Shipping quote for ebay? Very confusing

[torinsmom]

So I sold an item on ebay and need to ship it. I put in the lisiting "ships to United States" but someone from Canada won it. I checked on UPS.com and it said it would cost around $24 to ship to Toronto, so I charged the lady $30. Went to a UPS Store today and was told the cheapest it could go to Toronto was $76! They quoted USPS as $56, but on their website, it says $36! I put in the exact dimensions and weight on the website.

Why would there be such a difference? I don't know whether to tell the buyer I will just refund her money and relist or go to another UPS store and try again. What do you think?

Marsha

 

[HARASW]

So I sold an item on ebay and need to ship it. I put in the lisiting "ships to United States" but someone from Canada won it. I checked on UPS.com and it said it would cost around $24 to ship to Toronto, so I charged the lady $30. Went to a UPS Store today and was told the cheapest it could go to Toronto was $76! They quoted USPS as $56, but on their website, it says $36! I put in the exact dimensions and weight on the website.

Why would there be such a difference? I don't know whether to tell the buyer I will just refund her money and relist or go to another UPS store and try again. What do you think?

Marsha

You are not obligated to ship the item to Canada if you specified that you only ship to US. The same thing happened to me. You should first contact the buyer and make sure that he/she knows that the shipping charges that you listed only apply to the US. Yes, the charges are a lot more to Canada. You will also have to fill out a duty form to list exactly what is in the package. There are different rules.

 

[pilikia97]

I used to work for a UPS Store. Since it is independently owned/franchised they did add on an approximately 20% surcharge to regular US Postal rates. That might account for some of the price difference you saw between shipping UPS and shipping USPS depending on your store's policy.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Take it directly to a UPS office not the UPS Store.

We always get better rates shipping with Fedex Ground - especially to Canada. You can drop off Fedex Ground packages at any Kinko's. If you sign up online for an account at fedex.com then you get an additional discount off of the price when you bill it to your account.

 

[torinsmom]

I feel bad, because I sent an invoice based on what the UPS website said. I just sent the buyer an email saying that I would prefer to just refund her money, since the shipping is so high. It's either that or she can send me more shipping money. I checked Fedex and its $50 through them.

Marsha

 

[HARASW]

I feel bad, because I sent an invoice based on what the UPS website said. I just sent the buyer an email saying that I would prefer to just refund her money, since the shipping is so high. It's either that or she can send me more shipping money. I checked Fedex and its $50 through them.

Marsha

You did the right thing!
You can relist the item. I think that if the item sells, you can get the relist charge refunded. You can contact e bay about it since this wasn't your error.
Good luck. Let us know what happens.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

The UPS store will not ship items Ground. They will only do second day air or faster.

If you want to do Ground, just set up a UPS account and then you can drop the item off at the UPS store or you can schedule a pickup from your house.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Have you looked into shipping USPS? If the item will fit into flat rate Priority mail packaging, the cost shouldn't be too high. The regular flat rate boxes -- one is shirt-box size and one is about 9x12x5 -- would be just under $24 and the large flat rate box about 12x12x6 would be just under $30.

 

[JR6ooo4]

I do not ship out of the country. I have no idea of the international trade laws. What if selling an old hard drive to someone out of the country is a felony????

Mikeeee

 

[merryweather20]

Its not just Canadians who are nuts. I used to get angry messages from American sellers demanding to know why I bid up another seller's item when their item was going for less. Of course they had listed it with domestic shipping only.

I agree with Obi about USPS

 

[tasha99]

Don't use the UPS Store--they mark things up considerably over the post office or a regular UPS facility. Also, you should always use USPS when shipping to Canada. I'm not sure why (maybe someone here knows) but the recipient pays more fees and duties to receive a Fedex or UPS package than they do getting a USPS one. You'll have ticked off Canadian buyers if you don't use USPS.

 

[torinsmom]

This is an old children's record player and it is too large for the flat rate box. I'll wait and see what the buyer wants to do.

Oh, and I don't think anyone said anything about Canadians being crazy. I imagine this person just didn't see the line about shipping to US. It's the shipping costs and laws that are crazy. I mailed postcards for a disboard Canadian for the Year of a Million Dreams contest, because it would have cost her a bundle to send them from Canada.

So, is it cheaper to ship from CHina to the US? Because I always see cheap items and cheap shipping from China. I don't know how they make any money!

Marsha