you cannot get tracking for international mailing by first class /airmail
for tracking or insurance, you must go with Priority
also, any package 4 pounds and over must ship by priority
I deal with this every week and to be honest,
shipping costs I think have definitely hamstrung
dealers like myself selling internationally
I usually sell multiple items to non-US clients and shipping is outrageous
I sent Ari a box that weighed 36 pounds and it cost $120
and when you folks ask why: it's because the USPS
entered into the worst contracts you can imagine
with private industry to handle
the mail
the post office, as a pseudo-private/government
business contracts with Fed-X, DSL & UPS to
handle all international and much of the domestic mail.
the economics here are simple. As a government
entity, the post office is just supposed to
maintain costs in such a way that they don't have
to ask taxpayers to cover any shortfall if the
USPS for instance were to lose money this year.
If the USPS breaks even, they have fulfilled their charter.
Private industry however is in it for pure
profit, therefore having private industry handle
USPS mail means that a profit motive by those
industries determine cost increases so that they
achieve those profits. That contract began in
2003 or 04 and since then we have seen huge
increases in mailing costs for packages each
year. Unfortunately, this isn't going to stop
anytime soon as it would require the USPS to
re-acquire aircraft and remake shipping stations
etc at great cost to the taxpayer again.
have you noticed that vending machines & scales
have been removed from most post offices (they will be from all soon)??
in a cost cutting measure because the post office
discovered declining revenues since signing the
private contracts - which was of course not the
expectation and if they can convince you to buy
postage online, then they don't need as many
counter clerks and save money by freezing hiring
and servicing machines costs money too.
shipping is going to at some point require me to
raise my own rates and I feel sorry for those of
you selling on fleaBay forced to accept $4
shipping.. It may be the biggest reason why
sellers will now start leaving them at a faster pace
Rich=============
At 02:48 PM 9/8/2008, Paul Gerrard wrote:
To second Tom, and being similarly on the
receiving end in the UK, I find that a lot of
sellers who donât know me go for USPS Global
Priority. Package weights & sizes obviously
affect cost, but for a couple of folded
1-sheets, this seems to work out at about
$26-$28 with a few dollars allowance for
materials. I understand Global Priority now also
includes indemnity up to approx $60, which would
cover the values you specify. (Not sure where
your $40 comes from - are you thinking flat-rate
box, or some combination with insurance?)
Second most popular is USPS First Class, which
of course is great for the recipient because
it's quite a bit cheaper, but then I guess you
open yourself up to the PayPal issue. I see from
the USPS site there is an additional option with
First Class to get a certificate of mailing -
would this make it more difficult for PayPal to
automatically side with the buyer? From what we
know of PayPal, it probably makes no difference,
but I would then question why USPS offer this
certificate - can the seller get any
compensation from USPS based on this? (The
equivalent certificate in the UK does provide
evidence for a basic compensation claim.)
Paul
www.movieposterstudio.com
In a message dated 08/09/2008 21:23:14 GMT
Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Michael
USPS Priority would be your best bet as it is
the cheapest method that can be tracked, which
would be needed if there was some PayPal
issue. You might like to offer First Class
International for repeat buyers that you trust
as it is a lot cheaper, and perversely, seems to
arrive quicker than Priority mail.
I would hate for you to not offer international
shipping. I bought a very nice Edward G
Robinson insert from you about a year ago and
that was a very pleasant transaction.
Tom
Michael B wrote:
what's the best way to ship a poster worth
30-50 internationally (UK, Australia, Japan) so
there is no issue with paypal down the road ???
12.00 USPS priority?
40.00 USPS global priority?
OR OR OR
state no international shipping in your ebay description?
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