Sending letter to US with tracking

[tcrazer]

Hi.  I have a buyer from the US interested in buying my item and they are requesting a service with tracking.  My items can easily fit in a regular envelope and I can't seem to find any reasonably priced service that provides tracking for letters other than pack n track international which costs $21.10.  This is more a parcel service which is unnecessary for the items I sell

Is there a tracking service for letters that would be cheaper than this? Closest is Registered Post Int'l but this doesn't provide tracking.

[harley_babes_hoard]

wow that's going to be expensive. I would just send it registered. Give the buyer the rego number.
this is what it says about registered

Please note: Registered Post International is not sold as a trackable service. While some tracking updates may be available throughout the delivery journey, this will vary and cannot be guaranteed.

[sueken4812]

Registered or Pack and Track ..... the only 2 ways....both around the same price.
 Unless you go through Skippy Post.  I've never used them, so I don't know how much or how easy.

[Anonymous]

talk to the buyer about how much it costs to have trackable postage from Aus to USA

Tell them that you are more than happy to do this for them provided they are happy to pay for the cost to purchase trackable postage

If they are arent happy to pay extra for it then they have the option of not buying the item or accept it will be sent regular international post

[cherry*135]

Is the item valuable? If so, registered post won't help with an - item not received claim' (where as the pack n track method would).

Skippy post is more for sending a lot of items (books?) at the same time in a carton. I think there is a $8 approx surcharge, plus the postage costs. (for 1 item or many items).

They also sendd by an economy service (slower than airmail, but not as slow as AP sea mail).

[digital*ghost]

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@am*3 wrote:

Is the item valuable? If so, registered post won't help with an - item not received claim' (where as the pack n track method would).

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They function almost identically in real terms, for lower value items anyway as neither are supposed to contain contents worth more than $500, and both can qualify the seller for proetction.

Registered isn't guaranteed to be trackable, but usually is once it arrives in the destination country, and provides signature on delivery (thus providing proof of delivery - required for US buyers as it's part of their buyer protection on all items, and SOD is required for items over $750, including postage, so then you'd have to look at a different service again if you want cover for value over $500).

Pack and track does not provide signature confirmation (and you can't add it), but is supposed to be trackable on AP's website from A - Z, and an online status of 'Delivered' is as good as SOD for items valued under $750 (as long as you can show the package / tracking number was going to the PayPal address etc).

I have found - on average - registered arrives a little bit faster than Pack & Track, and is trackable on the USPS site before too long, so I now tend to use that over P&T for the US.

There is nothing available for letters, as mentioned, so if you have something that could go as a <50gm letter, but want it traceable, you go from a basic price of $2.75 to $21.10. 😞 (I've paid $27 to some other countries, for a 100gm letter size package via Pack & Track >_> ).  

I've looked into Skippy Post, but unfortunately found it wouldn't be particularly cost-effective for me as my OS mail volume is still quite low, not to mention sporadic. 

[a_date_with_gym]

I send mine to US as large letters without tracking or registered post. Aus post offer up to $50 insurance for international deliveries through customs forms and will also reimburse postage cost. They just don't advertise this. It's worth the risk that way to make a sale of sending a low value item that can be sent as a letter