USPS Postal Rates Harming My Online Reputation

[Capitalmale]

On that other site, I recently ran a comparison of feedback on shipping time and shipping changes between my United States and non-US customers. (Disclaimer - I live in the United States, near Washington DC).

For 73 ratings, I have score or 4.8 for shipping time and 4.8 for shipping changes from my US based customers, and 4.2 for both attributes among my international customers.

Since my international rates are pretty much calculated by the online shipping tool, I'm just passing along United States Postal Service rates. USPS rates are shown publicly at http://postcalc.usps.com/. Rates are fully transparent.

I mainly sell comics and ship them in stiff envelopes and double cardboard. One comic in the sort of packaging is about 7 ounces, and minimum cost to the UK using First Class International mail is $7.15 cents. This is the slowest method.

They go on to say: First-Class Mail Large Envelopes are subject to First-Class Package International Service prices
if any one of the following apply:
The Large Envelope is too Rigid – does not bend easily
The Large Envelope is NOT Rectangular or Square
The Large Envelope contains items that cause more than 1/4 inch variation in thickness

Because I want my comics to not bend in shipping, I always make them rigid. The post office says I will be charged for sending a package,instead of an envelope. It now cost $12.75 to ship, even though its the same weight and takes up the same space. I cannot tell you how many times I had to eat that difference.

Want it faster? Then I have to use Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope, which costs $23.95.
Want tracking? You can't use Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope. You have to use Priority Mail International, which is $42.00, or Express International, which is even more expensive.

I had to chuckle at the discussion about Royal Mail to Europe, because its the same stuff the US Post Office is pulling here. My sentiment is the same - I want to offer my products to people overseas, but the cost and risk is not worth it. If do not offer tracking, I can have money taken from my account. But who is going to pay $42 to have a $5.00 comic book shipped to them.

Personally, as a seller, I am embarrassed at what the USPS charges for shipping around the globe. However, if you are a buyer, please understand, global shipping is slow and expensive. Neither of those is the fault of the vender.

Any US sellers have any suggestions or recommended alternative shippers?

[suesjools]

Sorry, I can't recommend alternative shippers as I use USPS myself, though I agree with you, their international shipping rates are a disgrace. I've never had issues with international buyers, sorry you had the experiences you did. I'm sure someone who uses alternative carriers will be along soon with some ideas.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[rokins_toys]

I have accused royal mail of living in a delusional alternate universe. They have purposely excluded the most commonly used small boxes from being sent as small parcels, like a tiny 12x9x9 inch box. They have done this to force businesses into sending this SMALL box as a medium parcel. They have even restricted the size of a medium parcel to exclude medium size boxes so we have to send them using the more expensive ParcelForce methods, so like you, can I really ask my customers to pay £15.00+ shipping for a £20.00 or £30.00 toy because of it's size? I stated the facts to our postal regulator and they just wrote back with the usual deluded nonsense and fail to see what royal mail have done by excluding small boxes from being sent as small parcels forcing businesses to send them for double the price as medium parcels when they are in fact a small parcel.

Postal services are just not living in the real world. Royal mail whine about losing businesses as customers over recent years and I am like, what do you expect, you keep increasing prices, pricing them out of using your services then you increase prices again and introduce unrealistic maximum sizes for small and medium parcels. The regluator tried to claim they are trying to preserve royal mail so they gave royal mail the go ahead to do this and drop the threshold from 5,000 parcels per year to 1,000 parcels per to try and tempt smaller businesses into going back to royal mail. But I replied, this is not going to work because the business rates for stamp prices are no better than the public tariff last year and with the size restrictions, those businesses, myself included, are not going to send a SMALL box as a medium parcel when we can send it with a courier whom recognises that the box is small and is a small parcel and will send it as a small parcel when royal mail want to claim such small boxes like a 12x9x9 inch box is a medium parcel so they are not preserving royal mail, they are just knocking in a few more nails in the coffin of royal mail. Royal mail will lose more business customers over the next 12 months, so what then? Increase prices even more to cover even more loss in revenue when they should lower prices and increase the maximum dimensions of their small and medium parcels so we're not being forced into sending some small boxes as medium parcels and not being forced to send some medium size boxes through more expensive services with ParcelForce.

Problem with international shipping, I face this problem as well given what royal mail charge for weights for small packets, and ironic that I can send a 12x9x9 inch box internationally as a "small packet" but cannot send it a small parcel within the UK, oh the irony stings, but what they charge for international signed for is ridiculous so I never use it. And it is not just the cost of international signed for, as royal mail do state that they cannot track something when it has left the country, so why am I asking my customers to pay for a service that does not deliver door to door tracking? Someone at royal mail must have been smoking the wacky stuff that day!

