Shipping Options for Listings

[northern.splendor]

Hi all,
I am a new eBay seller in Canada and I have some questions about which options to select when I'm listing my items for sale.

I am planning on charging a flat rate for the items I'm listing, which I try to calculate prior to posting them for sale. That being said, I'm curious what option I should be choosing for shipping when listing the delivery method?

For shipping in Canada I see that there are generic Shipping standard, expedite and express options but if I choose to deliver to the US I only have the option to choose a shipping company. I see that in the International shipping options there are similar choices for generic Shipping but I don't want to ship worldwide, for now.

I'm curious what other sellers who charge flat rates use as their shipping option when listing to Canada and the US. I am planning on using ChitChats for US shipments but I am not sure which option to put. I don't want to have the customer complain that I'm not using the shipping company indicated in my listing.

This may be a silly question, but basically, what options should I be using for my listing in Canada and the US if I'm charging a flat rate? Should I be putting Standard or Expedite? How can I include shipping to US but not have to choose a company?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[ricarmic]

I sell stamps, but I sell bulk stuff up to the size of bankers boxes.

All of my stuff is sold via flat rate shipping, I sell on both .COM and .CA. I use a bit higher than averaged out shipping number, which also helps cover things like "cookie jar insurance (ie self insurance)" etc.

On .COM I use:

For domestic (ie US): Standard shipping from outside US (5 to 10 business days)

For Canada: Standard international shipping

For WW contries: Standard international shipping

On .CA I use:

For domestic (ie Canada): Standard shipping (1 to 10 business days)

For USA: Standard International shipping

For WW countries: Standard International shipping

You'll note that these are all the quite generic terms. Buyers will not complain if they receive an upgraded version of the shipping ie a tracked item when it originally said standard international. It also lets you send it however you want.

To know/determine your Canada Post rates in advance the "tables" are located here (when you have your solutions for small business number): 

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/doc/en/support/postal-guide/business-parcels.pdf 

And to know what column to use you need to use/print the resultant page here too:

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/tools/rate-code-table-lookup.page 

[ypdc_dennis]

For stuff that can be sent oversize lettermail (up to 500g in weight, up to 2cm thick):

Often I will have "free" shipping (cost included in price) for Canada. And use "Economy Shipping (1 to 15 business days)"  rather than "Canada Post lettermail (2 to 6 business days)".  Reason: the Canada Post estimate is only good between urban centres, so I use the more conservative delivery estimate.

To set a rate only for the United States, select "Choose custom location" instead of "Worldwide" in the International shipping section. Then check United States.

For flat rate to the USA I select "Economy Int'l Shipping"  -- supposedly this allows 30 days for delivery.

But for some of my listings, I use "free" flat rate for Canada and "Calculated" for USA and other countries. Calculated lets ebay do the shipping cost estimate, but does require that you have entered weight and size estimate of the package when mailed. 

-;-

[parts_and_diecasts]

I think the suggestions by @ricarmic are spot on

I would add that if you ship bulkier/heavier items and/or you ship to a US business address, please also consider shipping UPS Standard via Paypal/Net Parcel, it can often (not always) be cheaper than USPS Priority via Chit Chat. For example, I shipped a 53"x7"x5" box weighting 3 lbs to Utah yesterday, UPS Standard was CAD$50 vs CAD$70 with Chit Chats. You print the label online via Paypal/Net Parcel and drop it at any UPS Store.

Some Canadian sellers using Chit Chats will select USPS First Class (or Priority) as method of shipment; that's fine as long as you built-in an extra day in your handling time (takes about 24 hrs from the time you drop at Chit Chats to the time it shows as received by USPS). However, I would not go as far as some Cdn sellers who lie about item location (indicating it's right across the border in the US) as that may backfire should there be any issue with customs.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@northern.splendor wrote:
Hi all,
I am a new eBay seller in Canada and I have some questions about which options to select when I'm listing my items for sale.

