Why do americans expect us to know THEIR postage rates?

nanners13 · Jan 13, 2014

Here is my two cents.....
I use stamps.com to print my postage. The website is tied into the USPS and because of that, going online offers cheaper rates. For uninsured items it costs no more then $4.99 to ship up to around 20 cards in a bubble mailer with proper packaging supplies. I Print them off on sticker labels so then that attaches to the bubble and this has all the customs documentation etc too. AND FREE TRACKING

I have to this day 5+ years of using the online postage have never had any issue with sending anything uninsured to Auzzy. I have only made 1 high end sale which required tracking and even with that was around $15....

Now if i go to the Actual post office. I have to fill out the customs form in line and in addition the rates are much higher in store so that same package now costs $10 minimum and you have to pay around $1 more to add tracking. US Sellers who IMO the overwhelming majority DO NOT use stamps.com, know that online saves tracking costs and actual postage fees, and that is why they gripe and moan over shipping charges. In addition, at the post office the insurance price for international shipping with Tracking door to door is well over $20 bucks. I know this is why so many sellers over here in the US don't even want to sell internationally.

I wish more people would try the online postage because it is so much cheaper and possibly encourage more sellers to open up.

I buy several of my chase card sets from china, and even from china to US an e-packet is only 4.99

I expect to pay $10 for a package shipped from Down under to me, If i want a card or deal bad enough I could care less how much shipping is, I know and accept that I live half a world away and know that it costs money to get it to me. I'm glad i found this forum because it has helped me obtain several very nice cards i would have never seen through my normal outlets. Yes I paid a little bit more the get them here but i HAVE THEM now

OP, sorry you had bad experiences with recent transactions. Hopefully you have better luck in the future.

wolvesjr34 · Jan 13, 2014

nanners13 said:
Here is my two cents.....
I use stamps.com to print my postage. The website is tied into the USPS and because of that, going online offers cheaper rates. For uninsured items it costs no more then $4.99 to ship up to around 20 cards in a bubble mailer with proper packaging supplies. I Print them off on sticker labels so then that attaches to the bubble and this has all the customs documentation etc too. AND FREE TRACKING

I have to this day 5+ years of using the online postage have never had any issue with sending anything uninsured to Auzzy. I have only made 1 high end sale which required tracking and even with that was around $15....

Now if i go to the Actual post office. I have to fill out the customs form in line and in addition the rates are much higher in store so that same package now costs $10 minimum and you have to pay around $1 more to add tracking. US Sellers who IMO the overwhelming majority DO NOT use stamps.com, know that online saves tracking costs and actual postage fees, and that is why they gripe and moan over shipping charges. In addition, at the post office the insurance price for international shipping with Tracking door to door is well over $20 bucks. I know this is why so many sellers over here in the US don't even want to sell internationally.

I wish more people would try the online postage because it is so much cheaper and possibly encourage more sellers to open up.

I buy several of my chase card sets from china, and even from china to US an e-packet is only 4.99

I expect to pay $10 for a package shipped from Down under to me, If i want a card or deal bad enough I could care less how much shipping is, I know and accept that I live half a world away and know that it costs money to get it to me. I'm glad i found this forum because it has helped me obtain several very nice cards i would have never seen through my normal outlets. Yes I paid a little bit more the get them here but i HAVE THEM now

OP, sorry you had bad experiences with recent transactions. Hopefully you have better luck in the future.

Do you know if this Stamps.com has cheaper shipping for actual packages (boxes?) As I have a lot of cards shipped to my friend in the states to send in bulk... but right now its $38 in the post office itself.

And Mattyj that sucks.... but I did tell you on SCF I have a monroe auto for you I try not to deal with overseas peopel cause of postage, but thats only because they pay in paypal and I then have to use cash out of my pocket to ship, and that makes things tight for me.

Brian Lee · Jan 13, 2014

Unfortunately, we have to respect the choices made by these sellers. They don't want to ship outside the US for many reasons. They have most likely been burnt in the past by PayPal claims. Sending overseas with tracking is very expensive and may cost more time filling up customs forms, so they have just decided to not deal with it.

Frank Dukes 78 · Jan 13, 2014

nanners13 said:
Here is my two cents.....
I use stamps.com to print my postage. The website is tied into the USPS and because of that, going online offers cheaper rates. For uninsured items it costs no more then $4.99 to ship up to around 20 cards in a bubble mailer with proper packaging supplies. I Print them off on sticker labels so then that attaches to the bubble and this has all the customs documentation etc too. AND FREE TRACKING

I have to this day 5+ years of using the online postage have never had any issue with sending anything uninsured to Auzzy. I have only made 1 high end sale which required tracking and even with that was around $15....

