@byto253 wrote:
I don't know how UPS works going from Canada to the US and if they have extra brokerage charges in that direction. I am suspicious whenever a courier is much cheaper than a postal service. You may wish to call UPS to check for the price level of service you are looking at. Hopefully the UPS agent knows for sure....
That said, cell phones are a higher incident category, so for your own protection I would stick with the shipping service indicated, which was "Canada Post Expedited Parcel - USA". I would not introduce complications like requesting a different shipping service from the buyer. Keep it simple and exactly as listed.
The shipping charges of $22 flat may be a little short, depending on your and the buyer's location, but that is part of selling. You could have done a calculated shipping cost based on location, so the flat rate is at the seller's risk. Sometimes we make the trade-off to do a simpler listing and absorb a bit later, which on a good priced item like this makes it easier to do.
Sorry to say but the research on shipping options is something to done before listing, or in the listing indicate a generic shipping method such as "standard shipping" that allows 1 to 10 days and does not say who the shipper is.
Wow wee I just wanted to say first and foremost thank you to all for your feedback
I was not expecting such a thorough discussion and I greatly appreciate everything!
As some suggested, I did end up just "sticking to the plan" and I shipped out via Canada Post Expedited.
The shipping charge ended up being $29 actually. Base price was $22.XX, but that only included $100 insurance coverage. So I decided to up it and make sure the entire thing was covered, which increased shipping cost to $29.
In the past I have had to unfortunately put a slightly lower shipping charge just to remain "competitive" with our eBay.com counter parts, and I would just swallow whatever else the charge was on top when shipping.
I dont ship often and mainly just sell odds and ends, so I dont mind taking a slight hit due to shipping.
One thing led to another though with this particular sale which made me a bit uneasy with "just" Canada Post. I started to think about maybe UPS or Fedex to make sure the item gets to the buyer on time/faster, I searched around and was able to find UPS being roughly $20 for equivalent service. But I wasnt so sure about the brokerage and duties, and didnt want to cheap out on $10 just to have my buyer get dinged anything more.
For this buyer, I am concerned how "legitimate" are they, so just thought UPS may be a bit more of a solid shipping option.
Great food for thought for me though moving forward though, as I dont want to continue to swallow loss on the shipping and I may as suggested select a "generic" service moving forward to give me a bit more wiggle room when shipping.
Thanks again for all the feedback!
