If we ban all law-abiding dealers from using letters, then only criminal dealers will use them, well, until they are caught by the PPP (PayPal Patrol) then referred to their cohorts, the PPP (Postal Police Prosecutors) for punishment .....the infamous, dreaded sticky gum gauntlet. The adhesive eventually washes off: it's the residual saliva drool that dries and unbearably lingers. Varmints of all varieties are repelled should you enter in their general proximity. Now you know the real reason for the Never-Hinged movement.
Phil>>"Basically, using eBay labels, if an eBay seller understates the weight of a package,"
I just noticed this for the first time, a few weeks ago. I got a shipment of comics from an ebay seller that weighed probably 2 pounds, but the label the seller created said 4 ounces! What an idiot! 4 ounces still goes at the 1 pound medial mail rate, and the difference between 1 pound and 2 pound media mail postage is less than half a buck. (And that's ignoring the fact, as the seller obviously did, that comics do not qualify for media mail.)
Ted: I bought something a couple of months ago (some office supplies) where all their listings had free shipping. When my package came, I saw that the label said 4 ounces, but the actual package weighed 4 lbs! No wonder they could offer free shipping -- they weren't paying it either! ... This new system has hopefully put a crimp in their style.
Our post office is opening q lot of incoming media mail for inspection . Also any request for media mail rate at the window is met with "20 questions". Think the free ride is going to end soon.
If we ban all law-abiding dealers from using letters, then only criminal dealers will use them, well, until they are caught by the PPP (PayPal Patrol) then referred to their cohorts, the PPP (Postal Police Prosecutors) for punishment .....the infamous, dreaded sticky gum gauntlet. The adhesive eventually washes off: it's the residual saliva drool that dries and unbearably lingers. Varmints of all varieties are repelled should you enter in their general proximity. Now you know the real reason for the Never-Hinged movement.
Actually it would be the other way around. It would go through the USPS first. USPS would put a lean on your Paypal account so they would get the monies due them. (Same thing if one were ever to get caught with the IRS)
Our post office is opening q lot of incoming media mail for inspection . Also any request for media mail rate at the window is met with "20 questions". Think the free ride is going to end soon.
The thing with the media has been going on for years so it seems odd that Paypal didn't have that notification up before, but now less than 6 months after the new international rules were put in place they put that notification up that includes following BOTH the domestic and INTERNATIONAL mail manuals.
The whole PayPal thing is moot. Those who put their sale into a #10 envelope and send it out first class are bypassing PayPal and just slapping a first class international stamp on the envelope and dropping it in the mail slot. No muss no fuss.
It would be interesting, however if a Stamp Collecting Postal Inspector was reading all this. Now HipStamp is the focus. Only a matter of time before they drop a subpoena on them to turn over all international sales records of all of us. Or...maybe they already have....
That would make for an interesting situation as you already have a few people that have posted they are doing just that. (How much more rope do they need to hang themselves if a postal inspector were reading this. That would give them cause to seek a subpoena to get those records. It is a PUBLIC forum after all)
My previous post was to address the "banishment" of sellers who some on this site ASSUME certain sellers are violating the new USPS International mailing law by not charging the proper shipping fees. The statement is based on a false assumption.
Sellers need to evaluate their business model and do what is right and lawful for their business. Faced with this new law, I had a choice to raise my shipping or keep my original shipping fees, use Shipping Easy or use USPS directly, or eliminate all International sales. How would the choices I made affect my bottom line.
First I contacted all my known International buyers. I explained the new law and the certain choices that were available. Overwhelmingly, the buyers did not want sales eliminated and would rather wait an extra week for an order than pay the exorbitant shipping fees.
International sales plays a large part of my business. Could I absorb some of the shipping fees to keep their business? Was it worth the effort financially? I decided to keep my original shipping fees for a trial six month period. What I found was I received enough large orders to keep my bottom line in the black despite losing money on shipping for each order.
So my conclusion for my business: keep International sales, use Shipping Easy, and absorb a portion of the shipping fees. I understand this will not work for all sellers. It's up to each seller to evaluate his business and decide what necessary changes must be made.
