Canada Post Expedited Lite Labels Being Charged as Expedited Parcel

[ct-v]

Canada Post are clearing their backlog and charging the shipping labels of the past few weeks. However this week I've had 4 different Expedited Lite parcels being charged the cost of an Expedited Parcel. They first charge the correct amount for the Expedited Lite Label and later in the day they charge the difference between the cost of the Expedited Lite and the Expedited Parcel.

This situation has happened to me for one order in the past. I had contacted Ebay's customer service and they told me to call Canada Post. Then I called Canada Post and they told me to call Ebay...

(And before someone asks, no I did not make a mistake when I entered the dimensions and the weight)

[dinomitesales]

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@flipistics wrote:

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I worded that poorly. I meant that it appears Canada Post is actually billing eBay the extra, which likely points to it being an issue with Canada Post. If the error was on eBay's end (sending the wrong measurements or something), you'd think the upcharge values would also be wrong. If eBay was collecting extra without Canada Post billing it, then there'd be no reason they couldn't immediately fix it and refund the overage and they likely wouldn't have to coordinate with Canada Post to do it.

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Yes, I don't think this was ever an eBay issue. Canada Post is re-rating these Expedited Lite shipments as Expedited Parcel shipments and charging eBay the difference. I have to imagine that any delay in getting this resolved is because of a disagreement between Canada Post and eBay Canada as to how the service is supposed to be working.

I fear there are many other sellers who are being affected by this but are simply not noticing it. If they have consistent sales they may not be auditing their shipping labels (or auditing their payment summary at all). This is probably a lot more widespread than any of us realize.

[jtg204]

Thanks for sharing this, by 'waiting for the correct invoice',  I suspect it will end like this old March 2024 result:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Canada-Post-Expedited-Shipping-Label-Ignores-Ebay-Dimens...

Where the explanation was...

"The extra charge on this seller's account  label was due to the weight, not dimensions. The declared weight was 100g, but CPC's measurement was 620g, too heavy for the Lite service."

The OP's label was 20 x 15 x 10 which was 600g VE, but an actual measurement of the box was probably measured by CPC as 20 x 15.5 x 10, which is where exactly 620g VE would come from instead.  At the time, people took the explanation as the OP trying to put the wrong weight, and OP didn't respond to clarify.  Devon escalating any of these will probably just come back with Canada Post saying it's too heavy like this one did back then.

[squidboytoys]

Still happening to me as well, almost every Expedited Lite eventually has  an overcharge. 

[ypdc_dennis]

A question for people with this issue: How are you dropping the package off to Canada Post?

I have not had any problems, but I always get an originate scan when I drop them off at the counter (in my case a Shopper's outlet).  They don't remeasure the package dimensions, just a simple weight check when scanning the label.  So at that point the package has been accepted into the Canada Post system.

I'm wondering if the problem is happening the first time Canada Post scans the package?  And the computer is measuring as if it is a regular Expedited Parcel.

[movie_galaxy]

Same as OP, this double charging has happened to me more than 10 times. I just assumed that it was Canada Post. It would be great if the issue was rectified.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this issue up.

[dinomitesales]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

A question for people with this issue: How are you dropping the package off to Canada Post?

I have not had any problems, but I always get an originate scan when I drop them off at the counter (in my case a Shopper's outlet).  They don't remeasure the package dimensions, just a simple weight check when scanning the label.  So at that point the package has been accepted into the Canada Post system.

I'm wondering if the problem is happening the first time Canada Post scans the package?  And the computer is measuring as if it is a regular Expedited Parcel.

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This shouldn't have any bearing on it. As you noted, all they're doing at the point of origination is capturing a weight. And even if that weight was incorrect, any re-rating isn't based on that initial weight capture, it's based on laser/weight measurements during the sorting process at plants.

The most recent one I got double charged on was dropped off at the post office directly, they scanned/weighed it and gave me a receipt. Well, I say "they" but it was actually "me" because I was working that day and just originated my own parcel lol.

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I just noticed that I have also been charged twice for a package sent Expedited Lite. I sent a small bubble mailer 24 cm x 20 cm x 5 cm weighing 60 grams from BC to Ontario. I was first charged on Sept 2 for $7.22 which is correct. Today I see another charge of $8.57 for the same item. This is a big rip off.  Hope eBay looks into this or I will not trust using their labels. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@movie_galaxy wrote:

Same as OP, this double charging has happened to me more than 10 times. I just assumed that it was Canada Post. It would be great if the issue was rectified.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this issue up.

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I had a charge go through today for an Expedited lite parcel. Shipped 7 days ago. Quoted price. 6.23. Actual invoice 11.24. Difference 5.01 +.  Item was 90 gram package sent Expedited lite 25 x 15 x 3. As per dot com measurements show as 15 x 25 x 3 cm.  The customer specifically paid for Expedited lite.

