Why I sometimes hate selling to Canadians

[rewind_things_from_the_past]

I kind of hate it when Canadians win my auctions that are smaller. Such as a single Nintendo game. Why? Well, A single Game costs approx. $5.00 to $8.00 to ship depending on thepostal code. An entire Nintendo System and Ten games costs approx $5.00 to $8.00 to ship.
Yes you read correct. Shipping withinCanada for large eavy parcels is great and cheap. Shipping for a small packet is almost the same cost!
I even get a discount becausei dohigh volume through Canada post. When people in Canada win a gameor similar item, rather than enquiring about shipping before bidding, they complain afterwards accusing me of gouging, when in reality I do not even charge a handling fee of any sort for the bubble mailer or other fees. I tried listing shippingfor every auction to different provinces and territories but than different postalcodes had different rates, I ended up having to list over 70 different shipping rates for canada and it took about 2 hours per auction which turned out to be way to labour intensive.
What has your experience with this issue been like?

[haida22]

I agree, the shipping rates for small parcels within Canada are absolutely ridiculous - I can ship a small parcel to Japan for less then I can ship it to my neighbor!

I don't usually don't bother to quote the shipping rates within Canada, I just state whether it would be more or less then the quoted rate to the US - I just blame the rates on Canada Post & I've never really had anyone complain about it... Yet... 🙂

[deltone]

I've NEVER had a problem with a fellow Canadian complaining about shipping rates. When I quote the rate (in my auctions I state that shipping cost is US only and Canadians must email me with their postal code for a quote) I always reply with a copy and paste from the Canada Post website. I place all the blame on the post office, and empathize with the buyer about the ridiculous high cost and NEVER do they complain to me. How can they? I've proven that it's not me. I also convert to Canadian for further proof that I'm not gouging. I would imagine that if I charged them that rate in US$ they'd complain, but then again, they'd have the right to, I would think.

Now that I've said this, I'll probably get a royal pain in the neck tomorrow! ;o)

[treasure-pot]

Ahh, deltone, you have taunted the gods of eBay whimsy. A plague of whiny Canadians could descend on your auctions for such a transgression. lol

I routinely get whining that my S/H is not lower for Canadian destinations. I point out to them that I can ship up to 250 grams to Hawaii or Alaska for $2.80 and no tax (small packet) whereas the same package costs me $5.22 + GST to Toronto - one hour away! That even includes my Venture One discount.

The complaint usually dies right about there.

[deltone]

HECK treasure-pot!! Have you been reading my emails?? I swear that I say exactly the same thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Word for word!!! (Except I also throw Alaska into the mix). LOL Strange!!!!

I hadn't even known about this venture one discount until I read about it on here in another thread and I applied for it.

The only annoying thing I find about selling to Canadians is that I have to figure out the shipping cost, but I figure, what the heck, it only takes a few extra minutes.

[treasure-pot]

deltone, depending on the number of Canadian buyers you get, sometimes its not even worth the time to check on each one.

I set a flat rate for my S/H for each of my auctions for anywhere in North America. Sometimes I make a $1 on an auction and the next time I subsidize $1.

I use Quickbooks Pro which runs a monthy tally of my S/H income and expenses. Last month my income was $212 higher than my expenses. That is the money that I have available to go towards my packaging expenses, gas to and from the RPO, internet connection, etc. Anything left go towards defraying my monthly eBay bill. Of course, none of it goes towards making up the approx. $200 - $300 USD I lose to PayPal each month. "wink"

It all works out pretty even in the end. But then, only one in 20 of my customers is Canadian.

[deltone]

treasure, very few of my customers are from Canada. Few enough that it's worth it for me to check on each. I sell a lot of vhs tapes, and I can send these to the US for $2.80 but to send this same tape to Vancouver for example, it would be $8.40 which is just too much to "eat" seeing that my margin isn't great. I try to keep the shipping as low as possible for the US buyers, so I really don't charge much more for shipping the tape than I charge, by the time you factor in the packaging etc. If I had a lot of Canadians, then I would rethink my way of doing things, for sure, as time is money.

[firedept10]

Hi folks,

All my packages are shipped small packet for one set shipping charge for both in the US & Canada. I know it may be unfair to the Americans but it saves me all the emails asking for shipping quotes. Very rarely do I get asked the shipping price and when I do they are directed back to my auction to read it there.

Don

[thebidwatcher]

Same with my auction rates on shipping, firedept. I state it right in the listing and if there's a problem, they don't bid. But if anyone DID ask me to sharpen my pencil and it meant getting the sale I would do it. I'm after repeat business on eBay.

[firedept10]

bidwatcher,

I will only sharpen the pencil if is is a fairly large sale. I understand your point of repeat business but if it is a $5.00 item how much should you sharpen. My shipping is fairly low considering all my time to package and ship plus I use all new boxes and packing materials. My combined is were the customer does well as I can usually ship several items for the same price as quoted in auction. Oh the luxury of selling jewelry!

[thebidwatcher]

Point taken. Only works if there's room. We can't be paying them to take our stuff home, can we? The combining of shipping goes a long way though.

OK I'm on the OP's side now, but here's the cure - our fellow countryfolk need to buy bigger, and more expensive items from us. So get with it Canada or what.