Now if i go to the Actual post office. I have to fill out the customs form in line and in addition the rates are much higher in store so that same package now costs $10 minimum and you have to pay around $1 more to add tracking. US Sellers who IMO the overwhelming majority DO NOT use stamps.com, know that online saves tracking costs and actual postage fees, and that is why they gripe and moan over shipping charges. In addition, at the post office the insurance price for international shipping with Tracking door to door is well over $20 bucks. I know this is why so many sellers over here in the US don't even want to sell internationally.

I wish more people would try the online postage because it is so much cheaper and possibly encourage more sellers to open up.

I buy several of my chase card sets from china, and even from china to US an e-packet is only 4.99

I expect to pay $10 for a package shipped from Down under to me, If i want a card or deal bad enough I could care less how much shipping is, I know and accept that I live half a world away and know that it costs money to get it to me. I'm glad i found this forum because it has helped me obtain several very nice cards i would have never seen through my normal outlets. Yes I paid a little bit more the get them here but i HAVE THEM now

OP, sorry you had bad experiences with recent transactions. Hopefully you have better luck in the future.

I have noticed some to most USA sellers charge over $30 for PRIORITY mail, i don't need my card here in 2 days i expect a week wait for international postage

KB. · Jan 13, 2014

For hardcore player collectors it's a must to have a US postal address these days cause I find over 50% of the low numbered Aminu stuff that pops up not doesn't ship internationally and if it does, it costs 10 times as must to post the card as the card is valued.

Brian Lee · Jan 13, 2014

KB. said:
For hardcore player collectors it's a must to have a US postal address these days cause I find over 50% of the low numbered Aminu stuff that pops up not doesn't ship internationally and if it does, it costs 10 times as must to post the card as the card is valued.

Being a multiple player collector myself, it actually costs more to get those small cards. No one seller has a lot of them, I end up buying one from here, two from there, postage is ridiculous even with a COMC mailbox. But at least, it's already better than sending them directly here.

Cobretti · Jan 13, 2014

drob50 said:
Because it is written on every envelope you receive from the US

It's a fair question to ask if how much it has cost in the past IMO. I don't know what the issue? If it becomes an argument just because someone asked that question, then I can't imagine the deal would have gone too smoothly anyway!

Agreed. I get asked this question a lot, however unlike the OP I am a regular purchaser so I can tell them stuff like oh a standard shipping with a LZ... tracking number was about $7.

Depending on how expensive the card is iw ill actually guide them myself on the shipping method I want lol.

At the same time the americans / aussies shouldn't turn it into an argument as their is a chance that neither guy will not know. The best you can do in that situation is a I am happy to pay $X for shipping do you have a method that costs $X.

PS: leave me feedback for the penny auto lol

juddcollector · Jan 13, 2014

There's one guy we need to thank for being able to bid a lot of US cards that don't ship internationally
Shawn Bradley Fan

cotto68 · Jan 21, 2014

I have a situation at the moment where i contacted the seller prior to placing a bid concerning the extravagant postage prices. While there were no bids on the item his reply was "postage will be about$6-$7 postage to Australia. As it turns out i placed a bid on the item thinking that if i won it i would be paying that price....not to be
I won the item and the seller now says he can not send the item at that price due to Ebay's global shipping program and will not send a revised invoice.. What a load of s#!t.
This sorta stuff infuriates me about Ebay... BE A MAN OF YOUR WORD.
Im thinking the guy didnt get what he wanted for the auction therefore he wants to make more from posting a piece of cardboard to Australia.
ARRRRGGHHHH and so the battle continues

Am i being unreasonable or made a mistake?
I have bought from sellers in the U.S which the same postage agreement has been made and ..not a problem.
I have emailed him to show his message from me saying it would be $6-$7 for post but have not heard back

To be honest the only reason i don't tell him to stick it is because it is a 1/1 which probably makes the whole situation worse.

nichj99 · Jan 21, 2014

Have you tried using COMC? Takes all the hassle out of it!

cotto68 · Jan 21, 2014

COMC ? excuse my ignorance mate..

nichj99 · Jan 21, 2014

The act as a middle man. You get the seller to ship to your port on the COMC website, they'll load it into your account and you ship it home, list it for sale on their site or send it off for grading on your behalf. Shipping from them is as low as $3 international! They're located in the US so as far as sellers are concerned it's a domestic post.

cotto68 · Jan 21, 2014

I have opened an account but am highly confused.. can someone please steer me in the right direction and a "how to use"..

