eBay & Canada Post Workshop: Wednesday, September 28, 1:00-2:00 PM ET

[carly@ebay.com]

Topic: eBay & Canada Post Workshop

Date: Wednesday, September 28, from 1:00 PM -2:00 PM ET

Where: Right here on Canada Town Square

Description: Please join us on Wednesday, September 28, from 1:00-2:00 PM ET for a workshop with Canada Post. Kim from Canada Post will be here to answer all of your questions about Canada Post and how you use the various services with your eBay business.

If you are not able to attend, you can leave your questions here one week in advance of the workshop and they will be answered during the workshop, and you can come back in and check the answers.

Hope you can join us!

Carly

[digital_37]

Hi Kim,
Can you tell me why Expedited Parcel takes SOOOOO long to get delivered? I sell to the US on a daily basis and am always fearing I will have a negative because 6 weeks delivery is totally unacceptable!!! Also, why can't we trace a package sent my Expedited??

Why can't we mail a package to the US regular mail and INSURE the parcel?? I have to absorb a chunk of the amount of "Expedited"because the buyer finds the cost unbelieveable... And it gets delivered in 6 weeks!!!! Makes doing eBay very difficult for Canadians...

Syl

[catseye*]

Paypal's insistence on tracking is hurting all Canadian sellers who ship with Small Packet.

When will tracking be available on Small Packet?

[sffan2001]

When will Canada Post

1. Bring back the book rate. I ship a lot of books, and I am horrified at the discrepancy Canada - US vs. US to Canada.

2. Canada Post must institute a small packet rate for Canada. Specifically, if I have a lightweight object (say 200 grams) that is too bulky to send by letterpost, it is cheaper to send it to the US or overseas as an Air Mail Small Packet than it is to send it within Canada.

[online-software-sales]

Why would it take so long for Canada Post to inform their outlets of the roll back on this policy?

Is the Canada Post Service that slow and inefficient that you can not send them a letter via Canada Post?

I had knowledge of this roll back approx. 2 weeks ago.

[canadapost2]

There were a few postings about our shipping labels as printed by our online electronic shipping tool. I understand that sometimes items are being returned because mail handlers are mistaking the "from" from the "to".

1. Our staff should understand the "from" "to" protocol on our own labels. It is the standard format that we use also on our retail and "prepaid" package labels. We will follow-up with our operations to make sure that it is clearly communicated. We shouldn't be making this mistake.

2. We are looking at redesigning our labels to make them clearer and better, and to co-ordinate them throughout all our label platforms. Expect changes sometime in Q1 or Q2 next year.

Thanks,

- Kim

[canadapost2]

Hi t-shirtmagic


Your question was:
1)Small Packages were insured upto $100, now that anything that meets the requirements now must go Letter Rate, are these packages still insured? If so, what is required to make a lost claim?

To clarify this statement, items do not have to go Letterpost -- this is a cheaper rate than small packets, but it does not offer insurance.

If you require insurance, then you would have to pay the appropriate small packet rate. Insurance for this product is capped at $100. To make a claim, you would need to provide proof of shipment, as well as value of the item.

Kim

[thenorthernoasis]

Kim, please advise what the maximum size capability of the automated sorting machines is. This will give everyone an idea about their "letter-size" package that does not get hand sorted enroute, leading to longer delivery times.

We ship a lot of items to the USA and were curious to know if there is any advantage to imprinting POSTNET barcodes on the front or labels of our envelopes, and if there are any other marks that can be printed that makes the cross-Canada and USA shipping process more efficient; ie other barcodes...

Thanks

[mindbender3]

Hi Kim:

First I must say that in the past year I have been impressed with the increased speed of delivery and reliability of Canada Post airmail, especially to overseas destinations.

My concern over the past four years has been the incredible increase in shipping fees and lack of shipping options in order to compete with our USA counterparts. In addition, the complicated and unfair rates for shipping within Canada. Example: A single LP Record weighing less than 500 grams) shipped to the USA now costs $7.50 to the USA (this costs $13.40 to ship overseas and almost $10.00 to ship to Ontario from BC). These rates have increased by as much as 40 percent over the past four years which is not in line with our competition. USA has a media rate for the same parcel and can ship for $3.85 (currently that's about $4.30 Canadian). Quite literally, hundreds of sales are lost due to the expensive shipping fees.

Thanks,
Spencer

[victorious_ca]

Hi Kim,
I have two questions;
#1
It takes to long for an insurance claim. Average 60 day and it could take up to 90 days. But our customer they do not want to wait that long. And this time period for refund gives us a big problem with eBay FVF credit or PayPal refund policy and also with the customer. Is there a way that you could reduce this time?
#2 Electronic Shipping Tools
It is very difficult to import eBay’s sales history entries to your system. Sales history of eBay gives all kind of data’s about the transaction. Such as item title and insurable value. This information can’t be imported to Electronic Shipping Tools. So it has to be done one by one manually. I have like 20-50 small package shipments to US every month but for these 2 reasons I’m not using it. Can you integrate your system with the downloadable eBay’s sales history?

[ideastore]

Hello Kim.

We are an ebay platinum powerseller who ships 100 to 200 parcels each day. Many of these are small packet to the US and International.

On average, we have 2% of small packets that go missing. Although these packages are insured, Canada Post refuses to pay the claim because we are such a large volume customer. We normally have about 5 to 10 claims a week, based on 500 packages.

I have been fighting with the claims manager, Celine Antaya and she tells me that its just too bad, my claims will not be paid because I have too many. I have outstanding claims now from ONE YEAR ago!

What is your view on this?

