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

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  • After a Month they still can not get my name right on here after sending screen shots to the IT department.

    Bill O'Malley
  • You must be some official in this site, Bill.
  • edited January 2019 1 LikesVote Down
    Bill, We can change your last name to OapostropheMalley. It will sort of be like a Saturday Night Live skit. But we&#039 ;ll have to change your first name to A-A-ron, or Ladasha (La-a).
    I&#039 ;ll try writing this way on purpose for solidarity! It has to be freak&#039 ;n annoying for you. Especially if they won&#039 ;t even explain why they&#039 ;re forcing the escaped character in the display.
  • OMG Doug, thank you so much for the morning giggle. Now I have to clean my computer screen.
  • It looks like Bill has been repaired!!
  • Yes it finally after a month been repaired. Unbelievable.
  • They were busy making the pricing numbers smaller.
  • Tell me about it!
  • You&#039 ;re welcome!
  • Well, this says much. It is from the HipStamp policies page:

    International Buying and Selling

    "Many of our Services are accessible to international sellers and buyers. We may offer certain programs, tools, and site experiences of particular interest to international sellers and buyers, such as estimated local currency conversion and international shipping calculation tools. Sellers and buyers are responsible for complying with all laws and regulations applicable to the international sale, purchase, and shipment of items."

    I think the question should be, what is HipStamp going to do to enforce this rule so that it is an even (and legal) playing field for all sellers?
  • Punish the rule-followers by charging fees on their higher shipping rates, that's what. $$$ Cha-ching! $$$
  • My last international order was on January 21, and ShippingEasy still had a $4.79 one ounce rate. I just entered a mock order, and saw that the rate has now gone up to a minimum of $5.79, requiring me to charge at least $6.60, to cover HipStamp and PayPal fees. I just can't do it. As much as I hate to, I have now eliminated international sales from my store.
    Something's got to be done about this.
  • I just shipped a one once flat-merchandise envelope to Australia this week and was charged $6.99 on shippingeasy
  • edited February 2019 1 LikesVote Down
    I keep up only occasionally here, but short of eating a little of the cost like no fees on shipping what else can HipStamp do? I haven't seen anything excepting better ways to calculate the international rates. I may have missed something. They do make promotions like buy xx amount, get $25 refunded, or $50 but you have to buy $250 or so to be eligible. That will rarely if ever be my situation, $250 a pop. The most I've ever paid for a single stamp is $210 and I got in big trouble.
    I haven't had any sales since the new rate, and I only went up on sheets that requires good stiffeners. Everything else is unchanged. Of course it's been less than a week.
    I would be willing to sell the sheets and use a magazine for a stiffener, that works and goes cheaper, but it's a little less of a sure thing and no tracking.
    Could you make up your own country an intermediate shipping location, like base price "NoStiffStuff", and "RealStiffYouKnowWhy " instead of Canada, and let that be for an intermediate number? Less than full rate but more than base.
    Maybe I'll ride over to Georgia, win the lottery, and have a 99% off sale. The next round would be on me.
  • Post office made money when they first sold the stamp. As did the original owner when sold to a dealer. Who, in turn, saw a profit (hopefully here on Hipstamps) and mailed the item using postage by which the post office once again benefits...everybody wins!
  • When it's time to sell.....
  • Mark,

    Are we going to get any updates as to the impact on the sellers? It has been over 1 1/2 years since you did mention you were going to do so and it would be great to get some information on this. Thanks
  • What are you hoping to gain from such information? No one can do anything about it.

    The impact is simple. If you are following the UPU rules for mailing merchandise to international destinations, your sales have been impacted. Buyers don't want to pay those high fees. If you stopped selling to international buyers, your sales are impacted.

    For me, it's simple. I stopped selling to international addresses. My international sales used to be at least 1/3 of my sales. That is gone.
  • You're right as far as the cost of the postage is out of our control and it will have an effect,where you are incorrect is that one can not mitigate that fact. If the information was broken down by store type and price point (Dollar value of the items). You're store size and what you are listing IS IN YOUR control and those are mitigating factors. Just because you have chosen to drop all international sales does NOT mean that others sellers are going to do so and some are looking for ways to mitigate the cost as best as possible.
  • I chose to continue to sell international. I now charge $8.00 and my international sales are down about 50%, but that is still better than eliminating them altogether. I still hate it when other sellers choose to ignore the regulations and continue to include merchandise is first class letters. I received flack over comments I made in another thread where a seller was offering free shipping, including international sales and that seller posted his disdain for my comment which another member apparently supported by stating not to worry because rules would be changing in 2020 anyway. Does anyone know if rates are going down then? I have only read where other country rates may be going up. Sure would be nice if we could again legally include stamps in first class international mail.
  • Some of the rules were going to change,but that is only applying to the cost of the postal services to get it from B-C. Customs forms will ALWAYS be required on any merchandise. Customs and duties have been in place for thousands of years in some form. Goods will never go back to being included in first class letter rates. The processing cost for handling mail with goods in it is higher to begin with.

    What would help is if they had a 1-4 oz rate for the international first class parcels instead of everything starting at an 8 oz rate. That's what was the real kicker.

    Was that the same guy that was complaining about what the Chinese were paying for parcel rates?

