New International shipping rates US to Canada

[tumutumu]

I've been a regular eBay buyer (never a seller) for over 20 years. We lived in the US  for over 15 years, and when we moved to Canada several years ago, I was happy to pay what seemed like reasonable charges to have items from US sellers delivered. As of last fall's  implementation of the new eBay "International Shipping" policy, even small, light  clothing items frequently ship with charges as high as $60 and more. I simply refuse to pay that much to have a $25 item shipped as I suspect much of the profit from these transactions is going into eBay's pocket. I have tried negotiating with individual sellers to arrange lower shipping rates, but I find they often refuse or ignore me. I get that--it's a lot of trouble to change shipping arrangements for just a few items. Does anyone know of a route for appealing this change to eBay? Am I alone in finding this change unreasonable? My only recourse here is to stop supporting eBay sellers, and I really don't want to do that...

[killahwhale]

You can buy a single hockey card for a dollar and it can cost over $20 in shipping. Last time I checked, it only costs $1.55 US for them to send a letter to Canada. Needless to say, I don't buy from US vendors even though lots of them have cards I want.

[marnotom!]

@killahwhale - A hockey card is not a "letter," it's "merchandise." Merchandise can no longer be sent internationally as a letter. (It needs a customs form, for starters.) Canadian sellers are running into this issue as well when shipping to the States and overseas.

[killahwhale]

I realise that a hockey card is not a letter. However, it should not cost 13x what it costs to send a letter. That's just gouging. What I said earlier is not quite accurate. Some US vendors actually do send cards via mail, and the shipping is generally less than $10.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

The challenge as per @killahwhale is to FIND the sellers using reasonable shipping where possible. Not the easiest task but something that has been pushing(Canadian) buyers away.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@tumutumu wrote:

I've been a regular eBay buyer (never a seller) for over 20 years. We lived in the US  for over 15 years, and when we moved to Canada several years ago, I was happy to pay what seemed like reasonable charges to have items from US sellers delivered. As of last fall's  implementation of the new eBay "International Shipping" policy, even small, light  clothing items frequently ship with charges as high as $60 and more. I simply refuse to pay that much to have a $25 item shipped as I suspect much of the profit from these transactions is going into eBay's pocket. I have tried negotiating with individual sellers to arrange lower shipping rates, but I find they often refuse or ignore me. I get that--it's a lot of trouble to change shipping arrangements for just a few items. Does anyone know of a route for appealing this change to eBay? Am I alone in finding this change unreasonable? My only recourse here is to stop supporting eBay sellers, and I really don't want to do that...

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Another way of looking at this would be that when the seller is in charge of the shipping they are more in control. They know what the item is. What it will need to be packed. What "potential" services could be chosen.

Throw it in the hands of eBay(a 3rd party) and less concern about the best rate. It's all being done by bots that really know little about the actual iten. Maybe it's all approximated/guesstimated? But is it truly accurate? There is no flexibility for using A, B or C services. Just the 1 specific service. The one eBay chooses to use.

All I am saying is once eBay got involved with this part of the process, the buying experience for many buyers(Canadian & possibly foreign) became not such a good thing. We've seen the reports of transactions going off the rails...For years. From many a buyers perspective all they want is the item they are looking for in a timely, economical method. That is no longer a possible option or becoming less so as days go by. Leaving buyers little choice but to go elsewhere. Not sure how this is really helpful, in the scheme of things!!!

-Lotz