 There was no heads up from eBay that Exp. Lite was being discontinued or anything similar. 

devon@ebay  This concern has been posted about for months but there has been no direct follow up from eBay on the issue. Is eBay doing anything to resolve and correct. There are numerous sellers waiting for credits or an explanation.

[jtg204]

You have entered 0.9 kg instead of 0.09 kg in the calculator

Those dimensions though if acurate will come to 0.225 kg VE and may be charged as Expedited.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@jtg204 wrote:

You have entered 0.9 kg instead of 0.09 kg in the calculator

Those dimensions though if acurate will come to 0.225 kg VE and may be charged as Expedited.

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@jtg204 

That was a typo on my part. Very strange the format for a listing is kg + grs which is important to watch for. Format for eBay calculator tool is 3 place holders in kg 0.00 vs 4 place holders. 0Kg/.000grams. The formats should be consistent across ebay. When I amended it the expedited lite option does return.  Thanks for spotting. I just wish they would correct what is causing the either double billing or revised billing. If they are going to revise a bill include an explanation. That used to be standard business practice. 

[ct-v]

For the first time I was charged for the same expedited lite shipping label on two different days. Today I was charged $6.98 for a shipping label for which I was first charged $6.01 on August 21. It just seems that there will be no ending to the problem now that they are starting to apply the supplemental charges to shipping labels dating back 3 weeks. Nothing is safe anymore. I guess I will have to stop using the expedited lite service for good and use Chit Chats and Stallion. It means that it will be a lot more time consuming and that my shipping time will be a lot slower...

[vintageandglamor]

I also got another one. Might be up to 2 dozen shipments now.

Pretty ridiculous.

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

This really needs to be addressed by eBay. This is happening to a lot of us sellers over & over again. We all need to be refunded for the overcharge.  I contacted eBay chat about this issue. They say we need to put in a dispute with Canada Post. And from what I have heard Canada Post says it is a problem with eBay.  Maybe if we all bombard eBay customer service with complaints they will finally do something about it. This is beyond frustrating now. 

[ticlapou]

After incurring 24 surcharges for my Canada Post Expedited Lite shippments.

and after 15 calls to ebay or Canada Post customer service, I decided to write a letter to ebay Corporate.

If you have the same issue, please also write to eBay Corporate (see template letter below) so they see how many sellers are affected. The more of us that contact them, the better chance we have of getting this fixed.

Here is the template of the letter I sent:

___________________________________________________________________________

FirstName LastName eBay Seller ID: xxx123
Your address here
Your email here
Your phone here

Date: August 22nd, 2025

eBay Corporate Office
2025 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
United States

Subject: Ongoing Issue with Canada Post Expedited Lite Shipping Label Dimensions

Dear eBay Corporate Team,

I am writing to formally raise an ongoing and unresolved issue regarding eBay’s shipping label system for Canada Post Expedited Lite service.

When printing labels for this service, the package dimensions on the label are automatically set to 5 x 5 x 5 cm, regardless of the dimensions I input into eBay’s interface. This resulted in repeated Canada Post surcharges due to incorrect package dimensions.

This issue appears to affect only the Expedited Lite service and has been persistent for over a year. Despite multiple calls to eBay’s customer support, no resolution has been provided. In one of my calls, I was even given a support ticket number (ewatchop-123456), but the problem has still not been addressed. Since last year, I have personally incurred 24 surcharges as a direct result of this error.

Furthermore, I am not alone in experiencing this. Many other Canadian sellers have reported the same problem on eBay’s Canadian community message boards, indicating this is a widespread issue that negatively impacts a significant portion of your Canadian seller base.

I respectfully request that eBay Corporate investigate this matter urgently and work with Canada Post and your technical teams to correct the system error that causes the dimensions to print incorrectly.

I also ask that someone from your team contact me directly to follow up. I am prepared to provide any additional supporting information as needed. For your convenience, I have attached a list of the affected orders where this issue has resulted in surcharges.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response and a resolution.

Sincerely,

Your name Here

Your Signature Here

CC: 

eBay Canada Limited, 240 Richmond Street West, 2nd Floor (Suite 02-100), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5V 1V6 

eBay Commerce Canada Limited, 44 Chipman Hill, Suite 1000, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2L 2A9

Canada Post Customer Service, PO Box 90022, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1V 1J8

Office of the Ombudsman at Canada Post, PO BOX 105, GATINEAU QC, Canada, J9H 5E4 

List of the affected orders (where this issue has resulted in surcharges)

Order ID

Surcharge Date

Shipping Date

Service

Original Cost ($CAD)

Surcharge ($CAD)

Tracking Number

[ticlapou]

I forgot to mentionned that I filled a complaint with Canada Post Ombudsman.

