Shipping bubble mailers to Canada is not hard US sellers/traders

From the USPS site:


USPS is pushing the more expensive tracking option, all you have to do is REFUSE it and ask for basic. Online is different i heard but why is it so confusing to some sellers/traders? US sellers on Ebay won't budge...$7 for a $3 auction??? No-one wants to trade...say it's too expensive to ship here If i could find someone to share a PO Box with i'd do that, but it's expensive for only me.

blah

Interesting.

They also have a "Global Forever" stamp for PWE's (or at least they did as of this past Christmas).

My ebay buying has dropped significantly because, as you said, $7+ for a card is a lot to pay for shipping. Some sellers charge up to $20+. I guess for baseball cards, sellers feel that the majority of buyers are in the States anyways so losing a few Canadian bidders doesn't matter.

My trading has increased a lot in recent months due to Zistle. More guys there seem to use the cheaper shipping methods.

- Rodrick

Not saying there isn't a cheaper option but the $5.55 (Paypal) one has some type of tracking and that is what I will be using.

It isn't the cost, it is the fact that it requires a trip to the post office if you don't use Global shipping trough ebay/Paypal. Who wants to deal with that when you can sell to a buyer in the states and save time and maximize profits.

PeteD said:

From the USPS site:

First-Class Mail® International Large Envelope** Value of contents can not exceed $400.00 Max. length 15", height 12" or thickness 3/4"

Varies by destination

$2.71

USPS is pushing the more expensive tracking option, all you have to do is REFUSE it and ask for basic. Online is different i heard but why is it so confusing to some sellers/traders? US sellers on Ebay won't budge...$7 for a $3 auction??? No-one wants to trade...say it's too expensive to ship here If i could find someone to share a PO Box with i'd do that, but it's expensive for only me.

blah

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How much is tracking though?

Honestly, this is useless without tracking. I quit selling to Canada a few years ago when Canada Post was losing about one in 20 packages I was sending and was taking multiple weeks on probably 40 to 50% of my shipments there.

To get a refund per paypal, and ship back to Canada they want a delivery confirmation. Go ahead and find out how much that cost.

What was the situation before the USPS increased rates substantially a while ago? Back when sellers charged about $3 to ship to Canada and didn't bother with tracking? Were a lot of sellers getting screwed by ebay claims because they hadn't bought tracking?

I've noticed that of the padded envelopes that the sender paid $6+ to mail to me, the ones with tracking had a Canadian barcode sticker on them. This would have been affixed once it entered Canada, and usually reported the date the package was mailed, then no info for a period of time, and then continued tracking through the Canadian stops. I once asked a trader on Zistle if he had bought tracking for one such padded envelope and he said he hadn't. Weird.

Just when I think I understand the logistics of USA-to-Canada shipping I get confused again!

- Rodrick

ccouch (Chad) said:

How much is tracking though?

Honestly, this is useless without tracking. I quit selling to Canada a few years ago when Canada Post was losing about one in 20 packages I was sending and was taking multiple weeks on probably 40 to 50% of my shipments there.

Click to expand...

The total comes out to around $7-$8 from the ones i've received...so tracking is $5 extra.

nosterbor said:

To get a refund per paypal, and ship back to Canada they want a delivery confirmation. Go ahead and find out how much that cost.

Click to expand...

In the case the item is let say $20+ i would not complain. I'm complaining about having to pay $7 US for low value/base cards. Kicker is once the package arrives in Canada, you can't track it through USPS...and have fun getting any info from Canada Post.

I do it on a case by case basis. My post office treats anything in a bubble mailer as a package. So...I can either pack the crap out of the card in a pwe...which I charge $2 for on low end stuff...or do the standard $5.50 or whatever it is and do the bubble mailer. If its close to say $15-20 value range i'll give the buyer the option.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

i dont ship to canada because i sold a mariano rivera sp signature series auto on eBay and sent it registered. the card never showed up technically because after the border it was in canada's hands. i spent $20 to ship it and then had to refund the buyer $200 on eBay. That's why I don't ship there, not the $5.55 or trip to post office etc.

tiki4mvp said:

i dont ship to canada because i sold a mariano rivera sp signature series auto on eBay and sent it registered. the card never showed up technically because after the border it was in canada's hands. i spent $20 to ship it and then had to refund the buyer $200 on eBay. That's why I don't ship there, not the $5.55 or trip to post office etc.

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I hear that alot and understand, i wouldn't ship either. I'm lucky that i live in a border town and can ship sets and highend cards with tracking at an reasonable price. Major problem is that there's no seamless tracking system between the 2 countries unless you go FedX etc...and that's an small fortune.

it comes down to the buyers not wanting to pay the additional shipping costs. to cover myself i charge for the tracking and nobody wants to pay for it. just don't want to get ripped off like before...

PeteD said:

In the case the item is let say $20+ i would not complain. I'm complaining about having to pay $7 US for low value/base cards. Kicker is once the package arrives in Canada, you can't track it through USPS...and have fun getting any info from Canada Post.

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And therein lies the problem. Buyer pays for a $5 card to be shipped to Canada without tracking. Seller ships in good faith. Canada Post, as they all too often do, doesn't deliver the package. Buyer files a claim against the seller and leaves negative feedback. Two or three instances of that can cost a seller significantly through the loss of PowerSeller benefits.

I can see why a casual seller wouldn't have an issue with shipping to Canada on low value cards without tracking. But the eBay fee discounts are too significant to put at risk for Powersellers.

ccouch (Chad) said:

And therein lies the problem. Buyer pays for a $5 card to be shipped to Canada without tracking. Seller ships in good faith. Canada Post, as they all too often do, doesn't deliver the package. Buyer files a claim against the seller and leaves negative feedback. Two or three instances of that can cost a seller significantly through the loss of PowerSeller benefits.

I can see why a casual seller wouldn't have an issue with shipping to Canada on low value cards without tracking. But the eBay fee discounts are too significant to put at risk for Powersellers.

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Agreed - I've been screwed too many times by international buyers - I will only ship if there is tracking available. So, unfortunately for Canadians - that means you should probably open a COMC account.