Seriously. I need to know. Almost everything I’ve sent there over the last few months has arrived either damaged, massively late, or most importantly, not at all. It’s moved beyond a coincidental fluke to something substantially wrong with the system.
About 15% of my ebay business goes overseas. Anyone who’s read my posts here knows I think it’s good for business to sell anywhere, anytime. However, I am seriously considering outright banning Canada for a while. I had a perfect holiday season everywhere else in the world (even Italy and Mexico!), but about 7-8 packages just never arrived to Canada, leading to constant refunds and several negative feedbacks, even though I did all I could to help the buyers. I’ve been shipping from three different post office locations, so it’s not like someone in “the back” is stealing my Canadian packages, which is a pretty paranoid way of thinking anyway.
This week alone, I received two negs from western Canada for non-receipt. I first asked for patience, that mail to Canada has been slow recently (especially during the holidays), and they act like I called their sisters a bunch of sloppy whores. God forbid you insult the infallible Canada Post! Both buyers actually refused refunds and apologies for the inconveniences because I said the fault lies with their countries’ mail delivery service. They’d rather neg and get nothing (if you think a refund offer is still on the table after a neg, you’re nuts).
An email: “Do NOT say it takes long because it’s international. I’ve sent and received stuff to/from US – it NEVER takes a month – it arrives within a week if not 2. Even items from Asia don’t take a month. It wasn’t even holiday season back when I purchased it.“
Ignoring the fact he considers the second week of December to not be part of the holiday season, it’s a dumb email. Even the packages that do make it into the buyer’s hands take no less than 10-14 days. This is not just my experience; other sellers I know experience the same results. Three to four weeks is in no way unusual, but according to this buyer, it’s never happened in the history of Canada. Thanks anyway, guy with 60 feedback!
Later, his neg: “Item NEVER received. Blames on the postal service. Irresponsible. Do NOT trust.“
Really now, what more can I possibly do once I drop the package off at the PO? Of course I’m blaming the Canadian post office. The address is written 100% legibly and the customs form is always on the front or top and is filled out correctly. If there’s no item 30-35 days after the mailing date, I’ll send a refund. Wow, that’s pretty irresponsible. (I realize I’m being snarky now, but my emails are actually professional to the buyers until the transaction has officially been ruined, so don’t think my ‘tude is causing the bad feedback)
So, I have three choices right now (aside from doing nothing and hoping it’s all a giant, expensive fluke):
1) Continue to ship to Canada, jack up shipping ~30%, and give a refund at the earliest possible moment to any Canadian who complains, even if it’s hours later. I will not speak ill of Canada Post because Canada Post is perfect and asking for patience will only make the buyer angry, and I won’t like him when he’s angry.
2) Continue to ship to Canada, jack up shipping to Priority/Express Mail costs. This is a HUGE price increase, since I mostly sell items that are under a pound, meaning the shipping price will likely more than double. Unless it fits in a Flat Rate envelope/box (less than half do, since I sell a lot of 5950 hats which go in a custom box), this’ll cost, bare minimum (no handling fees), $21. Not appealing when most items I sell go for about $10-20. I’ll have a tracking number, which is good, but Priority items to Canada have gone missing before.
3) Ban Canada outright from future sales. Will definitely hurt business, but will have a nice catharsis effect. Will probably lead to a giant flashing text box in all listings taunting Canada while thanking them for all the negs, which will probably hurt business more.
I’m leaning towards #1, but 2 or 3 might happen too. A colleague mentioned a variation of #2, in which anyone outside of the province of Ontario MUST pay for Priority shipping, since that’s where a majority of the non-receipt problems come from. Not a bad idea, but there’s no way to officially discriminate against Canadian provinces in your ebay listing, and packages still go missing to Ontario.
Comments, suggestions, similar horror stories to share?
Hey, you are dead on regarding the Canadian Snail Service. I am a Canadian eBay seller. To suggest that Canada Post is slow, is to insult the word “Slow”. I mailed an item a couple of months ago from Stouffville, Ontario, to Hanover, Ontario. The buyer emailed me after 6 days to ask if I had shipped it. I assured him that I had and pointed to the notification he received from Canada Post when it was sent at the Post Office. He finally received his item AFTER NINE DAYS!! (He left me great feedback but put “Canada Post Sucks” in the text.) International air parcels that should arrive in 6-10 days, often take 21 to 28 days to arrive. How the heck can Canada Post cause a delay on International shipments??? The only thing I can see is that they somehow take several days to get it to a place where it’s going to end up on a plane. Nothing else would make sense. No wonder so many US Sellers won’t sell to Canadians unless we agree to pay for Priority Shipping (when First Class would do at a fraction of the price) or even insist on using only UPS or FedEx. (Which costs us outrageous “brokerage” fees when the package is delivered.) They’ve probably been screwed so many times with parcels taking forever to get to the buyer and/or arriving damaged that this is the only way they feel they can “cover their ass”.
