In Search of Better Shipping Rates

USPS is the best bet for international shipping. FedEx has decent ground rates to Canada, HOWEVER, your buyer can be subject to some pretty hefty brokerage fees if you ship that way, which will surely not make them happy.

Thanks for your reply.

I have noted the same thing about USPS and international shipping -- they're the most cost effective.

I'm shipping a guitar to a friend. I noticed that one of the guitar vendors on EBay was shipping to the same country via UPS for about half of what I would be charged via USPS. OF course I was curious, so I asked. His kind reply was that he has negotiated a volume discount with UPS.

Now I wonder if there is some way to get access to wholesale rates for shipping in the same way that U-PIC offers access to wholesale insurance rates. Cutting my shipping costs in half would make a HUGE difference in my profit margin!

Best regards,
Alan

Shipping has been a bid issue with me since January. I not only ship for MY ebay customers but also the internet company I work for. We were shipping with USPS for everything in the very beginning. Then in January things roled down hill from there. BAD customer service, packages just disappearing (yes even with tracking numbers) customers would get empty packages (some would receive a letter from post office stating your package is empty, some would not) OK so where did all our products go? We never did get an answer. Some internal packages would take 6 weeks. Then the glorious day came, we switched to UPS. Get get a really good deal because of the amount of shipping we do. Better tracking system, Customer Service has been 100%. Internal is tracked and will reach the local alot faster than the USPS. Oh yeah and with UPS they can actually get it the next business day. USPS cant do that in certain areas. We are paying a little bit more, but what they have to offer our ways the little extra we have to spend. If you can team up with someone that has a ups account might be an avenue to try, ( or let someone that has a ups account do the shipping for you) that way you can connect what you pay in shipping with what they pay in shipping, getting you both a better price. ( down side of UPS... they dont ship to APO, Po Boxes, and HI, Alaska, PR, Guam, are a little pricey and need to be shipped usps)
Wood_and_Paints
aqua_angel@cox.net