So, what is HipStamp to do about new USPS rates?

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Comments

  • Hi Jeri -

    Thanks much for the response !

    "Charges vary. Depends on country, shipping vendor - considerable amount of variables here." Do you use a single 'fits all' charge for shipping internationally, or does it vary by country (or continent)?

    With 'Shipping Easy,' do they also allow printing of a customs form?

    I have to admit, with all I have going on, making this transition appears to be overwhelming some...

    Happy New Year !
  • If you don't think they know something is packaged inside, you're fooling yourself (with today's scanning technologies). The real question is whether they will care to do anything about it, when what you are sending doesn't look dangerous or illegal like drugs, or something that appears to be of significant value. But get that one "holy roller" of customs or enforcement agents and your shipment could be seized. Feel like rolling the dice and putting your reputation on the line (or worse)? Curious if anyone read the article I wrote for the IPDA to some things up? Still waiting to see where this lands.
  • edited December 2018 1 LikesVote Down
    Not just scanning technologies. They can build a machine to run the envelopes through and measure the variations of the thickness of the envelope. Accounting for smaller pieces of paper,IE checks and mo,anything any thicker then that could be pulled for inspection. With a machine they could run thousands of envelopes through it in an hour.

    They already have it planned out how do it and how the POs can go for postage due. That's what the notifications that Paypal has added to the form to print shipping labels off of Paypal are for.
  • Perhaps all is not so bad in the world if this forum reflects our major concerns-whether those devious dealers among us who sneakily transmit a dangerous substance, ie a Canadian bluenose (never hinged, no less) through postal's sentry gates, hoping to evade detection and subsequent "flogging by the authorities if caught. Such is the nature of the philatelic community: sleeper cells within who quietly infiltrate seller's ranks only to smuggle contraband thereby disrupting the economic conditions of neighboring, law-abiding sellers. Woe to us as the die is cast, our inevitable doom looms before us, for by what means can all of this debauchery, this foul sin of the shysters be corrected? Scofflaws wontedly defying societal restraints-not coming to complete stops or cleaning up after their dogs in the park. I say we advance a policy of identification, ruthless condemnation, public humiliation; demanding justice and harsh punishment so as to restore, at least in our collector's fraternity, the former honorable image we once embraced and displayed. What say yea fellow philatelists? Are you with me or should I refrain from additional holiday libations?
  • Ron,

    Let's extrapolate some numbers to try understand why some of are should be upset about this. If a seller sends 20 international orders per month and is sending them by first class parcel and not first class letter rate,on average the seller that sends them that way is paying $200 more a month in postage costs alone. In a year that amounts to $2,400 more that the seller who is sending them legally is paying. In 5 years that adds up to $14,000 more in postage that the seller that is sending them legally is paying then the one that sending them illegally. Which by the way is stolen from the PO by fraud.

    That's only on a small number of international sales. It's not a minor issue when you are dealing with those kind of numbers.
  • Now if I stole a total of $14,000 from you over 5 years wouldn't you expect that I should be arrested,fined and sent to jail for doing that to you? And if it's not OK for me to do that you why is it OK to do it to the USPS and not expect to have the same thing happen to those who so to them?
  • If I sometimes wax philosophical, please understand that my posts reflect a particular mood at the time, be it satire, pontification, amateur attempts at humor, and an occasionally hopefully insightful (rather than inciteful) comment. The forums here seem to allow a degree of expression by which we can become more familiar with our online community members, warts and all. It wasn't my particular intent to make light of the postage angst issue, but rather, I guess in reflection, a frustration with perceived repeated beating of the long dead horse as if such pelting will somehow produce a magical solution; whether by way of a directed cattle prod or divine epiphany, I don't know. I imagine seeking a completive edge will continue positively via pricing, upgraded stores/advertising, absorbing a portion of shipping fees, or otherwise by simply cheating. Persistent laments calling for relief without concrete solutions tends to ebb into a "somebody ought to do something" burial. Michael, please don't take my ramblings as a dismissal of a real concern but rather a general desire to shake off some of the overwhelming negativity that tends to pervade news and dialogue these days, at a time I'm consciously trying to renew my gratefulness via the pause of the holidays. Be well.
  • Ron,

    No problem,for some of us it's just really frustrating that it seems like very little is being done about it even though it's getting close to year later. And part of it is this past week I had 3 buyers write me about my shipping charges and were getting a bit nasty about it. And at best the only relief those of us who are dealing with has seemed to gotten from Hipstamp is they will remove the feedback for the shipping charges. It's also all the time and effort spent dealing with those buyers that gets a bit annoying also,because it does take a bit of time that I could be doing something more productive.

