Ebay Canada needs to address with packages being returned by Canada Post

[33nhl]

Ebay Canada needs to address with packages being returned by Canada Post

Well sadly its now a reality anyhting sent regular mail to USA as we once did will be returned back to you with the following lables attached to the bubble mailer as now that so called regular mail cheap method of sending sport cards or other small itesm will have to be sent as Small Packets and cost from under $4.00 will now be double to $8-$10

So what buyer is going to purchase a $2.00 hockey card and then see that they have to pay $9.00 for shipping.

Hopefully Ebay Canada reps are in sinc and try to help in some way other wise they will be seeing less low end items being offered or sold on Ebay Canada

I know the rule existeded and now Canada Post is enforcing it and you be very lucky if a package now slips through the system as it once did.

Maybe this is why Ebay come March 30 is increasing selling fees as they know they will be seing less low end items listed sold thus they are going to recover on the higher end items by increasing the final value selling fee. 

[brettjet38]

The rules are not set by Canada Post, the rules are set by the UPU for all postal services worldwide and now the US is enforcing those rules...

Letters are not goods and soon every single item shipped will have a `Tracking number. That is what the Bar Code is on those small packets will be for, it does not work yet (on eBay yes) but soon will be on the USPS tracking site.

As for the costs, it costs more to `handle` goods than a letter, up till now they let things slide past, but no more. It was announced last year at the UPU meeting that the new system would be going into effect this year starting in the USA, it seems it is...

[810ofclubs]

This finally happened to me for the first time on my bubble mailers to US exact same stickers. Have yet to have anything returned from Europe. Is this only applying to items going to US or would I have to change all my international sales to small packet price now?

[810ofclubs]

Another thing is why can’t we just put a customs declaration on a mailer with the correct normal postage? Other countries are doing it I received cards from Sweden today that was sent by letter mail stamps with customs declaration.

[mrdutch1001]

applies to any "goods" being sent outside of Canada, so that means USA and all other International destinations, and yes that means using Small Packet AIR for International (do not use 'Surface' mail rates).

[marnotom!]

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@810ofclubs wrote:

Another thing is why can’t we just put a customs declaration on a mailer with the correct normal postage? Other countries are doing it I received cards from Sweden today that was sent by letter mail stamps with customs declaration.

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Nordpost and other countries' postals systems will probably also phase out the use of manually filled-out CN22 and CN23 labels once their stock runs low on them and/or they figure that most senders of international packages can comply with using the electronically-completed equivalents.

[widgetc]

"In other words, reclassifying an item from lettermail to package does not justify any cost increase, let alone a nearly 3 fold cost increase."

Exactly andit harms Canadian sellers makig them uncompetitive with other nations thus hurting our ecconomy.

[brettjet38]

"In other words, reclassifying an item from lettermail to package does not justify any cost increase"

It was never "reclassified" you were never allowed to send "goods" via Letter-Post to the USA, even if you "assumed" you could...

[marnotom!]

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@widgetc wrote:

andit harms Canadian sellers makig them uncompetitive with other nations thus hurting our ecconomy.

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This isn't a Canada Post thing.  It's a Universal Postal Union thing.  Other countries' postal systems are or will be subject to this separation of goods from the international letterpost stream.  The Australia Post online rate calculator, for example, points out that its international letter offerings are "documents only services."

You might also find this old thread from the eBay Australia discussion boards to be of interest:

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/Australia-post-change-to-international-letters/m-p/1942649

[widgetc]

If it fits letter dimensions it should ship for letter rate. It costs Canada Post nothing to have a sticker identifying the items attached. This is pure and simple gouging by Canada Post and it harms Canadian sellers makig them uncompetitive with other nations thus hurting our ecconomy. The UPU may require a sticker identifying contents...it does not require Canada Post to gouge.

Fortunately most of my own goods are stamps and they go through just fine but this is harmful to many others.

[mrdutch1001]

"Fortunately most of my own goods are stamps and they go through just fine but this is harmful to many others."

Much of my goods are "printed matter" and they have been going through just fine also...BUT for either of us ...how long will this last?...how long do we chance it?...nope, not always worth it!! I may lose a few USA buyers over it, with the small packet rates, but my Canadian buyers will be just fine!

so in effect this in time may be "harmful" to you as well...

[jt-libra]

Well, I don't know if it can be called "harmful" but certainly "expensive".  I've sent refunds to every U.S. buyer of my lipsticks or DVD's which were shipped during the last three or four weeks, because they have all been returned to me or are on their way back.  I've explained to the buyers how expensive re-shipping small items as small packet can be and, thankfully, they have all been understanding.  I don't have too many cosmetic items for sale, but I do have a couple hundred DVD's/CD's listed and I've removed sale to the U.S.  I wouldn't pay $12 to $16 to have a DVD shipped and I couldn't possibly charge anyone that price.

