International Post

[vproshop]

Hi all,

Im wondering if people can weigh in on this topic.

I have started to minimise international postage as I am finding that a lot of international parcels are getting lost/stolen.

Although Ebay is trying to promote international post, And I have been quite supportive of this, after a few months,

Im starting to decline offering international post.

In my experience, the only countries that have been consistently ok with deliveries (from best to worst) is

1. United Kingdom

2. New Zealand

3. United States

4. Israel

5. some European locations

6. Canada

7. South East Asia

8. Russia

9. Rest of the world.

Now I am only approving sales in UK, USA, Canada, NZ, and thats about it,

Since my products are exceptionally low margins, each lost parcel hurts a lot.

I have a lost parcel in Albania this week, no chance of recovery, I will have to refund and me out of pocket of about $20.

product profit was barely $1.50

ofcourse, the lower the margin on product, The cheaper the type of international postage I choose,

ie. if its under 50g, Then use postage stamp.... Ofcourse, no tracking etc.

For larger, heavier parcels, I use ecomony postage no tracking, etc.

Im doing full evaluation this week.

what does everyone else think of international post?

Any tricks we could learn?

Thanks in Advance.

[digital*ghost]

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@vproshop wrote:

7. South East Asia

8. Russia

9. Rest of the world.

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Seems to be a consenus (so far) re: Russia o.O (I had someone ask me about postage there last night, and wasn't sure how reliable it would be as I haven't shipped there before, but all signs point to it being more of a risk than I would like).

I don't ship worldwide at the moment, but almost (I ship to US, UK, all of Europe, some Asian countries, NZ and Canada, which this year has been the absolute worst in terms of late / lost mail, with Italy also making me re-think things a few times), but... I sell small and light weight items, mostly.

For those, I quote for the <50g letter rate and add a small extra amount in P&H for each additional item, so that I can upgrade to tracked postage if the order value is high enough. I do have a portion of my prices allocated for the odd loss, though (self-insurance, basically). 

On larger, higher value items, I actually include some of the cost of tracked postage in the item price so that I can still have reasonable looking P&H (basically, the cost of domestic registered post, so they're 'free post' within Oz, then add the difference separately as P&H cost for international buyers). 

So far, I've found both of these approaches to work really well, but I think the primary difference is that my profit margin allows for the occasional missing package.

I think in some countries, economy air mail parcels still get tracked once they arrive in the other country,  it may be hit and miss but always worth putting the number in the destination country's postal service tracking feature (I still often get results even for large letters in Canada). 

[jellybirddesigns]

I have international shipping for the US, UK and New Zealand only.

I used to have Canada, but stopped recently due to the postal strike.

I'm still debating about keeping the UK because even though I get quite a few sales from there, there is always the risk of the dreaded Customs/VAT for anything over GBP15.00. Many customers are not aware that they are on the hook if they buy more than one item from me as it pushes them over the threshold. Just adds an extra layer of hassle for me.

[transport-posters]

I send my posters all over the world without tracking and it's been two years plus since I had one  go missing.  They go as parcels because of the size of the tubes, not a large or small letter, so that might make a difference. 

I just wish the parcel-sending price was lower.  I'm starting to have buyers coming to me saying they want to buy my items but the shipping price is too high.

[jfmgray]

I have shipped to all countries over the past 10 years.  In this time, the only countries that have repeat problems are:

1. Canada - been woeful this year with major delays even before the postal strike over there.  Now blocked until I can be confident that items won't take 4-6 weeks

2. Any South American country

I have lost the occasional item in other countries but not frequent repeats. 

[englishrosegardens]

My local postmaster told me 6 or 7 years ago that a lot of international mail gets stolen just for the stamps on it, so I would be very wary about using stamps on anything.  See if your PO will print a label for you instead.

When I was buying a lot on ebay (from the US) four, five, six years ago, most sellers wouldn't post to Russia or Nigeria, and a lot wouldn't post to Italy.  I've seen a few websites that state they won't post to Russia under any circumstances and that's fairly recent.  I can't imagine things would have improved in any of those countries over the last few years.

[vproshop]

My local PO manager told me that they won't insure parcels to canada.

Was very surprised to hear that, then she proceeded to tell me lots of parcels get lost/stolen there.

Hence, Canada is pretty low on my list.

This Year, i have sent approx 8-10 parcels to canada, 3 have gone missing.

But compared to UK and USA, canadian sales are less than 10% of these, so stats are pretty high in Canada as being a problem.

[bjlcr]

I have always posted overees with only one problem from holland in 14 years on Ebay.I find tracking very expensive and only recently have I had buyers complaining about postage from Australia .I am thinking of stopping tracking as it adds so much to postage.I posted an item to the US last week that was $7.45 without tracking and $23 with tracking .A small book to Spain cost $38 but with tracking would have cost $56.Most of the time tracking does not work;Otherwise I have had no trouble posting overeas.I block a lot of countries.But I have had no trouble posting to  Chili South  Africa Malta Spain Italy China.If they are willing to pay the postage I will send it to them.