eBay

wolfsden359 · ‎04-15-2023

Just a general question.. What is it with the shipping cost out of the USA to Canada... When I was recently looking to purchase a small travel tool kit for my motorcycle, I found two similar kits. Both were being shipped from Pennsylvania. Shipping cost for one is $14.02 Canadian.. which is reasonable..the second was listed at $106.98 Canadian.. just wondering who is setting these prices. I do know for a fact that shipping cost is dictated by distance and weight within the country and import charges are added on for international. Never in the 35 years of working in logistics have I seen shipping costs so high for such a small item from any country. I recently purchased replacement cell phone screens for my cell phone. Two exact items listed. One from the USA the other from Austraila. I saved about $100 in shipping cost placing the order for the ones from Austraila. A country on the other side of the world from where I live whereas to go to the USA from where I am is a 3 hour flight including stopover... Unreal !!

marnotom! · ‎04-15-2023

I suspect the more expensive shipping is the result of the item being listed with the new, confusingly named "eBay International Shipping" program which is basically a glorified mail consolidation service with a lot of perks for US sellers who choose to use it. It seems to be going through a lot of teething pains right now.

Have a look-see at this other thread that was started today, as I don't want to repeat myself so soon:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Ebay-international-shipping-has-lost-its-mind-RIP-Ebay/m-...

ryanluckylll · ‎05-05-2023

I have been on ebay for over 15 years, went from spending 1000$+ a year on the site, to not spending a single dime on ebay in the past couple months...

Ebay bypasses USPS and Canadapost by contracting their own third party to ship items and charges extremely high shipping costs.

Not only that, the shipping and logistic partners are not unionized and are extremely inconsistent, twice I have had items either stolen or insanely mishandled by Ebays global shipping program partner, where they falsify records, open packets and reseal them, and take phony blank screenshots as proof of shipping. Their shipping partners do not even have an office, and just have warehouse that is completely inaccessible and not contactable by the public here in Toronto.

Its hurting the brand tremendously and want them to do better. I cant even order a 1.5 gram cardstock paper card without it costing nearly 30$ in shipping costs. It renders it nearly impossible to shop given 95% of Canadian traffic is to US sellers, and most of the time for more than 75% of items-- shipping is higher priced than the actual item. It deters many from buying and doesnt make sense to shop given it is more expensive for shipping and has a higher rate of lost mail.

fergua3 · ‎05-06-2023

yeah, sometimes you do see goofy high shipping costs from some sellers. These sellers clearly have no idea what they are doing and are to be avoided. In a way, it's a good screening process to weed out bad sellers.

One thing i have noticed from the new Ebay International Shipping program (note this is replacing the GSP) is that many of the shipping costs have been very reasonable, on items i've looked at (haven't purchased anything yet). Whether this refelcts reasonable rates or inexperieced sellers entering incorrect weights and dimensions resulting in too low shipping costs i don't know.

There have been a lot of reports from Canadian buyers that they received a notice that their item could not be exported to Canada and then they recieved a refund with no further explanantion. Perhaps one of the reasons is US sellers charging too low shipping costs?

Anyway, it's no surprise that all of Ebay's international shipping programs have been terrible. They seem to be a very disorganized company, with inexperienced people (as far as selling online) running the show.

If they really cared about creating a good buyer exprience, which they've been trumpeting for years, they would use a postal based international shipping service rather than one using flakey, flight by night, one star rating courier services.

luv4orphans · ‎05-06-2023

Sometimes its just an error the seller made when listing. I usually contact them in a case like that if you know to see what's up. Or they might not have listed Canada as a destination country and only put international. Still seems like a lot for a small item. Maybe a newbie that doesn't know any better?

Or some will try and if somebody bites, A bit excessive though.

marnotom! · ‎05-06-2023

@fergua3 wrote:

One thing i have noticed from the new Ebay International Shipping program (note this is replacing the GSP) is that many of the shipping costs have been very reasonable, on items i've looked at (haven't purchased anything yet). Whether this refelcts reasonable rates or inexperieced sellers entering incorrect weights and dimensions resulting in too low shipping costs i don't know.

eIS's shipping rates are definitely lower than USPS's counter rates, and possibly even lower than the discounted rates eBay.com offers to sellers shipping directly to international destinations. The fly in the ointment is that these shipping rates are added to the seller's domestic shipping rate to Illinois, and while that might not be a big deal for smaller items, on larger items it can really hurt.

