Hi. confusion on my part, but this is nothing new.

[williamf6194]

I posted on a now discontinued subject, and a v. helpful forum member provided some helpful advice.  I sell on ebay.ca living in Canada.  Most of the items I have sold and still have for sale are more specific to the U.K. market.  I find that buyers in the U.K. do respond to foreign sales without me listing on ebay.co.uk.  - which in the past has severely restricted the postage that I can charge to send the item to the U.K. from Canada (it has price restrictions 'thinking' that the item is being posted from the U.K. (Note: ebay.ca could not help me on this problem, an agent only telling me that I could not list on ebay.co.uk, even though I had successfully used it half a dozen times previously without a problem).  I have recently placed an item for sale on ebay.ca and when I check the price for International postage and click on the U.K., it notes that: "This item will ship to the United Kingdom, but the seller has not specified shipping options.  Contact seller etc."  If I go to ebay.co.uk, where it shows my listing as an international listing, on the main listing page it notes postage from Canada of £8.07 (8 Pounds Sterling and 7 pence)  or $13.94 Canadian at this month's average exchange rate.  The actual price from Canada Post is $35.22 or £20.38 Sterling at the current exchange rate.  When I click on postage cost on the U.K. ebay site, it doesn't provide a price, but immediately changes over to ebay.ca, shows my item listing price in Canadian Dollars with postage to Canada, but increases the 'buy now' price by $24.00 Canadian.  I never had problems in the past with postage, and no complaints from buyers. Obviously I charge the exact actual cost to post the item from my location to the buyers, but I have recently found differences in what ebay.ca states will be the postage cost, and what Canada Post will charge me for the exact same dimensions and weight. I weigh my items on a Starfrit letter/small parcel scale, and when I check at the post office nearby, my measurements and parcel weight have always been spot-on.  Has anyone else noticed the discrepancy between the ebay quotes and Canada Post?  Long post - my apologies. WF

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

sell on ebay.ca living in Canada. 

listing on ebay.co.uk.  - which ... has price restrictions 'thinking' that the item is being posted from the U.K.

No it doesn't.

On the Advanced/ Business selling form

Go to-> Delivery Details-> Domestic Postage-> Services

Scroll well down the drop down menu to ->Delivery from outside UK

Choose Economy or Standard.

Now go here

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/information/app/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

and find how much it will cost to ship from Canada to the UK  --- AIR MAIL.

(Because Surface is too expensive)

Make the currency exchange- massage it a little – and enter the amount for Canada Post shipping in poounds sterling.

Now go to->International Postage -> Post to->Choose Custom location

and choose the other destinations you will ship to.

Go to-> Services and choose the service you want

NOTE-- These are generic names not the names of actual services. Use the delivery time to decide which you wan tot use.

For example if you chose Canada, you could choose a faster service than if you were choosing USA or Australia.

Again, you will be looking at Canada Post rates and making the currency exchange.

If you choose Canada and then another country (or countries) Go To -> Offer Another Service

and repeat the consultation with Canada Post rates and currency exchange.

Then Additional delivery locations-- personally I choose Will Ship Worldwide.

BUT

Go To-> Exclude postage locations-> Create Exclusion List

And those in excluded countries will not be able to see your listing.

Whew.

Were you perhaps using a simplified form? The dotCA one is pretty bad.

The longer Advanced Form is actually easier to understand than the Simplified, because it does give more options.

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

You will be using Flat Rate shipping which should not be a problem for anywhere EXCEPT Canada, because Canadian domestic package rates are based on dimensions PLUS destination.

[kawartha-ephemera]

---

@williamf6194 wrote:

I posted on a now discontinued subject, and a v. helpful forum member provided some helpful advice.  I sell on ebay.ca living in Canada.  Most of the items I have sold and still have for sale are more specific to the U.K. market.  I find that buyers in the U.K. do respond to foreign sales without me listing on ebay.co.uk. This has also been my experience. 

 I have recently placed an item for sale on ebay.ca and when I check the price for International postage and click on the U.K., it notes that: "This item will ship to the United Kingdom, but the seller has not specified shipping options.  Contact seller etc. This message appears when there is no valid shipping option provided by the seller, either the necessary information is missing altogether, is incomplete, or is incorrect. 

If I go to ebay.co.uk, where it shows my listing as an international listing, on the main listing page it notes postage from Canada of £8.07 (8 Pounds Sterling and 7 pence)  or $13.94 Canadian at this month's average exchange rate.  The actual price from Canada Post is $35.22 or £20.38 Sterling at the current exchange rate.  I suspect you were probably being shown the shipping charge as if you were located in Canada or maybe even the U.S. Did you forget to change your location to the U.K. when you were browsing ebay.co.uk? When I viewed your listing 255265124214 on the UK site I was shown the shipping not specified message.

When I click on postage cost on the U.K. ebay site, it doesn't provide a price, but immediately changes over to ebay.ca, shows my item listing price in Canadian Dollars with postage to Canada, you were probably shown the listing on .ca because your shipping location was set as being in Canada. but increases the 'buy now' price by $24.00 Canadian.  I never had problems in the past with postage, and no complaints from buyers. Obviously I charge the exact actual cost to post the item from my location to the buyers, but I have recently found differences in what ebay.ca states will be the postage cost, and what Canada Post will charge me for the exact same dimensions and weight. I weigh my items on a Starfrit letter/small parcel scale, and when I check at the post office nearby, my measurements and parcel weight have always been spot-on.  Has anyone else noticed the discrepancy between the ebay quotes and Canada Post?  Long post - my apologies. WF

---

A suggestion for your consideration. If I were listing your gears item 255265124214 I would most likely use calculated shipping for Domestic (Canada) and flat rate for International. The reason I suggest using flat rate internationally is because of the very large differential between Canada Post's counter (retail) and Solutions for Small Business rates for CP Tracked Packets International to destinations such as the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Australia etc. Keep in mind that ebay's calculator displays counter rates, this is why you're seeing the very high 35.00 plus shipping quote to the U.K. instead of the SfSB discounted rate which would probably be in the area of 22.00. Add in an appropriate S/H amount and voila, no more shipping calculator problems.

