
05-03-2023 01:06 PM - edited 05-03-2023 01:08 PM
This just showed up hot off the presses.
Only available on eBay Labels: Ship small. Save big.
Ship with an envelope or a small parcel that meets the following criteria:
Weighs no more than 200 grams
No one dimension exceeds 41 cm (16.1”)
Maximum volume (L x W x H) of up to 3,220 cubic centimeters
YAYYYYYY!!!!!
-Lotz
05-03-2023 06:19 PM
devon@ebay wrote:
@flipistics wrote:devon@ebay Can we get clarification on whether we are allowed to select the new Expedited lite service for anything that fits the weight and size restriction?
@flipistics I was able to reach out to the Shipping team and this is what they shared on the new service:
"Expedited Lite is designed for shipping light weight items in the Collectibles category with a tracked service."
Thanks. That doesn't really answer the question though. Is it available for everything in the collectibles category, or only for trading cards, paper money, coins, and comic books? I mean, it seems kind of silly for things like stamps and postcards not to be included (for example). It matters so we know what types of listings we need to make changes to.
Is this just a test rollout that will have other categories open in the future once the gremlins are worked out?
Some people have reported being able to buy labels for shipments in other categories. If it shows as an option, can we use it or will we get charged later for a full parcel rate (or have our accounts flagged)?
05-03-2023 06:51 PM
I was able to test it, and I can print a label for both an item listed as a CD and a DVD. The collectible aspect might just be a marketing term. It might be a situation where anything under the size restrictions is able to ship with the service. Not many items are below 200g, but most sports cards, coins, stamps, CDs, and standard case DVDs are.
05-03-2023 06:54 PM - edited 05-03-2023 06:57 PM
@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:I was able to test it, and I can print a label for both an item listed as a CD and a DVD. The collectible aspect might just be a marketing term. It might be a situation where anything under the size restrictions is able to ship with the service. Not many items are below 200g, but most sports cards, coins, stamps, CDs, and standard case DVDs are.
If you are able to test creating a label, can you tell from the item you were testing if buyers can see the option? If they can't view with the calculator/flat rate how do we advertise its availability. Sounds like it is currently only 1 way compatible.
Next question? Do we need to update listings to add the service where would be an option?
-Lotz
05-03-2023 07:03 PM
Assuming this is for anything below 200g, it's a good tool for sellers to have. I don't think it's cheap enough to be a necessity for most transactions. $1.94-$3.19 vs $7-$8 is a large gap, and INRs are rare.
Everybody has those items that sell above what they are comfortable shipping untracked, that would otherwise qualify for lettermail. This service seems good for those situations. It's about $5 for what is effectively insurance and cost certainty against an INR.
This also provides sellers with a service they can provide to buyers who want tracking but don't want to pay an additional $10-$15 for it. The only problem I can see is that it is going to be difficult to alter shipping policies if you already have combined shipping rules in place. The limit being 200g instead of the 500g limit with lettermail makes it completely out of sync.
05-03-2023 07:10 PM - edited 05-03-2023 07:15 PM
Should have seen this thread before, i made one about it too. I'll copy past a bit of what i said. This is good news but fuel surcharge make it less good that it should be. I checked and a QC to ON shipment was $7.86. Means that it should be around $10.00 to ship to BC for me. Still better than registered mail. But it's far to the $5.00-$6.00 they show. Buyers should gain from this as a lot. A lot of sellers in trading cards can't ship untracked at all and were using expedited only, shipping for $20+. This should change the market there. But personally using registered mail when i ship tracked (cost me already like $10.50 with postage discount), seems like it's a $0.50-$3.00 discount at the end. I was very hype when i seen the announcement, but actually it won't change much my actual shipping pratices. Fuel surcharge kills the rates.
05-03-2023 07:20 PM - edited 05-03-2023 07:28 PM
I tested on the Desktop using a previously sold listing. You can still open the label tool and play around. I did not get as far a confirming and printing the labels, since I did not need them. I suspect if it shows them as an option, they can be purchased and printed, but it is possible that might not be the case.
You can still print labels with services that aren't offered in your listing. Whether you should charge a buyer for one service and substitute another is a different discussion. But I can charge a buyer for lettermail, and decide to print an expedited label.
As far as how to set up your listings, this service seems to have a very small variance in price. It looks like the actual out of pocket cost will range from 7-8 dollars. In most cases, I would go with a flat rate. It makes it easier and simpler.
If you sell very light items like trading cards, I would try to figure out how many on average you can ship under 200g. If it's a really high amount like 50, I would just make combined shipping completely free. The odds of a single person buying 51+ items in this scenario would be low, so there isn't much point in weighing everything and capping the free combined shipping.
