eBay

jabarno54 · ‎07-07-2018

I read this article in Forbes today and was quite shocked to find that shipping rates from underdeveloped countries is regulated by the UN. I was always under the impression that it was someone in Washington or USPS giving us the shaft. Taken from the article:

"Overall, the postal service of the U.S. is getting financially demolished on all fronts, recording losses of over $60 billion since 2007, with $5.6 billion of this coming in fiscal year 2016. As a stopgap, they continuously hike rates for U.S.-based shippers. In January 2017, the cost of first class mail was significantly raised. In September, a new price category was added for lightweight parcels, which essentially boosted the cost to ship them by 12%. This coming January, the rate of first class mail will go up again, crossing the psychological threshold of 50 cents to send a letter domestically, not to mention higher prices to send anything heavier".

"International postage rates for incoming packages are set by a U.N. agency called the United Postal Union (UPU). This is a body that was established in 1874 -- subsequently being absorbed into the U.N. -- that is currently made up of 192 countries which meets every four years to revise its policy and set new terminal fees, with each country getting one vote a piece. While the voting system of the UPU is egalitarian, the shipping rates that it sets are not. According to Nancy Sparks of FedEx Express (via eCommerceBytes.com), the rate structure of the UPU is a system where the “haves pay the have-nots.” Essentially, countries that it deems to be poorer or less developed pay less for shipping to countries that are categorized as being richer. So someone shipping from, say, China, will pay significantly less to ship to a country like the U.S. than an American shipper will pay to send that same package to China."

dhbookds · ‎07-07-2018

Yep, that's what alot of people can't get their heads around.........that's it's not about Ebay influencing the prices, it's the UN.......

carlmarxx · ‎07-07-2018

@jabarno54 wrote:
I read this article in Forbes today and was quite shocked to find that shipping rates from underdeveloped countries is regulated by the UN. I was always under the impression that it was someone in Washington or USPS giving us the shaft. Taken from the article:
"Overall, the postal service of the U.S. is getting financially demolished on all fronts, recording losses of over $60 billion since 2007, with $5.6 billion of this coming in fiscal year 2016. As a stopgap, they continuously hike rates for U.S.-based shippers. In January 2017, the cost of first class mail was significantly raised. In September, a new price category was added for lightweight parcels, which essentially boosted the cost to ship them by 12%. This coming January, the rate of first class mail will go up again, crossing the psychological threshold of 50 cents to send a letter domestically, not to mention higher prices to send anything heavier".
"International postage rates for incoming packages are set by a U.N. agency called the United Postal Union (UPU). This is a body that was established in 1874 -- subsequently being absorbed into the U.N. -- that is currently made up of 192 countries which meets every four years to revise its policy and set new terminal fees, with each country getting one vote a piece. While the voting system of the UPU is egalitarian, the shipping rates that it sets are not. According to Nancy Sparks of FedEx Express (via eCommerceBytes.com), the rate structure of the UPU is a system where the “haves pay the have-nots.” Essentially, countries that it deems to be poorer or less developed pay less for shipping to countries that are categorized as being richer. So someone shipping from, say, China, will pay significantly less to ship to a country like the U.S. than an American shipper will pay to send that same package to China."

The USPS hurt them selfs by dropping Air parcel post international , small internalional priority mail flat rate $12 . They could have kept the old surface mail by renaming it Air surface Mail . this would have help U.S. shippers. And would helped to be line with same number of shipping services like Uk's Royal mail and Others do to deal with China's unfair shipping rates by the UPU .

twnpopcards · ‎07-07-2018

@dhbookds wrote:
Yep, that's what alot of people can't get their heads around.........that's it's not about Ebay influencing the prices, it's the UN.......

You are correct that the UN is a major issue in this as they still consider China an underprivileged nation and they are charged the same mailing rate as Gabon is. China has taken advantage of this and flooded the international market with their goods because they could ship so inexpensively.

However, the e-packets and the price for those and the tracking being included was negotiated by Ebay, USPS, China and I do believe the US Congress had their fingers in the pie also and gave those outrageous rates for tracking for favorable terms on the Loans that the US currently owes to China. I believe this lowered the interest that was due at the time and USPS now loses at least $.49 on every e-packet they touch due to the tracking that is required. This is something that was forced on them by our own government selling US sellers down the river without a paddle to not make them look like idiots. Most people in the US are not aware that the US has borrowed so much money from China and has to pay interest on these amounts. Another hidden line item in the huge budget.

carlmarxx · ‎07-07-2018

@twnpopcards wrote:
@dhbookds wrote:
Yep, that's what alot of people can't get their heads around.........that's it's not about Ebay influencing the prices, it's the UN.......
You are correct that the UN is a major issue in this as they still consider China an underprivileged nation and they are charged the same mailing rate as Gabon is. China has taken advantage of this and flooded the international market with their goods because they could ship so inexpensively.

However, the e-packets and the price for those and the tracking being included was negotiated by Ebay, USPS, China and I do believe the US Congress had their fingers in the pie also and gave those outrageous rates for tracking for favorable terms on the Loans that the US currently owes to China. I believe this lowered the interest that was due at the time and USPS now loses at least $.49 on every e-packet they touch due to the tracking that is required. This is something that was forced on them by our own government selling US sellers down the river without a paddle to not make them look like idiots. Most people in the US are not aware that the US has borrowed so much money from China and has to pay interest on these amounts. Another hidden line item in the huge budget.

The U.S. Under Bush W and Darth Chaney barrowed the money for their 2 wars .

thingsoldandnew10 · ‎07-07-2018

China is no longer a developing country! China was a developed country the same as the USA, Canada, UK etc.

Two additional reasons Chinese shippers can ship so cheaply:

1.) The Chinese government subsidizes the Chinese postal rates for Chinese se,,ers.

2.) China controls the the WPU since it's Chinas turn to chair the. the postal union. And given that China controlled the amount of postage the USA received for shipments from China for the next four years, Since China is now classified as a developed country the postage rates should have gone up for Chinese sellers to be almost the same as it cost American sellers to ship to China. Another unfair practice by China and one that Trump should be addressing if he is a real USA President.

@twnpopcards wrote:
@dhbookds wrote:
Yep, that's what alot of people can't get their heads around.........that's it's not about Ebay influencing the prices, it's the UN.......
You are correct that the UN is a major issue in this as they still consider China an underprivileged nation and they are charged the same mailing rate as Gabon is. China has taken advantage of this and flooded the international market with their goods because they could ship so inexpensively.

However, the e-packets and the price for those and the tracking being included was negotiated by Ebay, USPS, China and I do believe the US Congress had their fingers in the pie also and gave those outrageous rates for tracking for favorable terms on the Loans that the US currently owes to China. I believe this lowered the interest that was due at the time and USPS now loses at least $.49 on every e-packet they touch due to the tracking that is required. This is something that was forced on them by our own government selling US sellers down the river without a paddle to not make them look like idiots. Most people in the US are not aware that the US has borrowed so much money from China and has to pay interest on these amounts. Another hidden line item in the huge budget.