GarnettFan4Life · Jan 21, 2014

cotto68 said:
I have opened an account but am highly confused.. can someone please steer me in the right direction and a "how to use"..

http://www.comc.com/mailbox.aspx

and have a read here

http://www.ozcardtrader.com.au/community/threads/comc-mailbox-thread.145429/

nanners13 · Jan 22, 2014

wolvesjr34 said:
Do you know if this Stamps.com has cheaper shipping for actual packages (boxes?) As I have a lot of cards shipped to my friend in the states to send in bulk... but right now its $38 in the post office itself.

And Mattyj that sucks.... but I did tell you on SCF I have a monroe auto for you I try not to deal with overseas peopel cause of postage, but thats only because they pay in paypal and I then have to use cash out of my pocket to ship, and that makes things tight for me.

YES MUCH CHEAPER RATES for actual boxes too..... (my example even though its not international) I live In Virginia and sent a 21lb package to a Guy in Wisconsin, Green Bay Area, for around $23 including postage and Tracking... It would have cost $35+ at the actual PO, so i'm sure sending bulk international works too. I'm pretty sure for domestic it states on the sticker how much actual postage was, though on international the customs part takes the actual price off....

I dont know if international persons are permitted to open up a stamps.com account. If you do, almost every single ESPN radio talk show host has an offer for checkout for first time suscribers... I know Collin Cowherds show always talks about "enter the keyword COLLIN, on your checkout" and you get like your first $200 in free postage and they give you a digital scale free.

Perhaps your friend in the US can save a buck or two.

Good Luck

Brian Lee · Jan 22, 2014

nanners13 said:
YES MUCH CHEAPER RATES for actual boxes too..... (my example even though its not international) I live In Virginia and sent a 21lb package to a Guy in Wisconsin, Green Bay Area, for around $23 including postage and Tracking... It would have cost $35+ at the actual PO, so i'm sure sending bulk international works too. I'm pretty sure for domestic it states on the sticker how much actual postage was, though on international the customs part takes the actual price off....

I dont know if international persons are permitted to open up a stamps.com account. If you do, almost every single ESPN radio talk show host has an offer for checkout for first time suscribers... I know Collin Cowherds show always talks about "enter the keyword COLLIN, on your checkout" and you get like your first $200 in free postage and they give you a digital scale free.

Perhaps your friend in the US can save a buck or two.

Good Luck

How can an international user send mail using stamps.com that are only valid in the USA? From what I have read, it is mainly a business solution where people are sending a lot of packages, so in exchange for a great postage discount, you pay a monthly fee of $15.99. I cannot imagine how an overseas collector can utilize this service unless they have a contact in the US acting as a proxy.

wolvesjr34 · Jan 22, 2014

Brian Lee said:
How can an international user send mail using stamps.com that are only valid in the USA? From what I have read, it is mainly a business solution where people are sending a lot of packages, so in exchange for a great postage discount, you pay a monthly fee of $15.99. I cannot imagine how an overseas collector can utilize this service unless they have a contact in the US acting as a proxy.

IN my case I have a proxy in the US But not worth the subscription fee given how long it take sme to save my mail for a bulk send.

Brian Lee · Jan 22, 2014

wolvesjr34 said:
IN my case I have a proxy in the US But not worth the subscription fee given how long it take sme to save my mail for a bulk send.

That's what we are all after, a trustworthy individual to act as our US proxy, bypassing the usual premium fees associated with such a service

cotto68 · Jan 22, 2014

GarnettFan4Life said:
http://www.comc.com/mailbox.aspx

and have a read here

http://www.ozcardtrader.com.au/community/threads/comc-mailbox-thread.145429/

Think im have a serious blonde moment but how do you send cards that you have won on Ebay to COMC...cant find the answer anywhere?
Also i dont understand how to pay for the card that is sent to COMC when the seller has already sent you an invoice( with huge U.S costs)
Sorry guys this site is totally a new thing for me....

nichj99 · Jan 22, 2014

This will answer!

http://blog.comc.com/2013/05/17/announcing-the-comc-mailbox-service/

Why do americans expect us to know THEIR postage rates?

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