A WARNING to US sellers shipping internationally

[Brenner]

Guys,

As of Jan. 22nd USPS have a new fee schedule. I do not think that many pple will be able to afford USPS priority intl. any more.

That's the reason when you calculate USPS Priority intl. you get about 30 USD, Till yesterday was around 24 USD in average (Sh to Canada was cheaper).

You do the math.

Tracking with USPS is hit and miss anyway.

But, what Ghostchrome just posted is one of the options.

If you are shipping over 1000 pcs per month, there are paid shipping services that provide very affordable rates for this option. That enables me to offer free shipping within US w/o any problem.

As I can see First class USPS price is lower - good news - I didn't have a time , but I think now they include tracking for free with all domestic shipments.

And label is different as I can see. I hope this is not temp. glitch in postage calculating by label printing software.

And do not forget tracking in USPS , is not actually tracking - it is called delivery confirmation. And that is completely different story.

Tricky...

 

[yobresal]

Oh shoot! This thread just brought the $10 increase in express international shipments to my attention. That is friggen ridiculous.

 

[rhd]

DTR - What is the shipping method you use for my orders? It's not supposed to be trackable (I believe) but it almost always is.

I'm not real clear on the USPS shipping options, but I know that 9 times out of 10, the "customs numbers" that US shippers give me for my packages end up being trackable.

Regarding the suggestion of using UPS, this is a horrible horrible idea. You can sell me an item worth $25, and if you ship it via UPS they'll come to my door with it and demand the $3.50 worth of taxes (fair enough) and a $45 to $60 worth of "brokerage fees" which are basically their fee for "processing your package through customs". It's total BS. For cross border shipments, UPS is a total ripoff. Same with FedEx.

 

[mark-in-dallas]

Well, I guess I'm the only one that's had U.S.P.S. flat out lose a package then. I shipped a laser by U.S.P.S. Priority Mail to someone in Scarborough, Ontario the end of November and it made it as far as to leave the sort facility for DFW International, then vanished never to be seen again.

I challange anyone to find this package: LJ 548 124 762 US

 

[DTR]

DTR - What is the shipping method you use for my orders? It's not supposed to be trackable (I believe) but it almost always is.

I'm not real clear on the USPS shipping options, but I know that 9 times out of 10, the "customs numbers" that US shippers give me for my packages end up being trackable.

Regarding the suggestion of using UPS, this is a horrible horrible idea. You can sell me an item worth $25, and if you ship it via UPS they'll come to my door with it and demand the $3.50 worth of taxes (fair enough) and a $45 to $60 worth of "brokerage fees" which are basically their fee for "processing your package through customs". It's total BS. For cross border shipments, UPS is a total ripoff. Same with FedEx.

They are first class and yes sometimes you get lucky and they get scanned by the foreign post.:beer:

Well, I guess I'm the only one that's had U.S.P.S. flat out lose a package then. I shipped a laser by U.S.P.S. Priority Mail to someone in Scarborough, Ontario the end of November and it made it as far as to leave the sort facility for DFW International, then vanished never to be seen again.

I challange anyone to find this package: LJ 548 124 762 US

In my experience there are no lost packages just delayed or returned to sender. I just received a package from Germany that I had sent six months ago that I though was lost. This has happened several times and any other time something was though lost they showed up just in their own time.:wtf:

 

[lasersbee]

Regarding the suggestion of using UPS, this is a horrible horrible idea. You can sell me an item worth $25, and if you ship it via UPS they'll come to my door with it and demand the $3.50 worth of taxes (fair enough) and a $45 to $60 worth of "brokerage fees" which are basically their fee for "processing your package through customs". It's total BS. For cross border shipments, UPS is a total ripoff. Same with FedEx.

Right on for shipments coming from outside of Canada..

I've stated that numerous times before.. it is cheaper to ship from
the USA to Canada by UPS but they hit the Canadian buyer with
their outrageous Brokerage fees on top of the Duty/Taxes.

It has been ~3 years that we have boycotted UPS shipments from
outside of Canada. We just refuse to do business with companies
that only ship to Canada by UPS and refuse any UPS shipments
at the door.

Here's a tidbit.... It costs more to ship a package by Canada Post
from Quebec to British Columbia than to California...:thinking:

BTW... the Chinese packages are Registered Mail that is tracked
and requires a signature. If the Chinese tracking number starts
with an R is is registered.


Jerry

 

[Guyfromhe]

I had a showwx pico projector sent to me via a reshipping service and I think the USPS lost it...

It was untracked and uninsured so I guess I'm screwed.

 

[plexus]

I'm exactly the same as Jerry: i stopped using UPS years ago because of the constant barrage of way too expensive brokerage fees. I will allow a UPS shipment to me in canada if the shipping is using UPS air and in some cases it makes sense to do so. but generally I stick with the postal service because its simply more reasonable.

 

[Kyosama66]

Well, I guess I'm the only one that's had U.S.P.S. flat out lose a package then. I shipped a laser by U.S.P.S. Priority Mail to someone in Scarborough, Ontario the end of November and it made it as far as to leave the sort facility for DFW International, then vanished never to be seen again.

I challange anyone to find this package: LJ 548 124 762 US

ehyup. My package is on it's way to Scarborough as well. Left LA... and just disappeared.

 

[jasonck08]

How do you ship express mail for $27.55 anywhere on the globe?
I just shipped a host to Fiddy today that I machined for him.
They charged me $38 for an express mail flat rate envelope to Australia.... :thinking:

The price for the flat rate envelope just went up on the 22nd of Jan. It went up from $27.55 to $38, which is a 38% increase!

------

To respond to the OP. I ship hundreds of package internationally and Priority Small Flat rate boxes are NEVER trackable. Sometimes when they are shipped to France or Finland there will be a delivery scan, but these are the only countries that do this.

If you want tracking you can't use a small flat rate box or envelope. You must use Normal priority mail, medium flat rate or large flat rate box. Express is always trackable as well.

UPS is cheaper for a trackable service to Canada, however they get hit up with some pretty insane brokerage and customs fees every time.

 

[Guyfromhe]

I had to replace an xbox motherboard back in the day and the part was $150 and UPS charged me $50 in brokerage.

 

[Brenner]

Tough times are coming for international US shippers, and buyers located outside US.
Same average quality of USPS services, at much higher costs. No alternative has been found yet. Move to Hong Kong maybe