Canadian shippers, need your advice

I’m not from Canada, so I can’t give you any suggestions there, but to get an idea of shipping costs, you should be able to use eBay’s shipping calculator. I’ll give you the link I use, but I have no idea if it would be different for Canada. I think you would at least change the website to ebay.ca; otherwise you might have to search for it through the help pages:
http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

Select package, put in your zipcode and the item weight and dimensions, and then press calculate shipping. For the US version, it picks out three cities spread out over the country so that you can see how the shipping costs vary.

Also try flippertools.com. It was created and maintained by one of the SL members. There is a menu that has his calculated shipping tool. As Sharyn states, Canada may prove to be a hurdle, can’t remember.
But at his site you put in the dimensions, the weight where from and where too and it will provide a suggestion as to the lowest cost method to ship, what size box to use, show USPS, FedEx and UPS [again not sure about Canada].

Worth at least checking it out. He also offers a label printing service that he says is competitive with Ebay’s.

Hope the site helps you out, we use it a lot and have it book marked.

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta

If you are looking at your own listed item, click on the shipping tab and change the zip code or country. You’ll see the price to anywhere you ship to.

I also have a 2nd Ebay account for buying and will occasionally look at my listings from the outside (2nd account),

I only ship using Canada Post.

When you list an item, you can input the dimensions and weight on the listing so the postage is calculated based on the buyer’s location in Canada.

For U.S. shipping, you have to input the price for each item if you want it accurate. For the U.S., Canada Post provides a rate chart based on size and weight – use that chart for U.S. shipping costs. I have created shipping rules that use from the pulldown based on size and weight.

For international items, most shipping is similar to Europe – again, make a shipping rule based on weight and size. For other countries, add the rules to make your pulldowns in the listing easy to manage.

For example, my pulldowns look like:

CANADA-Calculated; U.S.-<1kg, Medium Size; INTL-<1kg, Medium Size
CANADA-Calculated; U.S.1-2kg, Large Size; INTL-NONE
etc. etc.

It will take a lot of time to build, but once you build it, you just have to correct the U.S. and International rates if they change.

As for services like Chit-Chat that bring Canadian parcels to the U.S. – unless you get a savings, it’s not worth it. You still have to get it to the international re-mailer, pay duty up-front, and pay a fee for their customs work. Plus, if something happens, who is responsible? I would suggest doing your research before using a 3rd party to mail your items – Canada Post will come directly to your door to pick-up. Chit-Chat needs you to go elsewhere and fill out paperwork.

Thanks Evan – it takes awhile to get to know all the shipping do’s and dont’s that won’t cost you money. You’ll have a few mistakes along the way. I’ve had a few costly ($20-$30) mistakes as I learned over the years.

I only ship very small items internationally (outside Canada/U.S.) as it does sometimes get out of control (both price and the package can disappear with foreign tracking).

For items under 1kg, you pretty much will be paying around $9-$12 for anything in the Windsor to Quebec City corridor – that is where most of my Canadian business is as the shipping is cheaper then anyone else can offer outside of that area. Under 1kg also gets you flat rates with U.S. postage for the Small Tracked Package option – which I think is around $19 this month.

Over 1kg is where the postage rates start to vary – especially to the U.S. I am always cautious with my pricing (I use Arizona for pricing my shipping to the U.S. for over 1kg items) but you will get the odd buyer from Hawaii or Alaska you will lose on, and someone in New York will be overpaying.

It will take some time to get your head around (especially the rates to places like Yukon, Labrador, etc) but calculated shipping will protect you.

I’m not sure how helpful your local Canada Post outlet is, but mine is great with explaining different rate changes and providing charts. I also use the Canada Post App a lot on my phone to look up things quickly.

Another way to save time is to use just a few different envelope and box size options – you’ll get to memorize them and they will help with speedier listings. I use a lot of the “ebay” envelopes Canada Post sells for $0.14 on there website – they are great for the price.

Anyways, feel free to ask for help – I’m on the board every few days and have way too much experience with Canada Post.