on 27-02-2016 03:29 PM
27-02-2016 04:15 PM - edited 27-02-2016 04:17 PM
The best option will probably depend on you volume of overseas shipments, and average value of the orders.
The cheapest Australia Post option for a tracked shipment to the US is Pack & Track (registered is not officially trackable in Aus, and USPS stopped showing the results on the website some months back).
That's $21.10 for a package up to 500g ($19.00 if you're a Business 250 member) - that service is more expensive to other countries, eg $25~odd to the UK / Europe, and about $18 to New Zealand (again, less if you qualify for B250 - you need an ABN to apply, and keep in mind you'll no longer get the option to add extra cover to a Pack & Track parcel, but you can add it to international express services, which you also get a discount on, in case you ever use that).
I find my Pack and Track shipments average 2-3 weeks for delivery to the US.
An alternative option is Skippy Post. You ship your packages to them, and then they ship out via Singapore Post, so it can be a lot cheaper (especially if you send several packages at once, because you have to pay $11.00 per box when you ship your stuff to them, so it's more cost effective the more packages you send at once, plus the basic shippng rates are discounted after 3 [or 4?] packages in the same shipment).
I'm not too clued in on the general rates for Skippy, but I remember looking at them for a package to somewhere that pack & track wasn't available and it was about $10-$15 less than Aus Post (before counting the box fee and extra cover).
The main drawback for Skippy is that transit time is quoted as 20-30 days, so you'll probably still find you'll get "where's my item" Q's from a lot of people. (From my own experience, a lot of US buyers start thinking there's a problem as soon as it hits 2 weeks, but Skippy is trackable so that might allay some of them).
on 27-02-2016 04:18 PM
About 15% of my business is international sales sent as large letters. And Pack & Track is the cheapest option I know of, but it is limited to certain countries. AND its not cheap - $22 to ship to the USA compared to $7ish for a large letter. The only occasions I would consider using it is for more expensive items (ie over $150) or for multiple purchases that can go as a parcel under 500 grams. It is better (in my opinion) to accept the very rare loss and refund rather than paying for international tracking (and also not selling to countries that are known to misplace thye mail)
on 27-02-2016 04:49 PM
Thank you both, my international sales are not large, probably around 15% too. I've considered giving them up because of this headache of such limited options.
My post office prices 95% of my items at $2.75 international so my flat rate is $5. Maybe a solution is to have those few over $150 items priced at $22 flat rate? Win some, lose some, the postal zones I send to being $21 - $28, mostly US and UK though.
on 27-02-2016 05:10 PM
I try to use Track and Pack now instead of registered. Had 2 people having to pay customs so they just refused to pick up the parcels, and I got pinged for no tracking with ebay as Registered post is not trackable now. Eventually both parcels were delivered back to me as not picked up. Had same problem once with Track an pack but this time ebay was on my side. So I love pack and track. Overseas buyers are usually excellent so I did not want to stop posting internationally. Ebay never ever put insured on their drop down menu either, despite requests to do so