Questions regarding shipping items for EBay

[Greatshield17]

I plan on auctioning off stuff on EBay in order to gain extra money for buying my homestead. One key thing I plan on auctioning off are my old trading cards; for those, I want to know how should I package and ship them, and what the rules are in regards to shipping them?

Also, how much should I charge for priority shipping and the like?

 

[tree]

Have you already consulted the information made available by ebay?
How to Sell

 

[VictorR]

Selling things online from Canada poses an unusual challenge because you'd want a tracking number to provide proof of mailing (and delivery) to protect yourself against "I didn't get it" claims which unfortunately major problem*, but Canada Post has some of the most expensive services in the world - tracked services start at about C$10 within Canada and C$17 to the US (maybe higher now) meaning that most items or groups of items valued at $20 or less are unsellable, unless you're willing to take the risk of sending them by regular untracked mail.

Also, if you have a new account, you're going to get the "newbie" discount in bidding - lots of people won't buy from new accounts due to trust concerns - is the seller legitimate?

I'm not trying to discourage you, but it might be more time consuming and costly than anticipated.

*Most such claims are not legitimate, but it doesn't matter because if you can't prove delivery, you're liable for a full refund of everything, so you have no money, no item, and you're out the postage and some fees.

 

[Tom]

I've bought and sold a few cards. I usually offered 1st class or priority mail options. For packaging I used cards in poly sleeves between two pieces of cardboard in a yellow mania or bubble pack shipping envelope. If it was a high value card I used the stiff card protector. I didn't do insurance unless it was high value item. That said, the ebay rules constantly change so do read the seller rules and guides as Tree suggested. Also check the market on ebay to see what your cards are selling for. Many cards are so little value as to not be worth it. Some sets/series are fair sellers.

 

[Aspychata]

Can you maybe sell locally?

 

[paloftoon]

E-bay, at least for the US, has an e-bay shipping calculator. Each individual post office may interpret shipping costs slightly differently. So, maybe overestimate slightly. If you don't have a scale, it's not worth getting one [unless you know you will sell in bulk and make lots of money] and just estimate as best as you can. If you're selling individual cards, you can probably make a good guess, but if you are selling cards in a lot, it may be harder to determine the weight. Also, how would you ship?- some post offices/delivery services might have free boxes if you ship a certain way. Packing material is on your own cost- newspapers can help, and maybe boxes from stuff you ordered or bought that you don't plan on keeping. If you use a box with labels, try putting a white paper over the boxes so that the item you send doesn't look deceivingly like something it's actually not.

It's work and research, but can be worth while to help minimizing clutter if you're having a problem with that and letting go of things. If you currently aren't working, but you do enough work for e-bay, this would be a great resume builder. If you can't sell something after trying to lower the price to what you feel comfortable to eventually, then you know your item basically isn't worth much and should give to a friend or give away/donate afterward.

 

[Greatshield17]

Can you maybe sell locally?

How exactly would I do that?

 

[Greatshield17]

Many cards are so little value as to not be worth it. Some sets/series are fair sellers.

On that topic, what else sales good on EBay? I’m going to be auctioning or selling my old DS, 3DS and Gameboy Advanced SP after discovering that they make good money EBay; what other old stuff could I auction or sale for good money, that I might have lying around my place?

 

[Tom]

On that topic, what else sales good on EBay? I’m going to be auctioning or selling my old DS, 3DS and Gameboy Advanced SP after discovering that they make good money EBay; what other old stuff could I auction or sale for good money, that I might have lying around my place?

I focused only in my collecting area (toy soldiers basically) so don't really know much outside of that. But I did sell my wife and daughter's college textbooks and those can be worth the trouble.

 

[Aspychata]

Locally, in America it's craigslist. Or a local platform that your country uses. Also any stores that sell those cards or private collectors. The other option l have seen on ebay is *lots*. You bundle like things together and maybe somebody will bite.You need to go to ebay and see what similar items are selling for and how they are sold. This will give you an idea of how to list.

 

[Suzanne]

I have given up selling things on ebay, due to the horrible shipping costs. They are ridiculously elevated and so, as to not sting my buyers, I have reduced the costs and thus, end up stinging myself.

