What services to use to ship from Vancouver to USA like New York

[zjq_10]

What do people use to ship from Canada to USA? I use Canada Post for shipping, I sold an item on eBay for 4 CAD, end up paying 12.5 CAD for shipping to Ohio, which resulted in a lost for me. With tracking it would of been $23, I would of have to pay a greater lost if I use tracking. Luckily the buyer was honest and nice so he said he did received but he could of easily said he didn't receive the item and let me give him it for free even though I shipped it as a lost profit for him. Does anyone know if you can use any cheaper services to ship from Vancouver? I can't just trust every buyer that they're going to be honest. I would only make a decent profit if I sell valuable items or else it would be like $0.50 profit. How do Canadian eBay compete with Americans if the shipping cost is that high? I'm usually stressed about the item I'm selling I check the viewers and watchers to see how it's doing a lot of times and search up my item to see how it's on the list but sometimes it's not on the list. Sometimes no one clicks on my item  because I'm a new seller even though I offer a cheaper item with better condition than the other items on the list.

[femmefan1946]

You have a few choices. Start by realizing that usually Canada Post is the least expensive service and that it covers the entire world.

Untracked Canada Post-  This is basically LetterMail anywhere.

• the item must be under 2cm thick and under 500 grams.
• use Cookie Jar Insurance-- we'll come back to that
• This also includes Small Packet USA and International, which allow larger
• As a side note NEVER NEVER NEVER ship internationally by Surface. Just don't.

Tracked Canada Post- most (but not all package services)

• sign up for a Solutions for Small Business* number on the Canada Post website. This gives you some small discounts from SnapShip, Paypal and Shippo.

Use a freight forwarder like https://chitchats.com/en  if there is an office in reasonable range.

• there are several of these. Tell us your city and we can suggest others.
• basically these forwarders take your items and drive them across the border and use USPS shipping.
• there is a fee for this and don't forget the expense of your own trip.
• you may also want to extend your handling time by 24 hours.

Use discount postage stamps purchased here on eBay.

• this is a bit fussy but basically you affix almost enough postage and then go to the PO for the rest of the postage and the tracking label
• the bigger your packages the easier this is, since you would be going to the PO with them anyway

COOKIE JAR INSURANCE

is just self-insurance.

You add a small amount a few pennies or dimes to the asking price of the item and put those virtual pennies in a virtual Cookie Jar.

If you have a problem transaction, you use the money in the cookie jar to pay the costs.

The best thing about this is that it covers your own mistakes as well as the shipper's difficulties, entitled customers and scams.

You will rarely be scammed. Most sellers have less than one percent of transactions fail, and most of those are disagreements not scams.

Many sellers find they actually make money on Cookie Jar Insurance, not only because the 'premiums' more than cover the payouts, but also because they are saving by not paying for tracking and because with lower pricing they get more customers.

Win Win Win.

But it takes a bit of courage, especially if you have never worked retail, and the payouts are at the end of year totals not on a daily basis.

Best wishes and someone will be along to name some other forwarders.

In passing, No Returns does NOT mean No Refunds.

*https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/business/small-business.page?

And while you're there bookmark this:

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

[femmefan1946]

because I'm a new seller

Build your feedback by purchasing, from sellers who leave immediate feedback on shipping.

You need shipping supplies like poly or bubble envelopes, labels, tape, printer ink.

Or household needs like facesoap, dish towels, lego, birthday cards.

And leave FB immediately yourself. It's one of the best ways to get response FB.

Another worry newbies have is FB, since I mentioned  it.

Keep in mind that FB is not used by eBay to assess your account. If a buyer uses FB to threaten you (are you selling game cards? that's a volatile demographic) not only can the FB be removed but the buyer gets a smackdown.

[ypdc_dennis]

Femmefan has covered the basic shipping points.

If you are in Vancouver do check out ChitChatsExpress to see if it is worth the effort to have them take the item across the border to send using USPS domestic rates (most of which are tracked).

Canada Post Small Packet USA (up to 2kg, can be more than 2cm thick) while it has no official tracking, on ebay might get any of the scans done by USPS.  Only shows scans done on the USA side (scans might be happening less with the covid-19 outbreak). You can manually load the scan code to your shipped item. Some sellers have found it useful for INR claims.

[bpl521_sell]

If the items you are shipping are parcels you might want to look at netParcel

https://netparcel.com/home.action

[marnotom!]

Just a note to add to the excellent posts that are here already:

Tracking is not only cost-prohibitive on a four dollar item, but also next to pointless.

[zjq_10]

So if I sell a $4 item most of the time is better to trust the buyer to accept it? How common is it to get scammed on eBay

[marnotom!]

How often do you think sellers get scammed over four dollar items?

[zjq_10]

If the buyer is very young I think it's really often that they will think of saving a few extra bucks if they can to buy the things they want. 

[zee-chan]

If you are going to lose sleep over a $4 sale then online selling might not be for you.

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

This is why old timers say:  You make money when you buy, not when you sell.

There are a lot of things that are too cheap to sell.

Personally my minimum is $9.99US.  And that's on items I buy for ~$0.75Cdn.

There is your procurement cost.

There is your listing fee (from 0c to 35c) -- assuming you don't pay for any non-refundable and usually useless options, like BOLD and Reserve.

There is your selling fee of 10%

There is your shipping fee of 10%

There are your Paypal fees of 35c plus 3.7% (?) of payment - non-refundable as of May first.

Shipping is paid by the buyer, even if you offer Free Shipping which just means you have folded the cost of shipping into your asking price. Which buyers love, by the way.

• Which is the best deal : A $4.00 item with $5 shipping? A $5.00 item with $4 shipping? A $9.00 with Free Shipping?
• Would the customer like $9.99 with Free** Shipping ?

But if the item is returned, the seller (probably) will pay for tracked shipping, even if she shipped without tracking originally.

If your item costs $5.00 to ship and you charged your customer $9.99 your $4.99 "profit" drops by  about $1.65* to $3.34.  Before packaging costs and travel to PO.

How much did your item cost you to buy?

How much did you really make on the $9.99 sale?

Can you bundle your low price items-- instead of $4.00 each selling five for $19.99 or $17.99. Watch the cost of shipping when you bundle-- if it goes over the weight or dimensions the rate will rise.

Did you bookmark this yet?

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

*I'm dysnumeric and got a little lost in the numbers there.

**Never use Free Shipping for overseas shipping. Never use Free Shipping for parcel rates domestically, and be careful with US shipping of parcels.

[ucanreply3]

The eCommerce for fulfillment service is offered from Canada/Mexico to USA 

https://xborderusa.com/

[ypdc_dennis]

---

@ucanreply3 wrote:

The eCommerce for fulfillment service is offered from Canada/Mexico to USA 

---

That Global eTrade Services website (xborderusa) you mention says:

...  for high volume parcel imports to the USA

[teenytrinkets]

Start using ChitChats. It's a game changer! My closest one is about a half hour drive, but it's totally worth it for me, because I save so much on my small packages. You can set your handling time to 2-3 days to ensure you only have to go once or twice a week. Keep in mind that there's less savings on heavy, bulky items. But, in general, it's better to sell smaller lighter items on ebay, anyway.

[zee-chan]

Zombie-ish thread. I don't think OP even sells here anymore.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi everyone - 

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread was opened I have closed it from further replies. 

If this is still a topic that warrants discussion please don't hesitate to begin a new thread!