I knew what you were getting at and I was only referring to this statement
I disagree Mark should get involved. If he chose to send out an FYI at the time this was being proposed, fine. It's a sellers responsibility to be aware of laws, rules, regulations, etc. How many sellers sent emails "To the powers that be" when this was being proposed and comments were requested?
I think an informational newsletter might have been advised at the time that Hipstamp was made aware of this. I don't know how many of the other sellers that have gone to the USPS package rate are getting really tired of having to write to the buyers (even new buyers about what the UPU and USPS did) and having to write NOT 1 but multiple emails to the buyers because they get mad at us BECAUSE so many of the other sellers ARE NOT sending their shipments legally. That doesn't sit well with me and for sure I am not the only one. How much longer will it be before they blow up at their postmasters because of this?
As far as a solution why not just require any seller who sells internationally outside of their country to UPLOAD tracking numbers of their international shipments as those are UPU rules. No tracking numbers no international sales. You can still ship within your own country if you don't upload tracking numbers. It would not affect your shipping rates as you are still uploading tracking numbers. Problem solved if it could be programmed to do that.
Just for kicks and giggles I checked what I did over the last 6 months and even with the change in postage my sales are about $1,100 higher than last year at this same time.
That's great, Michael! Hopefully, that trend will continue for the entire year.
Also, Just got feedback from a sale to Spain that was mailed on 6-26 via Shipping Easy - 10 days, That's a good turn around. Maybe things are working better now.
Jeri, When I read what you wrote about not raising shipping costs: it sounded good to me. In fact I considered it for a moment. Then my ugly past came back to me. As an estimator for a manufacturer, I learned that if you give something away in one area it has to come out of another area - you can't manufacture money (legally, anyway). So by making up the shortfall in the shipping cost, you are actually taking that money out of the amount you charge for your product. In essense giving a discount on your items to people who happen to live in another country. Not only is that not fair to you, it doesn't seem fair to US bound customers. Plus one of my bosses used to say "Don't give away the store, your paycheck depends on it" (literally!).
I decided to keep my "unrealistically high" overseas shipping costs where they are. After all, fair pricing is fair not only to the customer but also to me...
It surprised me that I was up over last year on the international sales. (I thought I was going to be quite a bit down from last year.) I lost quite a few of the smaller sales.
I just received this email from a "former" customer.
"I'm in Canada and over the years I've bought several stamps from you and it disappoints me that I'll have to pay a flat rate of $6.00 US for shipping (about $7.50) CDN.) for even one single stamp. It seems like many, many dealers in the US are jumping on the bandwagon of excessive shipping rates when it's not justified.
On the other hand, I just received in the mail today a padded envelope containing 13 baseball cards (I collect them also), from Delta, PA. and the metered rate on the envelope is $2. 50 US. I paid $2.75 US. for postage. And I'm sure 13 cards weigh a lot more than 1 stamp.
Guess I'll have to buy my stamps north of the border from here on in."
Since I am a member of the APS, I wanted to let him know that I was bound by a code of ethics of which # 2 applies. "I agree to abide by all federal, state, and local laws relating to philatelic matters."
Looking further down the code of ethics at #11 it says: "I agree to bring known examples of irresponsible or unethical tactics to the attention of the societies in which I hold membership and which embrace this code."
Does that mean I need to report anyone not using the current International Rates? I probably can't, I have to assume anyone not charging higher international rates is losing money on the shipping but I'm sure most are not.
