jab16399
Verified Trader
Oh, OK. Thanks. It's a good software story anyway (if there is such a thing)...
Jim
Jim
What has killed this hobby for me......
- Thread starter Micheal Doyle
- Start date
dahabsfan
Verified Trader,
Oh, OK. Thanks. It's a good software story anyway (if there is such a thing)...
Jim
Haha. Yeah the GSP is simply a service provided by Pitney Bowes. The payment you make goes directly to them to basically forward your item BUT they automatically charge you a silly shipping rate combined with mandatory Import charges (which most of the time aren't applicable anyways). I don't see any advantage for any seller to use this program especially with the horror stories of having to deal with damaged product claims. PB/Ebay is sticking the seller with the chargeback regardless of whether or not the damage occurred after PB had handled the package.
Darren
Q
quincy
Guest
And this is the real value in having a partner in the USA to help.
dismonkey1
Verified Trader,
You should be able to pay an extra .20 cents for them to sort manually if they are too "rigid". This will keep them (PWE) out of the machines and rollers. It is worth a shot.
Moose#11
Verified Trader,
^ this x100.
if i were in Canada i would also consider getting a PO Box in the states that was accessible to myself,a relative or a trading partner i could trust.as for myself,i have just about stopped listing trade threads as it has become too expensive to make a trade over the border on lower end stuff.i recently shipped a package to Nova Scotia that cost over $10 and it was mostly ITG base cards.kinda sucks on both ends as i have a ton of '90s inserts/parallels i'd love to trade off in bulk but with costing upwards of $10 to ship it's just not feesible.
chadsexington
Registered User
I now co-pay a PO Box in Washington with Jon and Derek which was done up partially at Kevin's and JZ's recommendations.
It's the best money I've spent hobby-wise this entire year. Not only does it help with the ridiculous cost of shipping, but now that PayPal confirms PO Box addresses, I don't have any problems or issues with eBay sellers coming back and saying they'll only ship to PO Boxes.
Only one issue to date, but it was with a 35 lb package. Cards and other things have had no problems at all.
It's the best money I've spent hobby-wise this entire year. Not only does it help with the ridiculous cost of shipping, but now that PayPal confirms PO Box addresses, I don't have any problems or issues with eBay sellers coming back and saying they'll only ship to PO Boxes.
Only one issue to date, but it was with a 35 lb package. Cards and other things have had no problems at all.
Burner
Verified Trader,
I don't get how high shipping costs in the US can kill the hobby for someone, especially in Canada. The hobby was thriving long before eBay and the internet and before we traded/sold via mail. And being in Canada where 80% of hockey cards are busted and sold, what does USPS shipping rates have to do with anything?
Orca Pod
Bitter, Jaded & Disillusioned!,
Was it really thriving though? I look back at my checklists and there is a corelation between cards I need for sets/insert sets and when I started using eBay and joined forums.
eBay and forums made set completion a lot easier. They made it possible to get cards you needed, and get rid of cards you didn't want that someone else may need.
Before them, you had to rely on the card show, where everyone else was in the same predicament. Or dealers, who specialized in gouging the living **** out of everyone. In all of Calgary (where I was at the time) there was only one FT dealer that wasn't a gouge/ripoff artist. And that dealer did not open a lot of product, so completing sets/inserts was harder. And forget being a player/team collector at that time. Once dealers knew who you collected, prices somehow increased.
With ebay/forums, set completion became attainable. Player collections became attainable. The bad dealers (and weekend warriors) quickly went out of business. It was the dealers and LCSs that actually cared about the hobby and their customers that survived.
IMO, it was then that the hobby actually started thriving. You had three avenues: ebay, forums, knowledgable LCS/dealers.
And, with the increase in postal rates, the majority of hockey collectors (Canada) have now lost one/two of those sources to some degree. Since the rate hike, there's been about 15 times I've wanted to hit the BIN on eBay, only to not do it because of the 7 or 8 dollar shipping. There's been a few times I couldn't arrange a trade on a forum becuase of the shipping cost. At this time, I am fortunate enough to know someone with a US PO box, so it's not bad for me anymore. But for those who do not have access to that, it's frustrating. And some of them have given up. I can see why. To pay 8 or 9 dollars for a 1 dollar insert? I can't think of anyone who looks at that prospect and thinks 'SWEET!!!'
Maybe the term 'ruined' is a bit strong, but I can totally see why some people are frustrated by the increases.
Fritz
Nitwit in good standing,
Randy nailed it, for high dollar stuff nobody cares if it costs a few bucks more to send. When you're trying to complete a cheaper insert set or track down some smaller cards for a pc player it just isn't worth the price of shipping unless you're finding them in bunches. I don't speak for everyone else but I simply can't afford to be paying $8 to get $2 cards. I don't have the hobby money to waste like that
OilersRule
Verified Trader,
I have felt the pain for U.S. sellers for some time now.
Interestingly, I had to ship a thin patch card to the U.S. this week. It was packaged the same as usual...penny sleeve/top loader, bubble envelope.
The lady at Canada Post stated that all stores were just notified to charge approx. $5.50 on all bubble envelopes, regardless of weight and thickness.
I called BS on that and put $3 on my package, and I fully expect it to arrive to it's destination.
Interestingly, I had to ship a thin patch card to the U.S. this week. It was packaged the same as usual...penny sleeve/top loader, bubble envelope.
The lady at Canada Post stated that all stores were just notified to charge approx. $5.50 on all bubble envelopes, regardless of weight and thickness.
I called BS on that and put $3 on my package, and I fully expect it to arrive to it's destination.
lucscaps
Verified Trader,
I just sent one out to the u.s, the lady said, oh your sending cards, I thought, oh jeez here we go, and she said 2.20. Said her brother does it all the time. hahaha.
maradona
New Member, Must Send First
I've been sending stuff overseas for a few years and I've never really cared about the shipping costs. It's just so much fun helping others with their collections and getting some help in return. Then again, I'm not really trading on a weekly basis, more like monthly nowadays.
