USPS boxes arrive with no postage cost listed? [answered]

[Tulips]

I'm a little confused. I keep getting packages from USA to AUS through USPS First Class Mail International and for some reason there is no cost of postage on the label anywhere I can see. I used the weight information and went on the website to calculate that the $9.96 I paid to get it here should actually have been $6.12 according to the website. Not a huge overcharge, I don't even care, but the thing I'm mainly annoyed at is that the box it arrived in doesn't have any indication of cost at all! Which makes it especially annoying if I do want to check if I've been overcharged even worse in the future.

Does anyone know why the labels don't have this info?

[RockinPrettyBeats]

The cost isn't put on the label.

$3 for international isn't bad at all and I think it's reasonable. I wouldn't focus so much on trying to count pennies that you were overcharged. Some people charge handling fees and that's totally reasonable.

Now if you were charged $20 on a $6 package I would understand. Cause if it was that much you would assume they picked a faster service with tracking and such.

Sellers take a big risk shipping international with First Class International and they save you lots of money not requiring you to use Priority mail...which is very expensive.

I really don't understand why you would mention it in this case. It's not an insane overcharge. Plus, what if you paid $9 and the cost was actually $12. Would you mention it to the seller and demand that you refund the $3?

[Tulips]

No I don't even care about the cost of posting, it probably wasn't even overcharge.
I'm just confused because I've had parcels arrive by the same method before and they had the postage cost listed on them. Has something changed?
I mean, what if it was something that cost me $20 and they posted it for $6, I wouldn't even know.

[teresat]

In paypal there is a choice of whether or not to put the shipping costs on the label.

Online payment provides the sender some discount over shipping at the post office in person.

When quoting using the online calculator, there are 2 columns. Someone can easily read the costs wrong. There can be a big difference in costs as the weight of the package goes up. But not $14 in difference.

[Tulips]

In paypal there is a choice of whether or not to put the shipping costs on the label.

Thanks Teresat, that's good to know. I can see situations where that option would be useful but also annoying.

[teresat]

You're welcome!

It's actually default for my paypal shipping to not show the cost.

You should be able to estimate your cost on http://postcalc.usps.com from US to Australia. If you have the approximate weight (I just weigh ponies on my postal scale) and choose the shipping method. First Class, Priority Mail, or Express international should all have costs on the calculator.

edit for grammar

[ponylady]

Teresat is correct and same goes if you use ebay to print your labels.  I am saying this assuming you are speaking of packages from either here or ebay. 

I know I don't usually print the cost on my packages but that is how I have it set up also.

[ShortyBoo]

I was just wondering about this the other day. I hate not knowing how badly I'm being ripped off with shipping costs. I think the label should always have how much the shipping cost was on it. I recently bought a PS3 game that I was charged $8 to ship from ND to IL via USPS and it took a full week to arrive. I doubt it cost anywhere near that. The same seller was shipping DVDs at half the cost, even though they weigh the exact same.

[Unicorn_pops]

I was just wondering about this the other day. I hate not knowing how badly I'm being ripped off with shipping costs. I think the label should always have how much the shipping cost was on it. I recently bought a PS3 game that I was charged $8 to ship from ND to IL via USPS and it took a full week to arrive. I doubt it cost anywhere near that. The same seller was shipping DVDs at half the cost, even though they weigh the exact same.

Not saying that you weren't overcharged by that seller...that does seem High! But DVD's can be considered "Media Mail" and shipping is a lot lower using that method.  You can always go to www.usps.com and Calculate a price. Just put in the two zip codes, how much the item weighs. Then you can view the different prices depending on shipping method used. Hope that helps

[NoDivision]

Even if the price isn't listed on the online shipping labels, I believe the weight always is. Correct me if I'm wrong? It's very easy to check the postage cost at that point as others have pointed out. I don't think it's a case of people trying to deceive by ripping people off and hiding the postage cost, it's just a default setting.

[teresat]

Yes, for the first 13 ounces each ounce is listed. After that I think it's by lbs. This is what I remember for the US. International might be different.