How do you guys sell when shipping costs so much in Canada?

[jo.sjor.rqoor2l]

Hello,

I want to be a new seller but it seems like its not worth it due to the Shipping costs and Ebay Fees. For example I have a google mini for sale on here for $40. $10 cheaper than retail.

I some how got the Google mini for lets say $25. so $15 profit if I sell it

Canada post charges $16-20 for bare bones tracking service. leaving my profit to negative $5.. oh and Ebay fees not included. So it seems like I would need to over charge customers more than retail or basically almost steal an item to sell on here to cover the shipping costs. Any advice? The only option it seems to just sell local

[reallynicestamps]

Not only that-- a lot of us use Free Shipping.

There is method though.

If you sell it your profit will be much less than $15.

You will be paying 10% of your selling price PLUS 10% of your shipping price to eBay in fees.

You will be paying 30c plus 2.9%-3.4% to Paypal in fees.

And you have the costs of secure packaging.  May be $3.00 or so?

The shelf packaging is inadequate. Trust me on this, even though I am not too clear on what your Thing actually is or does.

But keep in mind that the Buyer pays for shipping.

So if your shipping cost is $20 for Tracked Package to the USA, he pays that and you pay fees on his shipping payment to eBay and Paypal.

So it seems like I would need to over charge customers more than retail

Well thanks to the plague, you actually might be able to sell it because your online customer can't get out and shop.

And many Local customers are not comfortable meeting up with strangers just now.

Here's the first thing you need.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/business/small-business.page?

Your Small Business Solutions card gives you some discounts with SnapShip(Canada Post), Paypal (my personal choice) , and Shippo (eBay's default) which all allow you to print shipping labels at home and sometimes give you a small discount.

So sign up now.

Then you will need this.

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

These are the rates your customer will see. They may be a little higher than what you pay to Canada Post. (because, discounts). You need that bubble. It's your Cookie Jar Insurance and covers your packaging costs too.

Although I hope you are shipping to the USA, since it is the world's largest economy at the moment,  your Canadian customers will see that most US sellers will not ship here (xenophobia mostly with a sprinkle of paranoia) so your Thing has more availability than most of the listings for the same Thing.

Sellers shipping from the USA to Canada are using either the Global Shipping Program or USPS First Class International Package. Both are close to Canada Post prices by the time the customer gets to the bottom line.

Canadians are still being charged duty and sales taxes on items valued over $20Cdn  (currently $14US).

You might want to put "Ships from Canada" in your description. Or be more subtle and add a jpeg of a Canadian flag.

You are aiming at the smart Canadian buyer who knows how to compare prices.

Our US customers have more choices. They don't have to worry about duty (their duty-free allowance is $800). They do often have their own state's Internet Sales Tax, so be ready to answer questions (many rude and poorly spelled) about that. There are other threads on  this here on the Seller's Board.  Search for "sales tax" and read the most recent ones.

But as a newbie **, you will be hit by scammers on the Thing, which I take is something electronic.

Don't trust any email, from anybody, that says your Thing has sold and is paid for.

ONLY look at your PP account.

If it doesn't say you have been paid, don't ship.

If it says Pending, don't ship.

If it says Paid, but is greyed out, you can ship but only to the address in your PP account.

Do NOT ship to any other address. Even if the "buyer" asks you to.

Ugh.

I don't think I'm really answering your question. It's been a busy day and I am tired.

I'll think about it a bit more, but the shortest answer is sometimes some Things are not suitable for mail order.

** You can change the ID eBay gave you. Do it soon, it will look slightly more experienced.

[musicyouneed]

Not everything is worth selling on on ebay.  Shipping will eat away any profits you may have.  Stick to things that are light and small.  You want to sell things that you can get at least a 200% profit.  So if you are selling something for $40, you should have got it for under $10.  It works out to be about 20% in fees between ebay and paypal.  Then you have to look at the cost of packaging.  

I sell local too for things that are just too heavy or bulky. 

This is an old website to calculate fees but gives you an idea.

http://www.newlifeauctions.com/calc.html

[cumos55]

Profit is based on how much one paid for an item and not how much it sold for.

Sellers will look at the ratio of sale price to purchase price....  That ratio should be in the range of 5 to 7 and higher.

If you buy something for $3  then you should be able to sell it for $15 to $21 and make a profit.

If you purchased it for $25......  You should be able to make a good profit if it sells for $125 to $175.  This should be a very good profit even if it sells for somewhat less than $125, but not much lower.

That ratio is more important for lower priced than higher priced items.....

If you want to sell something for $50  then  it should have been bought for $7 to $10.... or less

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The number of items sold  can also be an important factor.

If your profit is $1 per item, and you sell one item... the profit is $1

But... if you sell one million of the same  item.. then the total profit is worth the effort.

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The cost of postage is only a consideration if other sellers can sell something for a lower price of ..... item plus postage. 

