:: rawblogXport ::

:: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 ::

normally I don't get personal on this blog, today i will. I just came off a 13 month run as a union carpenter at the Brilliant Dam construction project and wanted to take a break; bought a few items on eBay and in the last week opened 2 boxes with smashed computers I had bought ... my posting is on the bottom of the items below ... I also posted pictures of the damage.

eBay Business Opportunities | UPS to Serve Canadian eBayers - Webwire
UPS today announced the launch of package shipping services for Canadian eBay users, enabling them to easily ship goods to buyers within or outside Canada via UPS.

By integrating UPS service options directly into the Canadian eBay site, as is already the case on eBay’s U.S. site, users will be able to ship within Canada and internationally just with one click of their computer mouse.

The UPS shipping tools allow eBay sellers to calculate costs, request a UPS pick-up, track shipments, review transit times and print shipping labels all at the point of transaction. Both international and domestic UPS shipping labels are available and can be paid for via PayPal, an online payment system. Benefits to eBay buyers include the ability to control costs using the time-in-transit and service calculator tools to best determine which UPS service to choose.

According to eBay, 724,000 eBay sellers in North America rely on eBay sales for their primary or secondary income. This is equivalent to the combined population of Victoria, B.C., and Windsor, ON. Another 1.5 million individuals say they supplement their income by selling through eBay.

Posted by Ty on February 16, 2006 | 1 Comment
In eBay News
-------------------------
Comments

1 Comment. Add yours.

punkin said on February 19th, 2006 at 2:21 pm:

Any Canadian who shops on eBay and buys from an American seller will generally AVOID UPS due to their ridiculous “brokerage” fee of 29.95 PLUS duty and GST.

If things are shipped via USPS then we just get duty and import taxes ($8 versus a recent $40 from UPS).

eBay can make it as easy as they want to to use UPS but I will still avoid that shipping mafia with a 10 foot pole…..

--------------------------
so the editor of rawblogXport added the comment shown below:
--------------------------

dave said on February 20th, 2006 at 8:26 pm:

Well, I tried to start a home business, wanted to buy some real nice older iMacs first for the family and then for friends. Used eBay in November to buy my first computer, an eMac from the states and it never arrived, still working thru that - not a great intro to eBay but hung in there and then bought two more computers for the holidays — one for the wife — it was great and came from the states packed in original box using US postal service — no problem. Next for a daughter an iMac from Montreal packed in newspapers and ended up with a slightly cracked case, but wrote it off to poor packing by the seller, a drag for sure but we could live with it.

Last Thursday I received an iMac packed and shipped by UPS in NY - or so I was told by the seller, it arrived smashed to bits; hit so hard in the front the image control tabs in the back of the tube were pulverized - sort of like a concussion. Even then i thought OK, one bad one, maybe a few more eBay purchases and I can bring up the average and not feel like I was taking food off the table. Today brought a UPS parcel from Atlanta; the box was marked damaged on arrival before it came to the door. signed, paid another $87.12 brokerage fee on top of the $96 the seller paid on my behalf to UPS in Atlanta, and lo an behold, twenty pieces of plastic fall out, monitor mounting brackets shattered, case cracked, not as badly damaged as the iMac last week but the family says that’s it dad, back to breathing asbestos and silica. So, bottom line thanks to UPS and eBay working in tandem — no home based business for me, — the idea, which was fun and i believed in even with eBay shortcomings, died today in a UPS shipment.

What gives with UPS? Are parcels loaded in the states by underpaid Bushites who say screw Canada, smash another package heading north? I did file two claims with UPS online today - the online form says they will get back to me in a day. Would have liked to have gotten ahold of Mr. UPS in the Bahamas or where ever he’s hangin’ this week and told him what I think of his service and stay the heck out of Canada until you can get your act together in basic shipping to Canada. But the thing that pisses me off, really pisses me off, is that those were two really mint 1000 meg ram 60 and 80 gig harddrive 600 mhz processor iMacs. I took some digital photos today of the damage and was going to start a new blog to post them on to show the various parties involved what the damage was and I came across this posting. Thanks for the chance to say my piece, dave in bc canada

posted 8:33 PM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

-------------------------------------------