  • Not the same guy. Lower weight and rate first class parcels would be great.
  • WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service is increasing the safety and security of its collection box procedures through a modification of the long-standing Aviation Mail Security Rule, which was established in August 1996 and called for all packages weighing 16 ounces to be presented in person to a postal clerk or a letter carrier. The action was taken to enhance security measures and to protect the public, postal employees and postal contractors who transport the U.S. Mail.
    In 2007, the weight allowance was decreased to 13-ounces or more for all anonymous mail. Since then, packages and other mail pieces weighing 13 ounces or more, bearing only stamps as postage must only be presented to a postal employee at a retail counter.
    This month’s update to the rule will enhance the existing safety program by prohibiting packages with stamps as postage that are more than one-half inch thick and/or weigh more than 10 ounces from anonymously being entered into the mail stream through collection boxes or Post Office mail slots. Packages and all other mail pieces of this type will now need to be taken to a retail counter. This change is effective Oct. 1, 2019.
    How to mail a package
    Consumers who opt to use postage stamps to mail packages, or other items, weighing more than 10 ounces and/or more than one-half inch thick must conduct their transactions at a Post Office retail counter. Consumers can also take advantage of Postal Service self-service kiosks to purchase postage labels and drop those packages into the package slots, not mail slots, at a Post Office. If a restricted package or mail piece is found in a collection box, mail chute or lobby mail slot after Oct. 1 it will be returned to the sender with a Customer Return Label attached explaining the restrictions and reason for return.
    Click-N-Ship customers will be unaffected by this change.
    Consumers can expect to see label changes on collection boxes and Post Office mail slots with the updated information. The Postal Service apologizes for any inconvenience to its customers.
    The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations
    ###
    For U.S. Postal Service media resources, including broadcast quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the USPS Newsroom. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the USPS YouTube channel, like us on Facebook and enjoy our Postal Posts blog. For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and facts.usps.com.
    For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please view this contact list.
  • Just heard of this - I've never seen a seller have issues with this policy when shipping to Australia. It's only Ebay's GSP that is an issue.
  • edited January 2022 1 LikesVote Down
    As the "lucky" seller sitting outside the US where we don't have the same requirements (so bad for you guys to sell internationally, but actually improves my position as a seller), just playing devils advocate here.. .how, how how, is this even remotely "enforceable" when we're talking a tiny piece of paper in an envelope.
    I'm not at all suggesting "don't do it", but I am looking at this from the perspective of, sometimes, stupid things are put into place that at the end of the day are really meant to affect something else, but end up affecting something like this.
    Are they going to millimeter wave scan every envelope, and use an AI to identify postage stamp shaped object buried between other pieces of paper?
    It seems this is some kind of overreaction to something (like drug trafficking?) that I just can't comprehend this is the intended effect. It seems likely to have the opposite effect even, that it wouldn't increase revenue for the postal service, but instead reduce traffic of such "parcels" to a point that their revenue falls or (gasp) everyone ignores it, and then how exactly will they police this?
    Things that make you go "hmmmmm".

    My last observation on this point is also... the postal service is VERY sympathetic to philatelist (in my experience). Can't imagine why...
  • edited January 2022 3 LikesVote Down
    Scott, because it’s not always one tiny piece of paper in an envelope. I’ve had many orders, in the past, that were several ounces and which created thick parcels. Are we supposed to put a note in our listings, “Limit one tiny stamp per order, to international destinations?”
  • Ted,
    No, I get that, and it wouldn't necessarily apply to everything, but unless you're dealing in larger collections, it would seem it would still be inconspicuous enough even for a few items...
    I'm just the outside looking in on this, as it doesn't effect me in the way it affects those inside the Paper Curtain.
  • I understand, Scott, and, truth be told, there is someone very near and dear to me, who will flout the rules in their personal correspondence. As for my HipStamp business, though, I don’t want to be in the position of having to tell a customer, sorry, your order is too large for me to sneak within a letter; here’s your money back. I’ve heard tell of a postal clerk who took a collector’s innocent looking international letter and carefully pinched it in several places, trying to detect contraband.
  • As I said, I'm not suggesting anyone not follow the rules.
    I am just baffled by how exactly it will be enforced.
  • Please remember that it was not the US Postal Service's idea to impose the requirement that any merchandise shipped outside the United States must contain a customs form and be shipped at a much higher postage rate as an international package, it was the Universal Postal Union that required this change and imposed it upon the USPS.

    Having lived for several years in The Netherlands in the late 1990's, I saw how differently other countries can handle merchandise shipped through the mail compared to the United States. Everything that I had shipped to me in from the United States to The Netherlands was hit was a significant duty fee, no exceptions. Even the mint United States stamps that I had sent to me direct from the USPS for collecting and trading purposes were hit with a duty charge. Any of you that have mint new issues sent to you from postal services outside the United States, think about having to pay a customs fee of 15-20% of the value of the stamps just to receive them from the USPS.

    The item that really upset me was when my personal computer that was still under warranty had the hard drive fail. I sent it back to the United States and the computer company sent a replacement to me free of charge - or so I thought. Although there was no charge from the computer company, the Dutch postal service hit me with a very high duty charge (they liked to do that with anything computer part related).

    I have had literally a ton of material sent to me from overseas through the mail while living the United States. All items, whether small batches of postage stamps, bicycling related items, or huge and heavy boxes containing stamp collections or accumulations, have all arrived without problem and without any customs fees whatsoever. It has always been that way and continues to be that way.

    The lack of assessing arriving items for value and thus for the appropriate customs fee, as well as then having to collect that customs fee, must greatly reduce the amount of time and effort in handling these items arriving from outside the United States, and thus reduce the cost of handling these items. The lower cost of handling arriving merchandise used to be reflected in the USPS shipping rates for items sent overseas.

    It is my understanding that the USPS must send a portion of the postage fees collected from merchandise sent outside the United States to the other countries to which this merchandise it sent. This helps to cover some of these other countries higher mail handling charges. It also helps to cover the UPU operational budget. It also makes a difference whether the country from which something is sent is considered a developed country or a developing country. Items can be sent directly from mainland China at very low postage rates since the UPU considers it a developing country.

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