"The UPS Solution"

[souranial]

From what I understand, if all us PowerSellers agree to ship under one account, we could save up to 50% for shipping with UPS! Meaning that their prices for Standard Service would start at only $7 for 5-day delivery. If we all use the same account we would have to work with UPS so that they could set it up in such a way that we could each pay separately for our shipments but still be considered one "organization".
Has anybody heard about this? Anybody interested or have any more information?

I would love to finally have a solution to shipping!

[souranial]

If anyone had any information about it I would be grateful to hear it. Especially if Todd was an expert or had tried this before, it would be nice to hear about his experience.
Anthony- I sure as heck hope it works as I too am fed up with the BS of CP - and no, BS does NOT stand for Best Service 😉

[aabros]

MOU HAHAHAHAHAH good one 😉
Yes maybe we can e-mail or call Todd ...

[amberwoodottawa]

Regarding CP charging to pick up:
I was told about pick up charges as well however I have never been charged and I have been having my items picked up 2X per week since March of this year. There have even been some weeks where I had nothing to be picked up.

Like everything else, there are rules and there are RULES. CP seems to have a rule for one guy that is completely different for someone else. I am the guy who asks and in fact demands the service.

With respect to having a joint account with UPS, FedEx or anyone else, I would recommend that people interested do this collectively on their own and not through eBay.

I will not go through the reasons however if you want the best deal then keep control of it and maximize the return to yourselves. A third party, such as eBay would likely look towards some form of contribution for its efforts and that would be paid by UPS to eBay which would reduce the amount of discount you might enjoy.

Essentially, you are asking eBay to become a Buying Group for you in the courier business. Buying groups receive kick backs and perks from the suppliers.

If UPS wants the business, they will do all the leg work at their expense, so it is not a difficult task for them to put this together and something that they would be quite familiar with (at least their US operation would be).

Malcolm

[aabros]

Malcolm: You are 100% right. We should all discuss it, find THE carrier of choice, talk with them on the phone or in person, open up that major account, and then use the discount. Hummm.... discount, something I have been dreaming of for years. Cheers.

[amberwoodottawa]

Rant Time courtesy of Malcolm

The thing that I find funny is that everone here runs a business. For some it is full-time, for some part time or just for a little extra income. Never-the-less, we all have enough smarts to get a business off the ground and run it.

eBay provides us with a venue to advertise, market and sell our goods. Why does everyone want them find us courier deals and other stuff.

Do you want them to run your business too?

I dont mind if eBay introduces us to some savings that they negotiate from time to time however if people here want to save major dollars on shipping, or shipping supplies or other items then do it as a group or do it alone.

Lets let eBay improve their services in helping us market our goods and providing us with more support and maybe even reduce our fees based on volumes or some other formula.

I probably have the best CP rates amongst anyone here with pick up once, twice or five times a week (my choice) at no charge and I ship out a fraction of what most everyone else ships out.

Why? Because I negotiated for it and I fought to improve the deal that I had.

So when I see people upset at the rate eBay got them from CP I am afraid I do not feel sorry for you. Its a freebee, you did nothing to get it yourself.

I would love it if people did everthing for me but at the end of the day someone has to pay and I am afraid that would be me! You know I could easily pay someone to do all my listings, someone else to answer customer emails, someone to negotiate my courier rates etc.

If I was on a general discussion forum where people sell one or two items per month I would be asking for eBay to negotiate because those people would only have enough sales, collectively for a deal to be considered.

However amongst the PSers, we are talking about tens of thousands per month in courier bills (collectively, amongst a relatively few businesses).

I would have a real problem tunring that type of business over to eBay to negotiate or turning that over to UPS and say "What sort of deal can you give me?"

Is that how you negotiate to buy your products to sell on eBay?

You go to the courier companies (thats plural, not singular) and tell them that you are bringing them "X" number of shipments per month etc etc etc (after collecting info from everyone who wants to participate).

Then you tell them the deal you want. We already know what every courier company charges at different levels, so we negotiate something better than their best level.

Dont take the easy way out and give someone else your hard earned money. Heck if you are that much of a push over, I'll shut down my eBay business and start the buying group myself. You will get a better rate than you had and I will make a fortune off of UPS or CP or whoever for bring them the business. In reality I would be making the fortune off of you.

(Whew thats a load off my chest)

PS I dont want to start and run the buying group, I was just pointing out that everyone is so quickly prepared to leave money on the table and I can only assume that you are making a fortune in selling on eBay if that is the case.

Malcolm

[souranial]

Malcolm, I agree with you 100% but you must realize that we are paying eBay fees for their service. Just like we pay for a physical storefront, we expect to receive electricity, hydro, etc. But I see what you mean about the perks that eBay might get and that upsets me. So I guess: "eBay we dont need your help - Thanks"

Malcolm, could you give me the phone number to call CanadaPost for the pickup service? The past week I tried calling 6 of their zillion numbers and they couldn't help me at any. It would be a big help!

