Suspension of Economy Air options by Australia Post

[michael_cullis]

I have been selling CDs for nearly 10 years on eBay. At the moment Economy Air has been suspended by Australia Post. If I try to post a CD in a padded envelope to an overseas buyer I am told at the post office that I have to send it as a parcel ($20+ instead of $8.30). A helpful Australia Post lady suggested that I attach the customs declaration to the back of the envelope and stick $8.30 worth of stamps on the front then post it in a post box. I have been doing this for many months now and have not received any complaints about the CD not arriving. Nonetheless I am a bit nervous in case I suddeenly receive a flood of complaints  re non-arrival. I am tempted to make my items available only to Australian buyers. Any thoughts?

[davewil1964]

I don't sell overseas. If I did, I would have stopped doing it 6 months ago.

[andrew0123]

Which customs declaration do you use? The same one you use for parcels? For the first few months of covid I would send in the mail box before economy was cancelled and recieved quite regular cases for items not arriving (without dec.). Are you saying Australia post accept the declaration and 8.30 stamps? How many have you sent this way in say the last 6 months? Any Unrecieved item cases? 

This service does not come with tracking, too. If it has been working, keep doing it. I think by the rules Aus Post has stated you can only send documents overseas - so you should mark them this way - no merchandise, although maybe the rules have changed. 

[love_of_cars]

As Andrew says, I think you should just keep doing what you're doing and stop if you start getting INR cases.  Seems to be the only option you have to keep the costs down for international buyers.

[yarmak]

I sell overseas if asked nicely. I have had really lovely buyers who have been patient - I guess that helps

Dave

[heihachi_73]

This was a deliberate act by Australia Post to squeeze more money out of people, it had absolutely nothing to do with COVID-19 as letters and small parcels went through the exact same system, the only difference being the price point (as you mentioned, $8.30 vs. $20+).

An international large letter (e.g. a CD/DVD under 20mm thick) is $8.30, but during the coronavirus pandemic they randomly suspended the international letter service all while allowing identically-sized international parcels to go through (because $$$$$$$$).

If anything, it's a breach of the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989 by not providing a letter service, as they are required by law to both supply a (domestic) letter service and to "carry letters between Australia and places outside Australia" according to the Act, but I'm sure their government mates will happily hide everything under the carpet while adding another beyond-CPI stamp hike as a bonus.

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2020C00210