If your price is $50  plus $20 postage  then it will sell if it is the only item for sale....   

and... sometimes a higher priced item (item plus postage) will sell based on what the seller put in the listing or the seller's reputation.....  sometimes but not often or always.

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When you buy something to sell... remember the actual cost of that item is price paid  PLUS  the cost of selling fees.

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Another consideration is that if the buyer wants it...they pay the cost of postage no matter what the cost is

and sometimes part of the cost of postage will be hidden in the cost of an item being sold....

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There are many ways to play the selling game and make a buyer happy.....  and also make a profit, the higher the profit, the better

[teenytrinkets]

Agreed...you have to make your buyers happy when you sell stuff. And IMO there's only two ways to do that - selling something:

1) At a great price

2) That is hard to find


So I sell:

- Collectibles, old items, discontinued/special edition items I have around the house. Timing can play a part, as they could be seasonal or better sellers at Xmas time.

- Freebies. I get gifts with purchase and samples with my regular online orders. These are things buyers can't buy from a retailer.

- Deeply discounted, exclusive, special edition items- 50-70% off. You can charge retail (or slightly above) - and your discount will cover shipping and fees, with a little left over for profit.

Try to reuse packing materials so you don't have to buy supplies. The only thing i buy is tape and the odd pack of bubble envelopes from the dollar store.

Another trick is to try to sell low cost, hard to find items you can send lettermail in Canada. It's $2 to ship those, so you can just offset free shipping. Canadians looove buying stuff for $12-$15 and looove getting free shipping (because, when can we EVER buy anything for that cheap with free shipping, except from Amazon?).

I've sold some stuff at higher than retail, but it's generally met with very unhappy buyers at times. Some people are happy to pay the markup, and are just so happy to find the item (especially if you drastically undercut your competition! You're then giving them a deal!).

I had one person offer me $5 for a little Lego set I bought for $5.80-ish plus tax). I was asking $12 ($3 for fees, $2 for shipping, and $7 to recoup costs for the item) to break even just to get rid of it. The buyer's message with the offer was, "You can buy these at Walmart for $5!" In other words, sometimes even breaking even or taking a loss will not exclude you from the ignorant lowballers, so you can never really escape the grumpy buyers!

Lastly, i always try to make at least $10 on a sale. There are times for me when this is not the case (like the Lego example, and other old stock i have lingering), and i feel like this is a hobby for me more than anything! But then i score some really good sales and i feel better!

[marnotom!]

Also consider that sometimes selling isn't about making a profit but about liquidating an item taking up space and gathering dust, which is generally what garage sales are about.

Having a fancy electronic doorstop isn't going to help you buy the necessities of life.  Cash will, however, even if it turns out to be only ten bucks once you've sold it.

[valuestore]

On USA site might notice allot of Kirkland products, because sellers will essentially sell at cost for just reward points and rebates from the retailer and cc companies.  That works there because of low usps costs. Here that wouldnt work unless it was done in volumes. Minimum order 12 jars of peanut butter equal $1 shipping cost unit. Catch is who would order 12 jars of peanut butter.

[flyhooks4less]

You can make money, but you have some limitations, if you can work within those limitations then you can turn a profit. I sell goods for Fly Tying / Fly Fishing. Below are some rules I follow to stay within my limitations.

1. Sell items that are small, that fit within letter mail (under 2 cm thick), $2-$5 shipping and sell to US via small packet, $7.54.

2. Shipping with tracking is only worthwhile once the value of the order is high, if its a small order do not ship with tracking. if its large then it is appropriate.

3. Source new products that fit into your shipping limitations.

4. For me, I charge for shipping (calculated) because it is the only way to prevent loss due to vast differences in shipping cost between US and Canada. If you offer free shipping then you have to raise your price, sometimes it must be raised too much.

5. Offer combined shipping so buyers can roll many items together to save on shipping.

6. Add a small handling fee to offset the cost of the odd claim against you due to loss. (cookie Jar Insurance)

This is what I do, but my market is folks who tend to purchase many small items all at once. I make a profit but it is not a lot of money. But it is a enough to continue, and hopefully grow.

[darak10]

there's been some really good answers here so far, but just to summarize for you what I think are key points from what I've learned as a Canadian online seller.

1) size of the item really matters when it comes to keeping shipping costs down, and so it does matter what you sell.  I had a mentor  tell me the best way to make money in the ecommerce market within Canada is to sell items that can be shipped cheaply thru lettermail.  After years of personal experience, I have to conclude he was right.  if the item can be shipped lettermail, this is the best way to ship within Canada.  This means the package is no thicker than .8 of an inch.  Any thicker and the shipping price will be over $10. A lettermail item under 100 grams is about 1.95, one between 100 - 200 grams will be around 3.35 including gst, and over 200 grams will be around $4.50 including tax.  So what this means for you selling what you do, you aren't going to be able to ship stuff lettermail so everything you sell will have to be sent as a parcel, which means you will have no choice but to charge the going rates for parcel items.  Dont offer free shipping unless you build it into the price of the item, its a sucker move not to mention an unsustainable practice.   In the real world everything costs money to be shipped.  

