eBay

pierrelebel · ‎05-25-2015

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y15/m05/i25/s03

PS - I have not been invited (maybe due to the fact I refuse to use PayPal shipping labels as I get my postage cheaper!)

In my opinion eBay-Canada should try to help Canadian sellers find the cheapest way to ship (or buy postage) instead of trying to force them to use PayPal "postage" which is more profitable to their organization.

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-01-2015

@mjwl2006 wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
'mj' -- I think your concerns about over-stuffed suburban "super boxes" are well founded. This happened to us as well. The box was left on top of the mail boxes (not good) rather than taken back to the P.O. The problem also seemed to be that we'd talk to one delivery person about these flaws during one month, then suddenly we'd have a different delivery person. I finally gave up trying to convince them to change.
I think Canada Post is shooting itself in the foot. I am always home and I have mobility issues, so walking a city block to my new Community Mailbox to hump home a parcel of any size like a camel is not my thing. As a consumer, I'll be sticking now to retailers that use couriers so that the stuff comes to my door. Whenever possible. As a seller, I'm prepared to do the same.

In more than 12 years I have never seen of or heard of a package being left on top of the postal boxes. I'm not saying that it didn't or can't happen but I don't think that is a common occurrence in other parts of the country. When UPS comes to my house they drop off the parcel and leave it on the doorstep and never ring the doorbell so even if I'm home, that parcel may sit out there for hours. Although I've never had a parcel go missing, I do think a parcel is safer in the community box or at the postal outlet than it is sitting outside my door.

As far as bringing home a parcel of any size...the boxes are not that wide so any parcel left there is not going to be that big.

I obviously don't know how well this program is going to work for everyone as I can only go by my own experiences. Yes, it can be a pain and if I had a choice, I would rather that mail be delivered to the house but all in all, the program has worked fine here. However, I do realize that it will be more of an issue for some than others.

momcqueen · ‎06-01-2015

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

In more than 12 years I have never seen of or heard of a package being left on top of the postal boxes. I'm not saying that it didn't or can't happen but I don't think that is a common occurrence in other parts of the country. When UPS comes to my house they drop off the parcel and leave it on the doorstep and never ring the doorbell so even if I'm home, that parcel may sit out there for hours. Although I've never had a parcel go missing, I do think a parcel is safer in the community box or at the postal outlet than it is sitting outside my door.

You're right, there's also that potential doorstep problem with couriers unless Signature Required is selected by the shipper. The issue with a Canada Post parcel being left on top of the community mailbox also happened to my sister about 2.5 years ago. She found her parcel before anyone else did but I remember she fumed as would I. Perhaps the method of delivery is the sort of choice best left to the buyer....? The person making the purchase should have the best idea of whether they live in an area where a courier-delivered box on the doorstep will still be there when they get home from work. Or not. There is space for four domestic shipping options on the listing form so offering two speeds of two different shippers should be do-able, right?

Who here uses a courier service for their DOMESTIC shipments and, if so, do you do it with Calculated shipping? Does FedEx have a shipping calculator that works on ebay? Did UPS? I used UPS only twice in two years. I have little to no experience with couriers as an Canadian ebay seller. I'd like as much information about it as possible as I consider jumping ship.

recped · ‎06-08-2015

I was invited to the meeting, unfortunately I was unable to attend as I've been out in the north woods for the past two weeks.

eBay in the USA now provides if nothing else very good pricing for USPS services, pricing that beats anywhere else for small sellers and equals pricing generally available only to large operations. The printing system while still suffering from outages is superior to what we've been stuck with, the old PayPal set up. With the split coming eBay Canada needs to have an in house service for shipping, I'm sure they are aware that shipping costs are a barrier to increased, they might actually be able to do something about that.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

cumos55 · ‎06-08-2015

Canada Post has changed the Ventureone program...

Today it is called Business solutions

The discounts vary in relation to how much postage one purchases

Link to

https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/pages/smallbusiness/default.page

Click for Canada, US and International discounts

recped · ‎06-08-2015

@cumos55 wrote:
Canada Post has changed the Ventureone program...