Biggest problem with international shipping, most stuff we all send is airmail so you have to factor in weight for the plane and more weight means more fuel to get the plane off the ground and keep it in the air, and fuel for planes ain't cheap, especially when it's an 8 hour flight across the atlantic lol.

Comics are not a dead weight though, not unless you are sending 50+ of them in one package, then you have got some serious weight for that one package alone. I understand where you are coming from on the comic front though. Your customers want them in as mint a condition as possible and for the comic(s) to not be bent or folded to fit through their letterbox.

Postal services claim to understand the needs of their customers, but they obviously do not understand, and where they do understand, they see a way of making profit for themselves with unnecessarily high shipping prices for cheap small/medium lightweight items.

[jyerxa1961]

Same mailing using Canada Post,,,I deal in postcards and magazines,,,a postcard with a cardboard back sealed in poly cost $2.49 to mail to the US and $4.93 to the UK,,a magazine with backer and poly bag starts at $5.79 to the US and $14.00 to the UK,,,but most buyers don't realize this and say I'm overcharging for shipping,,but what as sellers can we do,,nothing,,suck it up and deal with it. Really a good thing I sell on-line as a hobby and not trying to make a living at it,,,

[FirstGreenIsGold]

Yes, this business of shipping rates is certainly a problem for on-line sellers.

I've been trying to understand Canada Post's policies for the last three years. Every time I ask a clerk a question, I get a different answer. I never know what I'm going to be charged when I go to the counter.

During the past two weeks, this issue has become a problem for me again. I don't know what to do. So I closed many of my listings and, then, after yesterday's visit to the post office, I ended up putting the rest on holiday notice.

Jyerxa1961, I wonder if you could help me understand something please? As an example ... A postcard with cardboard and poly ... $2.49 to the US. Are they charging you extra because there is something other than "documents" in lettermail / letter-post? What category is this fee for? It's not lettermail / letter-post / light packet.

I am so confused about postage right now.

[jyerxa1961]

Marie,,,that's 50 - 100 grams,,on average 4 postcards,,cardboard backer in a 9 x 6 inch envelope,,,each postcard seal in it's own acid free poly envelope,,centered on the backer. Little over kill on the packing probley but in 3 years selling on line,,shipping world wide,,I've never had a item, postcard or magazine destroyed or folded but the mail system.

[FirstGreenIsGold]

OK, I understand what you mean. Thanks. :-)

I tend to use a lot of cardboard and plastic as well when I pack. Also, I was adding my handling fee to postage in an attempt to cover fees and a bit for stationery.

The issue that I had was that depending on the clerk, I would be charged lettermail / letter-post / small packet / light packet.

It's a long story, so I won't get into it. I don't know how many times I've asked at CP for clarification. Most recent contradicts what this authoritative clerk told me just a couple of weeks ago. She gave me copies of the postal guide just yesterday after she finally looked it up. As most of my items are lower priced, my profit per item isn't much. If my shipping charge doesn't cover postage and selling fees etc. , then I might as well give up.

I closed a lot of my listings to have a look at those that are not "documents". Doubt whether I'll bother to revise postage yet again.

[electroplasmatica]

Hi, my first post here, I know exactly how confusing Canada Posts rates are. I had to go to the post office with a mock up packet and I said "What is the cheapest possible rate I can have this mailed internationally?" "How about North America"?
$5.20 overseas, about $2.99 US and Canada.
My package is 15x11x1cm and weighs in total 21grams.

That would be 'light packet', it's funny, I had to go to the brick and mortar post office because light packet wasn't even a calculate-able option on the Canada Post website! I thought, there has got to be a cheaper way!
To the post office I go for a straight answer.

I will not ever consider sales of anything that won't fit into the 'light packet' category, just too costly!

PS, what an advantage the Chinese have! They can sell stuff cheaper than contaminated dirt and still cover their postage costs within the price!
How can anybody compete with that?!

[HaleysComics]

I sell on the other site as well & ship using usps, I have not had a problem with customers complaining about shipping charges, knock on wood, shipping time & charges are at 5.0
I ship out the next day using priority mail boxed both domestic & internationally & insure all packages using third party app.

I sell comics both graded & raw books as well, I find that most customers like having them delivered in a box instead of envelopes & it doesn't cost that much more to ship.