Shipping N64 and SNES Video Games

[toysnmoreca]

Hey, I'm just wondering how others who ship these games Canada wide can do it for only $3-$5 on average.

[ericsells75]

Untracked lettermail

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

Anything less than 2cm thick and 500gr can go LetterMail within Canada. No tracking, but most people are honest. And the purpose of tracking is Seller Protection against false claims of non-delivery. Who is going to lie over a $10 item?

We are not supposed to use LetterMail for US shipping, but people do.

Let me share the Good News about Cookie Jar Insurance.

This just means putting a few virtual pennies/dimes aside from each sale in a virtual Cookie Jar as a self-insurance premium for the occasional problem.

When you get a question from an unhappy buyer, you take your costs from the Cookie Jar. Whether that is paying for return shipping on a valid claim,or a refund on a false one, you have covered your costs. Many sellers actually find the Cookie Jar becomes a profit centre, just like a real insurance company.

And the Cookie Jar covers things postal or third party insurance doesn't, like problems that are your own fault. It happens.

[flipistics]

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@toysnmoreca wrote:
Hey, I'm just wondering how others who ship these games Canada wide can do it for only $3-$5 on average.

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They *probably* do it via oversized lettermail. If I remember right the games are technically too thick to fit through the slot, but the postal employees are usually too overworked and underpaid to bother checking. I'm sure they get the odd one returned. I don't personally recommend doing that, but that's likely what's happening.

The other option is they could be using a fulfillment service, especially if it's something they know will sell fast. Using Amazon's MCF they can probably ship it out at $5 tracked. I haven't tried this myself yet, but I'm definitely thinking about it.

[joels-retrocade]

They will fit through the slot for Oversize Lettermail if you pop the bubbles on one side of the bubble mailer; it's close though lol.  I've done it several times with no problems

[toysnmoreca]

Thank you, I figured it out that if I do stamps and drop off at box it will work, but they won't accept at the counter saying its too thick for oversized letter

[toysnmoreca]

I figured it out, if I use stamps and drop box no problems, the post office workers aren't having any of it though even with the flatten mailers lol. Thank you for the reply

[toysnmoreca]

Thank you, i figured it out using stamps and drop box instead of going to the desk and dealing with and employee.

Also, thank you for the tips with cookie jar. So far pretty lucky, only 1 person saying it never arrived, but for a fairly cheap game so easily covered thankfully.

[recped]

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@joels-retrocade wrote:

They will fit through the slot for Oversize Lettermail if you pop the bubbles on one side of the bubble mailer; it's close though lol.  I've done it several times with no problems

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I ship Audio Cassettes, they just barely fit the slot with the bubbles crushed on one side. It's tight and might not pass scutiny if you hand over at the counter. I just drop in the mail box or soemtimes in the drop and run slot inside the PO. I've shipped literally thousands within Canada and never had a single one returned for postage due.

[byto253]

If a Wii or Gamecube game is in the case, it does not need bubble wrap.  I have some thin dollar store foam sheets, or cut bristol board to size to wrap around the case, and use regular kraft envelopes.  Fits no problem.

N64 carts make it very tight and they don't have the protection of a case, so that is much tighter.

I drop them through the mail slot inside the postal outlet.  If they fit through that you are good to go. 

[flipistics]

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@recped wrote:

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@joels-retrocade wrote:

They will fit through the slot for Oversize Lettermail if you pop the bubbles on one side of the bubble mailer; it's close though lol.  I've done it several times with no problems

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I ship Audio Cassettes, they just barely fit the slot with the bubbles crushed on one side. It's tight and might not pass scutiny if you hand over at the counter. I just drop in the mail box or soemtimes in the drop and run slot inside the PO. I've shipped literally thousands within Canada and never had a single one returned for postage due.

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I ship audio cassettes in Sales4Less #000 bubble mailers (4x8) and they seem to fit fine. The bubbles seem to be slightly lower profile. I know there are some you can get that are 2/16" rather than 3/16" bubbles which would probably be safer though. I turn them in over the counter with postal indicia (I don't think the staff bother checking mine anymore though). I got the mailers in a pack of 500 a few years ago for ~$80.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

They use lettermail. Keep in mind, you have no seller protection with lettermail unless you pay for tracking (which is something like $9.50).