Thanks!

[amberwoodottawa]

I sent my CP pick up info diretly to my account rep. I will see if I can find you a 1-888 number tomorrow. I have a local number in Ottawa if I need to change the days of the week they are currently picking up. That wont help you at all.

I am also at liberty to change the days and the times with the drivers themselves directly. I have been really pleased with the service that I receive from CP.

With respect to paying eBay fees. We pay a fee for them to list our items and a commission when we sell an item.
That is all. We are not members of an eBay fraternity. It is a commercial enterprise.

I would be upset at a customer telling me that my role went beyond selling him my product and included after sales service, coffee mugs etc unless I could make something from a continuing relationship. More sales to them, sales to their friends or relatives etc. However it still falls back on getting something in return. I beieve it is referred to as Goodwill.

By eBay creating a PS forum they have put together people that can help each other without eBay having to spend further resources in answering every single problem themselves. They also can hear our rants, raves and concerns and be prepared to address the ones they feel might adversely affect them.

That is why you will see one of the eBay reps all of a sudden coming into the forum and addressing issues as that forum discussion may appear to paint a poor picture for/of ebay.

Many businesses do this with their distributors. Software companies do it as well with buyers of their software. I am not speaking of gaming software but "User Groups" are set up for clients to get together at least annually to talk about problemns and offer ideas for improvements. Low cost feedback for the businesses.

I was not suggesting that eBay would charge us directly to negotiate with UPS or whomever, they would likely receive an up-front payment, or an annual percentage from USP, or Fedex or CP for bringing them the business. That could be money that we would enjoy in reduced rates.

The other thing about rates is this. I dont pay a penny for shipping. My customers do and I have never received a single complaint from anyone of them about my shipping prices.

As a result, I would choose to spend less time negotiating on this issue and more time in sourcing new product lines at great prices. I would also prefer to reduce the cost of getting new products to me which is a direct expense to my bottom line.

I mean, why loose sleep over something that has a zero dollar effect on your bottom line such as shipping, unless you include the cost of shipping in your selling price?

Malcolm

[aabros]

Malcolm, we understand... but if CP loses your parcels and they cannot be insured or traceable (small packets USA), what is the point of shipping it like that? If it gets lost, you will have to pay FROM your pocket the amount your buyer paid for his item.

If we get all together with lower rates, we can then choose shipping options/services that CAN insured and traceable, such as Xpresspost USA or UPS Standard. Right now, there is NO point at ALL to pay $19 for Xpresspost USA when they deliver in about 1 week or risking to lose shipments with small packets USA. Know what I mean?

[souranial]

Again, you are absolutely right, Malcolm!
If you would be able to get that 800 number for me it would be appreciated! Also, should I apply for a rep from there?

Thanks again for your help and my apologies for pestering you!

Daniel

[souranial]

Anthony, without a doubt, pooling together is a great idea but Malcolm raised a good point of keeping eBay out of the picture. By that I mean to say that we should pool seperately from eBay and just see who would be interested and contact UPS that way. UPS is ready to figure out a solution to our account needs (from what I understand so far).

Daniel

[aabros]

Yes, I agree with you Daniel and with Malcolm about that... so what do we do now?!

[your-chic-shopper]

I love reading these threads ....

Everyone keep working hard to help Canadian Powersellers, find better shipping

My experience with UPS and Fedex, from this point on called courier companies in this letter

What I honestly found was that UPS and Fedex expect a lot of paper work for each parcel . To be honest I spent a lot of time doing Data entry into a computer for each parcel. for their on line forms

Also I found that they wanted triplicate copies for each parcel . These copies had to relate to the item , so generally had to be done manually for each parcel

Copies
1) for UPS 2) 2 for Customs 3) not sure who for?

I found that the courier companies are very hard to deal with for insurance . My claims took 5 to 6 weeks to get the funds back to us . One or two claims are fine a year are fine , but more claim you have the more problems you have . Your product will be inspected a lot more ,Malcolm spoke about it . The courier companies will see how the item will handle being dropped from a certain height

Weight was an issue
I have a digital scale in the office , it's very exact . Often I would weigh an item , it would weigh say 4kg. But when I checked on line with the courier company , that night when the parcels went out . The item would hit their scales at 5kg. This did not happen just once or twice , but all the time . So this means the item was charged at the higher rate. It made it hard to know the profit or your cost. I just found that with Canada Post , if an item weighed 2kg in the office. Generally it was never questioned by Canada Post.

All around I found I was spinning my wheels more with the courier companies . I am sending out about 50 to 75 parcels a day. You have to measure the efficacy of using the courier companies . Can you ship out as many parcels as fast . Are you prepared to sit in front of a computer possibly up to an hour .

