topic Re: International postage in Selling

International postage

2muchgain — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 00:25:37 GMT

Hello there,

I am offering worldwide postage for my items on Ebay, which are mainly small items like cd's and dvd's but after a few trips to the post office, I am finding the postage costs absolutely outrageous! At the moment I have it set up as a flat rate, and that is very hit and miss depending on who serves you at the post office. If I set up calculated, the cost is enormous and then I run the risk of no sales at all from Overseas. Just wondering how others are doing this and whether it is actually worth sending worldwide because of the costs involved.

cheers

George

Re: International postage

davewil1964 — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:08:17 GMT

I would put CDs and DVDs in the media category. Like books, which is what I sell.

I don't offer International postage because most books (CDs, DVDs) are available in most countries.

Do the maths. And be aware of the issues buyer complaints cause when they aren't in Australia.

Re: International postage

digital*ghost — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 12:13:57 GMT

Officially, merchandise can only go as a parcel, and the weight brackets for that are up to 250g, up to 500g, up to 1kg etc

If you send enough parcels on average to qualify for discount, purchasing postage via My Post is your best option (eg I'd currently pay around $17 to send up to 250g to the US, if you send 10+ international parcels a week you can inquire about an eparcel contract just for international orders, which is even cheaper but you forgo things like insurance (it's available but costs extra whereas regular postage includes up to $100 by default-for low value stuff it's probably worth the saving and no insurance). A colleague of mine pays around $12-$13 for their US parcels with this option).

https://auspost.com.au/business/shipping/parcels-international/contract

Whatever you pay, whether or not it's worth it is kind of subjective, but in my experience usually when someone starts asking that question the answer tends to be no lol. But at the end of the day it doesn't cost you anything to make the items available to international customers, maybe a few extra headaches I guess in some cases, it will cost you more to sell to an international buyer, but if you do the math well enough and charge appropriately, the buyer is the one who should be paying the extra costs and the one who decided whatever the cost was worth it to them. Just keep an eye on international regulations; US may potentially be problematic to ship to right now, EU countries are usually more trouble than they are worth as well, with GPSR and packaging directives and the like.

Re: International postage

2muchgain — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 04:45:09 GMT

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

Re: International postage

2muchgain — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 04:45:35 GMT

Excellent advice, thank you so much.

Re: International postage

padraicpaul91 — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 23:13:47 GMT

Selling internationally is becoming increasingly fraught with costly issues.

I have already stopped sales to France and Germany, my largest European markets, due to their charges for disposal or recycling of packaging. Apparently these charges will eventually include all of the EU and UK.

I am now about to suspend sales to the US, my largest market outside Australia. The system for the collection of tariffs is not in place, although the charge is effective from August 29th.

Where once 40% of my turnover was from international sales, iI doubt it will ever be that way again. I have a large number of US made items. However, eBay seems to take a one size fits all approach and will likely charge them as well. That belief is based on their charging GST on used items I have purchased OS.

Re: International postage

lezned-toycollector — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 02:01:07 GMT

@padraicpaul91 wrote:
Selling internationally is becoming increasingly fraught with costly issues.
I have already stopped sales to France and Germany, my largest European markets, due to their charges for disposal or recycling of packaging. Apparently these charges will eventually include all of the EU and UK.
I am now about to suspend sales to the US, my largest market outside Australia. The system for the collection of tariffs is not in place, although the charge is effective from August 29th.

Where once 40% of my turnover was from international sales, iI doubt it will ever be that way again. I have a large number of US made items. However, eBay seems to take a one size fits all approach and will likely charge them as well. That belief is based on their charging GST on used items I have purchased OS.

The email from eBay implies that the US import charges will be collected by US Customs.

Are you saying that you actually have administrative access to the US Customs system? That's the only way you could possibly know that they don't have anything in place for the upcoming changes.

Re: International postage

padi*0409 — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 02:30:06 GMT

@lezned-toycollector wrote:

Are you saying that you actually have administrative access to the US Customs system? That's the only way you could possibly know that they don't have anything in place for the upcoming changes

The information is readily available online.

Re: International postage

domino-710 — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 03:52:21 GMT

@lezned-toycollector wrote:
@padraicpaul91 wrote:
Selling internationally is becoming increasingly fraught with costly issues.
I have already stopped sales to France and Germany, my largest European markets, due to their charges for disposal or recycling of packaging. Apparently these charges will eventually include all of the EU and UK.
I am now about to suspend sales to the US, my largest market outside Australia. The system for the collection of tariffs is not in place, although the charge is effective from August 29th.

