Anyone notice that lately many of the e-bay merchants have jacked up their S&H charges to Canada from the USA?
Have the USPS rates changed drastically lately? When question some of the merchants have in error included Canada with International rates (Europe) but many others indicate that their costs are in line with USPS rates.
Awhile back shipping to Canada was about $10.00. A few months ago, one of my cars sold on eBay and a guy in Canada won. The same box, and about the same weight. It was $17.00. I tell them the shipping price in my description, kinda gives them a heads up. Now, I can ship them in a envelope (padded) way cheaper, but I don’t want a crushed car at your door step. Australia has gone up to $25.00. I just don’t understand how they keep going up, unless it the gas.
Part, if not all, is likely the falling dollar. If you’re paying at this (U.S.) end, then the freight into Canada will cost more American $$ when it passes over the border.
Conversely, Canadians are seeing better deals on things they buy that they pay for in Canadian $$ – or at least they should!
Not to get political, but this is one of the promised benfits of “free trade”.[:-^]
I have seen a number of auctions where the seller has said that US Postal rates to Canada went up in May of 2007 and their shipping reflects those rate increases.
I’m looking up USPS rates on their website now. Example: A two pound package will cost $8.26 for First Class and it will cost $17.30 for Priority Mail.
Our experiences lately with first class packages to Canada have been poor. Items can not be traced and will take 4 or 5 weeks to be delivered.
Other sellers may have similar experiences and are now shipping by priority.
Of course, postage is only a portion of the shipping and handling cost.
If rates have gone up that much then I would expect I will be only ordering the very odd item on e-bay and will focus my attention on the larger model railroad distributors such as MB Klien and like.
Rate increases will certainly have Canadian buyers looking elsewhere than e-bay for model railroad items. They too will concentrate on the larger merchants and forget about e-bay items due to the exorbatant shipping and handling costs/
S&H is one of the reasons why I’ve stopped using ebay.
Another is the $1-$3 handling charge before the thing leaves the door some of these people charge.
Ebay is ok, but it’s becoming expensive.
Gordon
The prices on ebay are not nearly as good as the used to be. Several years ago, it was difficutl to beat the prices on ebay but not anymore. I remember paying two or three dollars to ship and all to oftern now it is pushing ten dollars.
I just enquired about the shipping and handling charges for a single Classic Metal Works vehicle and was told they could ship it in an envelope for $11.00 but recommended that I pay $18.00 for a properly boxed package thus ensuring it did not get crusched.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150209504188&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123
Make sure you tell the seller exactly the way you want it shipped, a few sellers head to the P/O and say ship this: so they ship it the most expensive way, I have seen parcels shipped to me for 3 dollars and another seller will try 17 dollars on the exact same parcel, ALSO: the USPS has a website and you can find out the exact costs to Canada, and rates have NOT increased, it was cheaper to send a parcel to Calif, from the east than to Canada, remember the higher American dollar??? Some sellers are saints and do save the buyer a lot of money.
My wife does a lot of shipping to Canada and Europe, and in May two inexpensive options went away. There used to be a small (4"x8" or so) flat-rate envelope that shipped for around $5, regardless of what you put in it. That option went away. There also used to be an economy rate that went away. It was slow, but cheap. All that’s left are the so-called “airmail” options. First Class International is cheaper and slower than Priority Mail International, but I’m not sure about the several-week delivery. Maybe if it gets stuck in customs, but a First Class package should only spend about a week in actual transit.
The cost per pound also went up after the two cheaper options went away, so it was kind of a double whammy.
Sellers don’t necessarily like it either. Their customers are paying higher prices and not necessarily really getting anything more in return. And of course they don’t like having to explain it repeatedly.
I don’t know for certain if there’ll be another rate increase this year, when it will happen, and what other unpleasant changes may happen, but there’s been some change every year for the three years I’ve been paying attention. Some of it is justifiable–fuel prices keep increasing, and that increases the post office’s costs. Some of it is in the name of “security,” whatever that means. Since it’s been five years since the last round of highly publicized security incidents that were related to the mail, I don’t see why they have to keep tightening the screws. But that’s another issue…
The holdup from US to Can is the customs & excise at the border the stuff stays tere for weeks, you cannot understand why prices increase and services don’t get better, c’mon up to Canada, we’ll explain it to you.
