US Postal Service is killing the hobby for me and my daughter

xbaggypants

I have pretty much given up buying anything off ebay due to the ridiculous prices to ship cards here to Canada. My daughter is just getting into the hobby and it's near impossible to buy her baseball cards here as there aren't any card shops and walmart doesn't really have anything she is interested in. How does shipping two cards cost $13? I bought a game used jersey a while ago and paid $15 which is totally acceptable. I would love to get my daughter some new stuff but I think will have to wait for our yearly trip to the U.S every summer.

thunderdan

That is what the stars are for. Uh huh.

Frozencaribou

Totally agree. The 2013 USPS rate changes to Canada from the US are so frustrating. Canadian rates to the US still remain reasonable. I would imagine that will change too before long.

-Nathanael

mygotta

The USPS has nearly tripled the cost to ship to Canada. Dont know why, but a card would cost about $2 before they raised the prices. Now its at least $6.

sportscardstop

If you go to the post office it is around $7.50 to ship a 3 ounce package to Canada. $13 is excessive. But I know some people charge more since you have to fill out customs forms which takes more time. Not saying right to do. But that is reasoning I have heard from people.

grote15

Maybe just buy from Canadian sellers, if the international rates are too high. There are a number of good Canadian sellers on ebay.

grote15

<< <i>If you go to the post office it is around $7.50 to ship a 3 ounce package to Canada. $13 is excessive. But I know some people charge more since you have to fill out customs forms which takes more time. Not saying right to do. But that is reasoning I have heard from people. >>



I don't believe $7.50 will include tracking though, does it? On ebay, a seller is foolish to send any package without on line tracking.

soundgard

For a seller to be protected on ebay, its going to be expensive to ship anything outside the U.S.

addicted2ebay

Yeah I hear you. I opted out if the global shipping program because of the hassle it caused. Until tracking is affordable out side the U.S. I'm staying in the states only.

cjaccardi

They have those postal facilities where you can ship your packages and hold the, till you have a lot of them and ship them out in bulk. If you buy a lot I know a lot of intermational buyers do this

YogiBerraFan

You must have a friend in the U.S. that can help you. I have close friends in England & Germany that I collect eBay purchases for. After a month or two I put all of their purchases in one box and send it. It saves them a ton in postage.

EagleEyeKid

This topic keeps coming up and I don't get it.
I ship a ton of stuff to Canada, and everything now includes tracking.
You don't have to sign up for anything or opt out of anything. Everything stays the same. Just print out the label thru ebay/paypal
and the custom # is now your tracking #. This is all for First Class International package. Also, the rates have recently dropped down
a bit. It was costing me $6.91 to ship one graded card, and it is now $6.22....I have to look again. One ounce package (bubble mailers) start at $6.00.
Everything goes to E-Delcon which is an International shipping facility and then to its destination. I also shipped one card to Germany which was $8.88 and the buyer did not
mind. It got there fine and tracked.

Some examples:

Tracking #:
LZ415516658US

Carrier:

USPS


Status:

Delivered

Sep-09-13, 12:25 PM

Customs clearance processing complete

Sep-08-13, 09:31 AM

Processed Through Sort Facility

Sep-07-13, 08:40 AM

Customs Clearance

Sep-07-13, 08:40 AM

Processed Through Sort Facility

Sep-04-13, 11:19 AM, ISC LOS ANGELES CA (USPS)

Arrived at Sort Facility

Sep-04-13, 08:01 AM, ISC LOS ANGELES CA (USPS)

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility

Sep-04-13, 08:01 AM, LOS ANGELES, CA 90009

Depart USPS Sort Facility

Sep-04-13, 00:00 AM, LOS ANGELES, CA 90009

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility

Sep-03-13, 21:34 PM, SANTA CLARITA, CA 91383

Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility

Sep-03-13, 20:19 PM, PALMDALE, CA 93550

Depart USPS Sort Facility

Sep-03-13, 00:00 AM, SANTA CLARITA, CA 91383

bobbyw8469

<< <i>For a seller to be protected on ebay, its going to be expensive to ship anything outside the U.S. >>



Agreed.

scashaggy

I have made myself the following chart so I can easily estimate the shipping costs out of the US, as a 'quick reference'.. You do get a discount through ebay (instead of $6.55 it's $5.55). I have also made similar charts for South America and he rest of the world.

Canada Shipping
USPS 1st Class Intl.
1oz. - $6.55 9oz. - $9.15
2oz. - $6.55 10oz. - $9.15
3oz. - $7.35 11oz. - $9.15
4oz. - $7.35 12oz. - $9.15
5oz. - $8.55 13oz. - $10.55
6oz. - $8.55 14oz. - $10.55
7oz. - $8.55 15oz. - $10.55
8oz. - $8.55 16oz. - $10.55

EagleEyeKid

Here are the better online prices thru ebay/paypal shipping to Canada for First Class Int.