Today it is called Business solutions

The discounts vary in relation to how much postage one purchases

Link to

https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/pages/smallbusiness/default.page

Click for Canada, US and International discounts

The discounts available to eBay/Pitney-Bowes are far greater than anything offered under the "new" Small Business Pricing. eBay should be able to offer the top level ($7,500+) discounts to anyone using their system for postage.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

momcqueen · ‎06-08-2015

@recped wrote:

The discounts available to eBay/Pitney-Bowes are far greater than anything offered under the "new" Small Business Pricing. eBay should be able to offer the top level ($7,500+) discounts to anyone using their system for postage.

That, exactly, has been my complaint all along. Better discounts are deserved.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎06-08-2015

I agree - as I've posted a few times before, it seems eBay/Pitney-Bowes presently lacks the will to negotiate with Canada Post. With small start-ups achieving better deals, they could do better than the present discounts.

tobyshitzu · ‎06-08-2015

Or they did and they keep the rest for themselves. Soon after that started the ebay shipping guy left. He had it out there how much him bringing CP labels to paypal had net for ebay.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎06-08-2015

I have wondered about that - could add a lot to the bottom line, eh?

momcqueen · ‎06-08-2015

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
Or they did and they keep the rest for themselves. Soon after that started the ebay shipping guy left. He had it out there how much him bringing CP labels to paypal had net for ebay.

If that is the case, I feel even more like a whipped (mule). What would it take to band together ebay sellers offsite to create our own consortium for the purposes of gaining direct Canada Post discounts through bulk purchase contracts? Ten of us? Twenty? I know precious little about this sort of thing.

ricarmic · ‎06-08-2015

As a note to Cumos comment, the Canada Post discounting is not available to those who are putting their own stamps on the boxes...... I actually qualify for the top level discount, but can't use it because I'm a stamps on the boxes kinda guy......so I'm still stuck with the 5% or whatever it is that I got before.... 😞

pierrelebel · ‎06-08-2015

"...so I'm still stuck with the 5% or whatever..."

5% from Canada Post and another 30% (or more) discount from purchasing the stamps below face value.

It could be worse!

Spoiler

ricarmic · ‎06-08-2015

Hi Pierre! Well I subscribe to putting a significant amount of "new" stuff on the packages, I try to get a couple souvenir sheets on the package. I believe this differentiates me from some of the other sellers as many collectors have a tough time getting new stuff postally used.... I strongly believe a chunk of my "buy some stamps every few days" people buying one or two things each time are doing it to get the variety of SS I use (if I can keep whos who straight I try to use different stamps each time as much as possible).

You are quite correct on the older stuff though, I'm getting it at 40% of face now! (to clarify for others this is for full gum real postage not the inappropriate "uncancelled" stuff). So that does help too.

momcqueen · ‎06-08-2015

I am swimming at a depth way over my head here. Gummed? Uncancelled? Where do you find stamps for 30 to 40 per cent less than rate? I save stamps when I get them because they are purty. I know nothing of this world other than that the new stamp with the whale on it is ten tonnes/dollars of love.

ricarmic · ‎06-09-2015

Hi Mjwl - gummed means the stamps have not been used before so they are still ok be used. Ungummed stamps are ones that weren't cancelled have been soaked off the envelope and it is "illegal" to (re)use them again.

There are many places to find postage lots, just search "canada postage" in ebay right now, I saw many lots with gum from 25% - 50% off (below) face value. The 50% off ones have dings or faults that make them less collectible, but to lick and stick they are fine!

One can also attend or bid in stamp auctions like Maresch in Toronto, or advertise in stamp papers etc.

chitchatsexpress · ‎06-12-2015

You are right that ebay - paypal - Pitney Bowes should all be able to offer sellers better rates. Problem is is not whats best for their business models..

The discounts we give on postage will never be offered by any of them. That's because we don't keep any of the discounts, all are passed on to the sellers.

We are in the middle of negotiating additional discounts just now. and when we get them they will be available to our sellers.

The one I am most excited about, is traced tracked worldwide. We HOPE to have that up and running this month.