2) If you are selling electronics, you are taking too much risk not sending the item without tracking.  Unfortunately the most buyer fraud that occurs in online marketplaces like this is on electronics purchases (people saying they didn't get the item, the item was "damaged", they dont want it anymore, it wasn't what they thought they ordered, etc, etc.).  Its the reality and you need to protect yourself with tracking and insurance, which are both extra costs in Canada.  

3) you need to factor in costs associated with shipping materials (boxes, mailers, bubble wrap, etc) as this will eat into your profit as well.  Dont expect Staples to meet your needs in this regard, they charge too much.  If you live in Toronto, Edmonton or Vancouver, thank your lucky stars they have a Uline store and buy your shipping products there.  If not, it may be worth paying to have them ship to you.  There may be other discount bulk shipping material warehouses close to where you are that could meet your needs in this regard too.  

4) if you can't get your items for as cheap as possible, dont do this other than as a hobby.  Paying $15 for stuff only to sell it on here for $25 is a waste of your time IMO.  The costs to you add up fast and you'd be surprised how hard it is to actually make money selling anything online after all the deductions.  There's all kinds of dream stories of the ecommerce millionaires, but be aware that this is a low single digit percentage of sellers (less than 5%, probably in the 2 - 3 % range) and the vast majority (I'd love to see some research done on this, but I dont think it will happen) dont make much money at all doing this.  You might want to test out the Kijiji marketplace for your stuff, there's no seller or shipping fees selling stuff on that platform, so it may be the best way for you to save as much money as possible.  

5) Don't be so scared off of international markets, especially the US.  American sellers are generally paranoid about selling anywhere internationally as they are afraid of being hosed and the GSP makes shipping costs prohibitive for most countries (for ex., I won't buy an item from a US seller on ebay that is listed thru the GSP as I honestly think what they charge is ridiculous).  This is something Canadian sellers can take advantage of for their own benefit.  Americans look primarily for deals and the exchange rate on the dollar is a major incentive for them to buy Canadian.  Their $800/day import limit also means they can pretty much buy whatever they want worldwide without paying duty, so there is no reluctance for them not to buy internationally, from a country with a reliable postal system like Canada.  What is important to note is the impatience of Americans in general and the virtual necessity of requiring tracking there.  They can ship items domestically with tracking numbers without an added fee and they dont seem to recognize that Canada is a different country than the US and doesn't operate the same way.  They will just ask what the tracking number is, as for them it comes no extra cost.  You will need to explain to them Canada is a different country and here it is an additional cost, which you can state when you list your shipping rates. 

6) you've already discovered many of the reasons why the small guys are rapidly being put out of business by the big boys of ecommerce.  Amazon and Walmart can offer free shipment because they are two of the biggest companies in the world.  Its a predatory practice that is done to put smaller companies out of business.  Frankly I have no idea how anti trust legislation hasn't been brought about against both Amazon and Walmart for doing these things, but they get away with it.  Ebay is one of the last marketplaces in the world where the little guy still can have a place at the table.  The best way to make scratch in any online marketplace is to find a market niche that is being underserved because other retailers cant reach customers because they are too big or they dont know the niche exists or they write the niche off as small potatoes not worth their time.  There are plenty of these niches, and I'm sure there are ones being underexploited in the electronics market.  Your job may be looking for one of these.     

[reallynicestamps]

This means the package is no thicker than .8 of an inch.

Just a fuss.

LetterMail can be no thicker than 2cm and no heavier than 500 gr.

Canada Post went metric in 1974, and using any other measuring system will lead to errors.

Get a digital scale and a metric tape measure, because an item 2.5 cm or 501 grams will have to ship at parcel rates which are easily double the equivalent LetterMail rate.

[travis7s]

More like quadruple the lettermail rate!

[femmefan1946]

Unless you are just trying to get rid of stuff and tidy up your home, you should also be considering your labour cost.

At minimum wage here in BC your labour is worth 23 cents a minute.

If it takes you 10 minutes to photograph and describe your item, your costs just rose by $2.30 cents.

[oragex]

It is too expensive to ship small items worth less than $30, unless you overcharge the buyer. I suggest also selling to the US, this is how to set a fixed shipping fee for US buyers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbGYhCmP7Ek

[mer-de-noms]

I sell from Canada and I use Stallion Express for items that need tracking and insurance. I get lower shipping fees across Canada, and much lower to the US and international. Their insurance rates are cheaper too, it was the only way I could compete with other sellers.

https://ship.stallionexpress.ca/register/ZzA3dP

[mrdutch1001]

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM 2020!

Just as a matter of interest, not all sellers have access to Stallion Express,Chit Chats, Etc.,etc...

[brettjet38]

Zombie Thread from 04-26-2020

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.