"Postage cost complaints already?" Topic

I'd hoped to at least get through the first day of the new US postal rates without grousing, but no – some guy is already asking me for cheaper shipping on the ebay lot he just won. Mind you, anyone can plug in the costs on the USPS site and see that yes, it really does cost $12.75 USD to ship seven ounces first class to Holland these days. I'm not even asking for payment on the cost of the packing materials and still he's asking if there's cheaper "second class" mail. When's the last time they offered that, sometime in the early 90s maybe?

A depressing sign of things to come, I fear.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the first overseas shipment :/ I have a feeling it's going to impact my overseas ebay sales .

Tell him from someone who lives in Holland, that rate is the cheaper than if he were to send a package to the US.

Cheers,

Yep. Mailed out a bunch of overseas orders flat rate envelopes today and felt the burn on the price.

I've opted to close down all shipping outside the USA, tired of being burned by postal rate gallop.

It certainly is going to stifle my shopping in the US unless I can get someone to carry items along in their carry on luggage.

Regarding second class… I think It was only five or six years ago that surface mail was phased out im the US and that was reasonably cheaper.

And tombe honest… Those prices are rediculous. Depending on the weight bracket I can actually send stuff to the US from Germany for about half the cost or less!

Guess I missed shipping out stuff before the deadline…

Small orders will definitely be impacted but large orders shouldn't be too badly affected. Still, so much for the "I think I'll try a couple packs and see how they look" orders…

In trying to look at the glass half full side, this might cause some balkanization that actually brings back a lost element in the hobby. Remember actually physically discovering a range in a real store? I remember my excitement in discovering Lancashire Games figures on a trip to Europe in 1997…or it actually being worthwhile to drive up from San Diego to Brookhurst to see what exotic manufacturers they carried that I had never seen before (Peter Pig, Xyston and the old B&B Miniatures being just a few ranges I was first exposed to via that venerable brick and mortar).

So much for balancing our trade deficit.

Guess I missed shipping out stuff before the deadline…

Yeah, I carried 12 pounds of packages a mile to the post office Saturday morning to dodge the deadline – and I had to borrow $40 USD till the PayPal transfers complete to cover the costs. Loads of fun, especially in this cold.

Yep, the increases are out of hand, basically up $4 USD a weight band with the minimum cost being over $6 USD for even a 1 ounce parcel.

Can't blame buyer for asking for cheaper rates if that was an alternative at all. Can't blame sellers for looking at postage as a loss in their profits. Just the argy-bargy of doing business. I agree with timurilank, compare the cost, in context with posting domestically, I think posting OS is pretty cheap.

Time to check the UPS rates, though I suspect they won't be any cheaper.

I just got back from the Post Office after mailing some E-Bay packages. Boy was that a shock.

Yesterday I mailed out 10 horses and riders to California, surface mail, $12.95 USD Cdn;
airmail 15.95 cdn.

This is from Vancouver Canada.
Yikes.

Well that means I won't be ordering from the US anymore,
thats to bad…

Regards
James

It sounds like they are doing what all postal services are doing. Aus Post has never been cheap and now it has gone up as well……

To be fair, they did keep their prices down longer than most national services, and that despite Congress (who ultimately control everything they do) repeatedly refusing to even rule on allowing them to take cost-saving measures like ending Saturday delivery, close underused branch offices, and modify their payment schedule into their pension plan. The USPS gets nothing from tax money, so paying for everything (including funding the future retirement of union workers who haven't even been hired yet) is all on them. Small surprise they wind up having to raise postal rates.

International sales are a thing of the past for me. There is no way someone is going to pay this much for shipping.

I dunno, just sold (and was paid for) a couple of items to Australia and another to France after the increase, so still must be OK to some. I use eBay's auto shipping calculator, so I don't subsidize the cost.

I also noticed you get a price break on First Class International if you print your postage online. That's new.

International sales are a thing of the past for me. There is no way someone is going to pay this much for shipping.

A bit overly pessimistic, I think. Like Billiam, I've sold several things to international customers the last few days, and so far only one has complained – and even he was okay with it after I explained that there wasn't really a better option. People will certainly buy less than they used to, but they won't stop altogether. The (very similar) Royal Mail price hike didn't stop me from ordering from GZG and Brigade and CMG, it just reduced the amount I spend on UK companies.

Still going to order from the US, small orders are still cheap enough when you consider they don't always get you for VAT on the small ones.