Shipping Internationally on January 21, 2018

[kaylees252]

I was upset on January 21, 2018.  I tried many (many) times to print the labels to mail internationally.  I called eBay and was put on hold for 45 minutes and hung up.  I tried again and was put on hold for 40 minutes and I gave up.  I knew because of postage change on this day that something was wrong as I have printed over a 1000 labels to internationl places and never had a problem.  So I went to the Post Office and paid extra postage to have it mailed for me.   It only cost me $.80 extra, my usual postal discount, many VOIDED Labels AND a lot of frustration.  Thank you for fixing the error but what about sending a message so we didn't spend extra time and money wondering what the problem was.  

[partial*eclipse · Accepted solution]

When the problem was first pointed out to eBay staff, they blamed USPS!  They had mis-programmed the shipping because they misunderstood a new ruling related to First Class flats (AKA Large envelopes).  So it took them a whole day to even acknowledge that they had made an error.  On January 22, they finally put up an announcement about it. And then it was another full day before it was fixed.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/UPDATED-Issues-with-Domestic-and-International-First-Cla...

The new USPS policy states that merchandise cannot be shipped in FC flats.  Flats can only be used for documents.  But of course merchandise  CAN be shipped in packages!

[postingid2017]

Now I realize that I may take some flack for what I am about to post, but so be it.  However, my favorite Clerk at my PO told me as well as others have in the past, FC Mail was always intended to be for documents only and not merchandise as it is today.  Frank did tell me that a change will come, he just did not know when.  He also told me to level out the weight on both domestic and international packages up because the PO will start to charge the shipper/seller the higher fee for the same.  I miss him because he was the B.E.S.T.!!  I hope that he is enjoying his retirement, he was the BEST and he was loved by all!

And just to add, I had always used Priority Mail for both International and Domestic shipping - and only recently used FC on FB.  To be on the safe side, I will return to Priority Mail again.  

[partial*eclipse]

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wrote:

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 ... Clerk at my PO told me as well as others have in the past, FC Mail was always intended to be for documents only and not merchandise  ....  

You'll get no flack from me.  The change has already happened.   USPS uses the term international First Class Mail to refer to letters and flats.  The only change is that they will only accept documents in letters and flats, they will no longer accept merchandise in letters and flats.

"In this price change, conforming to the requirements of the Universal Postal Convention, we are limiting the contents of First-Class Mail International postcard, letter, and large envelope (flats) mail to personal correspondence and nondutiable documents. Merchandise that was formerly carried in First-Class Mail International service will instead be eligible to be enclosed in First-Class Package International Service® (FCPIS®) pieces or another available service."

https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2017/pb22482/html/updt_006.htm

[missjen831]

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wrote:

Now I realize that I may take some flack for what I am about to post, but so be it.  However, my favorite Clerk at my PO told me as well as others have in the past, FC Mail was always intended to be for documents only and not merchandise as it is today.  Frank did tell me that a change will come, he just did not know when.  He also told me to level out the weight on both domestic and international packages up because the PO will start to charge the shipper/seller the higher fee for the same.  I miss him because he was the B.E.S.T.!!  I hope that he is enjoying his retirement, he was the BEST and he was loved by all!

And just to add, I had always used Priority Mail for both International and Domestic shipping - and only recently used FC on FB.  To be on the safe side, I will return to Priority Mail again.  

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No flack from me either. And some have disagreed with me but I think this recent change is no doubt related to increasing abuse of first class international mail. Many sellers on one venue in particular have shipped tens of thousands of international packages via first class mail for $3-$4 for some time now. And this is just in ONE GROUP. There is no telling how many other sellers figured out or were tipped off about the ability to print first class mail postage through PayPal. Just the sheer volume of packages being shipped this way must have caught someone’s attention. In this one particular group, some sellers were doing as much as $10k a day!

[southern*sweet*tea]

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wrote:

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 I think this recent change is no doubt related to increasing abuse of first class international mail. Many sellers on one venue in particular have shipped tens of thousands of international packages via first class mail for $3-$4 for some time now.

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Yep.  Abuse it, lose it.

First Class International Letter/Flat/whatever they call it is meant for personal letters and documents, not for random third party sellers to mail their stuff. 

I'm waiting for them to crack down on Media Mail.  I wouldn't be surprised if they did away with it, or allowed it by permit only, for larger businesses who meet a certain volume.