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

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  • edited February 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    I haven't been able to find out what ShippingEasy's rates are for the international first class large envelope/flat. (By country group is fine. I know which ones are most common for me.)

    I thought I'd seen these rates once sometime early over the weekend, but haven't been able to find them again since. Could someone point me in the right direction?

    (I do think setting up a free account with them is probably what I'm going to do.)

    Jeri, I've been thinking about giving 2 international rate options -- one reflecting the Shipping Easy method, and one through conventional USPS International, and explain what may be the timing difference -- but I can't imagine that most people wouldn't want to pay as little as possible and would be happy with it taking several more days.

  • I created the shipment, but didn't print it.
    Yes - you just drop it off at the post office.
    The delivery time is stated that it should be the same.
    Also, it looks like ShippingEasy.com was bought last year by Stamps.com.
  • With the new rates you don't have to get the weight to 1 oz or less. The rate is for anything from 1 to 8 oz. so a 6x9 envelope would work just fine.
    Mark: You convinced me - I'm off to ShippingEasy.com. You should ask them for a commission!
  • The rates are on this page, but you have to click to expand each zone (at the bottom of the page) to see them:
    https://support.shippingeasy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005917963-USPS-discontinues-service-for-First-Class-Mail-Int-l-Flats-on-Jan-21-2018
  • Thanks, Mark! That must be where I saw them over the weekend.

    Wayne, although the USPS rates now put everything under 8 oz in one rate, SE (ShippingEasy) does not, so the weight estimation still matters some with them.
  • Jeri,

    The envelope MUST be large enough for the label to be attached to the envelope. Two the envelope can NOT be rigid nor contain a rigid object. (Either of those 2 will make it a package and not a flat) Generally speaking a flat will be classified as a machinable large envelope and not a letter size envelope.



  • Jeri, the PayPal label printed out small enough to fit on a 6" x 9" envelope. The envelope I used was 7.5" x 8.5".

    Mark, the problem is that all merchandise has to go as a parcel. First Class Flat rate is available through PayPal as well, but that runs against the USPS rules.
  • edited February 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    Michael G - That's not the case. This is a separate service than what's available through PayPal (or directly through the USPS for that matter), and is fully compliant with USPS rules.

    This is specifically "First Class International Flat - Merchandise". Not the standard "First Class International Flat" which does not allow merchandise to be included. It's not offered directly by the USPS, but through ShippingEasy.com / Stamps.com (it's the same service, since Stamps.com owns ShippingEasy.com - but through ShippingEasy.com you can use this service without a monthly fee). You can read more about it on the Stamps.com website as well:
    http://blog.stamps.com/2018/01/18/stamps-com-launches-international-large-envelope-flat-service/
  • Dave - thanks. Yes, the ounces will matter on Shipping Easy. But there isn't really a significant jump. I was just wondering as I want to set up some type of shipping fee that would cover all Worldwide but not be exorbitant. Maybe $5.00 - $6.00 Worldwide and perhaps a little lower to Canada. I'm trying to keep it simple - just one fee.

    And, I am aware that the Customs Forms do not fit on a letter envelope- been doing the Paypal label for years - very easy. Hoping there would be a smaller label. Seems so wasteful to send one stamp in a 6 x 9. I am lucky, though, I don't have to go to the Post Office. My mailman picks up my mail every day. He's so great!

    Sounds like most of us will be signing up for Stamps Easy!
  • oops, that was supposed to be Shipping Easy. I thing Doug had the right idea - HIP SHIP!
  • All these foreign buyers should just move to the US and all would be resolved. Another example of a simple solution to a complex problem. Ah, excuse me, someone named Trump is calling.
  • Seems to me that this is the USPS permitting a business (stamps.com) to circumvent the rules and thus obtain special treatment and profits while everyone else has to pay the parcel rate or use the USPS's selected company. Sounds like favoritism, and I wouldn't be surprised if other companies take the USPS to court over this.

    I think I'm going to shut down international sales until the USPS gets its act together. Yes, that means "not in my lifetime", but I'm not going to play their game. I'm not far from Mexico. Maybe I'll consider driving down their and mailing out from a post office in Mexico.
  • I wonder. Can HipStamp amend it's Ship To in the postage setup to include not only individual countries but also Zones;
    i.e Zone 5 instead of having to list U.K. and all of western Europe nations?
    It would make it easier to fine tune postage costs, especially when using shipping easy.
  • Michael G - I don't believe that's the case. The USPS is not allowing certain companies, such as Stamps.com, to send International Flats with merchandise, and not others - nor does this service circumvent the USPS rules. Stamps.com is offering a service to fill the gap left by the new rules the USPS created. If you read how the service works, the items you send will be sent first class mail (domestically which allows merchandise) to a USPS approved sorting facility. The items are then sorted and consolidated for shipping overseas, utilized the USPS mail stream, and then delivered overseas.

    Any commercial company should be able to do something similar at the right volume and through contracts, etc. with the USPS. Just like Amazon contracts with with the USPS to deliver packages for them on Sundays.

    Wayne - You can setup your own Postage Zones however you want, from the Member Area > Selling > Seller Tools > Postage Setup page. You could create a zone called "Zone 5" or whatever you want to call it, and add whatever countries you want to the Zone you created. Then when you create a new listing, you create postage rates for your own zones. You don't need to add all of the countries again - just once when you create your Zones.
  • Has anyone noticed that ShippingEasy only lists 8 International Zones when, in fact, there are 8???
    There are no rates for Central & South America and the Caribbean.
    Oh well. The rates are so similar that it probably doesn't matter. In fact the rates are so close that I decided to do just Canada, Mexico and "Everywhere else". In case anyone still nees to know: labels are 4x6 inches (just like paypal).
  • Sorry all, but I have just changed my terms to sell only to residents of the United States.
  • edited February 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    """"Sorry all, but I have just changed my terms to sell only to residents of the United States""""

    Me too, from what I see shippingeasy.com requires you to have a URL in order to get setup and I don't
  • edited February 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    Mark, when you set up your account, what did you choose as your store platform? It is a required field for account setup, and HipStamp is not one of the choices.