I am planning on charging a flat rate for the items I'm listing, which I try to calculate prior to posting them for sale. That being said, I'm curious what option I should be choosing for shipping when listing the delivery method?

For shipping in Canada I see that there are generic Shipping standard, expedite and express options but if I choose to deliver to the US I only have the option to choose a shipping company. I see that in the International shipping options there are similar choices for generic Shipping but I don't want to ship worldwide, for now.

I'm curious what other sellers who charge flat rates use as their shipping option when listing to Canada and the US. I am planning on using ChitChats for US shipments but I am not sure which option to put. I don't want to have the customer complain that I'm not using the shipping company indicated in my listing.

This may be a silly question, but basically, what options should I be using for my listing in Canada and the US if I'm charging a flat rate? Should I be putting Standard or Expedite? How can I include shipping to US but not have to choose a company?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

---

If you're selling a mixture of items which i am seeing so far, your best option would be calculated shipping. There are too many variables when it comes to a 1 size fits all to any/every location. Shipping rates are based on final weight/size (pkg dimensions) - whichever is greatest and distance. If I send something that is heave to Florida the rate would vary to California. Same goes for the UK vs Australia. As others have mentioned, you can get away with using the Flat Rate options on items sent by letter services but again limited by size. I postcard will qualify for letter. A coffee cup will not.

When you use Calculated it lets you offer several choices(in most cases) letting the buyer decide what works best for you and giving you protections for safe/secure delivery.

-Lotz

[ricarmic]

Just a note that various sized items can still be somewhat easily flat rated (remember i sell stuff up to bankers box size) if one uses the tables*, one can pick something a bit above average and overall one will come out ok, the less risk one wants the "more above average" one would pick. The odd time on the "bankers boxes" my amount was enough above average that there's a noticeable overpayment, in those rare cases, I simply refund the difference, always the buyers are happy....

I probably should have mentioned that I normally have "free shipping" for domestic. Generally everyone else (except Canada on .COM) pays something extra.

*you'll need to know the size and weight of the box, to make sure the volumetric** isn't higher, a coffee cup is a good example, the volumentric is likely to be higher than the actual weight.

**volumetric is for situations where the "size" of the package costs the postal transport system more than the weight of a package. An example is a bankers box full of bubble envelopes, it weighs almost nothing but it takes up a lot of room in the postal transit system so they surcharge you based on the size instead of the weight.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@ricarmic wrote:

Just a note that various sized items can still be somewhat easily flat rated (remember i sell stuff up to bankers box size) if one uses the tables*, one can pick something a bit above average and overall one will come out ok, the less risk one wants the "more above average" one would pick. The odd time on the "bankers boxes" my amount was enough above average that there's a noticeable overpayment, in those rare cases, I simply refund the difference, always the buyers are happy....

I probably should have mentioned that I normally have "free shipping" for domestic. Generally everyone else (except Canada on .COM) pays something extra.

*you'll need to know the size and weight of the box, to make sure the volumetric** isn't higher, a coffee cup is a good example, the volumentric is likely to be higher than the actual weight.

**volumetric is for situations where the "size" of the package costs the postal transport system more than the weight of a package. An example is a bankers box full of bubble envelopes, it weighs almost nothing but it takes up a lot of room in the postal transit system so they surcharge you based on the size instead of the weight.

---

I'm thinking with the volume of your listings connected to frequency of sales, you have much more flexibily(shipping wise) compared to sellers who are now are getting sales every time there is a blue moon. Anyone selling OOAK/Vintage items has nowhere near the visibility they used to have causing them a total drop in their sales AND traffic. Leaving them less in the way of realistic options when it comes to shipping.

-Lotz

[ricarmic]

Yes that is a good point, in that case, one would have to pick almost the top rate and hope nothing higher happened, which would be more catastrophic in a low sales situation.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@ricarmic 

The dilema with using the top rate is it would penalize buyers that are near by and could potenially scare them away. An item across town or 1 town over could be 15.00. To Atlantic Canada 27.50. I run into that routinely.

