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?

[flipistics]

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@rainbow71113 wrote:

I got an email from Canada Post saying they have come to an agreement and will publish the details at a later date.

when you say you are only shipping via els...you must have put no international shipping on your listings...because it looks like I'm getting some US buyers who are getting things directly and some who are getting them through the els....I don't have a choice in the matter

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That's correct. I removed all international shipping when all the mess started happening, so the international buyer only has eIS as a choice. At some point when things stabilize I may reconsider shipping some things directly, especially books and media to the States and maybe some things to Australia and the UK. I definitely want to keep eIS for the EU with their constantly changing packaging laws, along with wherever else they open it up to in the future.

[rainbow71113]

I changed my US shipping rates to $17..25 for paper goods under 300 grams and that seems to cover the shipping through Chit...worked out one that was just under 200 grams to be $12.70 including insurance.  Canada post was going to be $23 and change. So some people are paying the $17.25 and some are chosing to have it sent to the hub....so far I haven't been able to find a buyer that will tell me what they see in the payment areas so that I can figure out which option they are chosing and why. 

[recped]

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@rainbow71113 wrote:

so far I haven't been able to find a buyer that will tell me what they see in the payment areas so that I can figure out which option they are chosing and why. 

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To see what they see just look at your listing as a buyer and change YOUR location to a US zip code.

[rainbow71113]

aha...that worked however this is what my customers are seeing-no wonder I'm not getting any US sales because they are showing that there will still be import fees on either option...now I take care of the fees on the first option because I can't ship to the US with Chit without paying the fees and it's showing there is still a fee if they go through the hub-oh my goodness, when will this nonsense end....?!!

Economy Int'l Shipping

Estimated between Thu, Dec 18 and Mon, Jan 26 to 98362

Shipping: C $17.25

Each additional C $3.00

Import fees will apply on delivery

Customs will apply import fees when your item arrives, including duties, taxes, and processing fees. ... More about import fees Show more

eBay International Shipping

Estimated between Tue, Dec 16 and Fri, Dec 26 to 98362

Shipping: C $19.02

Import fees: Est. C $1.92

eBay is charging this fee to facilitate the import of your item on your behalf and ensure your item .