1oz - 2oz $5.55
3oz - 4oz $6.22
5oz - 8oz $6.69
9oz - 12oz $7.16
13oz - 16oz $8.25
1lb 1oz $9.35

TNP777

This doesn't provide the instant gratification we all yearn for, but you might want to see if someone you trust in the US is willing to receive all of your eBay winnings and then ship them to you once a month or so. I do this for a buddy in BC and it has worked out well.

edit: didn't see that YBF already covered this option. Anyway, you ought to consider it.

scashaggy

<< <i>Here are the better online prices thru ebay/paypal shipping to Canada for First Class Int. >>



I have not been able to ship internationally 1st class, through paypal shipping if the item wasn't purchased through ebay. Has this changed?

For example, if a buyer from Germany purchased an item from my site and paid with paypal, I would still have to go to the PO to send it 1st class.

ReggieCleveland

At least you get your mail. My PO stopped delivering my packages over a year ago and soon after stopped leaving the pink slips notifying me that a package was waiting for me to pickup at the PO. Just recently I discovered that now they're just marking them delivered, even though they're sitting at the PO and didn't bring me a slip.

Ladies and gentlemen.... your 2013 US Postal Service workers!

EagleEyeKid

I have not been able to ship internationally 1st class, through paypal shipping if the item wasn't purchased through ebay. Has this changed?

No, that has not changed. Unfortunately you'll have to go to the PO for that.

cardbender

<< <i>Here are the better online prices thru ebay/paypal shipping to Canada for First Class Int.

1oz - 2oz $5.55
3oz - 4oz $6.22
5oz - 8oz $6.69
9oz - 12oz $7.16
13oz - 16oz $8.25
1lb 1oz $9.35 >>



This is the way to go.

Don't forget ebay takes a 10% cut of the shipping sellers charge buyers.

So if you charge $7 to ship one graded card to Canada, that seller will actually
lose money on the shipping. $7 - 6.22 postage - .70 ebay shipping cut - .15 padded mailer = -0.07 .
This doesn't even take into account the paypal fee's with every deal either. That's another 30 cents
right there and 2.2% to 2.9% of the total amount of the transaction.

A seller really has to charge $8 for shipping to Canada to not get hosed on the deal.

jmmiller777

If you would like me to ship something to you, PM me. I'll help you guys out...

jomer

My ebay purchases from the USA have dropped about 90% because of the rate increases, and auto import charges crap (I'm in Canada) Might be OK for larger buys, but anything under say 10- 30 bucks just isn't worth it anymore. Who in their right mind would spend more on the postage than the item is worth ?? I'm sure the hockey guys have surely felt the $$$$ pinch of lack of bids/buys from north of the border.

Anyways ~ one seller i did buy from only charged only $2.00 to have my item shipped to Canada.(which i couldn't believe) When the item arrived, ~ actual postage was $2.65 and it came with a tracking number through stamps.com. ~ so i'm somewhat confused with this $6 - $8 postage stuff.

gregmorriscards is still at $3.00 and where you can still fill your boots with all you want. Sometimes you just got to roll the dice with the additional bids from his perspective i guess. Gregmorris would be the perfect seller to ask if it's all worth it or not shipping stuff bare-b#lls @ Canada.

xbaggypants

Good stuff guys, I appreciate the feedback.

bobbyw8469

I am totally confused as to how people are shipping internationally with tracking for less than $5?!?!?!? I thought it was supposed to be between $10-$20?

KbKards

The under $5 rates being quoted are from people shipping in a PWE with a thickness no greater than 1/4". A 3 ounce PWE containing a rigid item goes at $1.75. Anything thicker than 1/4" is considered a package and is $7.35 at the retail post office rate. It is slightly discounted when printed on-line and Paypal compliant for < $250 shipments. For $250 and over the seller may want to participate in Ebay's Global Shipping program, but the buyer pays a massive premium when getting stuck to pay for the service. For a seller it's no more expensive or PayPal risky to ship to the Ebay Global Shipping center than it is to a stateside buyer. The buyer however gets hosed a ridiculous amount by Ebay Global Shipping for delivery, fees, and taxes which can easily wind up to be 2-3 times what it would cost him if the seller shipped directly to Canada himself. I'm really surprised there hasn't more Canadian rage over what the charges have been when Ebay's Global Shipping gets involved.

jomer

$2.65 shipped to Canada with a tracking number


stamps.com

Indy78

The date on the postage labels says 3/22/13. Have the rates changed since last March?