posted on August 29, 2000 08:32:30 PM new
Hi, it's me again. Newbie Ebay seller with yet another question for the Canuck sellers. I've been trying to decode the Canada Post rates for a while and thanks to another thread, I found that Small packet/air is a good deal and hopefully speedy shipment. My question is about insurance. I just sent a small packet by air to California. It cost me $3.85 which is right in line with my s&h charge of 4 bucks. Out of curiosity I asked the postie what the postage would be if I wanted to insure the item. "Well", he says, "Small packets can't be insured, it will have to go parcel post". The postage was all of a sudden a whopping $8.45 for parcel/air plus a dollar for 100 bucks in insurance. What do you do if your buyers need insurance? Is there any other option besides hitting your buyer up for triple in postage? Will they even believe that the charge is legitimate? and finally, won't that big postage fee be a huge deterent with regards to bidding?
There has to be another way to provide insurance at a reasonable cost to the Americans otherwise they might just pass on the Canadian auctions. I'm tempted to just blurt out a guarantee that I'll just send their cash back if the post office bashes their item or ask a private insurance company for a policy on my outgoing mail.
BOO to Canada Post for ensuring that I can't be competitive.
posted on August 29, 2000 08:43:56 PM new
I'm not a Canuck seller, but I have a Canuck father- does that count? I don't know for sure, but u-pic.com offers reasonable insurance rates for items going from the US to Canada- maybe they would work for you?
edited... bad url- I can't get the link to work. I give up. Type u-pic.com in the address bar of your browser.
[ edited by mrpotatoheadd on Aug 29, 2000 08:49 PM ]
posted on August 29, 2000 09:24:24 PM new
mrpotatoheadd:
Thanks for that link. It looks to be only for items originating in the U.S. but I've e-mailed their customer service and asked about availability of insurance for Canada post shipments.
Thanks, oh and btw, I'd say you qualify for Canamerican status by blood
posted on August 29, 2000 09:29:10 PM new
ehansen,
Better get prepared...this happens with countries other than Canada. In some cases, you can't insure at all. If you register, the cost of registering is more than the cost of the item.
Deciphering the international postal rules is not a hobby for the faint of heart.
edited to add..these problems are NOT the fault of USPS, once they hand it off to the other postal system, it's out of their hands, literally & figuratively.
[ edited by eventer on Aug 29, 2000 09:30 PM ]
posted on August 29, 2000 10:50:35 PM new
Because insurance is not available on items sent small packet via Canada Post the only option is to send it registered (which is $9 Canadian on top of your postage). I have on a few occasions had people want insurance and have paid the registration but most opt out. You can only optain a delivery confirmation using by using registration (DC is an additional $1).
By the way Parcel Post is automatically insured for up to $100 when sent by air.
If U-PIC is available to Canadians I would be very interested too...when they email to you please post their reply
posted on August 29, 2000 11:06:16 PM new
This was posted to me by a U-Pic rep on another AW board last week.
Reddeer,
Hi. Posting as a representative of U-PIC.
I just wanted to let you know that we do insure International small package shipments. In addition we consider Canada to be domestic, therefore the rate per $100 of insurance is only .40 cents.
We can insure either Canada as the origin or the USA.
Just another option.
Myself, I seldom pay for insurance unless it's a big ticket item. Over 1000 parcels shipped world-wide & not a single one has gone MIA. If your packing is "bullet-proof" you don't need to worry about damage either.
posted on August 30, 2000 08:39:45 AM new
This is a big hassle for me as a Canadian seller. For a while I would send out all the options for insurance in my confirmation email. It just confused people.
"If your package is over 90cm in total dimensions or weighs more than 2kg, then insurance is $1. However, if the package is smaller than this, insurance is $4."
I'm just using numbers there, but it's close to the truth. I just self-insure if it's a cheap thing (under $20).
posted on August 30, 2000 10:15:21 AM new
Ehansen, Reddeer and others:
Thank you for posting. Ehansen - I have e-mailed you direct but will post here for others to see.
We consider Canada domestic, therefore; for U-PIC account holders we do insure Canadian shipments as the origin and at the rate of .40 per $100 of declared value. This INCLUDES International small package shipments.
By U-PIC account holders I mean those with a U-PIC account. Unfortunately, we presently cannot insure on line those shipments originating from Canada - but can if you have a U-PIC account. Our accounts have no fees, either start up or transactional and once we receive the application we can approve you the same day.
Please feel free to post any questions or e-mail or telephone me directly.
