eBay

coolcollectablestuff123 · ‎02-28-2020

So looking for some input. I have been selling on line for over 10 years & had this issue years ago & now it has started again since the post office has double there prices over the past year or so making shipping cost sky rocket. Now they are opening up Media Mail & sending back the magazines again. Years back I had a lawyer send me the legal definition of Media Mail & said there was no law or rule that said a magazine was not media. I know everyone ships magazines as media mail but now our local post office is going to return them. Does anyone have any answers on this matter as a legal matter. Obviously soon as we double the shipping cost on them they will stop selling with the 10's of thousands of sellers still using media mail. I think the only fair market is if either we all get to use it or no one does. Anyone with any answers out there ??????

fern*wood · ‎03-01-2020

I've always had to compete against sellers like you that think media mail is fine for magazines. I deal with it by selling lots that can go in As or other flat rate boxes. Single magazines can usually go 1st class, since they rarely weigh over a pound.

Can you not ship any of your single magazines 1st class? I do agree that you charging almost $12. for one magazine would hurt sales so I'd sell in lots.

7606dennis · ‎03-01-2020

Magazines, as periodicals, are not eligible to be sent via media mail. I would not use that attorney in the future.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

go-bad-chicken · ‎03-01-2020

@coolcollectablestuff123 wrote:
So looking for some input. I have been selling on line for over 10 years & had this issue years ago & now it has started again since the post office has double there prices over the past year or so making shipping cost sky rocket. Now they are opening up Media Mail & sending back the magazines again. Years back I had a lawyer send me the legal definition of Media Mail & said there was no law or rule that said a magazine was not media. I know everyone ships magazines as media mail but now our local post office is going to return them. Does anyone have any answers on this matter as a legal matter. Obviously soon as we double the shipping cost on them they will stop selling with the 10's of thousands of sellers still using media mail. I think the only fair market is if either we all get to use it or no one does. Anyone with any answers out there ??????

YOU CAN SHIP MAGAZINES AND COMIC BOOKS VIA USPS MEDIA MAIL! The solution is real simple and does not require a lawyer in order to get it done. So here is what you do. Get yourself a nice pair of scissors and cut out all of those ads.

Problem solved, money saved, easy peasy.

comics-scifi-collectibles · ‎03-01-2020

Spoiler

@coolcollectablestuff123

I ship my magazine lots in regional A rate boxes. Up to about 20 or so fit and ship at the 2lb. Rate Unless the magazine is a odd smaller sized one a bubble flat rate won't work.

No clue how that spoiler happened, guess I need to stick to my computer for posting. Lol

.

I ship my magazine lots in regional A rate boxes. Up to about 20 or so fit and ship at the 2lb. Rate Unless the magazine is a odd smaller sized one a bubble flat rate won't work.No clue how that spoiler happened, guess I need to stick to my computer for posting. Lol.

Comics-scifi_collectibles Volunteer Community Mentor
Member since 2003

mr_lincoln · ‎03-01-2020

@coolcollectablestuff123 For myself I think ANY printed material should qualify for Media Mail including magazines, newspapers, etc. I really don't understand the USPS's position on that, what do they care if a magazine is shipped with advertising in it? As to opening packages, ours will do that but charge the Shipper the extra to change it to another service.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

coolcollectablestuff123 · ‎03-01-2020

I read the web site over & over & no where does it say magazines are not media mail but the sad thing is that amazon sends out millions of them a year & no one stops them. Yes they are cracking down because they keep raising the prices to make it impossible to ship low cost items which is well more than half the sales on the internet. I've already had to send more than have of what would be priority mail thru fedex & they do a 10th of the damage the post office does & every claim I have had with them I was paid in less than 2 weeks. I'm still waiting for 2 checks from the post office since August. & now 1st class is just priority without insurance which made half of my magazines only affordable thru media mail. I'm sure now that that is gone again I will loose 3/4 of those sales unless I can get a deal with another carrier. It's really sad that I can ship a magazine to anywhere in the world for the same price & sometimes less than priority mail local. That is just ridiculous. There really is no reason besides over run cost forcing greed that there isn't a flat rate for a magazine. A 10 cent add in a 70 year old magazine has nothing to do with there cost to deliver a package. I live a mile from a factory that used to send out 100,000 magazines a month & there cost wasn't much more than a stamp. Now a 1 ounce package to California that I could put a stamp on & mail it cost me $3.18. That is the biggest rip off in the industry!! It's a shame, we could sell twice as much if the rates were better. I get a ton of emails a day of complainants that folks wan't to buy something but can't afford the high shipping. Thanks to everyone for the reply's. At least I know I'm not alone. I just hope they are going to after ebay amazon & the rest of these big sites that are using media mail everyday for magazines. I have thousands of them sitting now that are for the most part just going to sit on my shelf's

1786davycrockett · ‎03-01-2020

lja440, who is a postal employee, sent you the official USPS memo regarding what items are considered by the post office to be media items. The reason that (as you state) "no where does it say magazines are not media mail" is simple -- magazines are NOT included on the list. Neither are elephants, bicycles, trampolines, or harmonicas. The writers of the USPS statute did not feel it necessary to include EVERY item which is NOT media -- only those items that ARE considered legal media items. Makes sense to me.

lja440 · ‎03-02-2020

A simple google search "Can magazines be shipped by Media Mail" resulted in this "104,000,000 results" most of these state that they can not. There are a few who think (at the time they posted it) that they could squeak them by. and some complaining that they got slapped with Postage Due and bad feedback. So I do not believe that you couldn't find the answer to that question.

