I was thinking to just make arrangements after the sale.
Bad BAD idea.
Yes. shipping is expensive.
And some items, particularly if they are cheap and/or bulky are not suited to mail order.
But the seller must be in charge of shipping and use every available method to keep her shipments secure.
The cheapest shipping around is Canada Post.
https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1
Yep. Those are the cheap rates.
You have to make some decisions.
Are you going to track* every parcel you send out?
Is your customer demographic prone to honesty or to knavery?
I sell books and sewing patterns. My items are cheap ($10ish) and my customers read and follow directions with pleasure.
I rarely use tracked shipping because it is unnecessary.
But if I were selling sportscards, or fancy sneakers, or videogames, or cellphones, or horse tack , or dolls, I would be tracking**.
All Canadian sellers face the same expensive problem.
So.
Choose your products carefully.
Use Calculated Shipping for any thing over 2cm thick and 500 grams in weight.
This will give your customer the cost of shipping to his doorstep. And tends to look more 'official' than Flat Rate.
Flat Rates are fine when your item will ship anywhere in Canada for the same price.
I can send a pattern 20cmx12cmx1cm and weighing 200 gm anywhere in Canada for $2.95 or to the USA for $5.15.
If it were 3 cm thick I would have to use parcel rates and Calculated Shipping.
Go to your PO and get a Small Business Solutions card.
Use Shippo! or Canada Post shipping labels, purchased and printed online.
https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/pages/snapship/default.page
https://app.goshippo.com/orders/manual/
Both of these offer discounts, with Shippo being harder to use in my experience (it's new to Canada Post) and SS offering lower discounts.
You can also buy discount mint postage stamps online, but let's keep it simple for the moment.
Tell your customers what they will be paying.
Stick to it.
If a customer wants a cheaper, untracked service, he is going to steal your item.
Sorry, most people are honest, but that one is a red flag.
And don't ship until you see the money in your Paypal account. Don't believe any emails. PP only.
BTW- PP will Hold your customers' cleared payments for 21 days until you have established yourself as a good seller. This is business not personal.
But you can use those Held funds*** to buy shipping labels at a discount.
*Actually Confirmation of Delivery
**Actually I would have to track because most of those products require Parcel rates and Canada Post automatically tracks them.
*** I'm pretty sure this still stands. There has been a very recent changeover concerning shipping labels and PP which is not entirely clear.
