USPS First Class International 350% rate increase?
I've been selling on eBay for about 22 years. I'm in U.S. Shipping my CD of hobby plans always cost about $3.20 to ship to U.S. and was actually slightly cheaper to ship to Canada via First Class package or First Class envelope. My envelope is flatter than a pancake and is about 6 in. wide by about 6 in. in length and about 0.2 inches thick. Weighs less than 2 oz.
Now that ebay has completely changed everything, shipping is now $14.96 for the same small envelope and even higher if I use Paypal "Shipstation" shipping. And if my buyer is in UK, their address is TOO LONG for the shipping label to handle. I never had these issues in the past and now it looks like I will have to stop shipping internationally after all these years.
5 comments
pickermall
·3 years agoWelcome to 2023
Charge the buyer for shipping (which I'm sure you are doing)... or use Global Shipping or whatever it is now that Ebay offers. Stop shipping internationally if you want.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years ago$14.96 is the postage cost for First Class Package International service for weights up to 8 ounces, for Price Group 1. So the question becomes why you are now paying for package postage, rather than for a letter or flat as in the past; here are some possibilities .
Recent changes in postal regulations now exclude merchandise from being mailed as international letters or flats (Large envelopes).
https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2017/pb22482/html/updt_006.htm
There is also a requirement that international first class letters and flats must be rectangular, not square, so you might have been upgraded because of sending an envelope that's 6x6 inches. Flats must be flexible, and letters must be not over 1/4 inch thick.
https://www.usps.com/international/first-class-mail-international.htm
ezplansnowdotco
OP3 years agoI shipped the cd in a 6"x9" thin envelope weighing 1.7 oz. I chose "documents". It was still $14.96. There's no way around it and there's no going back to the days when I could sell my cd internationally unless I charge an outrageous shipping price.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoI wonder if you could mail them at the international letter rate, with the 40-cent nonmachinable surcharge due to rigidity, if you went to the Post Office counter and paid retail? Basic postage for a 2-ounce letter would be $1.45 to Canada, max is $2.71. I don't ship internationally, myself, so I'm just going by what I see in USPS publications.
pjcdn2005
·3 years agoCan you print a label for usps first class international letter on Stamps or Pirateship? I think that I remember reading years ago that you could do that on Paypal.
@ezplansnowdotco
You might want to look at Pirateship for printing your international labels. I don't know a lot about it but others have posted that it is less expensive to ship internationally using Ascendia there.