Where once 40% of my turnover was from international sales, iI doubt it will ever be that way again. I have a large number of US made items. However, eBay seems to take a one size fits all approach and will likely charge them as well. That belief is based on their charging GST on used items I have purchased OS.

The email from eBay implies that the US import charges will be collected by US Customs.

Are you saying that you actually have administrative access to the US Customs system? That's the only way you could possibly know that they don't have anything in place for the upcoming changes.

.....................................

Re: International postage

lezned-toycollector — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 11:12:24 GMT

So where exactly does that show that the system for collecting tariffs is not in place? I can't see anything relevant in the screenshot you posted.

Without a public announcement or administrative access to the US Customs system, I don't see how anyone could possibly know what they have put in place to commence on 29th August.

Re: International postage

chameleon54 — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:03:34 GMT

@padraicpaul91 wrote:
Selling internationally is becoming increasingly fraught with costly issues.
I have already stopped sales to France and Germany, my largest European markets, due to their charges for disposal or recycling of packaging. Apparently these charges will eventually include all of the EU and UK.
I am now about to suspend sales to the US, my largest market outside Australia. The system for the collection of tariffs is not in place, although the charge is effective from August 29th.

Where once 40% of my turnover was from international sales, iI doubt it will ever be that way again. I have a large number of US made items. However, eBay seems to take a one size fits all approach and will likely charge them as well. That belief is based on their charging GST on used items I have purchased OS.

Your experience is a perfect match for mine. I used to send globally and have sold items to a North Pole research station and countries I have never heard of such as Krygyzstan. OS sales where around a third of my total sales. I have stopped sending to South America, France & Germany and the United States. China is also off the list except for a few select items which almost always sell to buyers from this country, as it takes too long to fill in the customs forms. Its getting to the stage where NZ might be all that's left soon.

Re: International postage

lezned-toycollector — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 16:34:51 GMT

You say "it takes too long to fill in the customs forms"... you're just trying to wind us up, right?

Compared to a domestic parcel, the only additional information required for an international parcel is;

1. Item weight (text box)

2. Country of origin (dropdown list)

3. HS tariff code (auto search)

So, it only takes about 15 seconds longer to prepare paperwork for an international sale than it does for a domestic sale.

Re: International postage

domino-710 — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 21:17:14 GMT

It has been reported the country of origin is to collect the ever moving tariffs - which no-one has in place.

Re: International postage

cinemascope2014 — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 21:50:42 GMT

...and just like 'that' Australia Post suspends all postal services to Trumpland.

Re: International postage

twyngwyn — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 23:25:23 GMT

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-26/australia-post-commercial-shipping-suspension-us-tariffs/105696336

Re: International postage

davewil1964 — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 08:25:52 GMT

As a result of the recently introduced changes to the import tariff requirements set out in US Executive Order 14324, Australia Post has joined a number of international postal operators to temporarily suspend partial postal services to the United States (US) and Puerto Rico, effective immediately until further notice.

This decision has been made to ensure compliance with the new US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requirements. Specifically, the requirement for duties and taxes to be prepaid on all shipments prior to their arrival in the US. The key changes are as follows:

1.	Suspension of the de minimis USD$800 threshold exemption.
2.	New mandatory customs declaration requirements.
3.	Duties for imported goods to be collected prior to goods entering the US.

Re: International postage

p9games — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 08:37:36 GMT

I don't ship overseas. Even if you have the buyer cover the cost there is also the matter of time. Filling in a customs declaration form is not quick. I can't imagine rolling up to the post office with 20 of those to fill in. No thanks

Re: International postage

brickworksmarket — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 09:11:10 GMT

When using mypost it was quick except for working out a tariff code but close enough seamed to work.

Re: International postage

siddieswans — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 10:01:51 GMT

I agree. AP fills in most of it for you when you import eBay orders; it probably takes me about 2 minutes max to fill in the rest. I have a small number of tariff codes I use which seem to cover most of what I sell.

I normally sell 1-2 items per week to USA so it is not a game-breaker for me (like it is to so many others.) But it is a shame in that often the items are things that bring more interest (ie higher auction prices) in USA; sometimes they are things that really are only of interest in USA.

The sad thing is that this tariff regime may only be a thought bubble to Mr Trump, but once the process has been put in place, it will be very hard to roll back I imagine.

Re: International postage

lezned-toycollector — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 10:58:07 GMT

Although it wasn't necessary because I received the same communication, thanks for sharing the information which was released AFTER the previous posts were made.