eIS and the Lettermail "Problem"

[ecgt]

For years a large part of our business model has relied on shipping items such as DVDs, certain video games, comic books, CDs and other items that are eligible for Lettermail within Canada. Said items would be shipped  using Tracked Packet to the USA or Internationally.

The Lettermail method of shipping within Canada is extremely cost effective to the extent that many items are only competitive when shipped via Lettermail. 

Since eIS uses the domestic shipping on file when an international buyer places an order, we now have a problem. The eIS program requires that we use a trackable method. Lettermail is non-trackable. More than a third of our items only offer Lettermail as the domestic option.

We were enrolled in the eIS program on October 9 and made our first sale this morning (a Blu-ray). Unfortunately, the item in question offers Lettermail as the domestic shipping option. We charged $6 for Lettermail in this case. All of the tracked shipping methods available to us generally cost $18 or more for an item of this size.

We aren't willing to eat that cost, so we decided to cancel the transaction. This is not something we want to do because if we start cancelling transactions over and over it could lead to an account suspension.

We decided to check the eBay Shipping Label prices for the item before cancelling the transaction and were met with a potentially good surprise.

Shipping the Blu-ray from Halifax to the Mississauga hub via eIS is only $8 for Canada Post Expedited Parcel with eBay Shipping Labels for the item in question (in this case a parcel weighing 200 g in a 22 cm x 16 cm x 12 cm box). Knowing this, we are going to eat the $2 and give this a shot.

We checked to see what it would cost to ship a record using a record mailer (600 g in a 33 cm x 33 cm x 4 cm box) and the Canada Post Expedited Parcel price came up as $9.

The UPS prices were also less than expected, but were several dollars more than the Canada Post options in the tests we did.

If this is accurate, then it suggests that eBay and Canada Post (as well as UPS) have made deals on cheaper shipping to the hub and haven't made an announcement as of yet.

We realize that we are among the earliest invitees to the program. Has anyone else had a sale via eIS yet? If so, what is your experience in terms of shipping prices to the hub using eBay Shipping Labels?

[ecgt]

Quick correction. The 200 g 22 cm x 16 cm x 12 cm box came in at $9.04 CAD for Canada Post Expedited.

Calculating the same item in a 24 cm x 19 cm x 4 cm bubble envelope came to $8 CAD

[ecgt]

Here are some screenshots comparing shipping rates via a bubble envelope with a box with the dimensions noted.

[jtg204]

Did you go with 22x16x12?

Can you check, did the label that ebay labels generated actually generate a label with dimensions 23x20x12 on the label instead?

There is a rate difference between 22x16x12 and 23x20x12, and if it generated a 23x20x12 label then you will get charged a bit more when the transaction goes through.  Curious if this happens for 22x16x12.

[ecgt]

We went with the 24x19x4 option.

Dimensions on the label that we printed off are: 23x20x3.5

We've noticed over the past several months that the dimensions we put in are never the same as the dimensions on the label.

We will have to wait to see what the actual charge is when we get hit with the shipping fee in a couple of weeks.

[jtg204]

In that case, it should be the same rate.   Interesting that this dimension changing issue also reduces volume slightly in some cases.

[killincards]

implementing lettermail acceptance would be a killer ap imo. We would likely need a tracked lettermail implementation like usa with spotty tracking

[chicweb]

If lettermail is not an option, we will opt-out entirely from eIS.

DVD/CD/Small items market is not possible without oversized lettermail. That's a very very very bad news for us.

[alittleofeverythingtoday]

Within Canada ...why don't you use Canada Post Expedited Lite ?

The cost for under 200grams is about $6 range 

It comes with tracking and insurance up to $100.00

[chicweb]

It's 6 to 9$. Fixing that shipping price = 0 sales.

We tried for a long time.

The DVD market NEEDS lettermail. Customers are not willing to pay even 6$ on a DVD that cost 4 or 5$. That's just not working.

I might try using it for tracked packages only, but for CD, DVD and low cost items, I can't. It would kill those markets entirely overnight.

[dinomitesales]

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@ecgt wrote:

The eIS program requires that we use a trackable method. Lettermail is non-trackable. More than a third of our items only offer Lettermail as the domestic option.

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I don't believe this is outright stated on the FAQ for eBay Canada eIS.

