Ebay Set Shipping Rates To Canada

I am looking at buying a signed Paul Calle FDC on ebay...BIN $9.54..,.free shipping to the USA....$13.54 shipping to Canada!....with the current exchange i'm looking at $11.66 and $17.56 shipping CDN. Is the the seller obligated to charge that high shipping fee to
Canada?.i know ebay makes a commission on the total cost....it's outrageous!
Sorry...i needed to rant and rave.

It is outrageous! Not to worry. I already purchased it for you and will mail it to you as soon as it arrives. The problem as I see it, is that there are those who are willing to pay the absurd shipping charges. If more people didn't, perhaps those fees would come down to a more realistic and fair charge. I recently made a purchase from a Canadian Auction House and they shipped the item via Expedited Parcel with tracking. It went from Toronto to the US USPS in Illinois in 2 days and then sat there 5 days before it continued on to New York. In total, 11 days before I received it. Expedited ???
I'll keep you posted on your cover,
Don

Actually, the shipping quoted may or may not be excessive. The USPS international rates have skyrocketed. A 3.5 oz. rigid letter to Canada requires $2.38 in postage; if it weights 4 oz. it takes a zoned rate which may be as much as %8.25. And, of course, ebay and PayPal add their commissions on to these prices. Not that Canada Post is free of this, the last book I bought from a Canadian publisher incurred almost $30.00 in postage from Toronto to the US.

A standard 1-oz letter to Canada (or anywhere in the world) is just US $1.20. However, package rates are much higher, often double or more the per-ounce letter rate. $13.54 does seem a bit high, but it's not necessarily *that* outrageous if the seller is compensating for ebay and PayPal fees. At 13.54, the seller would be left with around $11.75 after fees, and, depending on the weight and what kind of mailer it's in, the postage itself could be up to $9 or so. If the mailer costs another $1, there's not all that much markup there. That's a lot of assumptions I just made and the seller may well end up shipping it at the letter rate and pocketing $10, but if those assumptions are correct, the shipping isn't necessarily terribly out of line.

Some sellers also don't really like to ship internationally, mostly because they're worried about lost/stolen shipments. Rather than just not shipping international at all, they just jack up their rates sky high to ward off buyers and/or make it "worth their while" to ship there.

While you can send a 1 ounce letter anywhere in the world from the United States for $1.20, there is a break to Canada. The $1.20 minimum covers up to 2 oz.

graphis: Was the seller enrolled in the GSP (Global Shipping Program)? If so, that's the problem. If not, beats me. A seller really cannot say they don't ship internationally anymore. If you don't select an international option then ebay will pick one for them - the GSP option.

The StampNut graciously came to my rescue and offered to purchase the item in question for me.. an act above above and beyond my expectations. Many thanks.

$17.56 shipping for an FDC is nuts I would not buy it or get someone in USA to buy and then onsend it direct to you. In doing that you should avoid the high postage rate. Personally I avoid any with rates that high. Not only ebay makes a commission on total cost so does paypal.

Usually I will contact the seller and they adjust the shipping prices to a more realistic level. The awful GSP is usually at fault when outrageous shipping quotes are mentioned.

I see UK is operating GSP now to, had one and lucky buyer checked my postal address first and adjusted postage. Good idea to contact seller on high postage rates to see if they will adjust it. If not don't bid.