They did not help and rejected the blame on ebay.

Attached are scans of  the Ombudsman's response:

[ticlapou]

page 2 of Canada Post Ombudsman response

[flipistics]

@ticlapou  The 5x5x5 doesn't appear to be the reason they're being upcharged. Those dimensions are under the minimum allowed for shipping. Canada Post seems to be using them to flag the shipments as a special negotiated rate so they AREN'T upcharged.  My best guess is that when they moved everything to the cloud, they broke something and the system isn't recognizing that rate anymore. Canada Post understandably has bigger fish to fry atm before they fix a single special negotiated deal for a single customer. I'm not saying it's right, just that I can understand it.

eBay really needs to show normal expedited rates for lite until it's resolved though. That IS something they can theoretically do in the short term to help out sellers.

[dinomitesales]

@ticlapou If you haven't already you NEED to forward that letter from the Ombudsman to Luke Bradley at [email protected]

devon@ebay please pass along this new information to the Shipping Labels Team ASAP re. ticlapou's response from the ombudsman.

The silence on this issue is deafening.

[jtg204]

This is what I got from "IT team" about 5x5x5:

Thank you for your patience whilst I worked to get an answer on this. IT team have confirmed the following 'Expedited Lite is a service only meant for small items. Unfortunately, because Canada Post doesn't have a way to differentiate between the Expedited and Expedited Lite service, we have an agreement with our integrators where whenever the Expedited Lite service is selected the dimensions to Canada post are changed to 5x5x5. This is happening in order to show the correct prices to Canada post and it's a known limitation of our systems.

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The problem is Canada Post applies corrections based on VE after their cubing system verifies dimensions and calculates the VE. 

@ticlapou 

Were any of your package measurements smaller than 1000cm³? 

1000cm³ is 200g VE.  Anything bigger Canada Post will detect as over 200g, and the rate correction can be applied, especially for boxes.

[dinomitesales]

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@flipistics wrote:

@ticlapou  The 5x5x5 doesn't appear to be the reason they're being upcharged. Those dimensions are under the minimum allowed for shipping. Canada Post seems to be using them to flag the shipments as a special negotiated rate so they AREN'T upcharged.  My best guess is that when they moved everything to the cloud, they broke something and the system isn't recognizing that rate anymore. Canada Post understandably has bigger fish to fry atm before they fix a single special negotiated deal for a single customer. I'm not saying it's right, just that I can understand it.

eBay really needs to show normal expedited rates for lite until it's resolved though. That IS something they can theoretically do in the short term to help out sellers.

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If I'm understanding the Ombudsman's response correctly, it actually does seem to be the 5x5x5 that's causing the issue. Well, that and the item being over 200g Volumetric Equivalent (VE) of weight.

Based on what the Ombudsman is saying, even though we are entering the actual dimensions of the parcel into eBay Labels, eBay is ONLY passing along the "5x5x5 cm" dimensions to Canada Post. What's happening is that when Canada Post gets the parcel, their systems are rating it themselves (the "cubing equipment" they reference) and comparing the actual dimensions of the parcel to what eBay passed along (5x5x5). Since they don't match, Canada Post's systems are then doing an automatic re-rate of the parcel based on the actual dimensions and is using the VE of the package to apply the correct rate.

So, basically every parcel is being re-rated by Canada Post because the dimensions we enter on eBay Labels are not equal to 5x5x5. At this point, Canada Post is taking that VE weight and comparing that against the requirements for Expedited Lite. Which is why we're seeing things with a VE of 200g and under pass through fine, but larger parcels are getting kicked out of eligibility for Expedited Lite. It's almost like when Canada Post re-rates the parcel, it completely forgets that it's an "Expedited Lite" parcel and just treats it as an Expedited Parcel for billing purposes.

It appears that if eBay Labels just printed the actual dimensions of the parcel onto the shipping label (and passed those dimensions on to Canada Post), everything would be fine. eBay Labels would charge us the correct rate based on the dimensions, and as long as it fits the limitations for Expedited Lite all is good. Then, when Canada Post gets the parcel, the dimensions measured by their machinery will match the dimensions passed along by eBay, and there will be no re-rating triggered.

There is clearly some limitation in eBay Labels that is preventing them from putting the actual dimensions onto the shipping label, instead opting for the 5x5x5 we see. Either that or there is a fundamental difference as to how eBay thinks Canada Post's billing works, and how Canada Post's billing actually works.

Here is the Ombudsman letter shared by @ticlapou in case anyone reading this thread doesn't want to download the files: