Thank you for the input. We are all affected uniquely. Interior of BC has only CP Fedex and UPS. Netparcel may have a Kelowna outlet but I don't know that it would be advantageous here. The real question is how much time spent is too much?
EIS. The only thing good about it is the visible tariff charge in the listing separating your widget price and making the tariff transparent to your buyer in the event there is a comparative item listed. In that case it's up to your listing parameters to convince a buyer you have the better deal.
The rest of EIS particularily for us outside the hub region is terrible. Delivery time/ cost/ eco footprint etc.
Here's an example of the tariff line's value; Messages sent from someone who wants to buy from me about items he purchased from a seller in Calgary. He was helpful in guiding me through this debockle;
"The diskettes arrived from Calgary today -- no issues, not any tax, the UPS just dropped them on my porch without even talking to me as always. Another package arrived also today from Turkey of all places and it was a new retro device worth around $75 (SDBOX for Amiga) -- also just dropped into my mailbox and no any tax or tarrif. I think this is just all on paper to deter companies that use some loopholes while nobody is actually enforrcing anytihing on the small packages for individuals. Of course this is just my anecdotal experience based on 5-6 datapoints sofar from several countries (Germany, UK, Ireland, Turkey, Canada). Basically, it is business as usual for my overseas occasional retro/collecting purchases. <Shrug>
2nd msg about the same order
: "Man! Today for the first time in my life (and I have been collecting internationally for like 30 years) i received a customs invoice via paper mail from UPS! It is for the Canadian vintage disketes package i bragged about. I need to pay $6.30 ("Duty amount") BUT also $10 for "Entry prep fee" AND $14 for "Disbursment fee". So to pay $6.30 in customs i need to pay additional $24 for processing! It also says if i don't pay (by 10/25) there will be penalties and interest and also that merchendise is released on a bond and subject to redelivery to customs on demand... blah blah... Description of the Goods was "Vintage Amiga Games Lot" and the value was $17.96 (I of course paid also shipping on top of it but it seems that's not counted in). So the effective tarrif in this case was $30.30 / $17.96 =1.687 which is 167%!!! I paid this because $30.30 is not a big deal but this means end of my purchasing from outside USA. I am not sure if i will get more of these emails but this was the last package i received from overseas and the only mail i got so hope not. Also, i think this was the only sender that used UPS, the others were USPS so not sure maybe USPS is not doing this (yet!?). Anyway, a huge bummer and an end of an era. Also, it is super weird how they trust people to pay this WEEKS POST DELIVERY -- the package was just left on my porch without any indication there will be any additional payment nor opportunity for me to decline anything (as you implied americans are doing) so i am not even sure this is even legal! Anyway... i paid these $30.30 and will never order from overseas unless these policies change..."
Buy, Photo, List, Sell at a Profit, Ship, Repeat.
Apparently this process has become a college. How much is an online entrepreneur's time worth in 2025?
@cardcentral_ca wrote:Well yes, most everything you can buy on eBay in Canada, you can buy way more of in the United States.
The reason US buyers buy from us is to save money, which they can no longer do, as of now (hopefully not for long), which is exactly what was intended with the tariff.
The reason we dont buy a lot from them is the ridiculous shipping charges most sellers have when they can actually ship here tracked for cheap. But many use the Global Shipping garbage and they don't care as most of their sales will be in the US anyway.
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With all due respect @cardcentral_ca there is little blah about what buyers perceive from Canada. Please look deeper (outside the forum) at what excellent Canadian reps are selling from their respective niches. Canada is a leader in sought after widgets.
eBay Canada is the only place one could have bought a fireman's jacket commissioned by Gord Downy and the Tragically Hip for just the band and a few crew. Bought by a fashionista for her husband in New York.
Apart from Tupperware Canadian sellers are watched and unique!
Yes I know you said "most". I understood your post but you also proclaimed " most everything you can buy on eBay in Canada, you can buy way more of in the United States." so I reitereate, the current debockle affects us eBay Canada sellers all differently. Whether it's what you sell, how you sell (shipping method from your remotte location ) or who it is you sell to.
To answer your question about the Hip: See photo below I took in the moment.
(Long answer Community members )
Bands of the 60s and 70s at the time of Woodsotck left us with political impressions mostly due to lyrics. In the 90's The Tragicaly Hip combined thought provoking lyrics with captivating rhythm. I wasn't a fan at all. On Canada Day July 1, 1992 I was Johnny Fayes drum tech. 25K people outdoors in the audience. Much Music event. Johnny chose to use one of the sets I provided but I had not personally delivered it to the stage and unaware of an issue...
After locking him into the drum set the band began a vamp. Pretty sure the vamp was an iimprov vamp into "Little Bones". 20 or 30 bars in Gord came onstage. Watching from stage left johnny gave me a horrific look of desperation... The onstage volume is so loud there is no other way to communicate except visually.
2 or 3 seconds later i could see his desperation was due to his bass drum pedal but I could see the pedal so I crept under the Much Music camera man and under his floor tom. I8 could see 25,000 people looking back at me through the clear head on Johnny's bass drum and I could see the problem.
After I locked him into the set he exchanged the bass drum pedal for his own. His pedal had a platic beater and mine had a felt beater. On the head where the beater hits usually there is an impact pad that protects the head from breaking. They are made from Kevlar or some other bullet proof synthetic. The impact pad was ripped off before Johnny replaced the felt beater with his own solid plastic beater. About 32 bars into the vamp Johnny's beater "welded" it self to the remaining adhesive residue left behind by the Kevlar impact pad.
The scenario means there is no bass drum whatsoever in the vamp before Gord comes onstage and the only way to fix this, in real time, in front of 25,000 screaming people is, well, WD40.
I bolted to my tool station, grabbed my spray can and spent the rest of the Hip's set lying on my back under Johnny's floor tom squirting WD40 on his pedal beater keeping it free from adhesive.
Yes the Hip acheived world wide fame. After I sold that fireman's jacket I kept in touch with the buyer. I was curious what happened to it thinking they would have mounted it into a display. To my surprise her husband was such a Hip fan he wore it to events continuously. That Hip tour was 1999. I sold it around 2019 . I think the 9/11 New York incident multiplied it's signifigance.
If you want to be there, with me under the floor tom on July 1 1992 you're so welcome. Crank up the volume and click the link below. ;>}
With respect to Tupperware, it's simply not Canadian.
Go ahead, ask me a question about The Guess Who. I dare you.
Tragically Hip " Little Bones"
Down to the last 300 Wow! You're an audiofile for sure. I'm down to about 400. I don't have much luck on eBay with vinyl either. The ones I've easily sold are "wierd & wonderful" as opposed to run of the mill. The 1st one is one of a Latin Percussion series of about 12 albums. They sell like hotcakes if you see them around. The 2nd is Bryan Adam's 1st band. The 3rd "A Child's Garden Of Grass" is a comedy album in the style of "National Lampoon Meets Cheech & Chong". I find this is the stuff that sells on eBay.
