I was thinking to use FedEx, but I searched 'international shipping' in the sub, and it seems some people seem to suggest to use USPS for international shipping?

What do others think? Go to USPS for international shipping?

Do your stores ever send international shipments through USPS on CMS? My store owner always tell us not to give our customer the option because it’s unreliable and we can’t offer tracking. Is this true? Never ran one through before.

There’s so many options too and I have no idea what the difference in all the post office options are because we’re told to run international through UPS every single time.

Not sure if this is the right place for this, if not I'll delete it. However I have a question.

On october 8th I shipped a package from America over to Ireland. The shipping says it was processed through a facility in Ireland (October 16th) and now it says it processed at ISC New York (October 23rd).

Did it get sent back? If not what's happening. Sorry if this is a stupid question I've never shipped internationally before.

Thanks!

Now, before I ask, I fully realize that there is nuance to this conversation. But, *most of the time*, who would you all say is the best service for shipping? We're trying to establish an easy default for our international shipping that way we can just choose the other in rare exceptions.

We're a small operation that's starting to gain an international audience, and we're feeling the growing pains. Any sage wisdom?

For a long time, my brand didn't offer affordable international shipping. Our one product was $70 and priority mailing it to another country was typically about $50, which was a hard pill to swallow for our customers.

Then I discovered that, if I put the packages in a custom-made box, I could offer USPS First Class International shipping, which would make my product ~$30 to ship internationally, which is much more reasonable for a $70 product.

The only problem is that USPS' First Class International mail has to be the least reliable form of shipping ever.

Almost every package I have sent to Mexico has been lost, and several others to other countries have been lost as well.

What do you all use for international shipping? How do you make it affordable? Or do you just not bother with it?

As a class, my international orders are by far my biggest headaches, but my brand is one that is positioning to be international—so I have to figure out how to reliably get packages into other countries. Maybe that just means I have to set up distributors in the countries where international orders are most common?

I ordered something from Japan on the 6th, so I expected a longer shipping time, but is this delay normal for international shipping? I’m confused about the timeline—how did my package move from St. Louis to Kansas City on the 20th, only to sit there for five days with no updates? Has anyone else experienced something like this?

Has anyone else had any experience with USPS international shipping not updating for over a week after leaving the international distribution center? Four days after it left it updated to say it was moving within the USPS network and is currently in transit to the next facility, but I’ve gotten nothing since.

So I used PayPal to sell these two tickets and PayPal is holding my money until the items arrive to the buyer. I'm in Florida and they are in Bolivia. I shipped with USPS First Class Package International Service with Registered Mail as a feature. I shipped on 03/15/24 at my local post office. Here it is, 33 days later and tracking shows it's stuck in Chile since 03/28/24! I emailed USPS international customer service support and here is what they said:

This is in response to your inquiry regarding your mail delivery service. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

After looking into your inquiry, you parcel is currently in transit and has been handed off to an authorized agent outside of t5he USPS network and is currently in transit to the destination please keep in mind that this parcel was shipped as registered mail and while it is the most secure type of mail service it is unfortunately the slowest and due to the fact that it must be signed every step of the way up until its destination and therefore it is not uncommon for registered pieces of mail to take this amount of time to arrive as it also has to go through customs and that is out of the control of the USPS. might i advise as to ship with express mail in the future and should you need a signature you can also request that with the parcel delivery as well. I do apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you and should you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach me via my email provided below.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond. If you have any questions, please contact me at the telephone number below.

Sincerely,

Andrew Taylor

Supv Customer Services

I generally use the eBay Global Shipping so I don't have to worry about the package after I send it. I've had really bad experiences shipping overseas in the past. Especially to South America. This buyer is located in Argentina.

A buyer asked me to adjust my shipping method for him so he could buy a PC game from me. It's an $85.00 PC game.

I'm worried that he can simply file an "item not received" claim. I know a long time ago when I did ship overseas, you basically had to use Global Express with signature tracking. Else face a full refund even for a package that was "lost', even though it showed delivered.

Do you all think 1st Class International is safe enough, or should I add signature or use another method?

I remember sending a gift to my American friend, about 9 years ago. I shipped it from the U.K., I think it cost me like £30 to ship it.

Saw a product I wanted was on sale in the U.S, significantly cheaper than over here. It’s around $20. Only weighs around 1kg and is a small item.

My plan was to buy one, set the delivery to my friend’s address and then pay a U.S. courier to ship to the to U.K.

So I tried a bunch of U.S. couriers shipping calculators… $200 to $300+! Since when is international shipping supposed to cost this much!? Is this a consequence of Trump’s tariffs, or what?

Hello!

Does USPS offer untracked international shipping? Our preorder shop originally planned to ship merch through Royal Mail, which has an untracked tier that's half the price of tracked mail, which we said would be available to customers who were in countries with weaker currencies.

Due to the fear of the $800 tariff exception being removed again, we've decided to change our shipping location to the US, but the cheapest shipping option I can find is $14 internationally, even for a 4x6" package weighing 1 oz. I was hoping that USPS would have an untracked international shipping option like RM but the USPS site is really unintuitive. And Google is unhelpful, only pointing me towards tracked options.

Does this option exist and is cheaper than $14 per bag for a 1oz, non flat package? Or does anyone else have any recommendations for cheaper untracked US -> INTL shipping?

Thank you!