[onecrazycanuck]

Hi Kim,
I send a lot of items via small packet air to the U.S. and was not aware that $100.00 of insurance was automatically included. I have had some packages never delivered and have always just replaced the items without claiming the loss with Canada Post. How do I go about doing that since there is no tracking number on that type of package?

Thanks,
Sherry

[canadapost2]

just*another*borg asked about sending parcels out of a Community Mail Box.

Now that we have electronic shipping solutions that allow customers to process their postage online, rather than at a counter, it is logical to allow induction at our street letter boxes, and would be great to find a way to accept them from community mail boxes as well.

The community mail boxes were not designed for this however, and we need to make sure that items are tendered securely. We are looking at the issue, and ways that we can modify the design so that this will be possible. Then it will be a question of when existing units are updated or replaced with new ones, so it could take awhile before you will be able to ship parcels from your unit. We definitely want to get there though, and have started down the path.

Regards,

- Kim

[canadapost2]

There was a question about when we would introduce "lettermail" online.

The answer to this is, this is an ongoing idea that is being evaluated, but there are no immediate plans to move forward with this idea. It requires significant changes to our operational processes, so it is a long term change.

Kim

[vladmaz]

Canada Post has been complete disaster for me and for my venture on line ebay business. I'm loosing my customers every week because of a over inflated prices. The customer buy products from me, and than rarely come back for more.
The 100% REASON FOR THAT - VERY HIGH POSTAL COSTS. Just a few days ago buyer from Ukraine write letter to me, HERE HIS RESPONCE to my Invoice:
> Hi Ilya,

> please reduce price for shipping as I will be pay by sending money
> order through Bidpay, not through Paypal, so there is no charges for
> you, but only for me. And please let me know your full address.

> I never seen/paid such a terrible prices for shipping like in Canada!
> Will be trying to avoid of buying in Canada in the future.

> Best wishes, Alexander.
Many buyers, do not complain and they just never come back for more, and it's all because of the VERY HIGH COSTS!!!

Another thing, it's crazy... sometimes I have to bring the package 3 or 4 time to the post office, standing in the line, loosing my time, to find out that my package is 5gr or 3gr overweigh, just yesterday I had to return back with only 1 gramme overweight. If regularly cost $13.40 under .500gr, but if 1 gramme more I have to pay $26.25. How I can tell my client who purchased the item for $3 or $10.00 to pay shipping price so high. Why Canada Post does not give me the credit for every package that had less weight than it's maximum allowed. (Example: I bring the package with 0.590 grams, paid for it $26.25, now the maximum I can use for the same price 0.999 grams, so there we going I have 0.410 grams that I can add to my another package. But not Canada make me losing my time and running back & forth for only 1 grams. Once they return my package back to me, even post office weighing it in front of me 0.499 grams, and when it was returned they marked the weight 513grams. You feel so bad, - you send packet by air and voila it's coming back to me,--ridiculous!!! and I just spent for the past 2 months over $2,000.00 for Canada Post shipping. This really terrible. Many Canadian business are suffering directly only because of Canada Post HIGH Shipping Rates. Many of them even loosing their businesses.
CANADA POST-It's a SHAME!!! SHAME!!! SHAME!!! DISGRACE & MISERABLE!!!
vladmaz

[t-shirtmagic]

Kim,

In response to your statement:

"To clarify this statement, items do not have to go Letterpost..."

Our postal outlet refused to let me send a package "Surface" because it fit into the letter slot and I was forced to pay the higher letter rate. They were adamant that if it fit through the slot it MUST go letter, not surface, and informed me that this is where Canada Post is going to make up some lost money. Are you saying this is incorrect?

t-shirtmagic

[online-software-sales]

Where do we get the Green obsolete CN 22 customs stickers that Canada Post refers to in their memo?

Will they become available again, now that Canada Post has failed to rip off Canadians with the new policy?

It seems that the elimination of the Green Stickers was just part of the plan to rip us off since the only customs stickers that were made available had small packet printed on them.

[scrapscene]

Yes, I agree that filing claims is a hassle. The wait time is too long and finding proper receipts is a hassle as they are mostly wholesaler invoices. How about an online alternative?

[momosworld]

Hi Kim,

I want to thank you for getting this straightened out, Its refreshing to know that someone is listening and Canadians can actually stay in business now.

Regards,
momosworld

[catseye*]

I use the Online tools, and am able to toss the Small Packets into the closest mail box (well, ok...not QUITE the closest one, but close). However, the Expedited US need to be dropped at the post office.

WHY??

[www_mmculturediversity_com]

Hi Kim,

I just noticed today that I could have a chance to talk to a Canada Post person today who could actually do something for eBay sellers/buyers. I have been on eBay for 3 years selling mainly leather wallets. I don't have the time to read all the previous post, so questions may be duplicated. Here are my questions. 1). Why Canada Post nolonger provided registered mail/parcel? Canada Post stopped this service a few years ago. A lot of customers especially international customers want have tracking with their packages, but the services available are Xpresspost and Puropack. They are EXPENSIVE!!! I either have to tell them I can't have a tracked service, or they have to pay the shipping that's more than the actual wallet!!! Could Canada Post re-introduce registered mail? It does exist in most countries. 2). Why does Canada Post have to charge more shipping for Canadaian addresses than US ones? A lot of Canadian customers don't understand this so they's rather buy from the States. I personally don't understand this either! It reduces the number of Canadian customers a lot. 3). As probaby many of the previous posts have expressed. The ruling of not containing any goods for letter mails almost killed my business. How could you ensure the cancellation of this ruling is in place at every post office? Thank you very much for your time. We eBay sellers really appreciate your considerations. Have a nice day!

Best Regards,
Mike
www.mmculturediversity.com