Of course, we all knew what the policy for shipping small items to the U.S. was but, because for years Canada Post seemed to be fine with us mailing items in small bubble envelopes, we continued.  So now we have to stop.  It would have been nice, but unreasonable to expect I guess, that Canada Post would have reiterated that too many Canadians were not shipping items, etc. etc. properly, but the onus was on us.  I'm going to miss my U.S. buyers.

[widgetc]

If I have to I will only sell small lots up to 50 or 100 stamps plus single ones that are not possible to tell from a letter or doccument. About 90% of my sales are out of Canada so shipping to Canada only is not even worth being here for. For now I'll just carry on as before unless issues actually occur. But I sympathize bug time for those who cannot do that.

[mrdutch1001]

although I have not yet had any of my letter mail items to the USA returned because of the small packet qualification, I have had 3 mailer envelopes returned with labels  of "Return to sender/Not deliverable as addressed/Unable to Forward"...(all from my other selling venue, all paid with PayPal, all with verified addresses)..have never heard anything from the buyers so maybe they all "moved" without providing current address OR???. It also may be noted that the stamps used on these poly mailer envelopes werre not cancelled either, so that is really suspicious and makes one wonder what is really going on...

[jt-libra]

A question ... I plan to start a new selling site for sports cards.  My brother sadly passed away recently and he was a major collector.  Could someone please advise how these cards can be shipped without risk of damage (bending) and still comply with Canada Post regs for documents.  I see that other card sellers ship by lettermail to the U.S.  ... still.  So I'm assuming that they're being shipped as documents.  Am I wrong?

[marnotom!]

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@jt-libra wrote:

A question ... I plan to start a new selling site for sports cards.  My brother sadly passed away recently and he was a major collector.  Could someone please advise how these cards can be shipped without risk of damage (bending) and still comply with Canada Post regs for documents.  I see that other card sellers ship by lettermail to the U.S.  ... still.  So I'm assuming that they're being shipped as documents.  Am I wrong?

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You're probably right.  Those sellers probably don't lurk on these discussion boards and haven't had any letterpost USA/international shipments returned to them for non-compliance, so they're still listing with and using letterpost USA/international.

I have a feeling that eBay Canada is going to drop the USA/international letterpost options for listing purposes sometime in the future, which means that sellers who still want to ship that way will have to opt for the generic flat-rate options.  We'll probably see a few howls of protest on these boards about this development, too.

[senatorsmith]

It's been $1.94 stamp for a long time for oversize lettermail to Canada, approximately $3.24 for oversize lettermail to the USA.🤷‍♂️

[ypdc_dennis]

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@senatorsmith wrote:

It's been $1.94 stamp for a long time for oversize lettermail to Canada ...

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Last rate change when using stamps was January 2021. Metered mail got price bumps January 2022.

Rates (using stamps, any sales tax is extra):

Canada oversize is $1.94 (100g), $3.19 (200g), $4.44 (300g), $5.09 (400g) and $5.47 (500g)

USA oversize is $3.19 (100g), $5.57 (200g) and $11.14 (500g)

...

[ypdc_dennis]

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@marnotom! wrote:
I have a feeling that eBay Canada is going to drop the USA/international letterpost options for listing purposes sometime in the future, which means that sellers who still want to ship that way will have to opt for the generic flat-rate options.  ...

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I think that will only happen if Canada Post asks ebay.ca to do so.

The letterpost option is a flat rate choice only and comes with over-optimistic delivery times.

Anything I send lettermail was eventually moved to generic choices because of the time promise.

...

I've had one oversize to the UK get bounced back to me this month -- not sure if it was detected as must go small packet or because it was 5g too heavy for the postage (must remember that similar items may vary in weight and should be checked before sending).

...

Small Packet USA and International get another price hike on Monday (Apr 4) when the fuel surcharge increases from 12.25% to 14.5%  (up 2.25% because of Russia) -- so more financial incentive for Canada Post to get sellers to switch away from letterpost.

-;-

[teenytrinkets]

I second the advice to avoid bubble mailers to the US. I use a cheap greeting card/envelope to send flat merch to the US - either through CP or ChitChats. Works every time!

[dinomitesales]

Update on my experiences: I stopped sending out non-document items via OS Letter-post to the States because they were getting returned to me, but I have continued to send paper/document-based items as OS Letter-post with nothing being returned to me (yet... knock on wood). I know at least one item was delivered successfully as I received feedback for it.

I've been mailing them in plain Kraft bubble envelopes (less conspicuous than poly bubble mailers in my opinion). Thin/flexible, with nothing on the exterior indicating it might be related to a sale. I stopped putting cardboard stiffeners in, which is a risk, but I'm willing to take that risk so long as it continues to benefit me. Most Lettermail never gets bent anyway and stays flat for the entirety of it's journey. I've put "Do Not Bend" stickers on the envelope to deter a letter carrier from folding it to fit in a mailbox. I'm also going to try experimenting with "stay-flat"/photo mailers as well.