International Parcel Surface now a viable option?

[momcqueen]

So, something just dawned on me....

If Buyer Protection through paypal is extended to 180 days, does that mean sellers can start to use International Parcel Surface (the slowboat) from Canada Post? If the buyer has nearly six months to open an Item Not Received claim, does that also mean that overseas shipment with a service that takes four to ten weeks is suddenly a viable option? It's 'tracked' so everyone knows something is on the way and due to arrive well before that window closes. 

I'm not necessarily suggesting this is a Best Practise (or anything remotely close to it) BUT if a buyer has 180 days to open a claim, does that not also automatically mean the seller has nearly 180 days to deliver it? Assuming, of course, the buyer's patience is more forgiving than his pocketbook. 

You'll have to forgive the question, I can't find this being discussed yet. It's just that I saw another seller offering Ground shipping overseas in a listing and wondered the reason they would put themselves through that much grief. Then I wondered if he might be on to something because of the new paypal rules. 

What do you think?

[Anonymous]

Insurance for Surface International Mail seems not an option on PayPal Shipping?  I checked, nothing there.  Anyone knew?

[pjcdn2005]

You can't buy postage for International Parcel Surface on paypal. I think that you have to buy it online at canadapost.ca or at the post office.

[pocomocomputing]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

You can't buy postage for International Parcel Surface on paypal. I think that you have to buy it online at canadapost.ca or at the post office.

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Curiosity question.

If you buy International Parcel Air or Surface at the post office, can you use your Venture One 5% discount card? Is International Parcel one of the services that the discount applies to?

I ask because I have never used the Venture One card. I use PayPal shipping for the larger discount they have. Is there any use for the Venture One card? Other than setting up an online account to get free supplies from Canada Post?

[pierrelebel]

Yes Venture One can be used to get a discount for international surface packages.

Take a good look at:

http://www.canadapost.ca/web/business/mailing-and-shipping.page

Three tabs to select: domestic, USA, international

[Anonymous]

Yes we can buy postage for International Surface on PayPal but no insurance.

Check it out yourself when you click Surface on PayPal.

[pierrelebel]

"on PayPal but no insurance."

At the Post Office you get 5% rebate with Venture card and you can buy insurance if needed.

[rose-dee]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

Yes Venture One can be used to get a discount for international surface packages.

Take a good look at:

http://www.canadapost.ca/web/business/mailing-and-shipping.page

Three tabs to select: domestic, USA, international

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This makes me wonder about a recent Xpresspost parcel I sent (a sale, but not eBay).  I went in through the business site, using my Venture 1 account password.  Yet the only discount I got was shown as "online discount" of 1%.  I expected to get my Venture 1 discount of 5% (or is it 8% on Xpresspost, I can't recall).  

At any rate, I was disappointed that for all the trouble of completing the forms online, I might as well have taken my parcel to the P.O. where I would have got the Venture 1 discount for certain. 

[pocomocomputing]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes we can buy postage for International Surface on PayPal but no insurance.

Check it out yourself when you click Surface on PayPal.

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If you look at shipping options on PayPal for International, the option you are looking at is "International Surface Small Packets", not International Parcel Surface which does not exist on PayPal.

As you know, Small Packet International Air or Surface insurance was discontinued a year ago (or is it 2 years now ?? Getting old as Pierre said earlier!).

International PARCEL Air or Surface comes with $100 insurance included and for some countries more insurance can be purchased.

[momcqueen]

The only thing that VentureOne card is good for is scraping frost from the windshield of your car while you ask yourself why you bothered to apply for it in the first place. Five per cent savings on stamps is nothing better than a kick in the pants. Pfft.

Am I alone in thinking that, with the volume of shipping labels printed through paypal across the country, we should be offered a MUCH higher discount from Canada Post for their various services through paypal shipping? I'm worried we're going to lose it altogether when ebay and paypal split. 

[pocomocomputing]

As mentioned before, my experience with the Venture One card is that it is basically useless. I do not even carry it in my wallet since I go to the post office rarely other than to pickup some manual Small Packet CN22 forms.

The V1 card gives 5% discount on some services and apparently on some packaging supplies. These supplies are so overpriced that 50% discount would even be too expensive, lol.

10% would be a more appropriate discount for the V1 card. 5% is so lame.

As for PayPal discounts, the 25% on Expedited Parcel was a nice discount a few years ago but then it got lowered to 18% when Tracked Packet was introduced. Tracked Packet is so overpriced by Canada Post that the 14% PayPal discount does not do much.

The only good news in the recent changes with Paypal was the raising of the break point for when you had to use Signature Confirmation for PayPal Seller Protection. Raising the breakpoint to $750 from $250 was a good change. This meant that Expedited Parcel USA could be used instead of Xpresspost USA for higher value items.

PS As for you comment on stamps, there is no discount on actual postage stamps. Only on some postal services and supplies.

[momcqueen]

I agree on all fronts. And you reminded me about the stamps: that was a one-time promotion for VentureOne card-holders when they jacked the price of domestic stamps for lettermail earlier this year. If you bought a roll of, oh, 300 or 3,000 or something outrageous, Canada Post gave you a modest discount if you used your card to demonstrate you had one. I feel like I am making the post office rich. Tracking on Small Packets can't be worth twice the price. And I'm concerned about the impact this nation of community mailboxes is going to have on small-time sellers like myself. The joy of having something delivered to your door is diminished when it isn't actually delivered to your door. And what if everyone on your street likes to shop online? How is there room for 15 or 20 or 30 boxes at a time? But that is a topic for another day....

[cumos55]

Each box unit location has two  compartments  for  larger parcels.  The parcel is placed in a compartment  and the key is placed in your mini-mailbox  for your residence... 

My problem was a parcel was apparently placed in a compartment but the buyer never got the key to the compartment and never received his parcel..... It was an expensive book... Canada Post insurance was paid  but the buyer was livid....

Signature confirmation should have been used  and the parcel would never have been left at the multi-box location... and it would have been signed for at a postal outlet... Lesson learned.

Too many parcels  and you have to make a pickup at a local postal outlet....  or alternatively there still may be a delivery to your house.. but not too sure....

Vandalism  could be a problem  as it was shown at a location in Brandon, Manitoba  recently...

and then the clearing of snow is a problem in Winnipeg... Who does it?.... Canada Post or the city?

Lots of thing still have to be worked out... for those that mail parcels on a regular basis,  Canada Post,  the destination city  and then the recipient of the parcel

[cumos55]

How many of us know how a parcel is delivered to a buyer in a destination country?

A question  one has never asked....Our questions relate  to the changes that are being made by Canada Post...

but... What is happened to deliveries in other countries?

[momcqueen]

I know the Brits are big on signature confirmation. At least they were the last time I creeped through their eBay Community. 

Those mailboxes give me anxiety. I add signature confirmation to any big order anyway but I don't consider something "delivered" until my buyer has it in their hands. Dumped in a cold community mailbox with a key left in another compartment does not qualify to me even if it does to Canada Post. Too many things can go wrong. I don't like it at all. 

[pjcdn2005]

Perhaps there will be a problem with them in some areas but we've had a community mail box for 12 years and have never had a problem.  I do have to go to the postal outlet to pick up any large packages or those that require a signature and that can be a pain at times...especially this time of year when the line up at the outlet is lonnnnngggg.