With Canada Post it tends to be a little faster for us . Each staff member has a CP Manifest that can hold 10 customers names per manifest . On the first row our staff writes the Seller first and last name , thier state, amount of packages , package weight............BAM your done , onto the next row and repeat the process for the next Customer package

The length of time to fill in the info CP Manifest for each package is about 30 seconds. If you use the CP online version , it will take longer. But is still faster then the courier companies web site , because once you fill the on line info out . You Still have info related to each package , that will have to be filled out manually

The service is good through the courier companies, but it's important to review how you ship. What is going to make you ship faster . Shipping faster means you can list more , this may mean you sell more

[your-chic-shopper]

At this time we have one of the highest levels with CP for shipping to America level 4., across Canada we have level 3 . Now before you start thinking WOW . The discount means nothing , I have taken the rate and compared it to level 1 small business rate . The discount is pennies when used with the online Canada Post .

In the new year , I planning on forming a CP pool together with Canadian Ebay Sellers .Truthfully it can not really be done before Christmas. Also Canada post is removing the hidden brokerage fee in the online shipping tools in the new year .

Originally I thought it would be a good idea to only have Powersellers involved in the Cp pooling .

The goal ?? Level 5 to America ...
Also to get some form of a discount on small parcels to America

Soon I will have a web site up and running for Ebay Sellers to place important info about the amount of packages they ship over 1kg and under 1kg. This site and info is needed , so that when the pooling is done with CP . We can go too them with the # of packages over 1kg that will be sent and the # of packages under 1kg that will be sent . Also once this site is up and running , truthfully we need Powersellers to tell other sellers about the site . We need as many people on board with this as possible , this will secure the level

Todd

[souranial]

Todd -
"The length of time to fill in the info CP Manifest for each package is about 30 seconds"
Are you talking about the desktop version software? Or is there an easier way that I don't know about (keep in mind that I do not have a contract with CP other than the PS Program)
What do you suggest? Should I open a seperate contract with them? You're the expert 😉

Daniel

[your-chic-shopper]

You can get for free printed Manifests from Canada post . Also clear plastic packing slips , to put your packing slips on the top fo the package as well

Call me if you have questions 604 853 0424 9:30 till 6.00 B.C time zone ..lol

[amberwoodottawa]

I have mentioned this before, I cant go with UPS because of insurance issues. It could cost me over $30,000 to see if my packaged instruments would survive their testing.

I cant comment on people sending small packages via CP either as everything I ship is a minimum of 16" in length and some over 3' with my lowest weight over 1kg and up to 28kgs so my situation is different than people shipping envelopes.

Todd, count me in to join up for a CP group rate. The rate is actually of secondary interest to me. I am more interested in the negotiating power of a large group dealing with issues of delivery, insurance, cubic weight, electronic shipping tools, etc.

So far I have been battling them on my own for my own interests and admittedly quite pleased with my personal results however can I ever see the benefits of what you are suggesting.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

Sorry, I am kind of just walking in here long into the discussion, but honestly you are going to have to negotiate on heck of a discount with UPS for inter-Canada shipping just to make it worth while.

Here is an example, I was asked to quote on shipping a Golf Travel Bag from our location in Callander, ON to Victoria. The dimensions of this item are about 9" x 18" x 26" so it ends up with about a 21lbs dimensional weight.

UPS - Standard Service - $46.60 Cdn
Canada Post Expedited Service - $18.00 Cdn

We ship exclusively Canada Post within Canada and some to the US. We use UPS for shipping to US destinations only, unless directed by customer with deep pockets willing to pay excessive shipping via UPS within Canada.

The real problem with UPS within Canada is that in most cases, the brown trucks have disappeared and they have been replaced with contractors....

For shipping to the US I imagine because of economy of scale, I find they are competitive with Canada Post Expedited Service and more reliable. (Therei online tracking is great).

I have run into problems with Fedex as well.... seeing four day delivery stretch to 8 days with no explanation or refund for extra charges......

Jeff

[acurael]

UPS within Canada is very expensive - even with a discount - but I would imagine that most of us here do 90% or better of our sales into the US.... so domestic rates aren't likely a concern.

You're right though - it's due to subcontacting - they simply don't have the infrastructure here in Canada that they do in the US.

[aabros]

I think if we could get all together and maybe give it a try with FEDEX (EXPRESS NOT GROUND!). If we could get 50% off... would be great. Parcel delivered next day... customer is going to be MORE than thrilled, that's for sure...

[acurael]

It would depend on what you ship...air is expensive - especially if the packages are heavy - even with a 50% discount!

Though it would be nice to have overnight delivery.

Far less than 1% of our customer pay for overnight and about 5% pay for economy air (2-3 days)