You complain about damage and the fact that FedEx has paid your damage claims but you are still waiting on USPS pay outs. This leads me to think that you do not pack well. Me I have shipped thousands of packages of all shapes and sizes. I have yet to have a single item that I packed arrive damaged.

I have received damaged items. One via USPS, a lot of 50 individual eye shadow loose powder pots that were just put in a paper FRE that tore. and a Amazon Prime Pantry box shipped using UPS. Box was only half full and the few canned items beat up a bottle of floor cleaner and food items in softer packaging. About 50% of the items that I have bought that were shipped FedEx, no matter how well packed have not arrived or have been damaged, mostly due to being placed (aka thrown) into situations that guaranteed they would be damaged. So maybe your FedEx claims speed is due to their extensive experience in processing them.

As for your claim that Amazon ships magazines Media Mail. They don't. Amazon has a permit rate because they do 90% of the work. Amazon delivers pallets to the delivering Post Offices, we (USPS) do not touch the packages until they are sorted to the carriers for delivery. Very much like FedEx SmartPost and UPS SurePost.

orangehound · ‎03-02-2020

@coolcollectablestuff123 wrote:
I read the web site over & over & no where does it say magazines are not media mail

@coolcollectablestuff123

Although links to the information has been provided, I'll provide it again in case you missed it: USPS DMM 4.1 (a)

Key points:

Since the first line of DMM 4.1 says "Only these items may be mailed at the Media Mail prices" and magazines are not listed in the subsequent items, then magazines are not eligible.
And, should one interpret 4.1 (a) as applying to magazines, 4.1 (a) specifically states that any literature that contains advertising cannot be mailed using Media Mail.

I hope that helps.

soh.maryl · ‎03-02-2020

And we also probably should thank you because your experience in and knowledge of your job and USPS rules has enabled you to offer much information here. Thank you again.

soh.maryl · ‎03-02-2020

What a disappointment when I was about to ship an elephant and a harmonica as media mail with combined shipping, of course!

7606dennis · ‎03-02-2020

@go-bad-chicken wrote:
@coolcollectablestuff123 wrote:
So looking for some input. I have been selling on line for over 10 years & had this issue years ago & now it has started again since the post office has double there prices over the past year or so making shipping cost sky rocket. Now they are opening up Media Mail & sending back the magazines again. Years back I had a lawyer send me the legal definition of Media Mail & said there was no law or rule that said a magazine was not media. I know everyone ships magazines as media mail but now our local post office is going to return them. Does anyone have any answers on this matter as a legal matter. Obviously soon as we double the shipping cost on them they will stop selling with the 10's of thousands of sellers still using media mail. I think the only fair market is if either we all get to use it or no one does. Anyone with any answers out there ??????
YOU CAN SHIP MAGAZINES AND COMIC BOOKS VIA USPS MEDIA MAIL! The solution is real simple and does not require a lawyer in order to get it done. So here is what you do. Get yourself a nice pair of scissors and cut out all of those ads.

Problem solved, money saved, easy peasy.

Actually, I don't believe that your solution is viable since the items would still be classed as periodicals which are not eligible for the Media Mail service.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

tools* · ‎03-02-2020

The one magazine that comes to mind that can be shipped by Media Mail is Consumer Reports, because it contains no advertising. There are probably others.

orangehound · ‎03-02-2020

@7606dennis wrote:
@go-bad-chicken wrote:
YOU CAN SHIP MAGAZINES AND COMIC BOOKS VIA USPS MEDIA MAIL! The solution is real simple and does not require a lawyer in order to get it done. So here is what you do. Get yourself a nice pair of scissors and cut out all of those ads.

Problem solved, money saved, easy peasy.
Actually, I don't believe that your solution is viable since the items would still be classed as periodicals which are not eligible for the Media Mail service.

And the buyer would file a MBG claim for the item arriving damaged.

(Although I think go-bad-chicken's response was actually a tongue-in-cheek joke).

nobody*s_perfect · ‎03-02-2020

@tools* wrote:
The one magazine that comes to mind that can be shipped by Media Mail is Consumer Reports, because it contains no advertising. There are probably others.

No, because it's a periodical.