Were you given a warning message or notice when you made the sale that you must use a tracked shipping service? If so, are you able to post a screenshot so we can see what it says? Does it disable the option to "Mark as Shipped" if you sell something through eIS?

This page, for example, just says "When an item sells, send it to our Canadian hub using your preferred shipping service."

[ecgt]

Looking back over everything they sent us via two separate emails when we were enrolled and the link eBay sent explaining the program was specifically for the American eIS (which we didn't notice until now). As such, it isn't clear to us right now whether or not tracking to the Canadian eIS hub is required.

Is tracking required when sending items to the Canadian eIS hub? Looks like a question for eis@ebay.ca

We will be using trackable methods for now, as too much is in flux to take any chances.

[ecgt]

Not everything that we ship Lettermail qualifies for Expedited Lite due to the weight requirements. The service is quite limited due to the 200 g limit. As a result, we only use it sporadically. It's great for the things that qualify.

[marnotom!]

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@ecgt wrote:

Looking back over everything they sent us via two separate emails when we were enrolled and the link eBay sent explaining the program was specifically for the American eIS (which we didn't notice until now). As such, it isn't clear to us right now whether or not tracking to the Canadian eIS hub is required.

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The terms and conditions for sellers using eIS Canada are on this page, @ecgt:

https://pages.ebay.ca/internationalshippingprogram/seller/terms/

I can't find anything on the page for the terms "trackable shipping" or "delivery confirmation".  The section for "Program Rules" would be the most likely section of the T&C to specify that a trackable shipping method must be used to get items to the hub.

Just be aware that the various seller protections that eIS has won't kick in until the item is acknowledged as accepted at the hub.

@chicweb, are you still following this thread?

[ct-v]

I would certainly advise against using the lettermail option to ship to the eIS warehouse. Yesterday I shipped a package with the Expedited Lite service and today Canada Post didn't even try to deliver the package. They just sent the package directly to the post office and left a notice card. I don't know how it's supposed to work with a business/warehouse. Luckily it was not sent by lettermail. They would never have gotten the package for sure...

[chicweb]

@marnotom! yes. But I will see it for myself when my account will be set up for it. Too much contradictory informations and it's always better to see it for myself. 😉

Worse scenario: not using eIS for lettermail items. Using it only with my tracked items.

I'm not sure it will worth it anyway. I'm sending with Canada Post + Zonos and I'm sending mostly medias and books/magazines. So, I should never have any problems with tariffs... unless something change.... again. 😉

[wheelersndealers]

I may be able to shed some insights in a week or so. I've sent a 8 or 9 packages to the hub so far. Some were tracked some were lettermail (low value that if I lose I lose type thing that just wasn't worth the added cost for tracked shipping). I have shipping set for $4.99 and it will cost $8 for tracking to the hub on most packages that I would ship as I messed around with different size boxes and weights. I am in the Moncton N.B. area for reference. So for alot of my shipments I sprung for the tracking but a few $7-$8 sales I sent via lettermail. I will let you know if I get any reprecussions or warnings for doing so but they were able to be just marked as shipped just like any normal domestic orders using lettermail would. 

[nostalgicaftertaste]

Thank you for making a thread about this, as I'm in a similar boat.

I'm trying to figure out how I can navigate this situation of continuing to offer free shipping to Canadian buyers while not having to eat tracked shipping costs when an eIS buyer makes a purchase.

If I sell a trading card for $10 or less, I can't possibly justify shipping that via a tracked method for an eIS buyer without receiving some of the shipping cost they pay to the program, so that's the issue I have with the system right now.

Wondering if other sellers have some advice on this.

[marnotom!]

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@ct-v wrote:

They just sent the package directly to the post office and left a notice card. I don't know how it's supposed to work with a business/warehouse. Luckily it was not sent by lettermail. They would never have gotten the package for sure...

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In many areas, lettermail is handled by a separate set of carriers than parcel post.  If your item were sent by lettermail, it may have just ended up at the front desk of the hub with other letter items, if there's such a thing as a front desk at the hub.  This is assuming that the hub's address is a street address, of course.

[marnotom!]

What is the address for the forwarding hub, anyway?  The US eIS hub's address is all over the US eBay discussion boards and even on the Canadian boards, but for some reason (probably the newness of Canadian eIS) it hasn't been mentioned here yet, as far as I know.