Canadian Buyers AND Sellers are getting screwed with this. In part, this is what happens when you partially “privatize” a government service and have a bunch of minimum-wage private contractors delivering your mail.
Only in Canada, you say?
Yes, it’s a bloody pity!
Comment by Rick — February 20, 2011 @ 1:57 pm
Well said, you’re right on with your comments. Thanks for posting!
Comment by J — February 20, 2011 @ 7:29 pm
It seems that Canada Post receives international packages (quickly I should add) and then posts that canada customs has them. When you call the customer service number they tell you the same thing, Canada Customs has your item and there must be a reason they have pulled it off the conveyer and are checking it. This is a total fabrication! There is an enormous hanger that is full of deliveries in the hands of the post office. There is a conveyer belt that items are put on and pass through the hands of customs officers. If customs has an issue they will call the recipient. They don’t have an army of staff checking up on the origins of that patent leather handbag or used banjo and all they want is for the legitimate mail to be processed, taxes charged and any illegal material discovered. Why does the post office lie to its customers? If they are short staffed and inefficient, own up to it rather than making up some lame story. I have had a simple e-bay purchase sitting in Mississauga since the beginning of last week and its thursday of the following week. It is 30 minutes away from my home. Imagine if you are sending things that are fragile and what can happen to them in an environment like this where backlogs are piling up. It is crazy and beyond comprehension. Years ago they could have told us when we called that the parcel was in transit somewhere else and that there was a backlog at some mail hub in Tomah, Wisconsin. Now of course scanning reveals the location of everything shipped and the customer has instant access to them. WHY? WHY? WHY?
It’s not like we’re going to ship things by Canada Posts Courier service after our experience with this. The problem is that they are way more efficient at getting regular mail to the delivery city than they want us to know. It is like they have to pretend that regular international shipping is like the dinosaur, large lumbering and dead slow. On the other hand maybe Fedex, Purolator and the other courier companies just pay off a bunch of senior post office officials to make themselves look good…. I love a good conspiracy theory. There is lots of them running rampant and why not, there is no one you can talk to at the post office that actually knows what the hell is going on and tells the truth.
Comment by Tony D Smith — February 16, 2012 @ 10:09 am
I did a search on yahoo for “what is wrong with canada post” and came up with this feed. It has nothing to do with Ebay but I live in Louisiana and I have a Canadian Credit Card that I pay monthly. Last year it started taking 2-4 weeks for a simple letter size envelope to reach Toronto. I have had to resort to wiring or UPSing a bunch of checks to my sister to pay my bill for me. It’s rediculous. We even used priority global to send my sister the last set of checks and its supposed to take 5-10 days and it’s been well over 2 weeks now and she’d never recieved it and I had to spend $40 to wire my payment. I am Canadian…. and the Canadian Postal services bites the big one.
S.
Comment by senstan — March 30, 2011 @ 6:23 am
Yeah, I’ve noticed the same. It really doesn’t matter if you use First Class or Priority to Canada. It seems to get there at the same slow speed anyway.
Comment by J — March 30, 2011 @ 1:24 pm
S:
I’m finding there is more to this than meets the eye. I (my wife actually) ordered a bunch of things from a seller in China. I waited. And waited. Finally I got an email from ebay telling me that I only had 4 days left to file a dispute on the purchase so, I opened a claim. Which escalated to a claim. The seller supplied me with a tracking number which actually worked and told me that the package was in Vancouver “being reviewed by Customs”. It was another 4 weeks before it showed up at my door.
Now, the seller was partially at fault as they screwed around for almost three weeks trying to ship the package with too little postage on it, adding a bit more and trying again until it finally started on it’s way. (There were FIVE separate postage tapes on the package when it arrived.)
The package that was supposedly “being reviewed by Customs” was NOT opened for inspection. It’s always clear when they do it. It’s taped up and there is a sticker attached saying it was inspected by Customs. So… WHY did it take 4 weeks to get to me from Vancouver?? I’m not buying it that the delay was caused by Customs. I suspect it was just convenient to blame Customs.
