RF Generation Message Board

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/shipping-globally.html

maybe this isn't news to everyone but i haven't heard of this program until today, and if this isn't the dumbest idea i've heard i don't know what is.

from what i gather it's a service sellers can use to ship to other countries and offer buyers a reliable international tracking number as well as covering "import charges" up front instead of being surprised by them at delivery. first off i have no idea what import charges they're talking about. occasionally you get charged tax on delivery if your item cost over a certain amount, but beyond that i've never been charged anything extra. personally tracking numbers don't matter to me, either the item is going to get there or it's not, where it goes along the way doesn't matter a whole lot to me.

anyway i'm mad about this because this auction http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111046245118 is a great deal (if the bidding doesn't go too high) for the price. the shipping to canada though is $21.71 USD, which is ridiculous. it's so high because with this service, the seller actually ships the item to a processing center, where it's then repackaged and reshipped to the buyer. and the buyer is actually charged both shipping charges. i messaged the seller asking if he could ship it any cheaper, and he couldn't seem to wrap his head around shipping it any way other than this service.

/rant

...wait, you're not familiar with import charges? Those are typically customs charges, duty fees, VAT, etc. that the seller is required to pay for international shipping. Also, yes, it's that expensive to ship into Canada from the US now.

No it should not be 21$ to ship that from the US.

They are charging you almost 2x the shipping costs.

Since i actually have been shipping to Canada this year i can assure you Ray is wrong.

That was the estimate that I was given this year when I was already paying $14 to ship to Canada for small boxes last year. No clue what you're sending.

@Shadow
CIB N64 game is just over 10$ to ship.
Gamecube game ~8$ to ship.
2 Gamecube games see N64 price

@Tech use this link to estimate how bad a seller is going to fuck you on international shipping charges.
http://ircalc.usps.com/Default.aspx?country=12001

You want to find out how bad you are getting screwed on that package should you win it go here tech:
http://ircalc.usps.com/MailServices.aspx?country=12001&m=6&p=0&o=12#

A single Gameboy game CIB should cost at MOST 9.15 (i pumped the weight estimate up to 12 ounces to allow for an exorbitant amount of packaging. Not that anyone on eBay ever uses much packing materials anyways. In reality the guy will probably throw it in a bubble mailer.

$13 last year to send that, and 3 weeks to ship. Actually had the receipt for it too. :'(

EDIT: Wait, I see the disconnect now. Mine was priority - I always send priority. techwizard's is International Priority as well. You're quoting First Class prices.

I've noticed that shipping prices from US to Canada has gotten out of hand too. If the selling price is very low and I can justify the total price (item plus shipping), I'll go ahead and put in a bid or Buy It Now. Generally though I look for Canadian sellers now just for the reason you outlined.

$19.95 is what the USPS website says for a small flat rate box. International shipping sucks really bad now a days. Regular Priority mail at 1 pould would be $28.25. First class would be $10.55.

So no his shipping price while terrible isnt that far off.

Also when I ship over seas people always tell me to put the value at 20 or under to avoid fees of different kinds.

Yep - that's to avoid VAT fees.

Depends how it is shipped. So you are wrong.

Thats if you are sending first class. The seller is shipping priority mail. A lot of sellers only ship priority mail since you can get the boxes for free.

i almost always request first class because i don't care about it getting here fast if i can get it shipped cheaper. didn't notice it was actually a bigger step up from first class, but $21 is still insane for a gameboy game imo.

@shadow i've never seen any seller charge me beyond basic shipping cost for US to Canada. like i said sometimes i get charged tax when it arrives (i'm assuming that's the VAT you mentioned), but i've never been charged anything extra up front on ebay. unless of course that's something new.

whichever shipping option it's sent with though, that system of sending it to a "hub" first that then resends it to the buyer seems pretty dumb to me.

I know for sure shipping to Canada has almost doubled within the last year, although I still ship first class if it's within the weight limit (13oz?).  We need to hurry up and create a North American Union haha

Shipping to Canada from the US has gotten pretty rough. If you're the seller, to get the protections you need tracking, and you're not going to get tracking with First Class.

That's one of the reasons I sell mostly on forums (besides the ebay fees). If someone wants me to send it cheap without tracking I'm fine with it, but I require gift payment so PayPal won't come back at me if it gets lost. Nintendo Age recently updated its policy to where you can't require gift payment in a transaction, which has caused me to lose several international sales due to the higher shipping costs associated with needing tracking.

We need RFGen border smugglers.

I live 10 minutes from The Ambassador Bridge.  I will smuggle the shit out of games for anyone in Windsor.