  • What can one expect Hipstamp to do - overthrow the Universal Postal Union and its rules and regulations? Reform the USPS and/or Canada Post to cater to stamp dealers? I would hope that organizations such as the APS and ASDA are attempting to get philatelic items acceptable in normal first class mail. Have any of you folks in the US written to your Congress Critter about the effect the regulations have? The problem is with bureaucrats that keep coming up with "rules" that will "improve" our being, not with private firms that are hustling just as hard as most of us are to stay in business.
  • Many many years ago when I was in Elementary & High School in the first state there was a lot about causes of the American Revolution, ie Taxation without representation, and if I recall correctly some of the folks in Boston held a "Tea Party" and jettisoned a lot of high tax tea - surely not a legal act under the laws at that time. If everyone in Boston had obeyed the law would there be an American Republic now?
  • Dennis,

    It's the countries that are importing that are requiring the customs forms and the regulations on what is classified as a first class letter and what is classified as a first class parcel. If those rules are not followed the receiving country is NOT required to deliver those letters and they can confiscate the stamps. First class letters can only contain documents. Stamps are NOT documents. Documents are not dutiable because they are figured to have no monetary value. Stamps are classified as goods for the purpose of customs,duties and taxes.
  • edited December 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    Ron,

    The thing that tops it all off is that back in January Mark Rosenburg said this

    This is an item we're following closely, with regards to impact on Sellers, etc.

    Other then Mark suggesting some shipping services has anyone seen any update on this? It has been almost a year since we last heard from Hipstamp about it. I would have thought we should have had at least an update or 2 since then.
  • My vote is for Mark Rosenburg to the office of Postmaster General
  • Well - I guess I have been "breaking the law" since last January. I was not aware of any changes until today when I started to read thru this forum entry. I am not a "big" professional seller and most of my international sales (mostly Canada) are actually from a different non-commercial site. As recently as last week - the few international sales I had were small a handful of stamps and I just stuck them in a small envelope (manila stock card in a glassine then into a small white envelope) like I always did and put the $1.15 stamp on the envelope. I guess I have been lucky but now that I know about this - I guess all I can do is suspend all non US shipments or continue playing Russian roulette ? Guess I should message my regular buyers outside of the US that I no longer can sell to them.
  • Steven, If your merchandise is used stamps, maybe attaching them to the outside of the mailing envelop just below the necessary 1st class letter postage?? Well, I'm off to post some stamp orders ....now where are those postally-missed uncancelled stamps I just steamed off?
  • Okay her is the scoop. In the UK you can send a 3 oz flat up to just less than an inch thick to the US for $4.29 US and it can be rigid since they allow CD's in cases to be sent that way. We in the US can not send rigid items in flats to the UK at the new cost of $4.16 (1-27-19), we have to send it as a parcel. We can also not send anything to the UK as a letter since a letter can only contain documents but the people in the UK can send anything they want but it can only be 1/5th of an inch or less and it does not have to have a customs form.
    All I know is I used to do anywhere from 20% to 30% a month of my sales outside of the US before the new rules went into effect and now I am lucky if I get one to two sales a month outside the US.

    Now even though the rules are biased against us in the US they are what they are and we have to live with it.
    Anyone can do what they want as far as "breaking the law" is concerned and they can go on doing what they were doing and live with the consequences.

    Bill O'Malley

    PS: they still have not fixed my name on this site, I showed them screen shots and have not heard back from them.
  • Doug wrote a very useful and informative article - I recommend a read: available from the website - Services - Newsletters - November issue - www.ipdastamps.com
  • Bill,

    Not sure where you are getting your information but this is what Royal mail has for customs forms

    Do I need to fill out a customs form?
    Yes, if you’re sending goods or gifts to a country outside the EU.

    How do I fill out a customs declaration form?
    There are two types of form, depending on the value of the items sent. Please make sure you use the correct one:

    For items with a value up to £270 use customs declaration form CN22
    For items with a value over £270 use customs declaration form CN23

    You can also get these forms from any Post Office® branch.

