Comparison of shipping label rates

[heartovermind]

Been trying to set up Canada Post as a carrier on Shippo.

Fumbling with the API numbers with 'development' vs 'production'.
Still can't get it to work.

Apparently 'test mode' in shippo doesn't produce the real rate that
will be on the label anyway.

Does anyone know if it is published, or know themselves,
of comparison, for the same parcel shipped from a CP outlet,

to an address within Canada, alternatively the same question

to an address in the US,
between rates for a shipping label printed

- from the paypal account
- from CP business solutions account with first tier number
- from shippo account selecting CP as a carrier
- from shippo account using 'special ebay.CA' rates, which
apparently use 'ebay.CA's CP account' - if this is true
it must be a whopping discount!

If I  'onboard' the ebay.CA account on shippo for the last option....
will this dispense with needing to set up both development/production
API numbers selecting CP as a carrier?

Does this option let me do a 'test label' with the rate that will appear on the real one?

Do these labels now work - apparently there were some bugs in the begining with the labels not scanning?

NO phone line to shippo for the answers!

[reallynicestamps]

You already have this right?

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

Shippo gives you a 5% discount, but they also want your Small Business Solutions card number, which is free from Canada Post.

This is the same discount you get from Paypal and SnapShip (which is Canada Post). Both of which also want your SBS number.

You get a discount, but no value for your postage appears on the label.

Most sellers use the discount to cover their packaging costs. Bubblewrap ain't free.

If you choose to have postage appear, it will not reflect the charges for fuel fees and sales taxes.

Are you clear on how and when to use Flat Rate shipping and Calculated Shipping?

As a new seller you are restricted in the number and value of listings you will be able to make.

Getting those restrictions loosened depends on your customer service, so ship promptly.

Feedback and DSRs have nothing to do with this.

Disputes do. Settle them fast.

You can have a policy of No Returns. But you can't have a policy of No Refunds.

Personally I mostly use Paypal for shipping. Or SnapShip.

Shippo I find complicated, but if you need to use UPS or other couriers they may be helpful.

With SnapShip you have to enter your customer's name and your own credit card number. Every. Single . Time.

With Shippo, you are paying with your credit card.

With Paypal you can pay with your PP balance, which is helpful because it is how you know your customer has paid and the payment has cleared, even though there is a Hold on the payment because you are a  new seller.

BTW- the restriction means value OR number. You may have a $500 value restriction or a ten item restriction.

That means you could list up to ten $50 items or two $250 items.

[momcqueen]

“...With Shippo, you are paying with your credit card...”

Or PayPal. Shippo takes either.

[momcqueen]

“... from the paypal account
- from CP business solutions account with first tier number
- from shippo account selecting CP as a carrier
- from shippo account using 'special ebay.CA' rates, which
apparently use 'ebay.CA's CP account' - if this is true
it must be a whopping discount...”

There is no extra eBay discount; it was discontinued. All postage, regardless of whether the seller buys it via PayPal, Shippo or SnapShip is the same dollar amount which is based on the seller’s Canada Post account.

No comparison shopping is necessary or possibly between the platforms. It’s all the same cost so the decision is based purely on preference.

Why do you need an API for this? Are you shipping several thousand items per month on another account? The rest of us just use whatever platform available. I can think of maybe two exceptions to that, both being big sellers with ten years of selling experience here. Not me.

[heartovermind]

If you log into shippo, go to Help/FAQ, click the center button that says

"ebay.ca", it says that billing is different if you onboard the ebay.ca info,

because it goes through a "special" rate with ebay.ca's account.  This is

still there today. 

The API codes are needed to "add" carrier Canada Post, in the help/FAQ

there are instructions on where to find them, this has nothing to do with how much you sell.  If you need to print one label, you need these codes to add CP as the carrier, apparently.  You have to add CP TWICE, once for the development ie test mode, again for production.  

[pjcdn2005]

Shippo may say that there are special ebay discounts but as Mo said, they have been discontinued so the small business discount is what we all receive, although some of us are on different tiers.

I remember adding Canada Post as a carrier but I didn't need an API number and don't recall anyone else every mentioning they need one.  You just need to link to ebay, enter your CP small business account number and pick the carriers you are using by clicking on settings and then carriers. I don't recall needing anything else.

[momcqueen]

The thing you’re talking about with API is not what you need. Enter your Solutions For Small Business account number. That API advice is for large commercial operations like eBay as a corporate entity itself to show special rates to multi-users. That’s like instructions for programmers at eBay and not its end-users, sellers like us.

And, yes, I know what the Shippo dialogue says but eBay lost that additional discount with the conclusion of its special-rate CPC contract. It’s been gone since summer despite the text saying otherwise. I asked for it to be changed already once.

[heartovermind]

shippo replied by email to tell me I had the API numbers wrong.

I copied/pasted following their instructions to find them.

the setup form had them red flagged as required. they told me they were. perhaps it was different when you tried? they require them now,

they have told me, in writing, the info on their site is no longer current, there is no longer a discount. but they won't update their site.  

so shippo is being deceptive, it is a bait&switch.  

why would ebay.CA choose to partner with them/promote it on their site as opposed to paypal, if they would be so low to do this?  now they are getting cocky in their replies telling me it is the default platform ebay chose. i keep reading about failed labels ie not being read at the outlet. 

shippo is a dud that was not tested well. 

[momcqueen]

Labels from Shippo don’t fail at the post office: poorly-trained postal counter staff people didn’t initially know how to induct them but the back-end process has changed and those workers now don’t have to search as hard to find Supplier Account.

I think your Shippo customer service rep has misunderstood the problem you face linking your account and thinks you are an eBay developer. Or an eBay seller with their own shipping software plug-inthat supersedes what eBay has as a default for us.

Do you have a Solutions for Small Business account with Canada Post?

What happens when you use that to link to your Shippo account?

[momcqueen]

All you have to do is add a carrier to your account and that carrier is Canada Post?

[momcqueen]

I’m doing it now. Add carrier. Canada Post.

Sign in to your Canada Post or epost account.

What does it tell you to do and where does the request for an API surface?

[ypdc_dennis]

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@heartovermind wrote:

why would ebay.CA choose to partner with them/promote it on their site as opposed to paypal ...

---

PayPal is a separate company these days.

eBay has been moving away from PayPal over the last couple of years.  Ayden (for example) will be handling ebay payments in the future (2020/2021) and is already in beta test on ebay.com

It is important when dealing with Shippo to talk to support staff who handle ebay.ca -- ebay.ca is just a small segment of Shippo's shipping label business.

As for problems with Shippo labels at the post office -- that is a CANADA POST staff training issue -- knowing which choice to select when the clerk gets a SA (Supplier Account) type label.

Maybe it has changed, but it used to be that an API number was not required if you had a Canada Post Solutions for Small Business membership number when setting up your ebay.ca connection.  The API was needed if buying labels for non-ebay sales.

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