Improved Canadian Shipping Services on eBay. Com

[ichopshop]

Is this just a new shipping standard available to us or an actual shipping service? The email is light on details and doesn't link to a more detailed explanation....

[byto253]

As said, not a bad thing but care must be taken that the time frames work. For tracked packet the standard from Canada will be good for me.

Economy from Canada for untracked is to risky though.

The irony is that the email specifically compares it to international economy that has been broken for most of the year and more often than not does not show the 11 to 23 days it is supposed to.

[parts_and_diecasts]

Thank you @lotzofuniquegoodies , that's news to me and very informative.

Applicable to my listings and somewhat a good news. Hadn't seen that message eventhough all my listings are on eBay.com

As somebody who lives in Toronto and 95% of my sales being US bound, I use Chit Chats (USPS) most of the time and UPS Standard sometimes (for heavier/bulkier items). I'd say that 99% of the time I am able to meet the Standard Shipping (4 to 9 business days) and 60% of the time the Expedited shipping (1 to 4 business days) guidelines unless it's going to the West Coast. I would not dare selecting the Expedited shipping option though, it's bound to backfire as you are creating too high expectations, especially with expected USPS delays during the holidays.

@femmefan1946  Having the largest consumerist nation in the world at our doorsteps, what's not to like as Canadian eBay sellers? God Bless America! 

[hlmacdon]

These delivery estimates are kind of hilarious given USPS domestic shipping is still borked badly and about to get worse for the holidays. Sales from Canada to the US must have dropped quite a bit for ebay to play the old juice the delviery estimates to increase buyer conversion game.

Same old dog, same old **bleep**py tricks. Manage your own delivery estimates if you value repeat customers.

[marnotom!]

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@hlmacdon wrote:

These delivery estimates are kind of hilarious given USPS domestic shipping is still borked badly and about to get worse for the holidays. Sales from Canada to the US must have dropped quite a bit for ebay to play the old juice the delviery estimates to increase buyer conversion game.

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In fairness, Tracked Packet USA and Expedited Parcel USA--services which I'd lump into the "standard" delivery category--have delivery estimates of 4 to 7 business days from Canada Post, and the Canada Post delivery standards are likely on what eBay is basing its delivery time estimates.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@hlmacdon wrote:

These delivery estimates are kind of hilarious given USPS domestic shipping is still borked badly and about to get worse for the holidays. Sales from Canada to the US must have dropped quite a bit for ebay to play the old juice the delviery estimates to increase buyer conversion game.

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In fairness, Tracked Packet USA and Expedited Parcel USA--services which I'd lump into the "standard" delivery category--have delivery estimates of 4 to 7 business days from Canada Post, and the Canada Post delivery standards are likely on what eBay is basing its delivery time estimates.

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For Canadian points (ship from address) ebay uses the exact same delivery standard. Doesnt matter if its Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton or Cold Lake or for comparison, Toronto, Kingston, Timmins or Kenora. If you check with CP using the applicable postal codes there are reasonable variances.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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For Canadian points (ship from address) ebay uses the exact same delivery standard. Doesnt matter if its Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton or Cold Lake or for comparison, Toronto, Kingston, Timmins or Kenora. If you check with CP using the applicable postal codes there are reasonable variances.

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Maybe it's too early in the morning for me, but this sounds like you're bringing domestic Calculated Shipping delivery estimates into a discussion about international Flat Rate Shipping delivery estimates, but Calculated Shipping delivery estimates do vary by location.  If you're referring to Flat Rate domestic shipping estimates, that's the nature of the beast by my thinking.  

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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For Canadian points (ship from address) ebay uses the exact same delivery standard. Doesnt matter if its Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton or Cold Lake or for comparison, Toronto, Kingston, Timmins or Kenora. If you check with CP using the applicable postal codes there are reasonable variances.

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Maybe it's too early in the morning for me, but this sounds like you're bringing domestic Calculated Shipping delivery estimates into a discussion about international Flat Rate Shipping delivery estimates, but Calculated Shipping delivery estimates do vary by location.  If you're referring to Flat Rate domestic shipping estimates, that's the nature of the beast by my thinking.  

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In reviewing the "new" options that are now available for Canadian sellers it still does not addresss offering accurate shipping options for both Calculated or Flat Rate shipping. Offering expedited without a calculator is totally useless.

=Lotz

[reallynicestamps]

No matter what site I sell on these days, I use the "economy" or "standard" service applications as no other will work in today's global slowdown

Basically if the Canadian seller is confident, she can use the new "from Canada" standard to encourage US buyers who expect faster delivery.

But anyone more pessimistic, or who does not live within 500 metres of the Gateway plant, may be better off choosing the more pessimistic "from an International location" service.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

No matter what site I sell on these days, I use the "economy" or "standard" service applications as no other will work in today's global slowdown

Basically if the Canadian seller is confident, she can use the new "from Canada" standard to encourage US buyers who expect faster delivery.

But anyone more pessimistic, or who does not live within 500 metres of the Gateway plant, may be better off choosing the more pessimistic "from an International location" service.

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In the past, eBay's creedo was that listings were to be accurate from start to finish. Because of the current delivery standards = INR's/lates its forced sellers to get creative and use these generic terms to have a bit of protection. Buyers need to be reminded if they choose(their discretion) slow services...Anything not tracked....Shipments can be late due to no fault of the seller.

-Lotz

[ichopshop]

Thanks to all who replied...  Just had a chance to check it out in my listings...  So instead of "Expedited Shipping from Outside the US" 1-4 days, I can now choose "Expedited Shipping From Canada" 1-4 days.....   I'm happy there's a more accurate option but that email really oversold the gravity of the changes...  I thought they intergrated a Net Parcel shipping service directly into the site, which would be a dream for me (more accurate shipping charges and less hassle printing labels)....