Keep in mind Tracked Packet is only available to 30 or so destinations. There is no optional insurance available, just the standard $100.

[femmefan1946]

Anyway, I have changed the listings to free postage in Canada, and will also do the same thing for International.

Okay.

First Free Shipping is NOT FREE.

It just means you have put the cost of shipping into your asking price.

Which is cheapest?

A $5 item with $10 Shipping?

A $10 item with $5 Shipping?

 A $15 item with Free Shipping?

Free Shipping is easy if you are using LetterPost (under 2cm thick/under 500grams) and are willing to go without tracking.

You just mark your UK domestic shipping as Free Shipping.

Then for any international destinations (like Canada) that you will use Free Shipping, you mark the Flat Rate as £ 0.00.

And any where you will be charging you use £ 5.99 (or whatever covers your cost of shipping from Canada to Australia or Uzbekistan).

You can choose several different shipping rates by clicking on Another Service.

Although the amount is showing in sterling -- you are basing the amount on the Canada Post rates.

Now to get complicated.

Most of your sales are to the UK.

So your $10Price  +Free Shipping might be$10+ $11 to the UK but only$10+ $4.44 within Canada. 

What will you charge your buyer in the UK? In Canada?

If most of your sales (80% or more?) are to the UK, you could decide to forget your few Canadian customers and make the price of your product $21 (@59 pence to the loonie exchange)   or £ 12.39.

This is the same price you would likely charge all overseas customers.

But-- the downside is that your Canadian and US customers may find it too expensive and you may lose almost all of those buyers.

[williamf6194]

Hi to the three of you.

Excellent advice and all printed off for reference.  I also received excellent advice from a local (Calgary) seller which I have also saved.  I can't thank you enough for the time you have all spent answering my query when you could be selling/listing.  Cheers to all and Happy holidays. Bill

[williamf6194]

Hi reallynice stamps and kawartha-ephemara.

Gents - thanks so much.  As you can easily determine, I am really confused over how to enter postage that is fair to the potential buyer, but realistic so that I am not way out of pocket - or giving the item(s) away for free.  As we all realize, if the postage is too high, no one will want it unless its possibly the rarest thing on earth.  Anyway, I have changed the listings to free postage in Canada, and will also do the same thing for International.  I would just like to sell them to someone who can use them without too much hassle to me.

Best regards and thanks again to both of you for taking time out of your schedule.. WF

[pjcdn2005]

  You are listing on .ca but just looking at your listing on the UK site...correct? When you are looking at your listings on the UK site you will see the exact same information that you see on .ca but in a different currency.   The shipping will not change. The UK site doesn't have access to Canada Post prices so it simply shows the same information as on the .ca site which is based on the info you entered.   

The reason that the price is increased when you look at the listing on the UK site is because it is showing the UK price including VAT (tax)  The .com and .ca sites add on the VAT separately..they don't show the VAT in the price. 

The lack of a postage price could be because you haven't listed a service that goes to the UK.   On item 255265124214 there is no postage price to anywhere other than to the US and Canada.  When you see 8 lbs sterling on the UK site you are looking at the shipping cost to YOUR location. In order to see the shipping cost to the UK you would have to scroll down to the postage/payment  tab, click on change country and then see rates.

On item 255265124214 you show a shipping cost to the UK but not to the US.   That could be caused by the form that you are using or by the way that you are listing.  I can't access the listing form that you are probably using so if you could post a screenshot of your shipping area on one of those listings that would be a big help.

I just saw the post explaining to you how to list internationally.  No need to post a screen shot if you have that part figured out.

If you are still unsure about something, please let us know what it is.

[williamf6194]

Hi all.

Thank you both for your patience.  Yes, my apologies,  my question was way too long, but I do not recall having this problem before, and it is a tad frustrating with no help from ebay.ca.  As I noted at the beginning of my question, I sell on ebay.ca.  I use a new mac desktop which is currently downloading the latest upgrade. My listing can be found by searching "Heljan O gears" if this helps?  Thank you 'Stamps' for taking the time to advise on the UK site.  I will print it off for future selling. It was extremely helpful.

I appreciate the time you have both taken to assist my inquiry.  I do find this site very helpful and worthwhile checking. I am only up to 70 sales/purchases over a number of years, so still have a lot to learn.  Cheers, WF

[kawartha-ephemera]

Yes, a very long post indeed with quite a lot of back and forth commentary, so much so that I'm confused.

Are you listing on ebay.ca? Have I got that part right?

I think the simplest thing to do here would be for you to show us some screenshots of your listing's Shipping Details section, just open up the listing as if you were revising it and take a few screenshots if what you see there.

[kawartha-ephemera]

Would you please clarify a few details.
1. Which site are you listing on ... ebay.ca?
2. Are you listing with a desktop computer or the mobile app?

If you are listing with a desktop, can you show us some screenshots of the listing's Shipping Details section. That way we can get a clearer picture of what's going on, shipping setup can be a complicated subject to discuss in written form.