A game cartridge should fit lettermail without a problem, but depending on how thick your bubble mailer is and how strict your Canada Post branch is, they may try to upsell you to regular parcel. Most cartridges seem to be less than 2CM, and will fit through the slot in a bubble mailer, but every employee and branch has a different interpretation of the rule and may refuse your package even if it fits through the slot.

Even if your packages weren't right on the edge of the 2CM allowable amount, it's faster and more convenient to drop packages in a street box. So I would advise you to do that. Why wait in line for 10 minutes every day when it takes 2 seconds to drop something in a box?

Depending on your volume, you should keep enough stamps and mailers on hand to minimize time wasted with trips to the mail. You are going to want P-stamps, 1.94 stamps, and 1.30 stamps.

100 grams or less = 2 x P

101-200 = 1.94 + 1 x 1.30 

201-300 = 2 x 1.30 + 2 x P

301-400 = 4 x 1.30 

401-500 = 6 x P

*P stamps are the standard .92 cent stamps.
**Canada Post allows a 10 cent buffer when P-stamps are used to make up 1.94 lettermail. Which is why 2 P-stamps (1.84 cents is allowable). This is why I would advise using 2 x P-stamps over the 1.94 stamp.
***Some of these combinations may be over postage by 5-10 cents. Canada Post rarely sells small denomination stamps now. So if you buy your stamps directly through Canada Post, you're stuck working with combos of .92, 1.30, 1.94, and 2.71 since those are the standard prices for adhesive stamps.
****Rexall puts P stamps on sale every few weeks for 10 percent off in books of 10 with a limit of 4 per customer. Costco for 5 percent off in rolls of 100.

You also may want to invest in either poly bags or shipping stretch wrap. The rules for lettermail are kind of ridiculous. You can send two 2CM items side by side in a LARGER envelope, but you cannot send them on top of each other in a smaller envelope because they will be 4CM thick. It is incredibly inefficient and makes no sense, but it is what it is. If you ship two cartridges or DVD cases together, you may want to use stretch wrap to ensure the cases stay side by side in the bubble mailer. It's absurd, but it is what it is. 

[reallynicestamps]

you have no seller protection with lettermail unless you pay for tracking (which is something like $9.50).

The  "tracking" is Registered Letter. It costs $9.75 domestically.

Do NOT use Registered Mail for international shipments. Tracking ends are the border.

If you Register a "letter" you will have to do it at the PO counter because the service is not available online.

You can also register parcels but the newer Regular or Expedited rates are usually cheaper.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

You are correct. 

I only use registered domestically. It is usually for rare cases where an expensive item is cheap to ship lettermail, but is going cross country where any alternative is going to cost substantially more than $12.

A flat rate box is about $20, Chit Chats Canada Post Parcel might be $11-$15 but takes 2 weeks. You can also use stamps to pay for the $9.75 domestic lettermail charge at the Canada Post counter (not through a mail box). If you use discount stamps either through Costco, Rexall, or a stamp dealer, it will come out to under $10 for a 100 gram item. (While you can use stamps to pay for regular parcel, it still might end up being more than Registered lettermail)

It used to be that if something smaller like media was going in the same region, Canada Post Regular/Expedited with the small business discount through snap ship was so cheap that registered lettermail wouldn't make sense. The rise in prices has changed that. I almost exclusively use small flat rate boxes now for Canadian parcel shipments, which would not have made sense just a year ago.

Internationally, I would suggest looking into Chit Chats or Stallion. The difference between Chit Chats and Tracked Packet for smaller packages to the USA is getting smaller and smaller, but it's still usually 2-3 dollars. As you stated, registered is not viable for international deliveries. 

