Canada Post shipping label adjustment runaround

[daisydaisy999]

I am hoping someone else has had this issue and can offer some guidence - I am getting the most frustrating runaround from eBay and Canada Post.

I sent a small toy expedited lite to Alberta - small box, under 200g - cost was $9.38

I just happened to be looking at my eBay transaction page today and noticed another charge of $14.28 shipping for the same order. There were no details and I couldn't see anything else I had sent with that total so I contacted eBay and was informed that it was a shipping adjustment from Canada Post and that to dispute it I needed to contact them directly.

So I contacted Canada Post but when they put the tracking in it comes up as belonging to a corporate account which is not me - of course because it is eBay's account so Canada Post tells me that eBay has to dispute it - I say are you sure because eBay told me I had to do it myself - so they give me the number to corporate billing and that department agrees that it is eBay's account and only eBay can file a dispute.

Sigh.

So I contact eBay again and tell them what Canada Post has said, they tell me they are wrong and I have to dispute it but I don't have anyway to do that as Canada Post is not linking me to that tracking number. So I ask them how can I dispute it and they send me a link the the ombudsman which you would use if Canada Post denied a claim. I don't have a claim number so not helpful. When I pointed that out they just gave me the whole spiel again about this was a "me" problem, not a "them" problem - oh and thanks for being a loyal eBay member for 24 years! LOL!

So if you made it through all of this does anyone have any experience navigating this little quagmire? Much appreciated!

Best, Lisamarie

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

My advice is whenever possible use a bubble mailer for Expedited Lite. I doing so, but I noticed that small boxes seem to have a higher chance of getting charged more. 

Depending on your volume, you also might consider adding a small handling charge as insurance against this. For example, you could add a 25 cent handling charge to your shipping policy, which is about 20 cents after eBay fees. You have no way of predicting which buying will benefit from you overpaying for their shipping, so you charge every buyer a fair insurance charge. If you find you are being overcharged $10 every 50 orders, 20 cents covers that. 

The reality is that unless this is happening at a very high frequency and for very large amounts, the amount of time it would take for you to dispute it isn't worth it. As others have pointed out, there doesn't seem to be an easy or straight forward way to deal with it. I look at it as a cost of doing business, the same way people look at refunding an INR for an untracked item. 

[dinomitesales]

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@jtg204 wrote:

I tried Canada Post first, the chat agent sent me to CP tech support, and they sent me to a dead end credit management number that needs a customer #.

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FWIW eBay's Canada Post account/customer number is printed on all the labels. It's 4013252.

[daisydaisy999]

An update to my update - I bugged the Facebook agent a bit more saying that I understand there is no process so maybe you need to escalate this to someone who deals with Canada Post because it's a problem that doesn't seem to have a solution. And they finally came back to me and said that Shippo takes care of Canada Post, you just need to make an account with them and they can deal with CP issues. 

Being skeptical of everything I'm being told now I thought rather then going through all the effort of opening an account and everything I will just send them a message first and find out if this is true and of course it's not. If I had bought the label through Shippo then they would dispute it, but if I had bought the label through Netparcel they would dispute it, so it's not something special.

These labels might be a problem because they are the Expedited Lite ones which I thought we could only buy through eBay. They aren't offered on Netparcel so if anyone has a Shippo account can you tell me if you can/do buy them through that account?

Now I can only assume the eBay and CP are in cahoots to make sure that no claims can be filed for eBay labels - make it impossible and people will just give up so we can pocket the money. At this rate CP should be out of the red in no time! 🙂

[jtg204]

Received second upcharge (now 2 out of 3) .

I was able to have tickets opened for investigation by Canada Post by SfSB support, even though the label was not purchased with SfSB.

Here is the e-mail response I got from Canada Post today:

Ebay's Expedited Lite option is valid for items up to 200g.  This is either actual or volumetric equivalent of weight, whichever is greater.

When your item was audited for accuracy in our plant, the measurements were found to be 21 cm x 16 cm x 8 cm and not 5 cm X 5 cm X 5 cm as declared when creating the label. This calculates to a Volumetric Equivalent of weight of 540gs.   Since the volumetric equivalent of weight is over 200gs, you were charged the cubing fee for the extra postage required based on the VE of 540gs.

For more information on how Canada Post calculates shipping charges and weight, please refer to ABCs of Mailing - How to cube an item and calculate the VE of its actual weight or Out-of-spec surcharge of the Parcel Services Customer Guide on page 48. You can also refer to our blog post on how to avoid unexpected shipping fees for your next shipment.

