eBay

Anonymous · ‎03-04-2019

I have been an occasional eBay user for over 10 years. I prefer to buy using "Buy it now" just to avoid all the **bleep**/excitement of the auction format.

I recently sold an item and the effort to try to ship it was not worth it. I doubt if I will continue to sell on eBay.

The item ships from Canada to worldwide but the shipping cost calculation did not work for a US buyer. Your new Shippo is a disaster from a user perspective (I am an IT professional and can usually navigate the worst user interfaces) and after setting up an account, linking to all my other accounts and a few logins and "accepts" it could not calculate a rate either. I had to do it old school and drive it down to the post office and write out a label.

Overall a very frustrating and disappointing eBay experience, one that I am not eager to repeat.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-04-2019

Your current listings doesn't have a price for the US either. Usually when this happens either the wrong service is being used or the dimensions in the listing are less than the minimum for that particular service.

It's possible that you are using the quick listing form which I 'think' only allows you to give one choice for international shipping. That is a problem in Canada because the services for Canada Post that go to the US are not the same as the ones that go to the rest of the world. In order for calculated shipping to work you need to use specify a USA service such as Tracked Packet USA and for other countries you would specify an international service such as Tracked Packet International.

If the form isn't giving you the option to use different USA/International options, I would suggest that you change shipping to the US for now. It is generally best for a new seller to ship only to Canada and the US at first just to get a feeling for how things work here. There is an advanced selling tool but I don't know if you will have access to that...you can check to see if there is a link on the top right of your current sell your item form.

The minimum dimensions for all tracked packet and small packet services is 140mm x 90mm x 1mm.

Xpresspost and Expedited USA minimum - 210mm x 140mm

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-04-2019

I'm sorry that you also had problems with Shippo. I'm not sure where you ran into the problem but once everything is set up between ebay and Shippo you should be able to click on 'print shipping label' and once all the info is on the label and the customs info has been entered, you should be able to click on a link at the bottom which says something like - 'get shipping rates'. You then click on the rate you want and then download and print your label.

You can also use Paypal to print a label. Both Shippo and Paypal require that you have a Canada Post small business number which is free to get and which allows for some small discounts.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-05-2019

I prefer to use the Paypal shipping label, which is paid directly from my PP balance and is the same cost as Shippo and of SnapShip /Canada Post.

I go to it directly from the PP invoice that confirms my customer really has paid.

But all three services require the Canada Post Small Business Solutions number. You don't have to be any sort of business. My sister has one to send birthday parcels to her hordes of grandchildren with tiny discounts.

With the SBS number, all your shipments will accumulate and if business booms, you may start getting better discounts.

But yeah.

The Advanced Sell Your Item form is much much better and has more options.

The other problem you may have is the dimensions for various rates as pjcdn described above.

You may find this a useful bookmark.

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