There is no benefit to using express vs just plain priority mail for international destinations. It takes just as long. USPS used to have a policy of refunds for late deliveries but they quietly canceled it and are now treating both exactly the same except the "Express" option costs twice as much but still takes 2-3 weeks to deliver (if you're lucky)

hi so i am shipping to my friend in norway. it’s my first time shipping out of country and i have no idea how to do it. i plugged his address into an online label maker (pirateship) and found labels

do i just ship it like how i usually do? just buy and print the label then ship it at a post office?

only reason i’m confused is because my friend mentioned something of a customs form i might need to fill out. no clue what that is

thank you!

I am trying to ship a package to Ireland. I am on the usps website and see no option for international shipping for the click and ship. I will go to an area that says do an international click and ship label and when I click that it takes me to the form where I fill out who the package is to. But it only offers states within the United States.

I have a seller in Canada who said they'd buy more of my vintage items if shipping wasn't so high with USPS Priority International.

The only other offer for International shipping is the Standard International shipping and it's only $5 less than USPS Priority International (USPS is $61.35 and Standard is $56). The vintage item cost $95.

I tried looking in seller help articles but didn't see anything else offered.

Any suggestions? I prefer to ship through Ebay rather than Pirate Ship.

Hello, I bought a piece of electronics through ebay.

It was sent from Portland on August 12th, it has not left the Los Angeles area yet. It has been to Bell Garden three times.

Can someone explain to me what is going on?

Because the package is traveling all over the Los Angeles area, from one USPS point to another.

On August 20th the customs process was completed, because Ebay does not have a license to ship abroad!? And it took almost four days.

I know that customs officers are a "special" type of official, but for God's sake, problems with EBAY?

Generally, today is the 25th and the package still has not left the USA, this is absurd, even by the standards of the French post office, I live half my life in France and not much surprises me anymore. Please tell me if my package will travel another week in a truck along Route 66 to the Eastern Coast to be loaded onto a Cypriot tanker that will sail around the globe?

I buy things all the time in the US, I have two classic Jeeps.

Even from rural Kentucky, packages are delivered to me in France, and I live in the countryside in 4-5 days.

Of course I don't use USPS, but about 12 years ago I bought my first Jeep parts with USPS shipping, and they were delivered in 10 days.

What happened in your country?

Hi folks!

I sent about 15 packages week ago via USPS first class international. I bought shipping through Stamps.com via Shipstation. I had one scanned in person and the rest scanned via End of Day forms at my local post office. As of today, the tracking for all of them still says, 'Label Created, not yet in system.' All of the tracking for the domestic packages on the End of Day forms have updated tracking. This is one of the first times I've done international shipping and I'm freaked out because I sent expensive packages and spent so much on shipping. I contacted Shipstation which told me to contact Stamps.com who told me to contact USPS. I haven't been able to reach anyone at USPS yet. I know things are crazy right now, but I was wondering if you had any advice or insight. I'm hoping they're not lost.

I'm also considering using an alternate shipping service - UPS, Fedex, etc. Any advice? Are they any more reliable right now?

Thanks,

Domestic:

*If you are mailing a book, music, or any type of reading material, wrap it up in your own material and take it to a local USPS and ask for "media rate". Price range: $1.00-$5.00. Shipping Frame: 1-4 business days

*Want to mail a letter? Check the weight! Please don't just put a stamp on it and send it away. Check it! Usually, Greeting cards are usually .46, but I have seen the ones that taken .66.

*Want to mail a package? Keep it under 13 ounces. If you don't, when you go to a local USPS and tried to send it off, the system will kick you out of first class and go by weigh using "Priority". You do get tracking btw. Price: $1.30-$5.25. Shipping time frame: 1-3 business days

*Priority: If you use this, you are giving a $50 insurance plus a label, box, tape and tracking. Price:$ Based on weight. Shipping time frame: 1-2 business days.

*Flat Rate: Okay, there is flat rate envelops and boxes.

Envelops: Gift cards, windows (where you can put an already addressed envelop in it if you have shipping on it already, request for credit!) and the two legal sizes. Prices: $5.60-5.80 USD

Boxes: Small, medium (long and box), and large Prices: $5.60, $12ish, and $16ish

Of course, all of these come with tape, labels, $50.00 insurance, and tracking.

Shipping time frame: 1-2 business days

Standard Post If you have a large package, beware of using this. Standard is "snail mail" and it won't be delivered until about 5-7 days later. You have to pay by the weight. If the package is out of range when it comes to measurement, you will get hit with fees. (ask if you want to know the range). It does come with tracking, but when it goes through processing, its not pretty. I've seen packages that where under this feature look not so nice after processing. I would get insurance if I were you. Insurance fees start at like $1.25.

*Express

Express Flat Rate: Comes with envelops, tape, Express Form (You HAVE to fill this out). $100 insurance, tracking, signature required (you can opt out), and a Money Back Guarantee. This is next day usually, unless the area that you are sending it to is a small office with short hours of operation and/or far from a plant. When using this feature, pay attention when the clerk is ringing you up. Ask what day and time it will be there! Make sure you get a copy of the express form (yours will say "customer copy") and have it stapled to your receipt. This way, you will have proof of your purchase in case something happens. USPS takes express seriously and if it isn't mail properly, there is suppose to be discipline. This feature cost $19.95 for the envelope and $39ish for the box. This feature can also be used by weight!

International:

If you are mailing a letter and its international, $1.10-$1.12.

If you are international and mailing a package, custom forms are a must and can be a small pain, but make sure you get help from your local shipping center!

(Edit: I wanted to extent on the international first class letters. It does depend on weight also. Weight it!

International Shipping: Avoid the "m-bag" feature. Make sure the clerk doesn't select it! It's specifically for "dropping mail" for the peace corps. That means from an airplane...in the sky...falling...yep, lol) If you need anymore help, just ask! :D