@fergua3 wrote:

Anyway, it's no surprise that all of Ebay's international shipping programs have been terrible. They seem to be a very disorganized company, with inexperienced people (as far as selling online) running the show.

If they really cared about creating a good buyer exprience, which they've been trumpeting for years, they would use a postal based international shipping service rather than one using flakey, flight by night, one star rating courier services.

The GSP was orchestrated by Pitney Bowes, which I still regard as a postage meter company struggling to reinvent itself in the online age. It made a number of acquisitions in its quest to become a "global solutions" "ecommerce" sort of company, but they may have picked some low-hanging fruit. Anyway, as far as I can tell, the GSP's shipping partners were selected by Pitney Bowes or whoever Pitney Bowes contracted out to operate the Global Shipping Center in Canada, not eBay.

I suspect it's a similar deal for eIS, which seems to be orchestrated by EasyShip. Their claimed list of Canadian shipping partners can be found here.

fergua3 · ‎05-06-2023

Canada Post is on the list. There is hope. 🙂

I realize that Ebay doesn't pick all the delivery services but they do pick the orchestrator and probably go with the lowest bidder, rather than the one with the best buyer customer service. Penny wise and pound foolish. Ebay may save a few bucks using a cut rate company but lose big on lost international sales once everyone discovers what a piece of garbage EIS is.....if it is, that's not certain yet but so far it sure ain't looking good..

Anyway, believe it or not, i made a purchase using EIS today. After all my ranting and crtiticism. It was for an item that i've been searchig for for a very long time and the price was way below market average. I figured even if i got nailed with high brokerage fees and import taxes, it was still going to be a good deal. So, anyway, here we go..... I'll report back in the days ahead with my experience.

kdwebber · ‎07-13-2023

Looking at trading cards listed in the US, they want anywhere from $13 Canadian to $20+ shipping for a single $5 trading card. It has been this way for a few years. It is absolute **bleep**. There is no way Ebay can justify that, other than just gouging. I now buy my items from Facebook listings and completely avoid that rip off. I have had an Ebay account since February of 2000. I rarely buy anything from the US anymore. It's a joke. US buyers are missing out on purchases by Canadians because of that scam.

kdwebber · ‎07-13-2023

I have seen many large Ebay sellers charging absolutely outrageous amounts to ship from the US to Canada. It's not just small or inexperienced sellers doing that. It is a complete and total ripoff. Ebay used to be a good place to get deals. Not anymore. Now it's a joke. I avoid buying items from the US through Ebay now. I find other items listed on other sites and completely avoid the ridiculous fees. Ebay loses out on the sales.

marnotom! · ‎07-13-2023

@kdwebber wrote:

Looking at trading cards listed in the US, they want anywhere from $13 Canadian to $20+ shipping for a single $5 trading card. It has been this way for a few years. It is absolute **bleep**. There is no way Ebay can justify that, other than just gouging. I now buy my items from Facebook listings and completely avoid that rip off. I have had an Ebay account since February of 2000. I rarely buy anything from the US anymore. It's a joke. US buyers are missing out on purchases by Canadians because of that scam.

There is no scam, at least not on the part of eBay or US eBay sellers. The cheapest option for US sellers shipping two-ounce packages of merchandise directly through the postal system to Canada is now US$15.75.

While trading cards can be sent domestically as letters, they can't be sent as letters internationally, at least not postal-legally.

mrdutch1001 · ‎07-13-2023

"There is no way Ebay can justify that, other than just gouging."

eBay does not have to justify anything regarding the shipping costs of an item as eBay DOES NOT set the shipping costs > that's on the seller...so no need to blame eBay for what a seller charges for shipping...take it up with the seller!

"Ebay loses out on the sales."...well maybe yours...but there are lots more buyers out there besides you and they won't all be Canadian.... Canadian buyers may only be a small percentage of any USA seller's customers...

reallynicestamps · ‎07-13-2023

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

To give us an idea of what our US sellers see.

