eBay

hdvideovault · ‎10-28-2022

Can someone suggest a cost-effective shipping method for sending blu-ray movies from Canada to the USA? The quote I am seeing from Canada Post is around $12. My package is a size 0 bubble mailer envelope (6" x 9") and the content is around 150g.

Within Canada I can ship them for $1.94 via Canada Post lettermail.

flipistics · ‎10-28-2022

At 150g it would be 3.19 in Canada.

I assume you don't have a cross-border shipper where you live (I don't either). I'm not currently shipping movies to the USA, but I suspect you could probably use Chit Chats to do it a little bit cheaper. Buy postage through Chit Chats for the USA portion and put that on the bubble mailer, then put a poly bag around it and put the Canadian postage on it for the trip to their nearest branch. You'd have to adjust your handling times to account for the delay on the Canadian side though.

If you do try that, keep us updated on how well it works. Inquiring minds that haven't tried it yet want to know 🙂

An even cheaper option might be Stallion Express, but I don't know if they offer the ability to mail items in to them.

ians_vintage · ‎10-30-2022

Chit Chats' USPS Media Mail. Should be around $5.

byto253 · ‎10-30-2022

Chitchats no longer offers media mail. The did grandfather in accounts that had used media mail before the switch. So if you have that ability never give up that Chitchats account/customer number.

I had a good chat with them about that about a year ago, it really sucks.

dinomitesales · ‎10-30-2022

Assuming no acces to a cross-border shipper, for a 150 g Blu-ray to the States the cheapest option is still Canada Post provided you have a Solutions for Small Business account and buy the shipping label online.

With current fuel surcharge (as of October 30th, 2022) it would be $9.53 for (untracked) Small Packet Air or $12.34 for Tracked Packet USA (incl. tracking and $100 insurance). You may be able to get rates between $9.53 and $12.34 if using a courier like UPS through a third-party shipping website such as NetParcel or FreightCom, but I don't think any of them could beat the Small Packet Air rate.

Note that these prices are currently inflated by record-high fuel surcharges. Increasing from 18 to 20.5% for USA Packet services tomorrow (Oct. 31)(ugh).

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎10-30-2022

Canada Post's Small Business program gives very steep discounts on Tracked Packet USA & International. Anybody can sign up. You do not need a business number. Check there and see what kind of discount you get. You can see what it will cost you by creating a label, but not checking out. Depending on your discount level, you might be able to ship Tracked Packet USA for about $10.

There are other services like Chit Chats and Stallion. Chit Chats currently costs about $7-8 to ship a standard DVD or Blu-ray. The primary issue with Chit Chats is that there is a high economic cost to using it. Most people have a Canada Post mailbox within minutes of their house. Chit Chats may not have a location near you. If you're not doing a high volume of orders, the time and cost of commuting to Chit Chats will be worth more than whatever you save.

You won't find any way to ship to the USA for close to lettermail prices within Canada.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-04-2022

@dinomitesales wrote:
Assuming no acces to a cross-border shipper, for a 150 g Blu-ray to the States the cheapest option is still Canada Post provided you have a Solutions for Small Business account and buy the shipping label online.
With current fuel surcharge (as of October 30th, 2022) it would be $9.53 for (untracked) Small Packet Air or $12.34 for Tracked Packet USA (incl. tracking and $100 insurance). You may be able to get rates between $9.53 and $12.34 if using a courier like UPS through a third-party shipping website such as NetParcel or FreightCom, but I don't think any of them could beat the Small Packet Air rate.
Note that these prices are currently inflated by record-high fuel surcharges. Increasing from 18 to 20.5% for USA Packet services tomorrow (Oct. 31)(ugh).

This morning I went to confirm shipping for a 900 gram package from AB to ON. Fuel surcharge for regular was 7.20 + tax. Xpresspost a little over 10.00. Expedited would be somewhere in the middle. It's soon going to get to the point where the only shipping service Canadian sellers will be able to offer is Pick Up. Free shipping in Canada is only a dream for parcels with the variances involved. There's just no effective way to build those additional charges in accurately.

-Lotz

PS. According to a recent blurb from ebay dot com 70 % of eBay sales use free shipping. Probably makes a bit of sense if you factor in all the China listings out there. Would be interesting to see a split by country for Intl vs local

flipistics · ‎11-04-2022

@lotzofuniquegoodiesThe one thing that I think would really help is if eBay allowed us to cap the shipping costs on calculated shipping items. If we know an item would fit in a flat rate box, then we could use calculated shipping for most places and flat rate for anywhere where the cost ended up being higher. I guess you can technically sort of do this in the shipping tables, but it's complicated, time consuming, and would have to be changed often with the new weekly Canada Post updates.

I'd also be interested if 70% of higher priced items use free shipping, or if those numbers are being skewed by things like sports cards.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎11-04-2022

You might be able to do this by offering two shipping options to Canada.

Just use a generic shipping option for flat rate boxes and leave it at the price of the flat rate box you need to use. Then add in a shipping calculator for whichever Canada Post service you offer and use that as a second shipping option.

With that said you are rarely going to find anything that fits in a small flat rate box and can be shipped cheaper by printing a Canada Post label. I don't think eBay's calculator factors in small business discounts for Canada Post. Almost all packages you send out will be close enough to $18.99 via calculated shipping that it won't be worth it to offer both methods. For larger items that require a $29.99 flat rate box, it might be worth it.

flipistics · ‎11-04-2022

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:
With that said you are rarely going to find anything that fits in a small flat rate box and can be shipped cheaper by printing a Canada Post label. I don't think eBay's calculator factors in small business discounts for Canada Post. Almost all packages you send out will be close enough to $18.99 via calculated shipping that it won't be worth it to offer both methods. For larger items that require a $29.99 flat rate box, it might be worth it.

Since Canada Post started offering the rural discount, I've only sent out two items since the middle of July that have used the flat rate boxes (one a medium, one a small). I sure hope they continue it next year.

You can pass on the discount (or at least approximate discount) in the shipping preferences. There's an option in there somewhere to take a percentage off.