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The affordable way to send small parcels

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tszaboo:

--- Quote ---The affordable way to send small parcels

Due to new international regulations, it is no longer allowed to send smaller goods (up to 2 kg) via mail in an envelope. Until recently the better option to send these goods was to use the option "packet without track & trace". This can be relatively expensive though! This is why we introduced the letterbox packet. With the letterbox packet, you can send small goods (up to 2 kg) in an affordable way and still be compliant with the new regulations.
--- End quote ---
Quote from PostNL
Letterbox packet, 0-2 kg: 13 EUR
Affordable.

So according to our overlords, I can order a 1 EUR gadget with free shipping from China.
If I want to sell something like this, I'm supposed to send it in a packet for 13 EUR.
Affordable.

I'm slightly wondering how can Amazon send me a prime parcel, where the goods is 5 EUR.
This is the royal snail mail. If they loose it, they just raise their shoulder, say "sory" and leave on their orange bicycle. I sometimes wonder why Dave doesn't receive too many packages from the Netherlands. So sending a 5KG package is 83 EUR. DHL is 134EUR.
I checked the pricing of DHL Germany, sending a 5KG package to Australia, just for the kick of it. 45.99 EUR

Affordable!
 :rant:

bob91343:
DHL is perhaps the most expensive shipper.  The next tier has USPS, UPS, and FedEx.

I think shipping from China is subsidized by that government.  I bought a 2 liter polyethylene pitcher with four plastic glasses online for $1 with free shipping.  I wonder where the profit is in such a deal.  It was so good I bought another, same price.  But that was shipped from USA, where I live, so not international.

helius:
Part of the benefit that Chinese shippers receive is because the Universal Postal Union sets termination fees based on the sending nation's economic development level. So a country considered a "developing nation" pays less to the destination country for the final domestic delivery service. Those rules were changed in 2019, but the full effect of the changes has not yet taken place.

When the fees to importers are held artificially low, the fees to exporters must rise to compensate if the post office wants to balance its books.

Recently, small parcels shipped from China have been filtering out of smaller countries like Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as those enjoy even more favorable status within the UPU.

Another change has been towards freight consolidators like OrangeConnex, which receives bulk shipments from China and divides them up to ship them domestically to the purchasers.

tszaboo:

--- Quote from: helius on March 19, 2021, 12:23:49 am ---Part of the benefit that Chinese shippers receive is because the Universal Postal Union sets termination fees based on the sending nation's economic development level. So a country considered a "developing nation" pays less to the destination country for the final domestic delivery service. Those rules were changed in 2019, but the full effect of the changes has not yet taken place.

When the fees to importers are held artificially low, the fees to exporters must rise to compensate if the post office wants to balance its books.

Recently, small parcels shipped from China have been filtering out of smaller countries like Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as those enjoy even more favorable status within the UPU.

Another change has been towards freight consolidators like OrangeConnex, which receives bulk shipments from China and divides them up to ship them domestically to the purchasers.

--- End quote ---
I'm aware of this imbalance of shipping costs.
But this makes e-commerce completely impossible for small items. Let's say I make a tiny doodad, which has 1 EUR hardware. I factor in some work packing it, the packaging costs some money. Padded envelope another maybe 30 cents. I pay another half EUR for each unit shipping + import tax.  I use Dave's formula for calculation the selling price. Say the selling price is 7 EUR.
+13 EUR shipping to Europe. For USA it is 23 EUR.

Would you buy this item?

Kleinstein:
The shipping costs are quite different from country to country. Inside Germany one can send a small bag up to 500 g for 1.55 EUR. To much of Europe it's ~ 5 EUR, so still acceptable.

The low shipping costs (due to postal trities)  from China are a problem and have to ( and will) change.  However dealers alread start to move on to other other countires (e.g. ship from Vietnam). The reduced tarif many have been OK in the past for private use, but it got unfair with large scale mail orders, especially with the added waiver on sales taxes in most of the EU.

It was the old low shipping costs from China that were wrong, not the new high costs.

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