I went with 2 oz to Canada in a rigid envelope.

The cheapest rate is at the bottom of the list- First Class International Package at $15.75 which includes tracking.

The first rate is $71.10, but it does seem to include the envelope.

Priority Mail International would be $30.35, including the envelope.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-13-2023

@reallynicestamps wrote:
https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

To give us an idea of what our US sellers see.
I went with 2 oz to Canada in a rigid envelope.
The cheapest rate is at the bottom of the list- First Class International Package at $15.75 which includes tracking.
The first rate is $71.10, but it does seem to include the envelope.
Priority Mail International would be $30.35, including the envelope.

@reallynicestamps

The question that has always come to my mind regarding US shipping to Canada is can US sellers offer discounted shipping? They have access to it with eBay Labels/Stamps dot com, etc and then do they? Especially if they are a high volume shipper?

-Lotz

reallynicestamps · ‎07-13-2023

There was a discussion about this the other day, but I don't recall if it was on dotCA or dotCOM. I've mentioned Canada Post discounts on dotCOM from time to time and no one has expressed envy or shock, for what that's worth.

The discussion was about what the buyer sees and whether the seller should pass on the savings.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-13-2023

@reallynicestamps wrote:
There was a discussion about this the other day, but I don't recall if it was on dotCA or dotCOM. I've mentioned Canada Post discounts on dotCOM from time to time and no one has expressed envy or shock, for what that's worth.
The discussion was about what the buyer sees and whether the seller should pass on the savings.

@reallynicestamps

Pretty sure you had previously passed on a screenshot of a work in progress for ca sellers to show the level 4 discounts. Is something like that already available on dot com? Has it been available for months? We all know how long it takes for a feature to arrive on ca. On occasion its taken over a year. All we hear is we are working on it. Then crickets. And when it does eventually arrive usually it is a stripped down, or a not fully tested version for ca sellers. At least that's been my recurring observation for new features.

-Lotz

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-13-2023

Yes, a US seller can check off if their listings will show the commercial rate for USPS or show buyers the retail rate. I think that many sellers will show the retail rate and use the difference between that and the commercial rate to pay for the fvf on shipping.

In some cases the difference isn't that much. For example, the retail rate for a 4 oz package from the US to Canada is $15.75. The ebay/commerical rate is $14.96. The percentage varies depending on the service.

I'm guessing that the reason it has always been set up like that on .com is that those commercial rates apply to basically every site that sells usps labels. They aren't specific rates to ebay so there probably is minimal work to having it set up that way. The Canada Post system works a lot differently. Plus the number of useres that utilize ebay .ca shipping is much smaller. However, I do agree that we should have the option of showing buyers either retail rates or the ebay rates but I don't know if they will set it up like that or how fast they will do it. Changes here seem to be on the low priority end of the scale.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-13-2023

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Yes, a US seller can check off if their listings will show the commercial rate for USPS or show buyers the retail rate. I think that many sellers will show the retail rate and use the difference between that and the commercial rate to pay for the fvf on shipping.

In some cases the difference isn't that much. For example, the retail rate for a 4 oz package from the US to Canada is $15.75. The ebay/commerical rate is $14.96. The percentage varies depending on the service.

I'm guessing that the reason it has always been set up like that on .com is that those commercial rates apply to basically every site that sells usps labels. They aren't specific rates to ebay so there probably is minimal work to having it set up that way. The Canada Post system works a lot differently. Plus the number of useres that utilize ebay .ca shipping is much smaller. However, I do agree that we should have the option of showing buyers either retail rates or the ebay rates but I don't know if they will set it up like that or how fast they will do it. Changes here seem to be on the low priority end of the scale.

@pjcdn2005

Good to know but poorly addressed by eBay when they released discounted Fedex months ago(8 +) and CP Level 4 recently. The problem being if sellers could show the discounted (honest) rates buyers would not hem and haw when it comes to choosing 1 seller over another and completing a purchase. The price may be in the buyers budget but if shipping isn't the buyer most likely will go elsewhere.