    Edit: Reading further, it looks like we should choose the PayPal platform. Is that correct?
  • Ted: e*ay is a choice. Not in the alphabetical list, but quite near the bottom. "Other" is also down there as well.
  • edited February 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    @Michael Almond: the website url is not a required field.

  • I just set up an account (the Free, 0-50 items a month plan) and started a mock order, as Mark did. I put it in as a 2 ounce Large Envelope/Flat - Merchandise, to Canada, and it gave me a shipping cost of $5.00. This might just work.

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  • @Phil Atarium You don't want to specify the Ebay platform for your sales on HipStamp, because that's where the ShippingEasy system will be looking to fetch your open orders. You will need to use the PayPal platform, since that's where the payments are processed, That will also take care of your ebay orders (or Stamporama, or any other site), if the sale was processed through PayPal.

    For orders that are paid by cash, check, money order, or any other way outside of PayPal, you can enter it manually.

  • Ted, good reasoning. I'll change it. Thanks!
  • This is sounding good. Thanks Ted, Mark and others. I stopped shipping outside the US 2 years ago because of the increasing USPS and Customs hassles. I'm not going to rush into this, but I am encouraged by this discussion. Thanks, all, for your contributions!

    Tom
  • OMG - Stamps Easy? No Stamp Migraine!!!! Tried my first order - it was a nightmare. I chose Paypal as the platform. All my orders listed so nicely. Picked the Ukraine order - 14 items came up and 5 of the line items said invalid data that must be corrected. The line items were all the title of my listings. OK, tried to ignore that - didn't work. The weight on the shipping form was 1.4oz filled in by Shipping Easy. Tried to change that to 2 oz - couldn't. So then I overrode the customs form - put in my own info - 1 Lot - Philatelic Material - added the Code 970400 - changed the weight and that seemed to work. Tried to print - Big red message came up that Acct# ********* has been suspended - Call this number. Wow, I had been suspended before I even started. I called and talked to a very nice woman who took my info and asked what's your business name, where do you sell, etc. She then went to Hip to verify my store. So, after almost 2 hours,3 cups of coffee and 2 Excedrine Migraine tablets, I finally did print the label for tomorrow. Took so long I couldn't get it in my morning pick-up.

    The label is small will actually fit on the large Invitation Envelopes. Only address is the USPS routing Center in California with an Order Reference (Customer's Name & Country and Custom's Form Numbers - I assume) in very small type in upper right hand corner.



  • Jeri thanks for the heads up. Sounds like they need to verify your business before they let you use their service. You said "all my orders came up". Does this mean you need to mail your domestic orders using their service? Why would they guess your package weight? Were you able to change it after to talked to the "nice lady" and was it easy to do? Thanks
  • Now, that my headaches is gone and my ind has cleared - I think putting in Paypal was a mistake. The only other option would be "Other" and enter all the information yourself.

    No, you pick which orders you want to ship with their service. I'm assuming that being a philatelic service, they know how much weight 14 items should be? I'm confused about that also, because these were not 14 single stamps. The order included sets & strips of 5. The only way the changes could be made was by over riding the customs form and that was very easy to fill out, Then I clicked print & ship - was done in seconds.

    Also, not sure if you need to do this or not - there is also a download to connect your printer to the site. I did that too.

    I hope I get another International order so we can see if everything will work quickly now. It is worthwhile from a financial standpoint - only $5.76 for 2 oz. I'll keep you posted.
  • edited February 2018 0 LikesVote Down
    Jeri/All,

    Yes, I would recommend that you select Other as your platform - not ebay or PayPal. There's no real need to try and import your orders, etc. especially if you're just using it for International orders.

    When you have an International Order that you want to ship, you should click the create a new shipment - and enter only the address you're sending to, and the weight of the envelope you're sending, and an appropriate customs information.

    Weight, etc. can not be automatically calculated because it's not being sent to ShippingEasy from HipStamp or PayPal.
  • Thanks for sharing this, Jeri, although I'm sorry you got pretty beat up sliding down the learning curve.

    Last night, after I had posted that I would change it to PayPal, I thought about it some more and also wondered if that was a bad idea. I was thinking that because it would bring over all one's orders, and I really only want to use this for purchasing postage for international orders. I think I'm going to change it back to "other", or whatever it'll let me do. I'm ok with just copying and pasting in the information I need to process an international order on a case-by-case basis.

    Jeri, was your conversation with someone at Shipping Easy or at Endicia? ... I had a hard time getting my address approved through Endicia yesterday (it took a call to Shipping Easy to get it figured out), and I did go on and purchase $10 postage for the Endicia account after that, to see if that would even work. It did.

    But I do wonder if there'll be some other hurdles to jump through with the first real transaction or two before it begins to go more smoothly.

    Also, Jeri, were you mailing with a #10 envelope or a 6x9"? (or something different?)

    Thanks!

    -- Dave
  • Dave, the number I was to call was Endicia. The label will fit on a 5.75 x 8.75 Greeting Card Envelope or a 6 x 9. Will not fit on a #10.

    Mark - I don't know where the weight came from but it was pre-printed on the form and I could not delete it. I still don't understand why some of the line items said "Invalid Data - must be corrected".



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