This service is going to be difficult to implement for people who sell a variety of items of different weights and such because 200g is quite a low weight limit.
05-03-2023 07:26 PM
I will just continue to ship lettermail, this is great for the things I might want to send Registered, usually $75-$100 range. But as mentioned by someone else, one you add the fuel surchage and tax wihich can very a lot depending on province and the weekly fuel rate, its not comparable to lettermail for super cheap items. So not much changing on my end lol!
05-03-2023 07:31 PM
devon@ebay wrote:
@flipistics wrote:devon@ebay Can we get clarification on whether we are allowed to select the new Expedited lite service for anything that fits the weight and size restriction?
@flipistics I was able to reach out to the Shipping team and this is what they shared on the new service:
"Expedited Lite is designed for shipping light weight items in the Collectibles category with a tracked service."
Sorry but that did not clear up the confusion. We realize that is what it says that in the announcement however, there is contradicting information. From the FAQ:
This service is only available for specific categories: trading cards, paper money, coins, and comic books.
1. So is it only for those 4 categories? Or is it for all items in the collectible categories under 200gr?
2. If it is just for the 4 categories, will they be expanding it in the future?
05-03-2023 08:50 PM - edited 05-03-2023 08:55 PM
My stamps are obviously collectibles, and some of my sewing patterns are listed that way too.
I wonder if the category will come into play in being able to choose Expedited Light.
@flipistics I was able to reach out to the Shipping team and this is what they shared on the new service:
"Expedited Lite is designed for shipping light weight items in the Collectibles category with a tracked service."
Not helpful.
05-03-2023 10:24 PM
05-04-2023 12:09 AM
@dinomitesales wrote:I don't think it's just for specific categories, it's just giving you examples of things that can be mailed using the service.
It lets me print an "Expedited Lite" label for a video game I have to ship today, for example. Pretty sure if it just falls within the weight/size restrictions that Lotz mentioned in the first post then it's good to go! I'm still going to ship the video games I have Lettermail though because it's still like $4 cheaper than "Expedited Lite" and they're low value games lol. "Expedited Lite" is giving me $7.96 for a video game from Winnipeg to London Ontario which I assume already includes taxes and fuel surcharge.
But a huge kudos to eBay Canada for negotiating this! First the Level 4 savings, and now this. Wow, this is great news. This comes completely out of the blue - there wasn't any communication with post offices that a service like this was even coming (probably because it's specific to eBay at the moment). If Canada Post makes an announcement or anything I'll let you guys know.
So just had a smaller type item sell. Buyer has not paid but not impressed with the invoice they are currently seeing. Would be perfect for that service(IF it qualifies), but no way to see that rate until customer pays. If you try to send an invoice there is no way to confirm the rate for that service because it is not listed in the dropdown.
Any ideas on how to convince a buyer to pay/then refund when the rate is an unknown? The item is 10.00. The shipping with normal expedited is 20.50. Too thick to go as a letter.
Definitely sounds like eBay has perfected cart before the horse with this implementation!!!
-Lotz
05-04-2023 04:36 AM
It shouldnt be that difficult to estimate the rate. From my location right now it is 7.39 to BC and just under $10 to Newfoundland. I know it will vary week to week but it shouldn't be that much different.
05-04-2023 09:53 AM
It shouldn't be that difficult for eBay to show us what rate we should be working with by basing it on some kind of calculator. Guess is not a procedure.
-Lotz
05-04-2023 10:01 AM
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
devon@ebay wrote:
@flipistics wrote:
devon@ebay Can we get clarification on whether we are allowed to select the new Expedited lite service for anything that fits the weight and size restriction?
@flipistics I was able to reach out to the Shipping team and this is what they shared on the new service:
"Expedited Lite is designed for shipping light weight items in the Collectibles category with a tracked service."
Sorry but that did not clear up the confusion. We realize that is what it says that in the announcement however, there is contradicting information. From the FAQ:
For what types of items can I use the Canada Post Expedited Lite for Collectibles service?
This service is only available for specific categories: trading cards, paper money, coins, and comic books.
1. So is it only for those 4 categories? Or is it for all items in the collectible categories under 200gr?
2. If it is just for the 4 categories, will they be expanding it in the future?
Hi @pjcdn2005! Sellers can use this service for shipping DVDs, CDs, postcards, and anything else in a collectable category that is under 200 g. So this not limited to just the five options that are listed.
05-04-2023 10:10 AM
devon@ebay wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
devon@ebay wrote:
@flipistics wrote:devon@ebay Can we get clarification on whether we are allowed to select the new Expedited lite service for anything that fits the weight and size restriction?