Canada Post needs a major overhaul. Ebay and Online selling in general is probably one of the main sources of income for them and they treat us like this?
Comment by Rick — April 10, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
so true, it takes forever for stuff to get to me and shipping is so expensive even shipping within canada. i’ve had stuff shipped to a friend in the states and they got it right away. something seriuosly needs to be done anout canada post.
Comment by becky — May 16, 2011 @ 9:52 pm
Cost with Canada Post is something I’ll never figure out. If I ship FROM Canada to an international destination, I have the “small packet” option. Not only is it cheap, it’s INSURED for the price charges. (Something you can’t get with USPS small packet, or with small packet from most countries in the world.)
My place to Vancouver – 1kg: Regular parcel 7 days – NO insurance – $14.30 (add $1.30 for $100 insurance)
My place to Vancouver – 1kg : Xpresspost 3 day incl. $100 insurance $24.40
My place to Los Angeles – 1kg – small packet surface 7-10 days – INCLUDES $100 insurance: $12.40
My place to L.A. – 1kg – small packet air 6-10 days – $100 insured: $15.36
My place to L.A. – 1kg – Expedited parcel USA 4 days – $100 insured: $20:12
So essentially $4 MORE – for the same service (3 vs 4 day) to send the same size and weight of parcel 4,400 KM WITHIN Canada, than 4,100 KM “International” to L.A. in the US. I just don’t “get” it. And to add insult to injury, I’d have to add 13% Tax to the $24.40 parcel to Vancouver for a total of $27.57. No tax on the $20.12 parcel to the US.
This is insanity.
Comment by Rick — December 25, 2011 @ 2:54 pm
Wow, insanity indeed. I’ve heard about this, but it’s nice to see it broken down like that.
Comment by J — December 25, 2011 @ 3:31 pm
You are correct in your complaints about Canada Post. Magazine especially are always at least a month late if they originate in the U.S or Europe. I have been told by a mail carrier that magazines are hels as low priority when they are short staffed. Postal officials will blame customs. Right now I am waiting for some magazines that were mailed April 18,2011, first classs international with a customs form. My question is who is more hated Air Canada or Canada Post ?
Comment by David Tuttle — June 3, 2011 @ 1:47 pm
there has been ongoing issues with Canada post, but Never had I had a package go missing when sending worldwide. That is an anomoly for you.
The recent big strike has reorganized some things. example : usually shipping to the USA takes about 7 business days for lets say a 12″x12″x2″ package. Now I shipped and it took 4 days. Same goes for a big package too. Something has changed since the strike. I have a feeling there were some dodgy employees and systems that have held things up but I hope things are better now. The problem for Canadians is the fact some of the prices to ship are 20% more than other countries. we get gouged and it turns off some customers undoubtably. So on both sides it sucks a bit. But like I said, i have never had a package go missing or damaged when sent. I have to say too, that when ordering from the USA it usually takes about 3 weeks to get an item. It gets stuck at the border politics, nothing to do with either post office !
Comment by otis mcgruff — August 23, 2011 @ 1:24 pm
It’s not an anomaly. Read blogs, ebay message boards, and talk to other seller friends. This is very common. I hope you’re right about the strike making things better. I actually haven’t had any problems with Canada in recent months, so maybe they’ve turned the corner. I want them to be as good as the USPS because I ship so much there.
Comment by J — August 23, 2011 @ 1:28 pm
Yes the Canadian postal system sucks at times and yes it will be going bankrupt in the not to distant future if it doesn’t it’s crap in order but the long delays at the border are the terrible customs agents that wreak of Napoleon syndrome. Little men that can’t be tall and so they take it out on anyone they can because they are just miserable people. If you try to be congenial with them to get an amicable resolution they still try to give you a power trip. There is no other word for it but retarded. They are men that couldn’t be police and think that it is a Step up from security guard but the general public respect a security guard a million times greater than border or customs agents because of the way that the public gets treated by them.
Comment by dew — November 7, 2011 @ 10:09 pm
I bought an item on eBay and the seller made a single character typo in the street name (Center / Canter). Everything else, including the postal code, was correct. Canada Post returned it to sender, no such address!
Given the incompetence of Canada Post, it’s not surprising that so many international sellers refuse to ship to Canada.
Comment by DJ — November 28, 2011 @ 10:14 pm
Wow, that’s pretty bad, even for them.
