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[martin-montreal]

Either you are a buyer or a seller, shipping cost always add few (or a lot) $$$ to a transaction. Sometimes (and we may say always) it costs less to ship to USA than within Canada. Right?... I'm no longer so sure about that!

Here what I used to do:

• Put the joe I sold in a box
• Go to Post office to get a quote, weight, etc.
• Ask for as many price (very fast, fast, ground, priority, etc.) and options (tracking number, insurance, signature, etc.)
• Writing back to the buyer with cost, option, etc.
• Going back to post office to ship
• Finding that it cost me $1 - $2 more because of XYZ reason.

Sounds familiar?

And now:

• I bought a weighing scale (not sure about my translation here...)... $9.99
• When I get a Paypal payment, I print a shipping label from the Paypal tool
• Paypal got special discount with Canada post (meaning few $$$ less than what I was getting before) on accelerated post... including tracking number, insurance (up to $100)
• I drop my package into the first mailbox I see making ma save on time & cost.

By the way, I paid my $9.99 scale on 1 transaction when I found I save about $10!!

Maybe I'm just few years late and everybody is making this for years... in fact I never really noticed that Paypal option of "printing a shipping label". But since I'm using this, the shipping cost is now cut by 2  !!!

I'm curious, what method/tool/... are you using to cut the cost of shipping so you can spend more on Joes?

Martin

[sub:37tfouwn](and NO, I'm not paid by Paypal... I just want to share that findings with you all)[/sub:37tfouwn]

[morgardee]

Really?

I had no idea.

Next time I sell I'll have to do it your way.

You get a timbit!

[bandonov]

WOW! thanks for the heads up!

[Propergrounds]

Im going to try that. Canada post is a rip off.
It costs me about $10 to ship 1 figure to the states or west coast canada,
but it costs someone in the states $2 to ship to me.
Boooooo Canada Post!
 

[Realboss]

For years I've used Canada Post to ship and get online quotes, even got a VentureOne business card for discounts.  Then I found out; the discounts only applied to parcels mailed in Canada(has since changed), not all outlets honor the card and if it's not a post office ie Shoppersdrugmart, they can charge a surcharge on top of the regular postage. 


I've been shipping through Ebay with Paypal for about 3 years now and every time I've compared their prices with Canada Post, Paypal has always been cheaper.  You get 6% to 8% discount using paypal right off the top and they run promotions from time to time(right now 25% off shipping charges).  The Venture One card has only ever afforded me 3%-6% discounts.

The only drawback with paypal is the transaction you want to ship must be through ebay or paypal meaning somewhere someone is on the hook for the purchse/sales fees.  You can't just have money transferred and then ship or just print labels through paypal without a transaction.

[martin-montreal]

For years I've used Canada Post to ship and get online quotes, even got a VentureOne business card for discounts.  Then I found out; the discounts only applied to parcels mailed in Canada(has since changed), not all outlets honor the card and if it's not a post office ie Shoppersdrugmart, they can charge a surcharge on top of the regular postage. 

I did the same (VentureOne business card for discounts) and Paypal beat the cost every time!

The only drawback with paypal is the transaction you want to ship must be through ebay or paypal meaning somewhere someone is on the hook for the purchse/sales fees.  You can't just have money transferred and then ship or just print labels through paypal without a transaction.

This is true. But I also got a $0.01 Paypal transfert (just to print the label) and got the rest by bank transfert. The buyer was getting such a big shipping discount that he didn't care covering the Paypal fee of $0.31 

Martin

[martin-montreal]

Hey guys,

Here is an interesting update! I found a way to get Paypal low shipping rate even if I didn't get a Paypal payment (let say you are making a trade and there is no money involved):

Don't go to post office getting a $15 shipping quote. Use this link: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

Fill the form
If you are shipping to USA, use Accelerated parcel (it's 1 day slower than Xpresspost, half the price, including $100 insurance coverage AND a tracking number!).

Post here the amount you saved!!!

Martin

(last time I got only 1 tiny  :timbits:)

[bandonov]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
+250,000,000,000 Timbits!

[Arashikage Ninja #333]

My friend runs a coin and stamp store and has offered for me to buy postage at less then cost at post office since he gets so much modern in excess.  I get a good laugh when he ships out packages and the whole box is covered in stamps lol

[Redmao]

Don't know about costs, but shipping time is getting awful.

It used to take about 10 days or less for a parcel to reach me from either the States or Asia.
Now I'd say it takes double the time it used to. Is there new checking measures or what?

[pdaat]

Don't know about costs, but shipping time is getting awful.

It used to take about 10 days or less for a parcel to reach me from either the States or Asia.
Now I'd say it takes double the time it used to. Is there new checking measures or what?

Strangely enough, I am experiencing the same thing right now.  A guy shipped me a couple Ross exclusives about 3 weeks ago. I shipped him a package in return about a week after he shipped to me.  He got the one I sent Friday and I am still waiting.