which is usually missed when viewed because 99% of the USA (ebay.com) buyers are use to seeing calculated shipping based on their state via the GREAT UPS shipping calculator on ebay.com.

the biggest problem is for me i can only put in 1 price for international shipping, and to cause the least amount of confusion i have to put the most expensive price (for me to California)

so an item such as a gas tank, cost 49.99 to ship to CA, but what happens is when a buyer from NY which is actually 28.99 views the auction, they only see the 49.99 in the item list when they search, so they never even click on my listing (hence LOST SALE)

if i were to put in the 28.99 then for the other 3 more expensive zones i would have to re-invoice higher, and we all know how well that is accepted.

i put a note in that if you are in the lower price zone, i will refund the amount when i print the shipping label.

though it still causes confusion, it is the most effective way i have to do my sales, the ones i get that actually are not scared off by seeing the high flat rate from the search results.

So my vote is for an expanded shipping calculator for ebay.ca listings.  i just downloaded Blackthorne basic, i created an auction for ebay.ca, and i was so excited to see UPS options for Canada and USA and the rest of the world.  but when i tried to submit, it came back with errors and UPS shipping wasn't allowed (darn)

I as a paying seller, fees, FVF etc can't understand why if ebay.ca has Calculated shipping enabled (canadapost) so we know they can do it, how come they can't add UPS with the same code that is used to use it on the .com site for ever.

i want this feature yesterday as i know for a fact it will be a 100% improvement for my business, and many other sellers in Canada who sell large items (bigger then a cell phone).

Is ebay.ca actually working on this, i did talk to customer support about a month ago, when i had to make a choice between Purolator and UPS, she told me it is in the works for UPS first, so i cancelled my purolator account and signed up with UPS so i have the proper courier ready to go.

Right now i can list approx 10 large items in the available time i have each day after packing previous days sales in the morning.  this is because i have to take the measurements from each item, do 4 different shipping quotes and then edit that in the auction in hopes buyers will see this chart and know they have different prices.  but if i had a calculator, like the canadapost one, i could do 20-30 per day, which means more fees for ebay, and more sales for me.

i talked to my purolator rep today who was asking why i switched, and long story short, he says that purolator isn't interested from what he can tell in working with ebay.ca on the calculated shipping.  i couldn't believe this, one of the largest potential sources of courier business is just sitting there for the taking, and because ebay.com has UPS, USPS and now FEDEX as calculated shipping options, there is no reason why i and the rest of ebay.ca shouldn't already have at least one courier available other then Candaapost in the calculator.

you wanted some feedback, so here it is, this is a must and we want it now.

please advise us paying ebay.ca sellers on when this will be coming, ebay loves to inform us of policy changes all the time, so give us some good news we all will love.

[zarzuella]

you wanted some feedback, so here it is, this is a must and we want it now.

please advise us paying ebay.ca sellers on when this will be coming, ebay loves to inform us of policy changes all the time, so give us some good news we all will love.

??   eBay was asking for feedback on this 5 years ago.

Somehow I doubt that they are still checking the thread.

[entertainmentsolutionssuperstore]

I stopped using calculated shipping because of all the emails I was replying. If the people asking the questions had been buying I might have felt different.

I have gone almost exclusively to Free Shipping, using Flat-Rate-Boxes, and shipping my US sales from the US.

I might go back to some calculated shipping if there were more shipping options available in the calculator including USPS, DHL, UPS to name a few.

It's great that you are considering additional shipping options but there is something I need more than that. If I was selling clothing I could combine colors and sizes but I sell consumer electronics. I still sell different sizes and colors but I do not have that option when I create a listing. When I sell speaker wire or coaxial cable I would like the same option as those clothing seller. There must other seller out there that want the same option in their listings.

[stanscollectibles1949]

YES !! DEFINITELY I would use it because now the shipping calculator that eBay uses is TOTALLY out of whack for us Canadian sellers.

It HAS TO BE ACCURATE though.

[pjcdn2005]

??   eBay was asking for feedback on this 5 years ago.

Somehow I doubt that they are still checking the thread.

LOL Thank goodness you posted that.

I didn't notice the date of the OP and couldn't figure out what the heck the pink (and everyone else) was talking about since we do have a shipping calculator on .ca.