Who has their store open during the strike?

[visual-sound]

So during the last CP strike I kept my store open and had over 30 sales to the US and Canada. A couple people cancelled but most were understanding. After the strike I mailed out 31 items and ended up with 14 item not received claims. One buyer, bless his soul, returned an item back to me that he finally received weeks later.

Fast forward to today, I no longer ship to the US but my Cdn sales have been pretty good. So far 7 sales with one cancellation after I emailed the buyer to inform him of the strike and delayed shipping times. It seems that most people don't even know there is a strike. You'd think it would be front page news on the CBC but you have to look hard to find any updates.

What is your gameplan on pausing sales or keeping your sales active?

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@visual-sound wrote:

So during the last CP strike I kept my store open and had over 30 sales to the US and Canada. A couple people cancelled but most were understanding. After the strike I mailed out 31 items and ended up with 14 item not received claims. One buyer, bless his soul, returned an item back to me that he finally received weeks later.

Fast forward to today, I no longer ship to the US but my Cdn sales have been pretty good. So far 7 sales with one cancellation after I emailed the buyer to inform him of the strike and delayed shipping times. It seems that most people don't even know there is a strike. You'd think it would be front page news on the CBC but you have to look hard to find any updates.

What is your gameplan on pausing sales or keeping your sales active?

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I ship to the US during Stallion and just increased shipping costs on a lot of small items that normally would have shipped with Canada Post (no one will buy them with the high shipping, but it's easier than trying to manage listings and end stuff, etc).

I'm sorry to hear about your 14 INRs, that's terrible. I remember you telling us after the last strike this happened. I had just returned home from Japan and was open 2 days before the strike, then shut everything down. (So not many sales happened in those two days, but the buyers were understanding and did not file INRs).

This time I've increased shipping costs for Canada to be able to send items with Intelcom courier through Stallion. If I get a bad one, like Powell River, BC (where cheap shipping right now is $30 according to the postal calculator on Stallion), I'm going to tell the buyer I need to wait for the strike to be over. For the small items that normally ship in an envelope with a stamp (like single stamps, $3 banknotes, etc), I did not activate Canada shipping on those. No one will want to pay the rates, and if the rate happens to be a couple of dollars higher than predicted it will cost me too much on little items to ship them. (At least if I sell a $20 coin and take a $2 hit with Intelcom, I can survive that).

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@sarahsales88 wrote:

Holy mackerel, there, fellow Canadians. Is the sky falling, eh? As sure as the world is flat!. Don't worry, be happy. We've been HERE before eh? This time just seems more radical, impossible. 🎶

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I'm using tent poles to hold up the sky over my eBay business so it's not falling, just sagging significantly.

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@chicweb wrote:

I know that some places in Canada are more expensive to ship in using Puro. That's unfortunate.

You are showing the standard puro rate. You should try on Chit Chat website just to check. They have a special deal. In the Dashboard, they have an option to calculate it.

But I guess it would be too expensive still. Maybe just a bit less.

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Stallion is doing Purolator, I did a 100g package last night from Waterloo to St Catharines for $20 (that includes $4.50 of insurance, I insure anything that will cost me too much of it gets lost).

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

and for those of us in Saskatchewan, neither ChitChats nor Stallion ... 

and for those of us with insufficient volume to warrant a combined shipment to ChitChats via Purolator, that also is not doable...

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In speaking to eIS during their recent phone solicitation session, combined in one box to the hub is NOT an option. That would be/should be a more economical option vs sending each parcel individually especially if they are the smaller variety. Hmmm....It keeps slipping my  mind  that eIS is a glorified consolidation program. Kinda ironic!!!

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I got a phonecall from eBay 2 days ago soliciting eIS. I told them about my shipping deal to the UK and how eIS would never work for my UK buyers. (I explained that my packages go in big bags into other countries and get mailed as domestic parcels when they get there). He seemed to understand why I wasn't going to use it. 

I forgot the part about the stuff I sell not qualifying, I should have started there. Might have been a shorter call.

C.

[mrdutch1001]

I have no interest in eBay's eIS for Canadian eBay sellers ...I no longer ship outside of Canada...

[easoss]

The problem is the EIS program is too GTA centric. Why on earth they can't also set up a hub in Calgary or Vancouver is ridiculous. If you don't live in the centre of the universe you're at the mercy of shipping costs to Mississauga. 

[dinomitesales]

My store is open, but sales are abysmal. I switched everything over to UPS domestically and excluded the USA because I don't want to ship there without Canada Post (I don't have affordable access to a cross-border shipper).

I removed all (non-US) international options but still set my shipping policy to "ships worldwide" with the thinking that if someone was interested in an item they would just contact me for a shipping quote and I could see what the options are through NetParcel or whatever. It even says that in the Shipping section on my listings when viewed by someone in a different country: "Read item description or contact seller  for shipping options."

This doesn't seem to be working as I intended though - I think people are just seeing no shipping options and thinking it's free shipping? lol. Someone from Australia bought one of my items. Obviously didn't pay because I had no shipping costs specified to Australia, and didn't send me any messages to ask about shipping costs. I messaged them and told them it would be $50 to mail the mug they bought and they (understandably) agreed to cancel the sale.

Another person from Spain bought a CD. Surprisingly they were actually fine with paying the $33 UPS was quoting me through NetParcel. I sent them an invoice and they paid it. But now I'm running into issues because I'm trying to be honest/upfront and explain to them that there may be additional brokerage fees owing upon delivery, and I think they're confused with the language barrier. I don't think there will be any additional fees since I've attached the IOSS number to the shipment?, but I got scared when checking out on NetParcel and seeing this message before hitting the "buy label" button lol.

The shipment is already a day late because the customer asked me to hold it while he inquired at his local UPS as to what to expect (at least I think that's what he's saying - the automatic translations in eBay messages aren't the greatest so I've been using ChatGPT to give me a better idea of the meaning of the buyer's messages), but I wouldn't be surprised if this sale also ends in a cancellation.