$13 to ship one pony?!?!

[Whoa1234]

Recently I've been working on selling off part of my collection.
I've had many inquires from the UK. Never in all of my sales have I ever paid more than $7 to ship a single pony.
I went to the post office to double check a shipping quote. $12.75 to ship ONE pony with no insurance to Great Britan! 

I didn't want to believe it, so I just went to a different post office in my town and they came up with the same total.
I literally feel so sick to my stomach. This makes shipping to other countries basically unaffordable for me and unaffordable for people to buy from me! 

I highly doubt the Ups or FedEx is any cheaper, since they have always been the pricier alternatives. >.<

Does anyone use any other methods to ship?

[Dragonflitter]

Unfortunately earlier this year the US post service did a 40% increase in their out of country shipping. It made things very difficult for a lot of collectors and online buyers/sellers. The only good thing about it is that out of country shipping now automatically comes with a tracking number, which makes purchased a little safer. But yeah, costly now. I don't know of any alternatives.

[Prince Primbrose]

$13 sounds about right, unfortunately. I remember paying out the ears to send a Rarity in a bubble mailer to a friend in Canada. He really loved her, so I was happy to do it, but it sure makes it hard for anyone to buy or sell from the US. I started selling a couple months ago and just went ahead and put US only, because I dont think anyone can afford to pay such high shipping for a G3 bait or a couple of blind bags. Come on, USPS, you'd get more money if I was able to ship out of country.

(You might ask the post office for the cheapest shipping method out of the states. That's what I have to do every time I take a big package in; they start quoting me for the highest shipping methods, so I just ask "what's the cheapest way to ship this?")

[phoenixsoul85]

Then how do I get packages of a single g4 from China for $1.99?  I know it is expensive when I send it but how do they afford the shipping to me for such a low cost?

[StoryDreamer]

That's why a lot of sellers are selling from the UK with multiple ponies. Maybe a 2 pony per sale rule?

[Prince Primbrose]

Then how do I get packages of a single g4 from China for $1.99?  I know it is expensive when I send it but how do they afford the shipping to me for such a low cost?

A lot of the big Chinese sellers have some sort of deal with the PO/shipping service because they do so much business. (I'm sure someone else can explain it in full!)

[nhal039]

unfortunately $13 sounds right : / that price hike by usps was really rough for intl buyers. I don't think there is a way to send it cheaper otherwise people would be.

[MikeysGrrrl]

How are you sending it? Bubble mailer? Large box? I just received a FS Rarity from an arena member and it was $8 shipping in a bubble mailer. My Lyra Funko Vinyl was $11 shipping and that was in a pretty big box, same with my white talking Princess Celestia (we're talking items that were paid and shipped to me in the last couple of weeks).

I honestly think $13 is overly high for one pony, but I live in Canada so I'm just basing that on what I've paid in the last few weeks.

**Edit** I just realized that I was referring to US to Canada... ignore my post lol

[shelti]

And there will be another Rate increase on the Horizon.
As long as they are not allowed to make cuts where they want
and employees and people want to continue Saturday delivery...well rate increase was the choice they went with.
So be prepared for even higher shipping for domestic and International.

[ponylady]

Unfortunately that price sounds about right 

[HoustonCollector72]

USPS was in financial or still is, the prices for international shipping are now aligned to the rest of the world    we had it cheap for a long time !
people do pay the shipping , I have been getting even people on ebay paying for the Priority International, which allows for heavier packages of more than 4 lbs to be sent overseas in 6 to 10 days ,I have never used it before until recently  when selling some sets of 6 funkos and the weight went over the 4lbs limit for First class international  and sure enough the buyer was pleased with the delivery time frame and cost

[Whoa1234]

What rotten news
Thank you everyone, you've been very helpful.
I guess I will eventually get over the sticker shock. :/

[svleonard]

Wait a minute ... international shipments now come with a tracking number?  An actual tracking number, or the custom's form number?  I've been to different post offices, and they've all told me that you cannot get a tracking on an international package.

[shelti]

Wait a minute ... international shipments now come with a tracking number?  An actual tracking number, or the custom's form number?  I've been to different post offices, and they've all told me that you cannot get a tracking on an international package.

Only Priority
First class customs # still does not provide tracking.

[HoustonCollector72]

Wait a minute ... international shipments now come with a tracking number?  An actual tracking number, or the custom's form number?  I've been to different post offices, and they've all told me that you cannot get a tracking on an international package.

  the customs form number is a tracking key, but only for the usps locations/offices that it goes through before it goes to customs , after it leaves the country you can only see that the customs cleared the package sometimes ,not always, guess sometimes the form does not get scanned at all  ,but most of them do .



Post Merge: September 12, 2013, 08:24:07 PM

the only thing i see is that it went to an international airport  , mostly Chicago  , North Houston , and sometimes Miami Fl shows up here and there

Well I just checked some packages that arrived to Canada and Netherlands , it does show "Delivered Abroad "
one of them was a Priority Intl and the other one a First Class Intl