A boy can dream I guess.

Ian

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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In reviewing the "new" options that are now available for Canadian sellers it still does not addresss offering accurate shipping options for both Calculated or Flat Rate shipping. Offering expedited without a calculator is totally useless.

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What calculated shipping options have been available for Canadian sellers listing on the .com site in the past?  Are you confusing eBay's generic use of "expedited" (to mean anything considered an express-type service) with the Canada Post Expedited (capital-E) service (which is anything but an express-type service)?  You wrote in message 14:

According to the announcement it states 1 to 4 business days from Canada(that implies all of Canada) to the USA with EXPEDITED. In the past the only way to achieve that was Xpresspost or Priority. Just by calling it something else will not make a parcel go faster or make it cheaper until shown otherwise.

[femmefan1946]

My confusion about this is that we may be mixing delivery standards for Named Services with those for Generic Services.

So the Named Service  Expedited parcel may show us 1-4 days for delivery, while the customer is seeing Generic Service Standard Delivery at 7-10 days.

We are not supposed to choose a slower service than we promised our customers, but there is nothing to stop us upgrading from the promised service-- Saying 7-10 days but shipping with a 1-4 days service- as long as we do not try to increase our shipping charges post-sale.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

My confusion about this is that we may be mixing delivery standards for Named Services with those for Generic Services.

So the Named Service  Expedited parcel may show us 1-4 days for delivery, while the customer is seeing Generic Service Standard Delivery at 7-10 days.

We are not supposed to choose a slower service than we promised our customers, but there is nothing to stop us upgrading from the promised service-- Saying 7-10 days but shipping with a 1-4 days service- as long as we do not try to increase our shipping charges post-sale.

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All the original announcement of an "improvement" did was muddy the water even further. If they were going to add services they needed to add them with the shipping calculator option AND the correct factual delivery times. Not numbers chosen at random for everywhere.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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All the original announcement of an "improvement" did was muddy the water even further. If they were going to add services they needed to add them with the shipping calculator option AND the correct factual delivery times. Not numbers chosen at random for everywhere.

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What's so muddied about the waters?  If sellers want a calculated shipping option, they'll have to list on the .ca site in Canadian dollars.  I don't think Those In Charge believe there's much point in adding calculated shipping options for a small proportion of sellers on the .com site and it could open up a can of worms with sellers in other countries demanding the same sort of treatment.

What might make more sense, especially given that Managed Payments supports US dollar deposits, is if the ability to list in US dollars on the .ca site was reinstated.  That might be a nightmare from a billing perspective, however.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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All the original announcement of an "improvement" did was muddy the water even further. If they were going to add services they needed to add them with the shipping calculator option AND the correct factual delivery times. Not numbers chosen at random for everywhere.

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What's so muddied about the waters?  If sellers want a calculated shipping option, they'll have to list on the .ca site in Canadian dollars.  I don't think Those In Charge believe there's much point in adding calculated shipping options for a small proportion of sellers on the .com site and it could open up a can of worms with sellers in other countries demanding the same sort of treatment.

What might make more sense, especially given that Managed Payments supports US dollar deposits, is if the ability to list in US dollars on the .ca site was reinstated.  That might be a nightmare from a billing perspective, however.

Original Announcement

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Announcement

Calgary to LA/Maine

Calgary to LACalgary to Maine

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Wpg to LA/Maine

Wpg to LAWpg to Maine

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NFLD to LA/Maine

NFLD to LANFLD to Maine

Sorry...Not seeing 1 to 4 days as per original eBay Official Announcement. eBay is assuming USPS services for internal continental USA is an apple to apples comparison for Canada to the USA. And it's not like any US sellers offer 1 to 4 days to Canada .

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

There's a difference between "expedited" and "Expedited™."  I think most Canadian sellers worth their salt would figure out from the context provided from the other two flat-rate US shipping options that "expedited" is being used in a generic, dictionary-definition sense.  eBay could have used descriptors such as "express" or "super-speedy" or "pretty darned unlikely to reach the buyer in this time," but instead they opted for "expedited."

If anything, Canada Post's use of the term "Expedited" to describe its basic tracked surface mail parcel service to the US is pretty misleading and not terribly useful, particularly when the within-Canada Expedited™ service is a somewhat different animal.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

All I and others are trying to express(meant to say...say) is that if eBay is going to make an official announcement it needs to be accurate and not be left up to whimsical interpretation. Same goes for the other services mentioned in that announcement.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

All I and others are trying to express(meant to say...say) is that if eBay is going to make an official announcement it needs to be accurate and not be left up to whimsical interpretation. Same goes for the other services mentioned in that announcement.

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How is the premium/fastest shipping flat-rate shipping option described on the .com site for sales from an international location?  From a US location?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

I have no idea. I used to purchase regularly from US sellers. Now have ZERO desire to due to lack of reasonable options they routinely provide. Many other Canadian buyers feel the same way based on the posts we see here often. 

To defend GSP as  US Seller protection when has very little benefit from a Canadian buyers  perspective. Turn it around with all other buyer protections that are stacked against Canadian sellers it doesn't seem right.

Fair needs to fair, no matter which side of the border you live on.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

I have no idea.

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Okay, so I went through the motions of starting a draft listing on the .com site, and this is where "expedited shipping from Canada" fits into all this:

Seeing as it's described as "expedited shipping" under the heading "Expedited services from abroad" and that China and India are also mentioned as options as well as FedEx International Economy by name,  I really don't think many Canadian sellers are going to think that this is a reference to a Canada Post service.

I think most sellers would look at the delivery standards for their shipping method first and try to find the descriptor that best matches those delivery standards, anyway.