I am a seller on eBay and have always wondered how some people can have such low shipping on smaller products.

[pmdoyle53]

I am a seller on eBay and have always wondered how some people can have such low shipping on smaller products like DVDs and BlueRays for example.  I use the Shipping Calculator and I always end up with 10.00 - 15.00 shipping with expedient?  Do I sacrifice speed of shipping for lower price?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[femmefan1946]

dmil is almost right. Most of his advice is very good, but Letter/Light Packet is not insured and seller's should be ready to add a few pennies to offset the very occasional loss or claim of loss.

US sellers of movies cannot* charge more than $4 including insurance to their customers. Canada Post will ship a 200 gram/2cm thick envelope to anywhere in the USA for $3.70.which allows us 30 cents for packaging and self-insurance.

*This is of course an over-simplification.

[dmil8030]

Hello 'pmdoyle',

Those little items you mention come 'lettermail'.  You are right, trying to 'calculate' yields a huge sum.  But if an item is small enough to fit through that 2cm slot at the post office, it will travel for a lot less.

Since your item will be automatically insured for $100 - because things very rarely get lost for real - you may find it counterproductive to send a dvd 'expedited'.  Well, there's no way I would pay 12 bucks for shipping on a used $2 dvd.  So what most sellers do is add a teeny pinch of 'self insurance' to their shipping or item price, - for that rare time when someone files a Not Received claim. 

Expedited isn't really faster.  Well, maybe a bit, but I've had items come 'expedited' from across the country which still took a full 10 days.  Snail mail may take 2 weeks, but for the price difference I am willing to wait. 

Some items are simply not profitable enough to sell on ebay, but movies are usually good sellers so to stay competetive you will need to readjust the shipping fee.  If you sell in pairs, they are best placed side-by-side in a bubble envelope so they can still ride for the lettermail rate. 

Even if a person buys several, the best shipping rate you will be able to offer is if you ship them alone or in groups of 2.  Because once you stack them, they have to ride for the parcel rate which is a LOT higher.  You will find many buyers do not understand this, so you may have to gently explain it from time to time.  Especially with American buyers where their country has really low shipping rates and can't understand why a half-dozen dvds from Canada costs what it does. 

[scifan57]

The USPS has a low cost media mail option that is not available to sellers in Canada. This may help to explain why a US seller can ship for less than a Canadian seller of the same item.

[theafkgamer]

A lot of the time, when people charge such low shipping prices, they increase the price of the item to make up for the shipping costs. But that is only the case for more expensive items.

When it comes to smaller items, people tend to stay away from the faster, trackable options unless absolutely needed. A BluRay or DVD within Canada can be sent via lettermail. If you are shipping internationally, there is a service called "Small Packet Air/Surface". Those options are significantly cheaper than any "faster option" that Canada Post offers, and it also comes with $100 worth of insurance, so if the item dosen't get there, you are still covered. This is normally the route Canadian sellers will go, due to the lower cost of postage.

Unless the item being sold is expensive, tracking is kind of unnecessary.