Comment by J — November 28, 2011 @ 10:39 pm
I also like how you get tracking information that states “order created and received by Canada Post” and then nothing shows up afterwards. It’s been 6 days now and I actually have nooooo idea where the item is in transit. Well, wish me luck!!!
Comment by CH — December 15, 2011 @ 7:03 pm
I have had the same problems about packages taking for ever or not getting there at all. It is at the point I can’t afford to sell to Canada any more. I have had to double ship or refund enough where I am just braking even.
Comment by Otto Kudrna — December 20, 2011 @ 9:43 am
I’ve commented above about this. BUT, Canada isn’t the only one I’ve had trouble with as a seller. I’ve shipped product all around the world, including to China and most of Europe, Japan, etc. The only country I’ve ever had a parcel go missing to, has been Australia. Not once, but three separate times. Different buyers. Different areas of Australia. I’m at a loss to explain why. But I have to admit, Canada post IS slow processing parcels.
Comment by Rick — December 21, 2011 @ 3:25 pm
Strange. Some parcels have taken forever to arrive to Australia (and damn if it isn’t ungodly expensive to ship there), but they’ve always arrived. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever had something go missing to Australia. I’ve had to deal with some real idiots from there, but never a lost package.
Comment by J — December 22, 2011 @ 12:33 am
I shipped a parcel to Australia and Canada on the same day. The package to Australia got there in 5 days and the Canada package has already been three weeks and it is still not there. It is also the second time I had to ship that package because the first one has not arrived at all. From now on the ONLY WAY I am shipping to Canada is Priority mail insured at customers cost.
Comment by Otto Kudrna — December 27, 2011 @ 8:39 pm
Otto, I used to do the same thing, but I quickly discovered that Priority Mail to Canada isn’t any faster than First Class International. They’ve also lost Priority packages with tracking, so it’s not any safer. Insurance is a good idea, but it’s a major headache trying to collect on it. I now just ship First Class International for lower-cost items (under ~$75) with a huge markup to cover future losses. It’s appalling how bad CanadaPost is.
Comment by J — December 27, 2011 @ 9:24 pm
Shipping with Canada Post is terrible I built a computer for my brother and sent it with Canada Post, received the computer to find it was smashed to pieces, I filed a claim as I had insurance on the package, it took 2 months to receive the insurance money, and just recently I sent out a game a few days ago and I was charged 14 dollars for regular shipping, with this god awful trust with Canada Post I am weary to send out something expensive with them because they don’t understand what fragile means.
Comment by Swifty — January 2, 2012 @ 2:21 pm
Hey, at least you eventually got the insurance money. It’s damn near impossible to win one of those cases because you need to prove it was damaged in handling, not because of poor packing. CanadaPost will fight you to the death over that.
Comment by J — January 2, 2012 @ 2:25 pm
I just blocked canada for eBay bidders. I wont even capitalize the name. I am sick and tired of shipping two and sometimes three times and the customer still not getting the package. Than I have to refund them anyway. At this moment in time I have actually lost money on my combined canada transactions.
Comment by Otto Kudrna — January 2, 2012 @ 4:44 pm
Anyone know an email address of someone in senior management at Canada Post that we can send a link of this thread to?
They HAVE to care at the top. And if they see Canada being penalized for the stupidity of Canada Post, maybe there is something they can do about it.
OTTO: A suggestion – offer selling to Canadians for the time being but ONLY offer shipping by UPS or FedEx. Some WILL complain about the cost but you keep yourself open for options this way.
One of the biggest roadblocks to using UPS is that Canadians get nailed with a $40+ “brokerage” fee when the package arrives. I have seen a good number of US sellers that have worked some deal with UPS where there is a flat $10 fee added to the shipping and it covers all forms, processing etc. When the package arrives, all that is due is the tax. (Which they have to pay at the post office anyway if the package is over $20 value. The $10 is only a little over the $5 or $7 administrative fee they pay at the post office so it’s bearable if they really want the item. And you KNOW it’s going to get there this way.
Just a thought.
Rick
Comment by Rick — January 3, 2012 @ 5:35 am
The extra trouble to ship FedEx or UPS is not worth it. If I did anything, I would offer Express Mail. That is tracked all the way threw the process all over the world just like FedEx or UPS. But it is just not worth the trouble. I don’t need the canadian business at this point. Let them clean their own house.
Comment by Otto Kudrna — January 3, 2012 @ 8:25 am