We are working with EBAY to have this stated more clearly on their website for the future.

As this was purchased under the EBAY account, you would have to contact them regarding this issue.

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[dinomitesales]

Well that's pretty cut and dry that eBay and Canada Post disagree on what "Expedited Lite" is lol. That's annoying.

devon@ebay can you please pass this along to the shipping team, specifically the message that @jtg204 received directly from Canada Post.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@dinomitesales wrote:

Well that's pretty cut and dry that eBay and Canada Post disagree on what "Expedited Lite" is lol. That's annoying.

devon@ebay can you please pass this along to the shipping team, specifically the message that @jtg204 received directly from Canada Post.

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@dinomitesales 

@daisydaisy999 

@jtg204 

devon@ebay 

This all bounces back to the fact that the shipper has been inputting the actual physical measurements (since day 1)and that "if" it happens to be over the limits the system is not clueing in to that fact. If it "is" over it should be full stop and service should be blocked for that particular shipment.  It's really not helpful that a default 5 x 5 x 5 cm which is barely bigger than a couple of stamps is being used vs the inputted measurements. That's exactly how it works for Tracked and Small Pkt Air services.

Disclaimer. I do realize accidents happen and incorrect measurements do get inputting incorrectly in error. Do to the volume of these reported situations, they are in most cases being caused by programming deficiency  vs something the seller is doing wrong.

[regs43]

Bascily nothing larger then a 24x20x2cm bubble mailer (play with the values as u choose, but small)

or a 9.75x9.75x9.75cm box or package of any kind (eliminating the 4x4x4inch box completely)

Making the 3220cm original specifications out the window lol

[flipistics]

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@dinomitesales wrote:

Well that's pretty cut and dry that eBay and Canada Post disagree on what "Expedited Lite" is lol. That's annoying.

devon@ebay can you please pass this along to the shipping team, specifically the message that @jtg204 received directly from Canada Post.

---

I don't think the information in that email response is accurate, because 200g volumetric is basically impossible for anything other than maybe cards in a stayflat. I've sent plenty of things expedited lite with no issues. The only time I seem to be upcharged is when the size gets over 500g volumetric (2500). I suspect that was just a rep that doesn't know anything about any negotiated agreements, and the fact they didn't seem to have any idea about the 5x5x5 kind of reinforces that imo.

I don't know who screwed what up, but we really need someone to clarify things. Getting upcharged on expedited lite going within province to a major city is one thing (the upcharge is relatively small), but getting hit on somewhere remote really, really hurts.

[jtg204]

Promising update...

This time I entered Canada Post website support while logged into my Canada Post account.   My previous attempts, I do not think I was logged into an account and the agent only directed to phone help desk instead. 

Here is my edited transcript that went very smoothly compared to previous interactions...

Now I wait for credits to show up I guess.

Here is my edited transcript of the process:

CP: Hi (NAME)! I'm your Support Virtual Assistant. I'm here to help if you have any questions about Canada Post services.
Me: How do I create a service ticket?
CP: Looks like you'd like information about a service ticket.
Would you like to follow up on an existing service ticket or create a new one?
Me: New service ticket
CP: OK. Can you tell me more about why you'd like to create a service ticket?
Me: I have been over charged and need to file a dispute for over charges.
CP: Sounds like you’re looking for a refund. Do you have a tracking number for a shipment, or is the refund request for something else?
Me: I have a tracking number
CP: Are you the sender or receiver of this item?
Me: Sender
CP: Do you still have the item, or have you already mailed it?
Me: I've already mailed it
CP: OK, I'm going to connect you to a customer service representative to help you with your request. Would you like me to connect you with one now?
Me: Yes
CP: Can I please have the receiver's full name?
(Request for receiver name and address here)
Me: That's correct
Message: Thank you for providing your information. I'm connecting you to a customer service representative now. I'll give them the following details:
(EDITED OUT)
**Question**: ["How do I create a service ticket?","I have been over charged and need to file a dispute for over charges."]