As one who has sold a couple of thousand items on eBay and bought a couple of hundred train related items, let me remind one and all to NEVER buy anything if you do not know what the seller is actually charging for shipping. And, if the shipping seems too high, back off, unless it is something you cannot live without.
Most sellers add a nominal charge to help offset the time and effort required, as well as some of the packing materials. In our case, we add $1.50 per order (not per item,) and then charge whatever the USPS rate is for the weight of the package. We almost always ship Priority (on lightweight items the price difference for parcel post is usually less than a dollar within the US.)
I’ve looked at too many railroad items that are resonably priced, but they are adding $8-10-?? for shipping. Sellers pay eBay a fee on the final sale price, not the shipping charges.
If the shipping charge is not listed, contact the seller and ask what it is going to cost from his ZIP to yours.
Many ebay sellers try to use s&h to offset ebay/paypal fees, because s&h is not included in ebay final value fees. I’ve seen some people selling $50 items for $9.99 (the lowest listing/final value price) and charging $40 for shipping. Recouping a buck or two in handling is not the end of the world, but purposly avoiding ebay fees is fraud.
I have an ebay store, In there I sell model trains among other things and I only ship within the US and Canada, and I can tell you that some buyers have asked why it costs them more with other sellers to have a package shipped… Some flat out gouge on shipping… If it costs me less to ship than the shipping charge- flat rate that is… then I will refund it. I also combine when I can… I generally don’t have many complaints… I try to do everyone the right way… Sometimes it might cost me a couple of bucks to ship someplace… But generally I have repeat customers… So it all works out.
As a buyer though, I know if I am getting stuck where shipping is concerned… I avoid those sellers.
The cost of shipping has gone up some…but it has more to do with a trend to cover your ebay cost with high fees. One vebdor was offering a decent price on a Bachmann HO loco with $100 shipping!! Thats just trying to avoid any ebay fees what so ever.
I would assume that is why E-Bay is now asking purchasers to report those e-bay sellers who are charging ridiculous s&h charges…
I believe in good old psychology to explain this. People have lots of disposable income, and people love to shop. Ebay is a handy, keyboard accessed, 24/7 mega-super-duper yup-we-got-it, how-ya-want-it? store where late night shoppers get their high from “winning”. The sellers have learned that those who shop on ebay really want their stuff as soon as possible, just as instantly gratifiying as can be. So, the costs for shipping, not surprisingly, have “grown” into the demand for this speedy realization of a “win”. All that adrenalin junky stuff.
It would be interesting if we all reverted to COD shipping. I bet it would show a modest decline in the costs.
Shipping is the most expensive part of the sale.
That is one reason I dont ship to Canada anymore. The rates are just too high. Even some of the domestic shipping that require very big boxes or double boxing with foam etc… pretty high.
I try to hold down shipping costs by allowing one flat rate.
However, Im seeing the last few items I won being shipped as cheaply as possible with the least amount of protection they think they can get away with. Particularly on items 50 dollars or less. One did arrive totally destroyed but still had all the parts and was rebuilt and placed into service.
As far as the fees are concerned, it is not a problem as I start auctions at 1.00. They cannot charge me very much money for a 1.00 start. Yes they will get me again with the other part of the fees when the item sells. That one dollar start usually sells the item much higher.
Keep in mind, I use ebay to find homes for unwanted items, not make money.
e-Bay isn’t the only place with high shipping costs. Some of the commercial stores with internet shopping want an arm and a leg and your firstborn to ship to Canada. Canadian postal rates aren’t much if any better. (And our letter rates are incredible–96 cents for a letter to the U.S.!) Funny thing is, it usually costs us Canadians more to ship something within Canada than it does to ship it to the U.S. Someone recently told me that is because Canada Post is a private corporation and the U.S. Postal Service is heavily government subsidized. But then, you’re paying for it in your taxes.