CanuckChat's Little Corner of the eBay World

Everything eBay-related goes better with a drink - we always stock lots of non alcoholic drinks as well - can make you up a nice power protein smoothie booster as well if you so desire - whatever takes your fancy!

Take some time to come visit my home in the dot com world - its easy - canuckchat dot com on the world wide web!

FaceBook

Guess it had to happen sooner or later - yes, you can now find CC online in FaceBook registered as Canuke Chateland - don't even ask to explain that name - just roll with it!

This eBay I.D. was created for the purpose of chatting on the discussion boards - it has no relevance to either of my "selling" eBay I.D. or my "buying" eBay I.D.

CanuckChat resides in Canada -that is the huge country tacked on the north end of the United States of America (home of eBay)

for future reference (and lots of great info)

CanuckChat has been buying as well as selling on eBay since 1998 - and has 12,000 positive buyer feedback comments and has given out over 12,000 positive feedback comments.

Knowledge comes a bit at a time in eBay-land, and one is always having to re-invent oneself as a "seller" in this vast wonderful domain called eBay.

SHIPPING AND HANDLING

This is exactly what it says it is - SHIPPING and HANDLING - at no point in time should an eBay buyer ASSUME (ASS - U - ME) that S&H equates to POSTAGE STAMPS.

If the seller says that the Shipping & Handling is $10.00, then that is what you will pay for the item you win at an Ebay auction to be sent to you, plus of course your winning high bid.

It does NOT mean that you will see $10.00 worth of POSTAGE on the parcel.

If you do not want to pay anything MORE than what the postage stamps ON the actual parcel as going to cost the seller, then please get in your car and drive to Wal-Mart and purchase your items there.

Of course, when you do that, you are incurring expenses beyond the sticker price on the item you purchase, but YOU are the one in control of the expenses and you have nobody to yell at but yourself (yelling at yourself for spending $10.00 in gas to drive to Wal-Mart to buy a $2.00 item might be an interesting way to spend your time though)

An eBay seller does NOT deserve a negative feedback comment or rude and surly and sarcastic emails because the postage amount on the parcel does not equate to what you paid for "SHIPPING & HANDLING" to them.

Yes, some sellers will charge "more" along the S&H lines than others will - so pick and choose carefully who you purchase items from. The choice is - inevitably - all YOURS - you are the one that decides to bid or not to bid.

And once you bid - its yours:

You Bid - You Win - You Pay

Americans who are looking to buy from Canadians need to be aware that "CANADA" is a separate country from the United States of America.

And as such - Canada has its own post office - its own postal system - and this is entirely unrelated to the United States Postal Service.

Rates that Canadian Ebay sellers charge to ship items to American Ebay buyers will not have any relevance to what American Ebay buyers would pay to have items shipped to them from American Ebay sellers.

There is no "media" mail for instance.

Magazines and books have to be sent at a parcel rate - this parcel rate is determined by Canada Post - it is determined without any input from the citizens of Canada, least of all those citizens of Canada who are Ebay sellers. Therefore, they can NOT get you a special rate just for your special item - it goes at the parcel rate that Canada Post decrees it will go at.

By the same token, Canada being a separate country is NOT a possession of the United States of America. This having been said, please note that American Ebay buyers can NOT remit a United States Postal Money order that is for their domestic use only - domestic means USA only - as you can see in the following, the big red block letters designate this as an item that can NOT be cashed by anybody outside of the United States of America.

However, you CAN purchase a USPS Postal Money Order that is pinkish in color and is for International use - it will cost you a bit more to purchase it than the above "greenish" one, but it IS cashable by people outside of your country.

There are some Canadians who will swear up and down that THEIR bank cashes those "green" colored domestic USPS Money Orders without ANY problem at all.

This may be fine and well for them - at this point in time - however, this is not meant to be a blanket statement that ALL Canadians can take a green colored domestic USPS Money Order to their bank and cash it.

THEY CAN'T!

Repeat: THEY CAN'T!

The United States Postal Service requested a number of years ago that the financial institutions in Canada please stop accepting domestic USPS Money Orders.

Yes it is true that most Canadian banks have an affiliated bank in the USA that they would then send these green colored domestic USPS Money Orders to for clearance - hence, some eBayers adamantly maintain that the m/o is being "negotiated" in the USA.

