Shipping to canada

craig44

So I have started selling more on eBay lately and recently received a question about how much I charge to ship to canada. I mostly sell singles and have never shipped out of country before. A few questions: how expensive, can I purchase insurance and is the card insured once it crosses into Canada, does the buyer or seller pay duty, is it really worth the hassle? Thanks in advance

miwlvrn

Hassle? I don't think there is any. It is really very simple. Just print your labels straight from the ebay link like you do for your USA buyers. It will be 2 to 3 ounces for one graded card, depending on your packing material and also on what slab (SGC and BGS are heavier than PSA). I don't remember the exact amount, but 2 ounces is around $5.55 or so, and 3 ounces is about a buck more. My packages are usually 3 ounces for the first card, so if you factor in cost of materials plus ebay's fees for the shipping, your cost will be about $7.00 USD. Occasionally this may seem like a lot if you are only selling inexpensive stuff, but usually anything worth grading is also worth shipping for that relative cost. With this cost and printing from ebay, it comes with tracking that can be followed on the USPS website, which is required in order to maintain top rated & power seller status. You can get by with putting low dollar items into first class mail without tracking for less, such as shoving a common inside a greeting card and PWE, but I wouldn't do it. The ebay link guides you through the customs form. The buyer is responsible for their own duty fees when the item's value is over $20.

If you want to up the service level, you can still use international priority, or, registered, and both will cost you around $22.00 or so to ship a card. There is a maximum insurance value that can be lower than what you'd like though, so for real high-end items, you'd have to go with something like FedEx International or similar if you wanted the full value insured.

charrigan

There are a number of threads about this if you Search.

I have been using PayPal Ship It Now to print labels to Canada. There is a tracked 3oz option for under $3. You can then manually add the tracking to the eBay system. It has worked fine for all my sales in the last 6 months.

CdnOsfan

On a slightly off-topic note....
Living in Canada and buying or selling on eBay STINKS! The postal rates have gone through the roof the last several years! The only way I can justify buying cheaper cards on eBay is if I can buy a bunch from the same seller. I have also had to resort to using a PO Box across the border for items that are ridiculous to ship to the Great White North or because of the increasing number of sellers who won't ship here....I do understand why many people are not willing to ship here. Why don't you let Canada Post take over the USPS? Even though Canada Post is run poorly like the USPS, it still managed to post a small profit last year with a1/10th of the US population and more ground to cover....

Probstein123

we just use registered mail to canada and it works very well

charrigan

This thread is pretty extensive on the subject. Search is good.

kmnorton

Timely question. I printed out a label from PayPal to Canada on the 13th of March and the tracking information stops on the 16th after it had gone to 3 different local sorting areas. Needless to say, the person I sold to is getting a little curious as to the delivery. This is the first time I've used PayPal and normally would go to the Post Office, but my business moved recently and going to the post office during lunch is no longer feasible.

charrigan

Call national USPS.

kmnorton

<< <i>Call national USPS. >>



I did and they told me what I could see online that it's some where out there in the great beyond and to just wait.

charrigan

Tell them to open a missing item case.

CdnOsfan

<< <i>Timely question. I printed out a label from PayPal to Canada on the 13th of March and the tracking information stops on the 16th after it had gone to 3 different local sorting areas. Needless to say, the person I sold to is getting a little curious as to the delivery. This is the first time I've used PayPal and normally would go to the Post Office, but my business moved recently and going to the post office during lunch is no longer feasible. >>



That is not a long time, there was a time when I could send or receive items to and from the US in days. The last several months I find it is often taking weeks...I would not panic yet...I have a package on my desk that is postmarked March 6 from PA that got here yesterday and I am in a populous area, not out in the Tundra. I could have drove there in about 6 hours....

Mapleleaf

<< <i>we just use registered mail to canada and it works very well >>



Only for more expensive cards. The $25 fee to ship a low end card is prohibitive.

flash2

on your customs tag is the tracking lcxxxxxxxus.track by usps till customs.after track on canadapost,they are much more detailed