    Fill in the form, including a description of the contents, their value and whether they’re gifts or commercial items.
    Fix the form to the outside of your package. If you’re using form CN23, use the plastic wallet available from Post Office® branches.
    Put your name and address in the top left corner of your package. This lets us return your item if overseas customs authorities won’t allow it into their country.

    Under customs law, the sender is responsible for the information on the declaration.

    Please make sure the declaration is completed accurately and in full. This allows the destination country to process the parcel. It will also lower the chance of the item being delayed or returned.

    Please be aware:

    Goods may be subject to customs charges and fees. These depend on the contents’ value. The recipient will have to pay these before the parcel is released to them.
    The customs authorities in the destination country determine if charges are due on imported goods.
    The levels and thresholds of charges vary from country to country. Royal Mail cannot advise on what these may be. Please contact the embassy or customs authority of the destination country for help.

    https://www.royalmail.com/personal/international-delivery/international-tracked-signed


    And also Canada Post and Australia Post both have the same type of statements on their web sites about the customs forms. And they also are to use either the CN22 or CN23.


    What really killed it for the US sellers is that if you use the retail counter rates they went to an 8 oz rate as opposed to the other countries using 100 gr and 250 grs as the cut off points. Before the January change you could ship a 3.5 oz package to Canada for 6.50 to 7.50 after January the rate for a 3.5 oz package went up to $10. On a 7 oz package it ranged from $9 to about $9.50. It was on the under 4 oz packages that they killed the rates even though most of the other countries still have lower rates for packages under 100 grams which is about 3.5 ozs.

    The rate comparison also has to be apples to apples and not apples to oranges. The service that you are talking about is a NON TRACKABLE online service. If you want an online trackable service that starts at 10.78. for the very same package. On a package that goes over 100 grams up to 250 grs it's 11.86.
  • Here it is for Canada

    https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGcustoms-e.asp

    1.1
    Completing customs documents
    Items shipped outside of Canada must have the proper customs documentation - this is dependant on the:

    service used
    content of the item
    destination
    All Customs / content information must be written in English or French and can be translated into the language of the destination country. In the case of Priority™ Worldwide, forms must be completed in English or with an English translation.

    It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure all customs documentation and item content are complete, accurate and legible. Failure to provide any of the information required may result in the item being returned to sender at the customer's expense, or could result in delays, non-delivery and voids any delivery guarantees. Fines and /or customs seizure in the international destination may apply.

    NOTE:
    Canada Post employees are prohibited from signing the Priority Worldwide shipping label, Declaration/Commercial Invoice on behalf of the customer.
    Shipping documentation may be transmitted to or shared with domestic or international customs and postal administrations or designated postal operators. For more information about Canada Post's personal information practices; please go online to canadapost.ca/privacy.

    Table 1: Required customs documentation
    Service
    Content
    Required Documentation
    Document
    Non-Document

    Priority™ Worldwide


    Priority™ Worldwide shipping label (43-074-277)


    Commercial Invoice or Invoice Declaration (33-081-002)
    Xpresspost – USA


    Xpresspost - USA Shipping Label 43-074-281. Xpresspost - USA Shipping label for Prepaid Envelopes (2 Ply) 43-074-282.


    Xpresspost - USA shipping label 43-074-236 (includes the Customs Declaration)
    Xpresspost – International


    Xpresspost - International shipping label 43-074-244 (includes the Customs Declaration)
    Tracked Packet – USA and Tracked Packet – International


    Online transactions: labels are produced using Electronic Shipping Tools (EST) or a customer-developed / Third-Party Shipping system. A Customs Declaration CN22 or CN23, depending on the value of the item, must also be completed.
    At the post office (automated only): the post offices RPS system prints an indicia and a barcoded label which is used in combination with a 43-074-253 CN22 Customs Declaration for items with a declared value of less than $500 CAD. For items with a declared value of over $500 CAD, Customs Declaration 43-074-172 must also be completed and affixed.
    Small Packet


    Small Packet – 43-074-253 [includes the Customs Declaration (known as CN22)]. For items with a declared value of over $500 CAD, a Customs Declaration - 43-074-172 must also be completed and affixed.
    Expedited Parcel – USA


    Expedited Parcel-USA shipping label – 43-074-243 (includes the Customs Declaration)
    International Parcel
    Air or Surface


    International Parcel shipping label – 43-074-172 (includes the Customs Declaration)
    Letter-post
    (includes Letters, Postcards and Literature for the Blind)
    Documents of no monetary value
    No customs documentation required
    Documents up to $500 in value
    CN22 (43-074-076)
    Documents over $500 in value
    CN22 plus CP72 (43-074-172)




  • Here it is for Australia Past

    Delivery service Forms to complete
    International Courier
    International Courier declaration
    Courier airway bill

    International Express
    CN23 customs form

    Registered Post International
    None

    International Economy Air (including stamped mail)
    None (for printed material only, valued up to $500)

    Please note: If you're sending items other than printed material - or valued over $500 - with our International Economy Air letter service, you'll need to attach a CN22 or CN23 customs form.

