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I spent $100 to ship 6 packages internationally$12 for ONE fairytale bird to sweden$20 for 3 PVC care bears, 1 FTB to Australia$10 for a G3 to Italy$21 for 3 G3's to UK$15 for some pony clothes to Finland$10 for one PVC carebear to canadaA 4 pound box is like $40 all in padded envelopes
To make things worse for us Finns, they lowered our custom limit from 45€ to 22€. So everything which has the value over 22€ and is coming outside EU is supposed to end up getting stuck in the customs and we should pay extra fees. That 22€ includes shipping costs which means that if I buy something like jeans from US, the shipping alone is almost high enough to match the custom limit. It's insane, specially now that USPS prices went up so much at the same time. Luckily I haven't had to pay any fees..yet.So a tip for people shipping stuff to Finland: mark a very low value on to the customs label and mark it as a gift if possible. 22€=$29
Tikibirds and Sunshinepony- I'm right there with you too-I know some other countries have always had high shipping (I seem to recall Japan being crazy high, and Australia wasn't cheap either)but- it still stinks. Definitely has cut down on trades and sales- not just because of the cost, but because it USED to be expensive (but still doable) to send by registered mail- but now first class is already so expensive that adding an additional $13 to register the package puts nearly everything right over the top!I bet the Etsy business is suffering as well. I have no end of anxiety right now because I just did a swap with a lovely member from Spain, and a 1.2 pound box cost $18.60 for first class to send! To register it would have cost an additional $12.95, making total FIRST CLASS shipping for a small box $31.55!!! So she agreed I could send it first class (otherwise the trade just wouldn't have been worth it) and now I live in fear every single day that it will be lost or DELAYED. (The recent postal delays are also causing me serious concern given the regularity with which this occurs) It has really put a damper on the international trades and sales for sure- sending fun gifts is also completely lame now- which stinks since shipping to Canada used to be so dang cheap and I have a few friends there that I liked to send randomness too
Yes I feel that way too hun! I made some close friends in Canada, and also recently in Sweden - I don't mind sending things back and forth, but even Canada being raised so high... UGH. No more surface mail? I mean srsly... like I used to live in Detroit, and I could spit on Windsor - they can't drive mail across borders like that to major cities? Ahhhh. Sorry for my rant...I just did sell something that I required registered mail for. I required shipping in a box and it to be registered overseas. I went on USPS and quoted the price... $27.50. Thought that was RIDICULOUS, but... someone bought it, and paid - no problem. I take it to the post office, it's not $27.50, it's $27.85. Seriously? It weighed the same on their scale as mine, but the extra $0.35? I didn't look at "online prices" so, I don't know what's the issue - the post is taking us all for a ride. I don't think it should be strictly the users problem to pay all this extra money to keep them in business.Heck, people like us - collectors, we DRIVE postal services... seriously. My small town has less than 400 people in it, and I'm sending and receiving up to 10x packages a day sometimes. That's probably more than they normally (before I lived here) got in a week... I feel like I am keeping our postal branch office open by using it. And yet, we are the ones suffering by paying out the wazoo to now ship stuff. Pretty soon their prices will be as high as UPS or FedEx and they'll be in trouble... (okay probably not THAT high but... c'mon now...)
I'll admit that I haven't read through all 6 pages here, but has it been mentioned that you can't print postage online for certain countries anymore? I just had a buyer in the Czech Republic & normally I could print Priority International postage straight from ebay or USPS.com... not any more! Apparently there are certain countries that you can print postage for (so far I've sent to the UK & Japan) & others you can't (Czech Republic). What's up with that USPS??!