Hi Bob. I am sorry that happened to you. You can try to educate them, but it will only go so far, I'm afraid. I have been wondering about a similar topic... should those who don't "follow the rules" get called out? I started the conversation in the newly revitalized IPDA, and the APS is a logical next step. Is intentionally flouting the new USPS regulations an ethical violation for which members should be sanctioned? I think (in my personal opinion) that it is giving the people who do not follow the rules a significant business advantage in this market of "cheaper" stamps that many of us dwell in, and I think that is patently UNFAIR. It is also why I started this thread in the very first place... basically saying "OK, you have members clearly and openly not following regulations and not playing by the rules. So, HipStamp, what are you going to do about it?" Now do I think these people should be banned, kicked out, or any of that? No. Far from it. Should they be educated? Yes. Should they be warned? Well, I think they have been to some degree if they pay attention to these forums, but they are doing it anyways, or don't give a crap and our laughing at us "do-gooders". So now, what do us "do-gooders" do about it? Intentionally start breaking the rules like the others? Tempting, but it's against my moral code. Not so much that I'm breaking a rule that isn't really enforced (yet, from what I can tell), but it's more that by me breaking a rule, it would HURT others who are trying to FOLLOW the rules. That's what people don't seem to get... your breaking the rules and failing to pay the mandated postal rates (and charge S/H accordingly) are HURTING OTHER PEOPLE and their business! That's what I find unethical. So again, what do we do? Whine like I am right now? Go on a public shaming campaign? Well, none of this is good for the hobby. What to do? What to do? Well, for now, I am going to try to write an article for the IPDA newsletter and work on the "education" piece, and I would encourage organizations like IPDA, APS, and yes, HipStamp/PostCard/Comics to address this issue at least by getting the courage to clarify to their membership that, as part of their terms of service/membership, members are obligated to follow the law in the execution of the business, INCLUSIVE of paying appropriate postage when shipping items. That does not mean that they have to raise shipping rates to customers, but they damn well better be paying a legal rate when they ship to the customer, otherwise you are in violation of the law, and in the policies of these various organizations! Oh, and I need to get a Twitter Account so I can write @realDonaldTrump so I can Tweet."USPS having to raise postage rates for small businesses over 2000% to follow UPU rules that are totally unfair and not enforced equally? Why is US kowtowing to them? TOTALLY UNFAIR!" and maybe we'll hear about him pulling out of the UPU like the other international organizations! Ha ha!
I actually had fairly large order to Australia about a month ago. I heard back from they buyer that I left a couple lots out (they slid under my keyboard as I was pulling them). I have to say it was very tempting to just put the stamps in an envelope and just mail them as a letter but I decided I needed to send the stamps correctly even though it was costing me about $7. Definitely lost money on that transaction and I learned to be extra careful when packing orders for international buyers.
Circumstance sometimes bites us too: I recently had an order from a regular customer in Canada. He willingly paid the $6.00 postage for a 30 cent item (a sale item no less). The numbers scared me and made me wonder why I follow the law. The total amount was 6.30 - HipStamp and Paypal together took $1.08 of that. The actual postage was $5.00 - leaving me a net sale of 22 cents. THEN I realized that I had at some time or another paid someone something for that 30 cent item, I had an envelope and packing materials invested. Now I'm looking at a loss on the item - probably a margin of -15% or so. Yup, that's a minus. I'm just happy that HipStamp got their cut off the top. Don't dare minimum orders. Don't dare suggest a revision in the commission structure. Don't think HipStamp is going to rock the boat. I figure the only way to get around this is to resign from the APS and follow the others My luck is I'll get caught! So, I'm looking at no more international orders...
Yeah, I've argued before that HipStamp shouldn't be taking commission on S/H in this new paradigm because it exacerbates an already bad situation and makes S/H rates go up even further to compensate. Crickets... I guess that old adage goes, 'nice guys finish last'. Here's my new logo I'm thinking about...
I agree also with the charge that is on here for S&H. I would not mind to much for having to pay on US rates (that is what eBay does) but to have to pay on foreign rates is a deal breaker for me since you have to charge that much extra to cover the 8% fee on it and people outside the US will balk at the rate. I used to send many items to Canada and Overseas for the simple FC letter rate but now with the new regulations my international sales have dropped considerably on eBay and with the direction eBay is going I was thinking of coming over to HipStamp and open a shop after being on eBay for 19+ years but I don't know if it is worth the time and effort to explore this venue. I use Auctiva for my inventory control on eBay and I just sent a package today to England weighing 2 oz and I used their shipping and it cost me $8.30 that the buyer willingly paid $9.00 for but on HipStamp I would have had to charge $15.00. I have been dealing in Philately for over 40 years and been a member of APS for over 25 years and as an APS member it is my duty to report any other members who are violating the code of ethics and using FCL for international orders is fraud plane and simple and that is another can of worms that I do not want to have to open. This is a big problem for me because I would like to sell here but my gut tells me not to.
