LEGO Prices on amazon.CA vs amazon.COM

[gregpj]

Unless my item can fit in the "Tracked Packet" option, i almost never sell anything to the U.S. (other than lettermail of course).

 

Expedited is crazy expensive, tracked packet is too, but justifiable to some Americans.

 

No kidding expedited is expensive. I can ship medium large sets almost anywhere in Canada for 1/2 as much to my neighboring states. The really big ones are almost 3x more. If it wasn't for the great exchange rate, I'd be dropping the US from all my listings just because of how bad the shipping rates must appear to US searchers.

[@rtisan]

Canada Post rates for international packets and parcels are getting ridiculous.

 

Agreed, it`s getting insane. What`s really frustrating, and I`m certain many of you guys can relate, is that you can`t Track and Insure any International orders without sending XPressPost. You can get one without the other, but that`s not good enough. 

 

I shipped a large order to Europe earlier this week. Cost about $75CDN. Tracking, but no Insurance. Tracked Packet takes 6-12 days. Ok, that`s great. Now, how much to add Insurance? Can`t do it, I must send it International Parcel for $100CDN or so. Ok, fine, do I get tracking? No. And on top of that, Parcel mail takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. Seriously, what`s up with that? 

 

Of course I already knew this, been in the game long enough and shipped enough orders to come to this understanding, but it`s quite frankly retarded. If I`m paying more money, should I not get more service? Clearly not. My Buyer wanted Insurance, naturally, the order was a few hundred $$$. But I emailed him to let him know I just can`t do it, and he said ok Tracked Packet will have to do. 

 

By the way, the exact same order, same everything, would have cost $180CDN for XPressPost. Sure it`s 5days, full insurance, and tracking, but that`s almost x3 tracked packet. Just stupid. 

 

The international Small Packet rates are reasonable, even though some countries get them even cheaper.

 

Of course, you then get no tracking whatsoever. That may work fine on BrickOwl/BrickLink, but it's useless to sell sets on other marketplaces.

I agree with you that the rates are reasonable, I don`t agree on the time it takes to arrive. 4-6 weeks for these untracked items is too long, 1-2weeks maximum for the price. Or at least provide tracking. When items go 1/3 or 1/2 way around the world, I`d like to know where it is and when it arrives. I`m sure all of us would like that. 

[Sandwraith]

If it wasn't for the great exchange rate, I'd be dropping the US from all my listings just because of how bad the shipping rates must appear to US searchers.

Yup exactly.

 

I also get a ton of US bidders who request their bids to be cancelled because: "You're charging $40 shipping for that? LOLZ way to rip people off, please cancel my bid, i expected reasonable charges". I of course tell them to read the listing where i make it perfectly clear i am shipping from Canada, and they never respond.

 

Even though these prices aren't mine, i still feel bad as i know many US searchers are just like "haha yeah right, it can't be that much to ship.. scammer".

[lobo1969]

 

Yup exactly.

 

I also get a ton of US bidders who request their bids to be cancelled because: "You're charging $40 shipping for that? LOLZ way to rip people off, please cancel my bid, i expected reasonable charges". I of course tell them to read the listing where i make it perfectly clear i am shipping from Canada, and they never respond.

 

Even though these prices aren't mine, i still feel bad as i know many US searchers are just like "haha yeah right, it can't be that much to ship.. scammer".

 

If a USA buyer can't read that they are bidding/buying on something from outside their borders and the shipping rate is clearly spelled out for them, then too bad. Canada is still international and if they don't get shipping will be more, they are being unrealistic and should still be expected to follow through and pay. Fortunately the USA buyers I have had never raised a stink about shipping after the fact and continue to sell many 'big' sets to the USA. On the flipside I never buy sets from the USA anymore because it seems they will charge even more money to ship to Canada then I would charge to ship to same parcel to them! And I'm not even talking about the Global Shipping Program which is a supreme piece of fraud to unaware buyers...

I just shipped a 7679 Fighter Tank to Hong Kong with $106 (after shipping discount!) with tracking and Air. Can never send via surface as a less than honest buyer would file a claim against you for non delivery. But its rare I ship outside North America, maybe 1-3 parcels in a year. Just too expensive to make it worth anyone's while

[jeff_14]

I ship most of my stuff to the US. It's still cheaper than sending in Canada for smaller sets and the 20% currency difference right now more than justifies the effort. However I am abandoning other international sales other than polybags because I get too many complaints about how long it takes to ship by surface (the cheapest option that most want to pay for). Polybags can be sent by airmail for very little additional cost. 

[lobo1969]

I ship most of my stuff to the US. It's still cheaper than sending in Canada for smaller sets and the 20% currency difference right now more than justifies the effort. However I am abandoning other international sales other than polybags because I get too many complaints about how long it takes to ship by surface (the cheapest option that most want to pay for). Polybags can be sent by airmail for very little additional cost. 

Surface shipping takes way to long to do satisfactory business, particularly off eBay. Just leads to problems. I did an offline sale on another site where a guy in Singapore was desperate for a Tumbler. I sent him 3 Tumblers via surface at his request (BIG box), he was OK with waiting. It took almost 3 bloody months before he got them! But he was very happy.

[seapotato]

Yea I had an eBay sale for sth where shipping cost about $110 for surface. Took 3 months to get there. If I did air it would have cost about $250. Luckily the person was very understanding (I only had charged $90 for shipping) and left me good feedback. Whew!

[gravtation]

I ship most of my stuff to the US. It's still cheaper than sending in Canada for smaller sets and the 20% currency difference right now more than justifies the effort. However I am abandoning other international sales other than polybags because I get too many complaints about how long it takes to ship by surface (the cheapest option that most want to pay for). Polybags can be sent by airmail for very little additional cost. 

 

So right about cheaper than sending small set inside our own Country, celebrating 10th years aaniversary on Ebay this year ! .. and really shipping to USA from QUEBEC isn't that bad ! .. Biggest problem is in between our INSIDE virtual border .. due to the fact that it will be the same price from 0.01gr to 1kg ( almost ) inside our own country and will only change from Province to province.. USA is simple : 0-250-500gr-1KG , International airmail regular up to 500gr is still not bad .. after it's ridiculous cause if you package weights 502 gr you have to pay service of 1kg .. there's no in between range .. , Used to sell a lot in Europe and Aussie  5-6 .. years ago  Euros rates at 1.50 was good ... back then when it was possible to split a package that would have a weight of over 501gr up to 1 Kg , I made split package and customers were very happy to pay between  8$-10$  less for shipping and receiving 2 packages! ( Was so easy with Disney cars instead of big box of Lego ! ) pouahahhahaha

Edited March 27, 2015 by gravtation