-Lotz

PS Side Note: Let tagging be your friend!! 🙂

All I see is this:

I do know dot com discussion posts get different treatment vs dot ca but unsure how they show with the app.

tr6186.ikq7cd · ‎10-21-2023

This!! I am trying to buy trading cards and I always have to sort on Price PLUS Shipping because there's always $14-20 worth of shipping costs on top. I can't even buy $1 cards from US sellers because of it. I only buy from US sellers on clearly expensive items where the shipping doesn't change my decision to buy. SO, SO many US sellers have exactly what I want at the price I want but the added "eBay international shipping" for what is essentially a **bleep**ing envelope and a toploader makes me not make a single purchase. They are absolutely missing out on my sale every time. Such BS!

marnotom! · ‎10-22-2023

@tr6186.ikq7cd wrote:

This!! I am trying to buy trading cards and I always have to sort on Price PLUS Shipping because there's always $14-20 worth of shipping costs on top. I can't even buy $1 cards from US sellers because of it. I only buy from US sellers on clearly expensive items where the shipping doesn't change my decision to buy. SO, SO many US sellers have exactly what I want at the price I want but the added "eBay international shipping" for what is essentially a **bleep**ing envelope and a toploader makes me not make a single purchase. They are absolutely missing out on my sale every time. Such BS!

I hope that you read or plan to read all of "This!!" thread, @tr6186.ikq7cd In a nutshell, it's no longer "postal legal" to mail merchandise internationally as letters (as they have no customs forms) so you're looking at around US$15 to send a sports card to Canada by USPS as a small packet with delivery confirmation.

Canadian sellers are facing the same issue for shipments to the US and abroad. Some of them still try to send their cards to the US as letters and are finding that they're sometimes either getting hit by claims for undelivered items or they're getting returned to them weeks later.

Small and cheap to sell does not necessarily mean cheap to ship. This isn't strictly an "eBay International Shipping" thing. There are less expensive alternatives to directly shipping to Canada by mail, but my experience is that the sellers using those services are ones that sell stuff that's of little interest to me. C'est la vie.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-22-2023

@marnotom! wrote:
@tr6186.ikq7cd wrote:

This!! I am trying to buy trading cards and I always have to sort on Price PLUS Shipping because there's always $14-20 worth of shipping costs on top. I can't even buy $1 cards from US sellers because of it. I only buy from US sellers on clearly expensive items where the shipping doesn't change my decision to buy. SO, SO many US sellers have exactly what I want at the price I want but the added "eBay international shipping" for what is essentially a **bleep**ing envelope and a toploader makes me not make a single purchase. They are absolutely missing out on my sale every time. Such BS!
I hope that you read or plan to read all of "This!!" thread, @tr6186.ikq7cd In a nutshell, it's no longer "postal legal" to mail merchandise internationally as letters (as they have no customs forms) so you're looking at around US$15 to send a sports card to Canada by USPS as a small packet with delivery confirmation.

Canadian sellers are facing the same issue for shipments to the US and abroad. Some of them still try to send their cards to the US as letters and are finding that they're sometimes either getting hit by claims for undelivered items or they're getting returned to them weeks later.

Small and cheap to sell does not necessarily mean cheap to ship. This isn't strictly an "eBay International Shipping" thing. There are less expensive alternatives to directly shipping to Canada by mail, but my experience is that the sellers using those services are ones that sell stuff that's of little interest to me. C'est la vie.

@marnotom!

As a side quirk of this, for feedback one of choices buyers gets to choose from is one named "Reasonable shipping". What is reasonable? As you stated in your post something may "not necessarily cheap to ship just because of the value. Sellers may base their choices on quick and easy while others may base it on the buyers perspective. An item may be heavy/bulky/ travelling a major distance. While many other sellers just choose from the top of the list. Who knows what method a seller used or if it was the best 1? All I know from my time selling on here that tag Reasonable, if there is 1 of feedback choices, there is a good chance that one WON'T be one to get 5 out of 5 vs the other 3. The perils of a open to interpretation, poorly designed feedback system.

Maybe even Shipping Speed would have been named Timely Handling? Like the seller has any control on how fast the post office/courier moves something from A to B? But the seller can control how fast they process an order. Next to impossible to fix something that was poorly designed, out of the chute.

-Lotz