eBay

clickbaitoz · ‎06-07-2021

I sell magazines & used to sell quite a few to buyers in the USA before covid19 restrictions. I sent them as large letters via 'economy airmail' which used to say on the Aust Post website postage calculator that the estimated arrival time was between 5-12 days, or was it 7-10...anyway the average for mine was around 10 days, 14 tops.

So now it says on there 25+ days. So just wondering if anyone has posted to there using economy airmail LETTER service & how long it took? I notice there's no economy airmail for parcels anymore.

digital*ghost · ‎08-07-2021

Technically anything that was sold to a buyer is merchandise, regardless of the material it's made from; that is, it's not any of the other classifications - a gift, a return, and generally not a "commercial" shipment, as those are typically B2B wholesale orders. It does have a commercial value, though, which means it requires a customs declaration for both clearance and tax purposes.

I know several sellers who make / sell things like stickers, which they are still able to send by letter, but only by not declaring them as merchandise which is very much.... 🤔 let's just say "naughty". 😖 i.e. It basically counts as tax evasion if tax would have been applicable at customs.**

I also know some of these sellers still had bulk returns of mail because AP determined they were merchandise and / or needed a customs declaration through alternative means of detection (I feel like if I list what they are, I'd be posting a list of "how to avoid detection", which is not my thing lol - I wouldn't "dob" someone in, but I won't post a "how to" guide, either).

If you can get to tier 4 discounts through My Post (requires sending an average of 20 parcels a week), a parcel up to 250g can be sent to the US for $15.75 (this is fully tracked); getting to that level of discount (if you have the volume) takes some time, though. If the 100g package is realised, I'm guessing full price would be around the $15-$16 mark, and maybe $12-$13 on a high-tier discount. (This is just based on the difference between 250g and 500g parcel rates to the US).

** Just re: customs declarations and tax - you may want to read up on the new rules for VAT collection if you often have / had buyers in the EU. eBay now collects tax at the point of sale for EU buyers and this needs to be shown on customs declarations to avoid delays in customs or the buyer being charged tax again when it arrives over there, making it a risk to send merchandise without a proper declaration (which in turn disqualifies it from being able to be sent as a letter).

clickbaitoz · ‎08-07-2021

food for thought thanks, but even when i was selling alot more (not alot in the scheme of ebay, alot to me being 50-100 items a month, i would maybe post 20 of those internationally, probably 15 being USA, a few Europe/UK), i can't see how they could find it to be merchandise unless they cross check ebay records or something?

It could just be one mate sending a magazine to another overseas 🙂 Not only that, i often am also a bit naughty in that i slap on the stamps/prebought labels & just post in the red letter box because a) it saves me waiting in line at the po & b) i'll be damned if i'm going to pay an extra $7+ because the weight is a few grams over the category. And it really erks me that aust post haven't set it up to go in gram increments, pretty sure they could with todays technology. I have not once had a notice from aust post or any international postage service telling me to pay extra postage or any other fees like VAT/customs etc.

And realistically, as i said i am a hobby seller, i wonder if they are either legally obliged to charge hobby sellers these fees &/or do they care? I would think they have bigger fish to fry.

When i think about i'm amazed at how little of them have gone missing over the years. As i've said though, i've rarely posted to high risk areas where its known their postal service isn't always that reliable at the best of times, i know Italy was one but that was a number of years ago. These have all been sent regular economy mail letter, only had a handful gone missing too & thankfully not really high values. So maybe the time has come where i don't want to push my luck too much, too much hassle really, i think i'll stick to local sales or not at all.

chameleon54 · ‎08-07-2021

I can answer your question - sort of. .............Like you, I used to send a lot of items to the U.S. by economy air, no tracking. No Problems, no dramas. Since Covid, economy air to the U.S. is listed at around 25 days minimum delivery time from memory. I have recently started mailing OS again to most buyers who want stuff, but I,m sending it all as a small parcel with tracking. Cost around 20 bucks to the U.S depending on weight, as opposed to previous approx $12 - $15 for economy large letter. ( again depending on weight )

The delivery time for small parcels is around ten days and it includes tracking. Buyers seem to be happy to pay the extra cost and if not, too bad, no sale. An extra precaution I,m taking is to photograph the delivery address / customs dec. and forwarding the photo the the buyer with a message stating when the item was mailed. So far so good.

clickbaitoz · ‎09-07-2021

thanks, can i ask what sort of items you sell? I suppose if someone really wants my magazine they wouldn't mind paying extra postage but me having to fill out paperwork is offputting. Plus the thing i mentioned about it its goes over by 1 gram you pay for the next weight category etc.

So it's probably bothering me more than the extra $ for postage bothers the buyers, only an extra $10 not much i guess if they're prepared to pay $50+ for a magazine. The US sellers usually seem to be clebrity 'superfans' & prepared to pay the big bucks, sometimes locals do too, but rarely.

I've probably had it too easy for along time lol, ahh the good old days, long gone in Ebay land i think, oh well, it was good while it lasted!

eol-products · ‎09-07-2021

If you sign up for MyPost Business all the information is prefilled except for the parcel dimensions when printing out labels. All you do is link your ebay account and download your orders and pay online for your postage so no surprises with teh cost.

chameleon54 · ‎09-07-2021

The things I send OS as large letter / small parcel include vintage newspapers featuring important international events, magazines ( some early first issues can be worth $80 each ), other paper ephemera such as sales brochures, original vintage photographs, small antique books, soldiers war diaries and military documents, letters written and signed by famous or influencial people of the past, paper, promotional material for things like vintage cruise liners, aeroplane companies, high class motels, instruction and repair books for various obsolete things etc.

Around 30% of my sales where to OS clients pre-covid and this was increasing quite quickly.