eBay

i-love-my-sheep · ‎29-06-2014

It's looking like one of my items due to finish today is going to be sold to someone in the UK. Since my near miss with the German buyer, I've decided that any international mail will be sent in a way that I know it has arrived. I tried using the postage calculator last night, but was getting a tad confused. I know there are quite a few sellers here that post internationally, so I am wondering what is the best way to go about it? Which is better, sent with tracking, or signature on delivery? It seems that to have both tracking and signature on delivery would be cheaper to buy an airline ticket and hand deliver it!

When I looked at the postage calculator, it says different things are optional for different types of postage, but it didn't matter what I clicked on, I couldn't get a cost of what some of those options were.

Is proof of delivery and signature on delivery the same thing? One thing that has confused me is, if I look at the registered pre paid DL envelope, the popup for the info says proof of postage and signature on delivery, but if you look at the main box, it says signature on delivery is optional. What is a prepaid DL envelope?

I'm also wondering if Pack and Track would be the better option, although it's $24.20 as opposed to $2.60 for standard airmail. It seems a lot to pay for a small item that comes in at under 50g packed! Maybe I should just offer standard airmail and be done with it LOL!

Thanks for any help you can provide.

tstore · ‎29-06-2014

digital*ghost · ‎29-06-2014

A DL envelope is more suited to the same stuff a small letter is - it's one of those long paper envelopes, usually used for tri-fold A4 pages.

I send stuff OS as large letter frequently, and go for Pack & Track (which automatically means parcel rates instead) if I want a little extra assurance (for me and / or the buyer). Signature on delivery (via registered) will give you proof of delivery once it's arrived and signed for, but it's not trackable via AP's site. Pack & Track is meant to be fully tracked on AP from point A to B, and an online status of 'delivered' is equivalent to a signature on delivery (in terms of proof of delivery for PayPal) on items under a certain value (there's nothing stipulating this on the AU PayPal user agreement, but in the US they require SOD for items with a combined total value of $750).

Most of the time I stick to the regular letter, as the price difference is pretty steep for lower value items (I send mostly $15-$60 items) and the customs number can often be tracked either on the destination country's postal service website, or here: http://www.trackitonline.ru/ (a registered number will often be trackable on that site or once it arrives OS as well).

i-love-my-sheep · ‎29-06-2014

It was only one that gave me grief. I've always just sent standard airmail, but as that last one looked like it had got lost in transit, it scared me a bit and made me think that maybe I should send with tracking....or something, just in case. There's also a chance that an international buyer may request tracking and I wasn't sure how to go about doing that as I've not done it that way before.