Bill I don't understand why you think you would need to charge $15.00 on HipStamp. I charge half that amount by using Shipping Easy. They charge me $5.73 for 2 oz. to England. PayPal gets $.22 and HipStamp gets $.60. That leaves me $.95 for packing materials and my time. Granted my time is worth more, but I tried to keep the price for the buyer as low as possible. If you charged the same $9.00, you would get another $1.50 for your troubles.
Shipping Easy has a free account for up to 50 shipments a month. The one ounce rate is $4.79, for which I charge $5.50 (+$1.00 for every 10th stamp), which covers the HS and PayPal fees. I don't seem to have any trouble attracting small orders of less than $1.00.
Agree, although to be a "package" you need an envelope large enough (e.g. 6x9) for shipping label and (later) the customs label, so with moderate packaging, I'm never less than 2 ounces, which is $5.73 to Europe/Australia.
Comments
I think it means you swear you don't owe USPS another $10 for every international stamp shipment you sent by letter mail.
I just noticed this for the first time, a few weeks ago. I got a shipment of comics from an ebay seller that weighed probably 2 pounds, but the label the seller created said 4 ounces! What an idiot! 4 ounces still goes at the 1 pound medial mail rate, and the difference between 1 pound and 2 pound media mail postage is less than half a buck. (And that's ignoring the fact, as the seller obviously did, that comics do not qualify for media mail.)
If we ban all law-abiding dealers from using letters, then only criminal dealers will use them, well, until they are caught by the PPP (PayPal Patrol) then referred to their cohorts, the PPP (Postal Police Prosecutors) for punishment .....the infamous, dreaded sticky gum gauntlet. The adhesive eventually washes off: it's the residual saliva drool that dries and unbearably lingers. Varmints of all varieties are repelled should you enter in their general proximity. Now you know the real reason for the Never-Hinged movement.
Actually it would be the other way around. It would go through the USPS first. USPS would put a lean on your Paypal account so they would get the monies due them. (Same thing if one were ever to get caught with the IRS)
Our post office is opening q lot of incoming media mail for inspection . Also any request for media mail rate at the window is met with "20 questions". Think the free ride is going to end soon.
The thing with the media has been going on for years so it seems odd that Paypal didn't have that notification up before, but now less than 6 months after the new international rules were put in place they put that notification up that includes following BOTH the domestic and INTERNATIONAL mail manuals.
It would be interesting, however if a Stamp Collecting Postal Inspector was reading all this. Now HipStamp is the focus. Only a matter of time before they drop a subpoena on them to turn over all international sales records of all of us.
Or...maybe they already have....
That would make for an interesting situation as you already have a few people that have posted they are doing just that.
(How much more rope do they need to hang themselves if a postal inspector were reading this. That would give them cause to seek a subpoena to get those records. It is a PUBLIC forum after all)
Sellers need to evaluate their business model and do what is right and lawful for their business. Faced with this new law, I had a choice to raise my shipping or keep my original shipping fees, use Shipping Easy or use USPS directly, or eliminate all International sales. How would the choices I made affect my bottom line.
First I contacted all my known International buyers. I explained the new law and the certain choices that were available. Overwhelmingly, the buyers did not want sales eliminated and would rather wait an extra week for an order than pay the exorbitant shipping fees.
International sales plays a large part of my business. Could I absorb some of the shipping fees to keep their business? Was it worth the effort financially? I decided to keep my original shipping fees for a trial six month period. What I found was I received enough large orders to keep my bottom line in the black despite losing money on shipping for each order.
So my conclusion for my business: keep International sales, use Shipping Easy, and absorb a portion of the shipping fees. I understand this will not work for all sellers. It's up to each seller to evaluate his business and decide what necessary changes must be made.
