eBay

ecgt · ‎10-17-2025

For years a large part of our business model has relied on shipping items such as DVDs, certain video games, comic books, CDs and other items that are eligible for Lettermail within Canada. Said items would be shipped using Tracked Packet to the USA or Internationally.

The Lettermail method of shipping within Canada is extremely cost effective to the extent that many items are only competitive when shipped via Lettermail.

Since eIS uses the domestic shipping on file when an international buyer places an order, we now have a problem. The eIS program requires that we use a trackable method. Lettermail is non-trackable. More than a third of our items only offer Lettermail as the domestic option.

We were enrolled in the eIS program on October 9 and made our first sale this morning (a Blu-ray). Unfortunately, the item in question offers Lettermail as the domestic shipping option. We charged $6 for Lettermail in this case. All of the tracked shipping methods available to us generally cost $18 or more for an item of this size.

We aren't willing to eat that cost, so we decided to cancel the transaction. This is not something we want to do because if we start cancelling transactions over and over it could lead to an account suspension.

We decided to check the eBay Shipping Label prices for the item before cancelling the transaction and were met with a potentially good surprise.

Shipping the Blu-ray from Halifax to the Mississauga hub via eIS is only $8 for Canada Post Expedited Parcel with eBay Shipping Labels for the item in question (in this case a parcel weighing 200 g in a 22 cm x 16 cm x 12 cm box). Knowing this, we are going to eat the $2 and give this a shot.

We checked to see what it would cost to ship a record using a record mailer (600 g in a 33 cm x 33 cm x 4 cm box) and the Canada Post Expedited Parcel price came up as $9.

The UPS prices were also less than expected, but were several dollars more than the Canada Post options in the tests we did.

If this is accurate, then it suggests that eBay and Canada Post (as well as UPS) have made deals on cheaper shipping to the hub and haven't made an announcement as of yet.

We realize that we are among the earliest invitees to the program. Has anyone else had a sale via eIS yet? If so, what is your experience in terms of shipping prices to the hub using eBay Shipping Labels?

flipistics · ‎11-24-2025

@rainbow71113 wrote:
I got an email from Canada Post saying they have come to an agreement and will publish the details at a later date.
when you say you are only shipping via els...you must have put no international shipping on your listings...because it looks like I'm getting some US buyers who are getting things directly and some who are getting them through the els....I don't have a choice in the matter

That's correct. I removed all international shipping when all the mess started happening, so the international buyer only has eIS as a choice. At some point when things stabilize I may reconsider shipping some things directly, especially books and media to the States and maybe some things to Australia and the UK. I definitely want to keep eIS for the EU with their constantly changing packaging laws, along with wherever else they open it up to in the future.

rainbow71113 · ‎11-24-2025

I changed my US shipping rates to $17..25 for paper goods under 300 grams and that seems to cover the shipping through Chit...worked out one that was just under 200 grams to be $12.70 including insurance. Canada post was going to be $23 and change. So some people are paying the $17.25 and some are chosing to have it sent to the hub....so far I haven't been able to find a buyer that will tell me what they see in the payment areas so that I can figure out which option they are chosing and why.

recped · ‎11-24-2025

@rainbow71113 wrote:
so far I haven't been able to find a buyer that will tell me what they see in the payment areas so that I can figure out which option they are chosing and why.

To see what they see just look at your listing as a buyer and change YOUR location to a US zip code.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

rainbow71113 · ‎11-25-2025

aha...that worked however this is what my customers are seeing-no wonder I'm not getting any US sales because they are showing that there will still be import fees on either option...now I take care of the fees on the first option because I can't ship to the US with Chit without paying the fees and it's showing there is still a fee if they go through the hub-oh my goodness, when will this nonsense end....?!!

Economy Int'l Shipping

Estimated between Thu, Dec 18 and Mon, Jan 26 to 98362

Shipping: C $17.25

Each additional C $3.00

Import fees will apply on delivery

Customs will apply import fees when your item arrives, including duties, taxes, and processing fees. ... More about import fees Show more

eBay International Shipping

Estimated between Tue, Dec 16 and Fri, Dec 26 to 98362

Shipping: C $19.02

Import fees: Est. C $1.92

eBay is charging this fee to facilitate the import of your item on your behalf and ensure your item .

rainbow71113 · ‎12-13-2025

someone posed the question about shipping multiple items in one box to the hub, I noticed on a lettermail order I sent it says this

This item was shipped in more than one box to our hub.

now, my lettermail wouldn't be split into different boxes but it might mean they are lumping everything together to send all at once so maybe we can do the same...I only wish I had the sales to have that issue....I only did in the last 3 months what I would normally do in ONE month....

as for overcharges...I'm still waiting for the first approx $9 to be credited back but they did credit the $4.59 from the second package with the reason -eBay Credit — VAT excluded -don't know why they would say that for a US magazine going to the US....there would be no vat.

rainbow71113 · ‎01-19-2026

so have had my first item not received claim for a magazine sent to the Hub in November, customer is in the UK and waited longer because of being international but the weird thing is....they show delivered to the hub and then generated an Asendia tracking number but no tracking since that number was generated. They sent this automated message

There’s nothing you need to do. We see that the item has reached our shipping hub and is on its way to the buyer. We’ve got it from here. We’ll take care of delivery, resolve any further issues, and inform you when the request is closed.

I'm assuming they are going to pay back the buyer...will update when I see what happens next.

rainbow71113 · ‎01-19-2026

the next day I got this message

eBay opened a case because of an issue with an item purchased from you. We reviewed the case and have decided to issue the buyer a refund of C $20.48 without any impact to you.

This case is now closed. You aren't required to reimburse the buyer or eBay and this case will not be counted in your seller performance evaluation.

But the buyer still wants his magazine.....I wonder what they do with all the stuff laying around that don't get delivered.

See details

marnotom! · ‎01-19-2026

@rainbow71113, have you checked the tracking on another site (I like using Parcelsapp as it does a good job of tying together multi-carrier shipments) to see if there are event scans that haven't shown up on eBay?

Anyway, to answer your question items that don't make it out of the hub are generally either sold off or destroyed at Sincro's discretion. I'm not sure what happens if the item is in transit and somehow dead-ends at that point.