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.

[reallynicestamps]

charges as high as $60 and more. I simply refuse to pay that much to have a $25 item shipped

Perfectly reasonable

as I suspect much of the profit from these transactions is going into eBay's pocket.

No.

The seller charges and gets the shipping fees. EBay does get a fee (12.9%) on that fee, but not the money itself which goes mostly to the shiping carrier.

I have tried negotiating with individual sellers to arrange lower shipping rates, but I find they often refuse

Many sellers have learned that a request for lower shipping charges is part of a scam to remove expensive tracking costs.

Tracking is often the only Seller Protection against false  Not Received claims.

This might be helpful:

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

Note that the highest priced shipping rate is at the top of the list of services.

Note also that the weight and dimensions of the parcel are used, but not the value of the contents.

You could try asking the seller if they would consider using FirstClass International Parcel for shipping,which is the cheapest service, and includes the all-important tracking.

If you do, point out the TRACKING which is what they want.

Buyers were complaining about what they felt were high GSP charges, although the GSP charge included Canadian duty and sales taxes.

The new International Shipping does not include those.

While this is unimportant for US imports where the duty free allowance is now $150 and the tax free allowance is now $40, on higher value imports it could be a shock on the doorstep when the carrier demands more money before releasing the item.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

I have a US seller saved who sells an item I used to carry. Package weight would be approx 300 grams. Their shipping for that particular item 100.00 USD to Canada with International standard. Located in Blaine WA. Shipping rates for small portion of items at 10 to 15 Canadian with balance (1/10th) displaying the 100 USD. Only rational reason I can think of that insane shipping option would be site visibility with no intention whatsoever for shipping to Canada. They have slightly over 1000 listings with most of those being multi units.

[mrdutch1001]

I would tend to agree with your statement "no intention whatsoever for shipping to Canada." .. I have seen sellers on other selling sites put their shipping rates astronimivcally high to countries that they don't want to ship to hoping to discourage those buyers but still want to maintain their "worldy" visibility.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Wouldn't that be against the search manipulation policy? As a side my item was pulled. Theirs remains. The item I had that was similar has a documented product recall attached to it.

[marnotom!]

Good luck in trying to prove that's what the seller's intentions were.

[pjcdn2005]

If a seller purposely lists an item with high shipping costs because they don't want to ship there how does that increase their visibility to Us buyers?  I don't think sellers are listing high prices to non US countries just to increase their visibility in the US. It just doesn't make sense.

[pjcdn2005]

reallynice stamps - The op is reperring to ebay international shipping. The seller only pays fvf on the domestic shipping portion, not the international. Lotz - was the seller you are referring to here listing with international standard delivery or the new ebay international shipping?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Canadian Retail: 14.99. 

Specific seller:

Selling price 6.99 US with $100.00 (approx C $134.56) Standard International Shipping to Canada.

Note 1: International shipment of items may be subject to customs processing and additional charges.

Located in: Blaine, Washington, United States

Note 2:  Seller charges sales tax in multiple provinces.

Free USPS retail shipping for US buyers.

[pjcdn2005]

eBay international standard is set up quite a bit differently than the new program ebay international shipping. Your seller either thinks it gives him some benefit or just dumb and is guesstimating the shipping cost. In the new program the only price that the sellers sets is the domestic one. In your example the seller set the price or entered the weight as much heavier. I really don't understand it. I don't remember if you said that you asked him about it?

But I have seen first hand that sellers using the new program show a really high shipping cost if they don't use the package's weight and dimensions in the listing.

[reallynicestamps]

@pjcdn2005-

The seller charges $10 for US/domestic shipping.

The seller charges $100 US for shipping to Canada.

The buyer pays $100 for shipping to Canada.

The seller actually pays $25 for the shipping label but fees on the $10 domestic charge, pocketing the other $75.