I knew what you were getting at and I was only referring to this statement
I disagree Mark should get involved. If he chose to send out an FYI at the time this was being proposed, fine. It's a sellers responsibility to be aware of laws, rules, regulations, etc. How many sellers sent emails "To the powers that be" when this was being proposed and comments were requested?
I think an informational newsletter might have been advised at the time that Hipstamp was made aware of this. I don't know how many of the other sellers that have gone to the USPS package rate are getting really tired of having to write to the buyers (even new buyers about what the UPU and USPS did) and having to write NOT 1 but multiple emails to the buyers because they get mad at us BECAUSE so many of the other sellers ARE NOT sending their shipments legally.
That doesn't sit well with me and for sure I am not the only one. How much longer will it be before they blow up at their postmasters because of this?
As far as a solution why not just require any seller who sells internationally outside of their country to UPLOAD tracking numbers of their international shipments as those are UPU rules. No tracking numbers no international sales. You can still ship within your own country if you don't upload tracking numbers. It would not affect your shipping rates as you are still uploading tracking numbers. Problem solved if it could be programmed to do that.
Just for kicks and giggles I checked what I did over the last 6 months and even with the change in postage my sales are about $1,100 higher than last year at this same time.
Also, Just got feedback from a sale to Spain that was mailed on 6-26 via Shipping Easy - 10 days, That's a good turn around. Maybe things are working better now.
When I read what you wrote about not raising shipping costs: it sounded good to me. In fact I considered it for a moment.
Then my ugly past came back to me. As an estimator for a manufacturer, I learned that if you give something away in one area it has to come out of another area - you can't manufacture money (legally, anyway).
So by making up the shortfall in the shipping cost, you are actually taking that money out of the amount you charge for your product. In essense giving a discount on your items to people who happen to live in another country. Not only is that not fair to you, it doesn't seem fair to US bound customers. Plus one of my bosses used to say "Don't give away the store, your paycheck depends on it" (literally!).
I decided to keep my "unrealistically high" overseas shipping costs where they are.
After all, fair pricing is fair not only to the customer but also to me...
It surprised me that I was up over last year on the international sales. (I thought I was going to be quite a bit down from last year.) I lost quite a few of the smaller sales.
"I'm in Canada and over the years I've bought several stamps from you and it disappoints me that I'll have to pay a flat rate of $6.00 US for shipping (about $7.50) CDN.) for even one single stamp. It seems like many, many dealers in the US are jumping on the bandwagon of excessive shipping rates when it's not justified.
On the other hand, I just received in the mail today a padded envelope containing 13 baseball cards (I collect them also), from Delta, PA. and the metered rate on the envelope is $2. 50 US. I paid $2.75 US. for postage. And I'm sure 13 cards weigh a lot more than 1 stamp.
Guess I'll have to buy my stamps north of the border from here on in."
Since I am a member of the APS, I wanted to let him know that I was bound by a code of ethics of which # 2 applies.
"I agree to abide by all federal, state, and local laws relating to philatelic matters."
Looking further down the code of ethics at #11 it says:
"I agree to bring known examples of irresponsible or unethical tactics to the attention of the societies in which I hold membership and which embrace this code."
Does that mean I need to report anyone not using the current International Rates? I probably can't, I have to assume anyone not charging higher international rates is losing money on the shipping but I'm sure most are not.
Bob
I used to send many items to Canada and Overseas for the simple FC letter rate but now with the new regulations my international sales have dropped considerably on eBay and with the direction eBay is going I was thinking of coming over to HipStamp and open a shop after being on eBay for 19+ years but I don't know if it is worth the time and effort to explore this venue.
I use Auctiva for my inventory control on eBay and I just sent a package today to England weighing 2 oz and I used their shipping and it cost me $8.30 that the buyer willingly paid $9.00 for but on HipStamp I would have had to charge $15.00.
I have been dealing in Philately for over 40 years and been a member of APS for over 25 years and as an APS member it is my duty to report any other members who are violating the code of ethics and using FCL for international orders is fraud plane and simple and that is another can of worms that I do not want to have to open.
This is a big problem for me because I would like to sell here but my gut tells me not to.