It is not - if you take it to your Canadian bank, you are "negotiating" then and there in CANADA to cash a money order that is clearly labeled in big bold block red letters that is not to be negotiated outside of the USA.

U.S. buyers need to purchase a pink-colored United States Postal Service money order when sending payment to Canadian eBay sellers.

Of course, there are many other outlets in the USA that offer money orders which are cashable in countries other than the USA - they may be of all colors and the "color" has no bearing upon the ability of the receiver to cash those money orders - the "color" factor only comes into play when trying to explain that the USPS offers two separate types of money orders, domestic (green) and international (pink).

UPDATE: New Money Orders have come out that are a bit different - please be aware of this!

American sellers - please be forewarned that it is best NOT to use a courier service when shipping items to Canada.

A courier such as Fedex or UPS can possibly cause the Canadian recipient to be billed for a brokerage fee of $25.00 or more for an item that is coming into Canada.

This is ONLY the brokerage charge - any items that are valued over $20.00 Canadian may also possibly have taxes and duties charged on them.

If you send parcels to Canada using the postal service (United States Postal Service = USPS), then the brokerage fee will be $8.00 as charged by Canada Post because this is how postal service parcels enter into Canada.

This $8.00 charged by Canada Post is ONLY the brokerage charge in this instance - any items that are valued over $20.00 Canadian may also possibly have taxes and duties charged on them.

This matter has been further complicated by the existence of dual USPS/UPS stores in the United States. Often a clerk at such a store will offer the sender a cheaper rate to send by UPS as opposed to USPS. Please remember to ALWAYS use USPS, which is the POSTAL SERVICE, as it will prevent a large brokerage fee to be charged to your Canadian buyer.

AMERICAN SELLERS & CANADIAN BUYERS

 Let's have a little talk about this thing between us called an "INTERNATIONAL BORDER"

An American eBay seller packaging up an item to ship to a Canadian buyer needs to be aware that the package must pass through Canada Customs on its way between the United States Postal Service (USPS) and Canada Post (CP).

Sometimes - many times - there will be a slight time delay involved. Canada Customs needs to check that the incoming parcel meets postal regulations and ascertain whether there should be tax assigned to the incoming item.

Goods that are valued at $20 (CDN) or more, will most likely be pulled aside and assessed a GST (Goods & Services Tax) amount and possibly a PST (Provincial Sales Tax) on the value of the item. This is up to the Canadian buyer to pay when they receive the item from their local post office.

Seldom will there be a duty amount assessed on smaller valued items, although it is quite possible, depending on the category of the item, where it comes from, where it was made, etc.

On occasion, there might also be a US Customs inspection done on the parcel BEFORE it passes into the hands of Canada Customs.

Not sure what this is about - the Americans don't want to export goodies that they feel should be KEPT in their country? - but I have heard of it happening!

Taxes and Duties are the RESPONSIBILITY of the CANADIAN BUYER to pay. They are NOT the responsibility of the sender.

CANADIAN SELLERS & AMERICAN BUYERS

 Here we are again - there's that little matter of an "INTERNATIONAL BORDER"

A Canadian seller sending an item to an American buyer needs to affix the appropriate customs sticker to the parcel, itemizing correctly what is inside.

Americans can import up to $200 US value of items without being concerned with import duties.

However, there will definitely be a delay at the border while US Customs Officials ascertain if they will allow this particular parcel inside the country and hand it over for delivery to the recipient.

Depending upon the color code of the Terrorist Alert at any given point in time, the delay can be minimal to lengthy.

Backlogs DO occur - and both sides of this transaction need to be aware of this - Americans need to realize that their border officials are looking out for the safety of the American public and scrutinizing each and every parcel incoming to their country.

Canadian sellers need to be aware of this and bring it to the attention - gently - of their buyers in the USA so that there is no misconception as to a firm delivery date of any particular parcel.

Sellers need to be aware that they have to develop excellent customer service skills in this world of eBaying - even more so than in retail - because a face-to-face return is so much easily handled than an email-to-email post office-to-post office return!

One other little matter that has just been brought to my attention: sellers with multiple spelling errors, punctuation problems, and incorrect syntax in their listings! This is NOT professional - if you are trying to portray yourself as an eCommerce professional, please take that extra bit of time to list your auctions PROFESSIONALLY!