Then connected to agent...
Agent: I can definitely help you with your inquiry. Please note, if you are using a device and it goes to sleep, you may be disconnected from the chat.
Me: I would like to create a service ticket to file a dispute for extra charges for package with tracking number ####. Canada Post has charged full expedited rates for expedited Lite label for an item that meets the criteria for Expedited Lite.
Agent: checking for you
Agent: can you please let me know how much you paid for the postage please?
Me: Jan 21, 2025 4:28:11 p.m. - $7.75 Jan 23, 2025 4:14:58 p.m. - $7.90
Agent: thank you
Agent: I can refund you the postage on this one
Me: Great. I have a second one too. The tracking number is ####
Me: Feb 16, 2025 4:20:51 p.m. - $7.74 Feb 23, 2025 11:43:14 p.m. - $7.85
Agent: thank you
Agent: here is your ticket #########
Agent: for #########
Agent: it will be a credit to account within 24 hours
Agent: now will do the other one
Me: thank you
Agent: you are most welcome
Agent: working on it
Agent: here is your ticket number #########
Agent: same thing a credit to account in 24 hours
Me: Thank you very much!
Agent: you are most welcome 🙂

[jtg204]

Promisng update...

Waiting for refund credits to show up now.

Went to Canada Post's web chat support while logged into a Canada Post account this time and requested to create a service ticket.

The process went smooth this time and I'm supposed to get refunds within 24hrs.

Here is what I asked:

CP: Hi (NAME)! I'm your Support Virtual Assistant. I'm here to help if you have any questions about Canada Post services.
Me: How do I create a service ticket?
CP: Looks like you'd like information about a service ticket.
Would you like to follow up on an existing service ticket or create a new one?
Me: New service ticket
CP: OK. Can you tell me more about why you'd like to create a service ticket?
Me: I have been over charged and need to file a dispute for over charges.
CP: Sounds like you’re looking for a refund. Do you have a tracking number for a shipment, or is the refund request for something else?
Me: I have a tracking number
CP: Are you the sender or receiver of this item?
Me: Sender
CP: Do you still have the item, or have you already mailed it?
Me: I've already mailed it
CP: OK, I'm going to connect you to a customer service representative to help you with your request. Would you like me to connect you with one now?
Me: Yes
CP: Can I please have the receiver's full name?
(Request for receiver name and address here)
Me: That's correct
Message: Thank you for providing your information. I'm connecting you to a customer service representative now. I'll give them the following details:
(EDITED OUT)
**Question**: ["How do I create a service ticket?","I have been over charged and need to file a dispute for over charges."]

Then connected to agent...
Agent: I can definitely help you with your inquiry. Please note, if you are using a device and it goes to sleep, you may be disconnected from the chat.
Me: I would like to create a service ticket to file a dispute for extra charges for package with tracking number ####. Canada Post has charged full expedited rates for expedited Lite label for an item that meets the criteria for Expedited Lite.
Agent: checking for you
Agent: can you please let me know how much you paid for the postage please?
Me: Jan 21, 2025 4:28:11 p.m. - $7.75 Jan 23, 2025 4:14:58 p.m. - $7.90
Agent: thank you
Agent: I can refund you the postage on this one
Me: Great. I have a second one too. The tracking number is ####
Me: Feb 16, 2025 4:20:51 p.m. - $7.74 Feb 23, 2025 11:43:14 p.m. - $7.85
Agent: thank you
Agent: here is your ticket #########
Agent: for #########
Agent: it will be a credit to account within 24 hours
Agent: now will do the other one
Me: thank you
Agent: you are most welcome
Agent: working on it
Agent: here is your ticket number #########
Agent: same thing a credit to account in 24 hours
Me: Thank you very much!
Agent: you are most welcome 🙂

[dinomitesales]

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@flipistics wrote:

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@dinomitesales wrote:

Well that's pretty cut and dry that eBay and Canada Post disagree on what "Expedited Lite" is lol. That's annoying.

devon@ebay can you please pass this along to the shipping team, specifically the message that @jtg204 received directly from Canada Post.

---

I don't think the information in that email response is accurate, because 200g volumetric is basically impossible for anything other than maybe cards in a stayflat. I've sent plenty of things expedited lite with no issues. The only time I seem to be upcharged is when the size gets over 500g volumetric (2500). I suspect that was just a rep that doesn't know anything about any negotiated agreements, and the fact they didn't seem to have any idea about the 5x5x5 kind of reinforces that imo.

I don't know who screwed what up, but we really need someone to clarify things. Getting upcharged on expedited lite going within province to a major city is one thing (the upcharge is relatively small), but getting hit on somewhere remote really, really hurts.

---

I agree with you. I regularly mail out things that would exceed 200g VE via Expedited Lite and have never had an upcharge. 