@flipistics I was able to reach out to the Shipping team and this is what they shared on the new service:
"Expedited Lite is designed for shipping light weight items in the Collectibles category with a tracked service."
Sorry but that did not clear up the confusion. We realize that is what it says that in the announcement however, there is contradicting information. From the FAQ:
For what types of items can I use the Canada Post Expedited Lite for Collectibles service?
This service is only available for specific categories: trading cards, paper money, coins, and comic books.
1. So is it only for those 4 categories? Or is it for all items in the collectible categories under 200gr?
2. If it is just for the 4 categories, will they be expanding it in the future?
Hi @pjcdn2005! Sellers can use this service for shipping DVDs, CDs, postcards, and anything else in a collectable category that is under 200 g. So this not limited to just the five options that are listed.
The service is not showing up as available when you try to update a listing to include. How are buyers supposed to know about the special rate for these types of items if it is impossible to update a listing?
Will the announcement be modified to reflect the information you just posted?
-Lotz
05-04-2023 10:24 AM
@reallynicestamps wrote:My stamps are obviously collectibles, and some of my sewing patterns are listed that way too.
I wonder if the category will come into play in being able to choose Expedited Light.
@flipistics I was able to reach out to the Shipping team and this is what they shared on the new service:
"Expedited Lite is designed for shipping light weight items in the Collectibles category with a tracked service."Not helpful.
On the "flip" side of this as per post 30 and the category map for collectibles, CD's/DVD's is not included as part of that grouping. Stamps should definitely be included. This entire release of this roll has been completely contradictory from the get go.
-Lotz
05-04-2023 11:43 AM
@rocketscollectibles wrote:Should have seen this thread before, i made one about it too. I'll copy past a bit of what i said. This is good news but fuel surcharge make it less good that it should be. I checked and a QC to ON shipment was $7.86. Means that it should be around $10.00 to ship to BC for me. Still better than registered mail. But it's far to the $5.00-$6.00 they show. Buyers should gain from this as a lot. A lot of sellers in trading cards can't ship untracked at all and were using expedited only, shipping for $20+. This should change the market there. But personally using registered mail when i ship tracked (cost me already like $10.50 with postage discount), seems like it's a $0.50-$3.00 discount at the end. I was very hype when i seen the announcement, but actually it won't change much my actual shipping pratices. Fuel surcharge kills the rates.
One other thing that could cause a kaybosh for using this option is cubing. I recently sent out a parcel to Ontario. Actual weight was 130 grams. 19 cm x 9 cm x 7 cms which would be 1197. Divide by 5000(as per CP) cubed weight .2394, rounded up to 240 grams which is what the parcel label displayed. It is now over the limit for this service. If a seller were to package as small as possible this removes surface area for applying a label. Part of the reason for minimum measurements as per CP.
This parcel would not qualify once cubing kicks in.
-Lots
Ship with an envelope or a small parcel that meets the following criteria:
Weighs no more than 200 grams
No one dimension exceeds 41 cm (16.1”)
Maximum volume (L x W x H) of up to 3,220 cubic centimeters
05-04-2023 12:08 PM
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Package specificationsShip with an envelope or a small parcel that meets the following criteria:
Weighs no more than 200 grams
No one dimension exceeds 41 cm (16.1”)
Maximum volume (L x W x H) of up to 3,220 cubic centimeters
I don't think the cubic weight is supposed to matter for this service (at least that's how I'm reading it). It would be good to get some clarification on that though. The sticker would definitely show the greater of the two if Canada Post hasn't updated the label settings, and that would be over the 200g amount for most package sizes.
05-04-2023 12:17 PM
@flipistics wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Package specificationsShip with an envelope or a small parcel that meets the following criteria:
Weighs no more than 200 grams
No one dimension exceeds 41 cm (16.1”)
Maximum volume (L x W x H) of up to 3,220 cubic centimeters
I don't think the cubic weight is supposed to matter for this service (at least that's how I'm reading it). It would be good to get some clarification on that though. The sticker would definitely show the greater of the two if Canada Post hasn't updated the label settings, and that would be over the 200g amount for most package sizes.
Yes, clarification is definitely required. For regular type expedited/Xpresspost cubing applies. Unsure why/if it wouldn't for Expedited Lite. And to meet requirements for standard shipping options to get the calculator to work you need to include measurements that meet CP's requirement for ALL options to display.
-Lotz
05-04-2023 01:39 PM
I seen we can ship 'parcel'. What they mean by 3,220 cubic centimeters. Is this 3220 or 3,2. Unless my geometry is really off, both of those cubic dimensions doesnt make sense. Can we actually use it to ship small boxes?