-Lotz

[femmefan1946]

There was a recent repost of a very useful chart by @zee-chan-jpn-books  of most of the current Canada Post rates.

Be careful. As she points out in the thread, there will be changes in January.

Most of those will be to parcel rates, and parcel rates vary with weight, dimensions, DESTINATION, and service.

Which is why I am cautious about using Flat Rate shipping for anything that cannot travel by LetterPost.

I use Flat Rate/Free Shipping for shipments under 500gr and 2cm for anything going to Canada or the USA.

I use Flat Rate with a massaged fee for International shipments of that size, which is most of my listings.

Free Shipping means the cost of shipping has been included in the asking price.

Which is cheaper?  A $10 item with $5 shipping or a $15 item with Free Shipping.

As a rule of thumb, the lowest price and greatest efficiency is using Canada Post/USPS and the Universal Postal Union.

Most couriers charge more and end up sub contracting to the postal system for last mile delivery if the address is not urban or suburban.

[ricarmic]

Yes my situation is "different" from many because I also cover the taxes for Canadians in the "all inclusive" price I charge, which is also free shipping. (Generally since "forever" stamp folks expect the "taxes in" kind of model)

BC and the western provinces aren't as bad for me because I've only got GST to cover so that helps offset the higher shipping cost for parcels.

As is the case in your example the east coast is the worst for me as I have the 15% taxes plus the higher shipping to contend with. The bulk of my sales are to  ON, QC, BC, AB so as you pointed out I don't have to be much above average to cover off the eastern provinces for the smaller number of sales there as opposed to someone selling smaller volumes.

I also "arrange" my parcels to maximize the $$ value vs shipping cost, I use a standard set of 4 box sizes from a wee "pizza style" box up to the bankers boxes and generally try to arrange the size of the lots to fit in one of my "standard" boxes.

[recped]

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@ricarmic 

The dilema with using the top rate is it would penalize buyers that are near by and could potenially scare them away. An item across town or 1 town over could be 15.00. To Atlantic Canada 27.50. I run into that routinely.

-Lotz

---

The OP is going to be using ChitChats, their domestic service eliminates "most" of the variation in shipping costs across Canada.

I am using Stallion Express (very similar to ChitChats), for a 500gram shipment I pay almost the same price to ship from Toronto to Vancouver as I do to ship Toronto to Ottawa. Outside of major centres the difference is higher but still nowhere near the range if you ship via regular Canada Post with only the Small Business discount.

Back to the OP's main question, I use "Standard Flate Rate" for all my listings for Domestic, US & overseas. The name of the service isn't really very important to buyers, more important is how it affects the delivery estimates provided by eBay. For Canada and US I have ZERO late shipments in 2021 using "standard flat-rate".

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@recped 

Thanks. I think you've pinpointed why I and many others are no longer routinely shopping on eBay.

Too many sellers using generic shipping options to protect themselves from inaccurate eBay suggested delivery times.

Many buyers like to know what they are paying for before they complete a purchase. I know I do.

-Lotz

[ypdc_dennis]

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Too many sellers using generic shipping options to protect themselves ...

Many buyers like to know what they are paying for before they complete a purchase. I know I do.

---

Some buyers may care about the shipping carrier, most do not.  Most buyers just want the purchase to arrive intact and in a timely manner.

For comparison, buyers over on the Amazon marketplace NEVER know how an item is going to be shipped. That's something to discover after it has been purchased and shipped out, and even then it can still be very vague.

-;-

[pjcdn2005]

I honestly don't think that generic shipping methods as a big a problem as you seem to think.  I also think that sellers use generic times for various reasons..I know that I have used them for a long time regardless of ebay's estimated delivery times.   

I do think that the main problem we hear about regarding different delivery companies is with the gsp. The problem isn't necessarily that buyers don't know who will be delivering the item before they make the purchase but that even once the item is on its way, they still have no way of knowing who the final carrier will be as the tracking often seems to be nonexistent once it leaves Kentucky. And that has nothing to do with  any sort of estimated delivery times.