But clearly there is an issue somewhere along the line, considering all the reports that people give about overage charges. And the fact that a rep from Canada Post is saying this at all (and this is the first time I've ever seen a Canada Post employee acknowledge the existence of Expedited Lite, mind you) indicates that there is some sort of communication error between Canada Post and eBay regarding how the service is supposed to work.

[jtg204]

Promising update...

Went to Canada Post chat support while logged into a Canada Post account this time and didn't get directed to help desk phone #.  Process went smooth this time, and I should be getting 2 refunds within 24hrs.

My attempts to post this update with a transcript with the chat bot and agent without personal info are getting moderated/deleted, must be triggering something...

Basically I started with 'How do I create a service ticket?'.  The bot asks why, and I put I was over charged and want to 'file a dispute for over charges'.  Some more questions, and then get connected to an agent that setup a ticket and offered refunds for both my cases.

[devon@ebay]

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@dinomitesales wrote:

Well that's pretty cut and dry that eBay and Canada Post disagree on what "Expedited Lite" is lol. That's annoying.

devon@ebay can you please pass this along to the shipping team, specifically the message that @jtg204 received directly from Canada Post.

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Hi @dinomitesales! This was passed to the Shipping team and will update you if I get any insights that I can share. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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devon@ebay wrote:

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@dinomitesales wrote:

Well that's pretty cut and dry that eBay and Canada Post disagree on what "Expedited Lite" is lol. That's annoying.

devon@ebay can you please pass this along to the shipping team, specifically the message that @jtg204 received directly from Canada Post.

---

Hi @dinomitesales! This was passed to the Shipping team and will update you if I get any insights that I can share. 

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@dinomitesales 

devon@ebay  Will that include a streamlined procedure for sellers to deal with these situation when/as they happen? When one is speaking to CP, Fedex  etc directly there is information that they require that sellers do not have access to.  This includes for billing issues, claims, tracking and lates that  may include a guarantee. Without those answers, claims, in most cases, die a slow death with buyer getting goods for free and seller being out any recoupable funds. eBay customer service just leaves you in a neverending back and forth which adds to the frustration because they are not equipped to handle these situations.

[jtg204]

An update on our attempts to get refunded:

Canada Post agent informed me yesterday that the two refunds will be sent to the buyer's address associated with the first refund request.  They said the cheques would be in my name though.  There's a 30 business day hold apparently.  Will probably never see those refunds at this point.

We re-enabled Expeited Lite after getting the two refunds issued because that was an easy solution, but our next Expedited Lite (in a box) on March 3 also had another $8.59 extra charge.  Canada Post chat support was no help this time, and so it seems we just got lucky before.  One agent immediately referred to sfsb, another suggested to contact ebay because the charged are not from them. Canada Post agents only see one charge of $10.12 when they look at it (Chat and Phone agents), while eBay's first charge matches the Lite rate of $6.75, and a second charge of $8.59 is made 3 days later bringing the total to regular expedited parcel rate.   Canada Post won't do anything because they only have the one charge showing up.

Since we couldn't resolve the 3rd case, we removed Expedited Lite again on items that we would put in a small box.  We had one buyer pay regular shipping for one, bought an expedited lite label instead and put a box in a bubble mailer (as previously suggested). The box in a bubble mailer makes it over size if measured unless folded up around the box. That test ended up with no upcharge getting added later, so that suggestion has worked once for us.

[dobo5250]

That's why all this mess could have been diverted by having the post office weigh it and do the label  at the desk, that way they can't come back on you - once they accept it with their official, that's it  I have gone through a couple of times and each time the post office has when they over charged me later, once they where pointed out that the label was printed and weighted by their official, they admit they were wrong - it's when you just drop off the item prelabeled, and don't get a weighted receipt,  and even when they check, then on their scales,  they have no way of knowing what the computer at home printed label has alotted  to your package, there is one more rule to this, if you don't use tracked packaging then all rules are off, seems they want everything to go that way now even with ebay reduced boxes etc -- they are pushing a one way shipping platform,  so trying to cut their corners seems to be of no avail --   sometimes you can get away with it and sometimes you can't --   just like when you receive a  letter and the stamps have not been postmarked -- it happens about four  out of ten times  for things I receive lately  even packages with stamp postage on it sometimes the stamps are missed entirely.  i guess that old thing about the savings jar for rainy days comes into play here -- win 6 lose 2 win 4 lose 1 etc etc