The hardest part of mail order is understanding shipping.
Now.
You can charge whatever you want for shipping.
You can use either Calculated or Flat Rate Shipping.
You can choose the service that offers YOU the most security for YOUR needs, not those of the buyer.
Let's look at that listing of a penny.
Ignore what our US competitors are doing. We deal with Canada Post.
You can use Lettermail since the coin even in a sleeve will probably be under 2cm thick and less than 500 grams.
Lettermail is fast and cheap, but it doesn't offer any tracking.
If the customer claims that the coin did not arrive, you must refund. No exceptions. No arguments.
NO RETURNS DOES NOT MEAN NO REFUNDS.
Most people are honest so although you will see a lot of complaints about scammers, you won't see the millions of successful transactions daily.
But start by selling low value items that won't kill you to lose.
Can you afford to lose the $13 selling* price plus the $3.19 postage?
Use Lettermail.
It will probably arrive just fine.
I would suggest that you leave feedback on shipping, and put the shipping date in the feedback.
Are you afraid to ship without Proof of Delivery?
Use Calculated Shipping /Tracked Packet USA.
Your cost for shipping that same penny just rose to $13.59.
Will this reduce your chances of selling? Yes.
- You will get a small (5%) discount from Paypal/Shippo/SnapShip when you buy your shipping label online.
- The discount covers your packaging costs.
- Your customer sees the counter price not your discounted cost.
https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1
You will need a Small Business Solutions number to use these. The number is free and available from Canada Post on that website.
Use metric measurements. Canada Post went metric in 1974 and everything else will be guesswork.
There are also minimum and maximum sizes for each rate, and the Canada Post rates don't always match up with the USPS rates or with the Royal Mail, or Deutschposte, or Postes Francais or any other system.
When you list an item, it will not "index" and show up on the site for up to 24 hours.
Use that time to review your listings.
Use 90210 as a zipcode to pretend you are a US customer to review what you are saying is your US shipping rate.
Don't ship outside of North America until you have at least 10 DSRs, know what DSRs are, and why DSRs are useless and unimportant.
And your customer's cleared payment will be Held for up to 21 days against your customer's satisfaction. You still have to ship when he pays, not when the payment is released.
*Keep in mind that you paid a lot less for that $13 coin, even with eBay and Paypal fees.
