Shipping Woes in canada

[kruisingsam]

Ok. I know a similar question has been asked many times before but really, how to deal with the outrageous shipping rates by Canada post that are nothing short of highway robbery? Just shipped an item that barely weighed more than 300 grams to Alberta (from BC) and was shocked when they told me the shipping cost was $13. That's like 40% of what I sold the item for (offered free shipping). So, after all fees I ended up making a net profit of $10 on the $35 sale !!! So, what if I sell something a lot heavier? How can we make any money with these outrageous rates? I thought about going to the US to ship -since I'm only about 15 minutes from the border- but the US customs told me I'd have to pay like $10 if I bring stuff with me with the intent to ship it from there.

So yeah, how the hell can we make any money here?

[femmefan1946]

That's like 40% of what I sold the item for (offered free shipping).

You misunderstand 'Free' shipping.

The point is to include the cost of shipping in the cost of the item.

Buyers probably understand this but they still like it.

Which is cheapest:

A $5 item with $10 shipping?

A $10 item with $5 shipping?

A $15 item with Free Shipping?

Yet the $15 item will sell better than the $10 item and much better than the $5 item. For the same reason that a 'We pay the sales tax" promotion works better than a '13% Off' sale.  It feels good.

And the seller pays lower FVF on the shipping, including no shipping FVF on international shipping even when those are not $0.00.

You will have to do some massaging to find the right postage cost before you list. I have a Starfrit scale purchased at Canadian Tire for under $20 that weighs up to  5kilos , you may need something more powerful. And a tape measure.

Use metric measurements. Canada Post went metric in 1974 and everything else is inaccurate.

In addition to discounts on PP labels, you will see discounted mint never hinged* postage lots for sale on eBay. Some discounts run 20% with free shipping and all tax paid.  So there's that.

*Avoid 'no gum' postage which has been used but not postmarked. That's illegal. And hinged means someone licked it a little. ew.

[kruisingsam]

Thank you, ypdc_dennis and femmefan for the replies. It's much appreciated.

Dennis,
I had checked canadapost site many times prior to shipping my item and I saw under "Other (Non-Standard and Oversize)" the rates you listed above and figured my fees would be $4.70 (since my item was in the 300-400 grams). My item was 36 cm long and about 12 cm wide and 7 cm high. So, I thought that's "oversize" but then I did not know that "oversize" is still limited to about an inch high max. So even though I could fit my item in a large envelop, the height part changed the equation, but I never expected an increase of $8 for those extra 2 inches  of height.

My understanding is that not every body qualifies for discounted rates (by Canada post) and that they require a minimum per month. I'm not an ebay seller and I don't think I'll ever meet their minimum since I'm only trying to sell a few things here and there. I am going to check out buying shipping through paypal however. 15% is better than nothing. But do I need some kind of labels to load into the printer?


Femmefan,
I know how "free shipping" works and I know that there's no such things as free shipping and that the shipping fee is actually added into the price of the item but I've seen other sellers listing the same item (as mine) for even a slightly lower price and including "free shipping" within Canada. Another seller had two similar items for sale and he was charging $10 shipping fees for both, not just one. Which I don't understand since he too was listing his items for much lower than what I'd listed mine. I need to mention that I only paid $6 for my item when I bought it. So, it's not like they could've gotten their items for much cheaper. So, I can't understand how they're charging less for shipping, or even not charge at all, yet sell their items for less, unless they're aiming to sell for a loss.

Yes. I have the same scale as yours (from CT) and I have a measuring tape and I use both EBay's and Canada post's site to try and figure out the shipping fees but it's still confusing and I still wonder, how can we make money with the shipping fees being so high in Canada to where almost half of the profit on most items goes into shipping alone?

Thanks again for the help.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@kruisingsam wrote:

Ok. I know a similar question has been asked many times before but really, how to deal with ,,, shipping rates by Canada post? Just shipped an item that barely weighed more than 300 grams to Alberta (from BC) and was shocked when they told me the shipping cost was $13. ... So, what if I sell something a lot heavier?  

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1) Buy your shipping through paypal -- Expedited parcel gets around a 15% discount (ignore regular parcel since it is not any cheaper and has fewer benefits).

2) If under 500g AND less than 2cm thick you can ship using oversize lettermail

2015 rates:
051-100g .. 1.80
101-200g .. 2.95
201-300g .. 4.10
301-400g .. 4.70
401-500g .. 5.05

Not insured, but rates are good for all of Canada (unlike parcel rates which vary by location).

3) Know where the price weight breaks are for sending a Canada Post parcel. Your 300g item would cost the same as a 600g item as they both would be on the first level of under 750g, next level is under 1 kg, then every 500g above that is a new price level. To a max of 30kg.

4) Small is good.  Point 3 is modified by dimensional (volumetric weight equivalent) surcharges if your package is too large. Canada Post and most other shippers (UPS, Fedex, etc) now charge this. Calculated for expedited parcel as volume in cm / 6000 = adjusted weight.  --  so a 30x30x30cm box would be treated as 4.5kg, even it only weighs 1kg. So make sure your item is not too large when packaged.

5) Use calculated shipping when listing. This does mean you have to have good idea what the parcel will weigh and how big the parcel will be. It has the advantage that you do not need to worry about parcel shipping costs to remote areas.

6) If not using PayPal to ship, then sign up for Canada Post's "Solutions for Small Business" (formerly called VentureOne) program, which gives you some discounts (and allows you to buy Expedited parcel at the PO counter for the same price as regular parcel).

More reading: www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/pgabcmail-e.asp