How do sellers ship for so cheap in Australia ???

[99office]

How do so many Australian sellers ship for so cheap? They sell items that will not fit in a letter (thicker than 20mm) for way cheaper than the cheapest Australia post contract parcel rates.

For example, search ebay for "USB car charger", select "Australia Only" in location, and there are heaps of people selling chargers (including shipping) between $2.50 and $4.00. HOW DO THEY DO IT?? Do they just sent it in a letter, and hope no one checks it is thicker than 20mm? All those items are way thicker than 20mm

[davewil1964]

Very incisive. I'm sure we are all glad of the value you've added to this thread.

[heihachi_73]

I believe they used to have a small parcels category (0-250g or so). But of course, that interfered with their profit margin so they removed that option and made everyone pay the 500g rate instead.

[davewil1964]

cv hasn't logged into the boards for 6 months. it is unlikely s/he will see your post.

[the_p_nut1975]

Because they are lying about the item location, its coming from China... There are more and more sellers like this on ebay, saying they are located in Australia.. Apparently heaps of Chinese sellers are registering accounts at Darwin address's....

And why so Cheap for them to post? its all handle by Auspost once it arrives here.... According to Auspost, our post is so expencive because we are subsidizing these guys.. So, its a double whammy for us........ We cant compete seller wise because we are paying their post... How screwed up is that?

[vyerdua]

I have to return a cheap product i bought from eBay and it looks like these sellers of cheap products buy the Padded Envelope in bulk, which ends up to be $0.44-1+ each. I just cannot find if the actual delivery cost is added to this. Does anyone know?

[davewil1964]

No.

Nor can I understand your question.

As an example how does the cost of returning an item relate to the cost of a seller posting an item? The cost to return, if you are silly enough not to activate eBay's MGB, is the cost to you to return the item. It has nothing to do with the cost of the seller to post to you.

[shepherdsrule]

Has anyone realised this thread was started in 2014.

And sadly has been rehashed twice.

As dave has said, what it costs you to post back is between you and Australia Post, nothing to do with anyone else.

[ecogreenacousticaustralia]

From china drop ship is international shipping should cost more why from china the shipping fee is so cheap?

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@garfieldau wrote:
bit of every comment I suspect is rigt.

-Bit is factored into the Prie item/s
-Droped shipped from China or who knows where....
-Poor quality/Factory Seconds Prpduct that works for  45 days & dies & Seller is Home Free from any claims from PayPal

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[*tippy*toes*]

Given that the person you replied to hasn't been here for nearly 2 years, I'll answer because I am here. Shipping from China is so cheap because their government subsidises it to encourage export. That's why they can sell something for $2 and free postage and make a profit, because they're not paying for it. The ones that do have a postage cost added are often in rural areas and they have to pay the postage cost to get it to the city centres for export (as told to me by several unrelated rural Chinese sellers). Some will also charge for postage if they are sending via a faster method, like express, because they have to pay for that. The government only coughs up for standard delivery.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

and further to tippy's excellent explanation, Australia is party to the UPU agreement  (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union for more detail).

Our government, through Aust Post, has an obligation under the agreement to deliver items that arrive here having had postage paid in another member country, with the originating Postal Service (in this case China Post) keeping ALL the postage paid and Australia having to pay all costs associated once it arrives here.  That's where the "Free Postage" for China items becomes viable for Chinese sellers.  If China Post charges them a matter of a few cents for an item then it is economically viable for them to sell to Australian buyers i.e. the Chinese government sets the postage price so low to encourage exports.

Each year there is a meeting of member countries to 'settle' imbalances in the costs associated with adhering to the agreement.  Needless to say, the Union/agreement was established long before eBay and online trading bed in came commonplace and is need of serious overhaul.  It was established in 1874, and well before China became the manufacturing/trading powerhouse that it now is.