Minimum order value for international sales to proceed
It's been mentioned on various threads... setting a minimum value for international sales to proceed through checkout would be nice. With postage costs getting completely out of control, and HipStamp Fees on S/H charges perpetuating the high postage rates (for those who follow the law, at least), then such a feature will allow for more reasonable shipping rates to be set.
For those who sell stamps << $1.00 each and wish to sell internationally, there is no other way to prevent taking a bath.
Example: recent sale of one 19 cent stamp to the Netherlands. $7.00 S/H paid (net $7.19)
Minus $6.73 postage (new rates via Shipping Easy) minus 52 cents Paypal minus 58 cents Hipstamp fee = negative 64 cents, not counting packaging, cost basis, and other incidentals. If I set a minimum order value of $10.00 for example, I would be willing/able to absorb some of these. Frankly, I'm shocked as to how many of these types of orders I get. Enough to make me consider pulling the plug on international sales, or cheating like everybody else does and is getting away with it.
Hipstamp, please be part of the coping with creative solutions, not part of the problem.
For those who sell stamps << $1.00 each and wish to sell internationally, there is no other way to prevent taking a bath.
Example: recent sale of one 19 cent stamp to the Netherlands. $7.00 S/H paid (net $7.19)
Minus $6.73 postage (new rates via Shipping Easy) minus 52 cents Paypal minus 58 cents Hipstamp fee = negative 64 cents, not counting packaging, cost basis, and other incidentals. If I set a minimum order value of $10.00 for example, I would be willing/able to absorb some of these. Frankly, I'm shocked as to how many of these types of orders I get. Enough to make me consider pulling the plug on international sales, or cheating like everybody else does and is getting away with it.
Hipstamp, please be part of the coping with creative solutions, not part of the problem.
Comments
I also get a surprising number of low value, single-stamp orders. Since I no longer sell outside the US, the negative effect of the PayPal fee and HipStamp shipping fee is less painful, but still significant enough that I recently raised my S/H fee from $1.80 to $2.10 to offset some of the losses. I started with StampWants in 2007 and the general market situation for buyers and smaller sellers alike has deteriorated since those days.
Unfortunately, as fees and other costs have risen in recent years, it has become more and more difficult to justify my listing of individual lower-value stamps. In the beginning, I was hoping to recover a reasonable proportion of what I had invested in my collection/accumulation and to do so in a way that might contribute to the hobby. Things have changed and it's becoming more and more difficult to do that. I may be too far removed from the hobby now to understand what's going on with the later generations of collectors, but I get the sense we're building barriers that make the marketing of lower-value stamps untenable and thereby adding one more reason for the hobby's apparent decline.
My sales did for the most part disappear for international buyers. But I still do get a sale or two a month on average. What is surprising is that sometimes these sales will be for only one stamp listed at around $1. At first I sent the buyers an email to check to make sure they were aware of the shipping fee. I always got a response back saying that they were, so I stopped worrying about it. After all, our buyers are adults that can freely make up their minds how they wish to spend their money. I consider myself a libertarian, and as such, I don't believe that individuals need to be protected from themselves over something as minor as purchasing a collectible postage stamp online. And one individual to the next is going to have totally different ideas as to what is important to them; me trying to apply my way of thinking to what their decision making will be will never work.
I do get periodic requests from potential international buyers as to why my international shipping fees are so high when compared to others from the USA that are around $2.50 to ship anywhere in the world. I go through a standard explanation about the UPU and how they forced this upon the USPS, that other USA sellers either chose to ignore these shipping requirements or use a third party to lower their shipping fees. I then invite them to buy from sellers from their own country or to buy from sellers who ignore the USPS shipping requirements. I tell them that I will not lower my shipping fees at their request and ignore these rules (I have been asked to do so) because all of the liability falls on me, not them. I like to go to bed a night and not have to worry that the FBI is going to make a gestapo raid on my townhouse and arrest me for not following the USPS rules (outlandish maybe, but that is what fuels nightmares).
I did have one buyer from Canada that I worked with on this and we came up with a solution of him requesting to be allowed to purchase numerous times and to combine the orders through the pre-approved for payment option. That would keep his shipping charge reasonable and he could accumulate a sufficient number of stamps and not have to worry about others purchasing items he had in his shopping cart. HipStamp blew this solution up by deleting the repeating shipping charges from the invoice but not deleting their 8% fee charged on each shipping charge. I managed to keep this individual as a customer by instead going to a periodic addition of items to my store (once every two months) instead of dribbling newly listed items in nearly every day.
I used to collect, but now I am only selling. I look at this selling still as a hobby. I am now retired and need something to take up my free time and this is it. I try to sell my items in a manner that I wished other sellers did when I was still collecting. So all of my stamps for sale are listed individually, whether they have a catalog value of $1000 or 25 Cents. Pictures are provided of each stamp, both front and back. I start all my sales at 30% of the most recent Scott catalog value that I have available (presently 2018-2019 catalogs). I then discount that selling price 50% for each listed defect, with defects consisting of a long string of potential things such as perforation issues, creases, tears, toning, pencil marks on back, etc. For Scott catalog listings of 25 Cents (minimal value), I have a selling price of 5 Cents. If that stamp has any defects or is a mint-hinged stamp where the pricing is for mint-never-hinged, it gets listed at 3 Cents. I am not trying to make a ton of money selling my stamps and I never expected to when I was accumulating my present hoard. Instead, I am just trying to disperse them to others who are willing to help at least partially fund this hobby of mine. And believe me, just about everything sells when priced low enough.
I am enjoying myself doing this and have managed to keep as much stress as possible away from this undertaking. By following all known regulations and having all of my listings and selling fees following a set of predetermined conditions, there is really no decision making involved in the day-to-day scanning, cataloging, listing and selling of my stamps. If I ever get to the point where the stress starts getting to me, I always have the option of calling Mystic and telling them to come on over, I have a hoard to stamps to unload. But I certainly hope it never comes to that.
My experiences have been similar to what Richard stated above. For the one or two international sales I now receive and ship myself, most buyers seem to receive their parcel within a week, week and-a-half.
I have found that using USPS can be fast and easy for international shipping. I have a postal scale at home so can get an accurate weight. I then use the USPS website to get the postage cost (which I apply as postage stamps), then fill out the customs form online. I print the customs form off, cut each of the three copies down to size and place in the small customs form self-adhesive clear plastic envelope and apply that to the package before taking it to the Post Office. So when I get to the Post Office, all they do is scan in the bar code on the customs form and hand me the receipt with the tracking number. I got the small customs form self-adhesive clear plastic envelopes from one of the clerks at the Post Office; she gave me a stack of a couple dozen for use so that she wouldn't have to go through the trouble herself of inserting the customs forms and attaching it to the package. The smaller one gives me plenty of space to apply the plethora of postage stamps that I use for international mailing.