A cartridge game in a bubble mailer should cost an average of $8 to the USA through Chit Chats. The problem with Chit Chats is that you have to take the time to visit their drop spots, which aren't always centrally located. For a lower volume seller, Chit Chats probably won't make sense vs Canada Post Tracked Packet. In a worst case scenario, your time should be worth minimum wage. So if Chit Chats saves an average of $2 an order, but you have to visit it once a week to drop off your packages, you have to sell enough packages that y x $2 is greater than the cost of your time, gas, bus fare, whatever. For someone who is only selling 1 or 2 US packages a week, Tracked Packet is probably the best choice. 

[flipistics]

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@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

You also may want to invest in either poly bags or shipping stretch wrap. The rules for lettermail are kind of ridiculous. You can send two 2CM items side by side in a LARGER envelope, but you cannot send them on top of each other in a smaller envelope because they will be 4CM thick. It is incredibly inefficient and makes no sense, but it is what it is. If you ship two cartridges or DVD cases together, you may want to use stretch wrap to ensure the cases stay side by side in the bubble mailer. It's absurd, but it is what it is. 

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So far I haven't had a problem shipping 2 DVD's side by side. They seem to stay that way quite well. I like the idea of the stretch wrap though. When I absolutely need to keep things together, I've been using packing paper but that's heavier.

[recped]

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@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

You can send two 2CM items side by side in a LARGER envelope, but you cannot send them on top of each other in a smaller envelope because they will be 4CM thick. It is incredibly inefficient and makes no sense

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It makes perfect sense and it's more efficient because the automated machines for Lettermail cannot handle items over 2cm which means they would have to be sorted manually. Weight is one factor but dimensions are actually more important to Canada Post.

FYI - I put 4 audio cassettes in a #1 bubble, Occasionally I'll squeeze in 5 or 6 (in a modified #4) but usually upgrade to a package for that quantity.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Odds are, if 2 items slide on top of each other and the package is too thick, it will still get delivered. There is a small chance it will get returned, so it's worth it to take the extra minute to stretch wrap them. 

Paper is fine, but it probably takes longer, and if it bumps you up from 200 grams to 201, it costs you. Stretch wrap is pretty cheap. I get mine from Costco online, but they even have it at Dollarama. 

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

I was not aware of that. That makes more sense. I appreciate the info.

[33nhl]

With in Canada we can send sport cards with toploaders or dvds as over sized regular/standard mail. 

For USA though it was not fully enforced until last year January 2022 many started to get packages back being sent to USA as regular mail or oversized mail and i had to look at other ways to ship sports cards to USA and started to use ChitChats they are cheapper but not many locations around.

I dont know if members still able to mail sportcards or DVDs as regular or over sized to USA as the rule was no plastic can be sent as regular mail or oversize  has to be sent so called small packet. what are current experiences if any one is able to send from Canada to USA as regular or over sized mail sportcards or other material then just paper.

I stopped completely in trying to send as regular or oversize to the USA some package may slip through i just hated when many packages were coming back and then having extra delays to reshipping and buyer to receive.

[dinomitesales]

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@33nhl wrote:

I dont know if members still able to mail sportcards or DVDs as regular or over sized to USA as the rule was no plastic can be sent as regular mail or oversize  has to be sent so called small packet. what are current experiences if any one is able to send from Canada to USA as regular or over sized mail sportcards or other material then just paper.

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I stopped sending thicker items like video games/DVDs/media,  but I have continued with very thin and light things like trading cards.

I just take the packing slip and fold it up as if it were a letter. Put the card in a toploader (or sandwich between two piece of cereal box cardboard for really cheap cards), and place in the center of the packing slip 'letter'. Then it just goes in a regular #8 white envelope with a U.S. stamp. Haven't had any issues with this - it's indistinguishable from a regular letter. I also make sure there is no identifying information on the outside of the envelope that might make it seem as though it's being sent for commercial purposes.

The more it just looks like a regular letter the more likely it is to get delivered just fine. I stopped using bubble mailers altogether for things like this because the bubble mailer was a dead giveaway that there is something inside that requires protection (i.e. more than just a paper letter).