    Some of the international sellers will end up having the same problems that US sellers will have. The postal rates to send merchandise is higher then sending a simple letter.
  • I am talking about the letter post. When someone sends something inexpensive and thin, like a few covers or stamps and under $10.00, we used to send it by letter post and we can no longer do that where other countries can.
    Our flats can't be rigid but other countries can.
    If we are sending something valuable I would always send it by either parcel, Priority mail or registered mail depending on what the value was.
    That is what I am talking aabout.

    Bill O'Malley
  • edited December 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    Bill you did say this

    and it does not have to have a customs form.



    Even their letter post must have a customs form.

    On the rates that you quoting you are comparing apples to oranges. That rate is not online trackable. Ours are all online trackable to a degree at this time. If they want online tracking that starts at 10.78 for that same package.




  • Apples and oranges are both fruit and if fruit is dutiable they both need a customs form.
  • I'm not sure this will actually add anything to this lengthy discussion . . . but included in my Christmas cards to several friends in Iceland (I live in Los Angeles) a few weeks ago, I included first day covers of a recent Icelandic stamp for which I had made a cachet - as gifts.

    It didn't even occur to me that I was possibly sending something of value that needed documenting, or extra postage, and all 5 of the 'letters' (in #10 envelopes) were delivered without questions or hassles.

    So I guess my question might be - is the USPS scanning equipment 'smart' enough to detect and differentiate GIFTS from MERCHANDISE?
  • edited December 2018 1 LikesVote Down
    Dave,

    There is a box on the customs form to show it as a gift. As far as customs being able to know if it's a gift,merchandise or a commercial sample they would have no way of knowing and they will assume it's merchandise and not a gift.
  • OK - that was my bad, I guess, to not fill out a customs form.

    But do you really need to fill out a customs form just to send a Christmas card with an enclosed gift??
  • Yes you do.

    This is what USPS has on their site for first class mail

    You do not need a customs form if you're:

    Sending First-Class Mail International® that weighs under 16 ounces
    First-Class Mail International must contain only nonnegotiable documents or correspondence
  • edited January 2019 0 LikesVote Down
    There are now 14 pages of discussion here, To cut to the chase, is it safe to say, that people nervous enough and worried enough and those strange individuals that actually want to follow the law, like myself, and not to believe everything they hear here - I'm not putting anybody down, I wouldn't feel 90 percent sure if the postmaster general or whatever you call him writes a signed and notarized personal letter - to want to follow the law as opposed to taking a chance, and want to put stamps on the envelopes they put stamps in, to only sell inside the US?
    I'm not trying to be funny.
    I bought part of an estate with most of the stamps and got my share of 3-cent sheets, and the post office here gets a kick out of it, so far...don't know how long that will last. Its a game of how many you can get on the face of the envelope whilst having the name&address and your return address.
    I'm trying to be funny.
  • Too many people are thinking that the requirement to ship outside the USA all non-letter material by first class international parcel takes effect January 27, 2019. That is false. That requirement took place in January 2018.

    The first class domestic and international rates and the priority mail rate are going up on January 27, 2019. First class parcels mailed within the USA to USA addresses will be priced by Zone. International mail is priced by rate groups.

    Here is the URL to the official rate change information. If you plan to buy or sell internationally (even domestically), you need to stay aware of changes to postal rates. You can print out the pages that you need/want.

    https://pe.usps.com/resources/PriceChange/January 2019 - Notice123.pdf

    Below is the URL to the Zone Chart for ailing parcels within the USA that took effect January 1, 2019. Note that zones are based on distance from your location, so you have to enter your ZIP Code to get the proper chart. You can print it out.

    https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart
  • I mail international sales by regular USPS postal rates. Usually by a regular letter, the rates for 2019 are the same as 2018 : $1.15 for the 1st ounce:USPS 2019 Intl Pricing
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