 

[paloftoon]

An online search shows that NextDoor and coming soon or just arrived Facebook Markeplace app can be used in Canada. They are currently in the US.
Carousell looks like it's offered in Canada (but not the US), and one could have issues with people "asking" for things like "used underwear" with lewd intentions of course.

Canada and the US have craigslist. Looks like they offer worldwide-ish options (you'd have to click around slightly)

Canada no longer has LetGo or OfferIt to use it looks like. (US has LetGo).

 

[Greatshield17]

Does anyone know what shipping company Canada Post uses when shipping to the US? I’m trying set up an auction for my Pokémon Red game on EBay and it’s really frustrating.

 

[VictorR]

Does anyone know what shipping company Canada Post uses when shipping to the US? I’m trying set up an auction for my Pokémon Red game on EBay and it’s really frustrating.

If you're setting up with the ship-to from Canada, it should be presenting Canada Post (CP) as the shipping company.

For purposes of explaining to Americans,
CP Tracked Packet = USPS 1st class
CP Xpresspost = USPS Priority Mail
CP Priority = USPS Priority Mail Express

If I'm not mistaken Canada Post has suspended their guarantees since March 2020 and has not reinstated them, and so I really don't recommend the latter two services since you're paying for a service that you might not even get.

Note: Regular mailing times are 1.5-2 weeks for delivery of packages from major urban centres in Canada to the US, 2-2.5 weeks if mailing from a smaller community. You may wish to note this since Americans used to buying things domestically may not realize that international mail, including from Canada takes longer since Canada Post doesn't ship as fast as USPS, and there's also customs clearance along the way.

 

[Greatshield17]

If you're setting up with the ship-to from Canada, it should be presenting Canada Post (CP) as the shipping company.

For purposes of explaining to Americans,
CP Tracked Packet = USPS 1st class
CP Xpresspost = USPS Priority Mail
CP Priority = USPS Priority Mail Express

If I'm not mistaken Canada Post has suspended their guarantees since March 2020 and has not reinstated them, and so I really don't recommend the latter two services since you're paying for a service that you might not even get.

Note: Regular mailing times are 1.5-2 weeks for delivery of packages from major urban centres in Canada to the US, 2-2.5 weeks if mailing from a smaller community. You may wish to note this since Americans used to buying things domestically may not realize that international mail, including from Canada takes longer since Canada Post doesn't ship as fast as USPS, and there's also customs clearance along the way.

It’s not showing Canada Post, what do I do? Can I just say “I’m shipping from Canada, I’ll be using Canada Post,” and just leave other things blank that don’t show Canada Post?

 

[VictorR]

It’s not showing Canada Post, what do I do? Can I just say “I’m shipping from Canada, I’ll be using Canada Post,” and just leave other things blank that don’t show Canada Post?

Never hurts to put things in the description and err on the side of caution in explaining things like shipping times, and that buyers are responsible for import / sales taxes if any

 

[paloftoon]

With e-bay, you can set it so that you sell stuff in your country only, but you have to check the settings carefully per ad to make sure it is what you want it to be.

Also, e-bay recently changed their site design. It's so bad now that experienced sellers like myself hate it. It's harder to read, you have to scroll here and there, and just totally awkward.

You do get 200 ads for free a month for now since the pandemic started, but that could end at any time. It was normally 50 a month, and I think 20 a month before that.

 

[VictorR]

The US and UK both have large enough domestic markets that one can be "safe" in doing domestic sales only (and both have inexpensive and fast domestic shipping, which is a huge plus).

In Canada, the domestic market is a bit weak - and not shipping to the US may result in an item selling for far less than it might otherwise.

In my experience, when selling from Canada, it was 75-80% to the US, 10-15% within Canada, and about 10% elsewhere (mostly UK and Australia). Of course, numbers may vary over time and for different items.

 

[Greatshield17]

So I have it so that the US shipping options are blank and said that I was using Canada Post; I have the shipping prices arranged so that the “domestic” price is lower and the “international” price is higher, even though the options make it sound as though the US is “domestic,” and Canada is “international.” Should I leave it that way or reverse it?

 

[VictorR]

I haven't been on ebay for several years and so am not familiar with the current set-up.
That being said, the important thing is to ensure that the shipping is clearly indicated in the shipping options, otherwise you'll run into problems. DM me if you'd like to discuss further.