eBay

westron123 · ‎07-21-2017

Went to mail 2 tiny padded envelopes to the US today and was told, as of today anything that is send in padded envelopes is small packets mailing, therefore doubling the cost.My postie said this just came down today, and he was surprised by it also. This basically doubles the price because before I could send a small padded envelope as regular mail. Now you have to fill out the form , so more time consuming too.

Has anyone else noticed this?

momcqueen · ‎07-22-2017

Thank you for providing the clarification. I was unable to make myself understood.

momcqueen · ‎07-22-2017

Regardless, lettermail is mail for letters. If someone is exporting Sale of Goods merchandise they are required to use a Light Packet service. And complete a Customs Declaration as is required by law.

mtheory2003 · ‎07-22-2017

"Actually, no. It's Lettermail (up to 5mm thick) and Oversize lettermail (up to 2cm thick)."

Not really...both are lettermail. Up to 5mm it is "regular lettermail" then up to 2 cm it is" Oversize lettermail". Both are subcategories of the greater class "lettermail".

momcqueen · ‎07-22-2017

Lettermail only applies to domestic shipments as far as sellers are concerned. Anything SOLD and cross-border needs to be declared via Packet service.

who*s-sylvia · ‎07-22-2017

The workaround is to use a paper envelope for the outside of the package and wrap the item in bubble wrap before putting it in the envelope. Same protection for the item but the package has a different feel/look to it.

jt-libra · ‎07-22-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Regardless, lettermail is mail for letters. If someone is exporting Sale of Goods merchandise they are required to use a Light Packet service. And complete a Customs Declaration as is required by law.

I recall a post from a media seller a year or two ago on this subject. He said that he had shipped hundreds of DVD's to the U.S. by lettermail and never had a single one returned. He implied that anyone who did otherwise was a fool, given the increased cost of using Light Packet.

Yet others who have tried this have stated that most of them get returned.

Go figure.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-22-2017

I recall the post or posts from that person although I don't recall more than one or two people (if any) saying that they got an envelope back because they paid the US or international letter rate instead of light packet unless they were told that right at the counter. But then we may be remembering different posts. 🙂

I do agree with MJ that technically, US and international letter post (CP does call it letter post not lettermail for outside of Canada) are for documents only. But if there really is a new rule about the type of envelope that can be used they need to communicate that better. Perhaps if there wasn't such a gap in the pricing they wouldn't have the problem of people trying to bend the rules. It does seem a bit silly that there is such a price gap in two envelopes exactly the same size just because one item has a sold book in it and another has business documents in it. They both still go through customs.

jt-libra · ‎07-22-2017

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a great memory but I do recall someone recently saying that they had shipped light-weight goods to the U.S. by letterpost and all the envelopes were returned to her with a rubber band around them. I believe her post was related to all the discussion surrounding Shippo, elimination of Light Packet, etc.

Her experience no doubt resulted from the different ways that postal outlets, maybe even depots, treat these types of small packages.

jt-libra · ‎07-22-2017

I was going to add that on a couple of occasions when I had put insufficient postage on a lettermail envelope within Canada, I found them back in my mailbox the next day, so the local depot would have had to be the ones to turn them down. Another time, the envelope went all the way to Montreal and back with a note to add something like $9.00, so obviously they determined it was too thick. When I tried putting It through my Canada Post template, it went through fairly easily. By now, the stamps had been cancelled and the envelope was a mess so I transferred the item to a box and purchased a new label, but the only way I could get my money back for the cancelled stamps was to take it to the main Post Office, which I never bothered to do.

widgetc · ‎07-22-2017

I have shipped thousands of SOLD items vial lettermail to international destinations on my selling account using discounted postage. I will continue to do so as none has ever been returned. I drop them in mail box in an urban area. They have no way to know what is inside unless they x-ray them. Should they ever find a way to stop this I will stop selling.

If SOLD is the proper criterion every postage stamp sold would technically not qualify for lettermail. Good luck enforcing that. If you are going to make rules you should have the sense to make the rules enforceable. The paper only rule is simply not enforceable.

widgetc · ‎07-22-2017

My items are paper though...mostly postage stamps and covers (envelopes that have been through the mail).

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-22-2017

Your memory is better than mine in this case! I found the post that you were referring to and they said that they were returned after 2 weeks so they must have gotten past their local post office. I wish I had paid more attention to their post at the time, I'm curious about it now.

11canadianchick · ‎07-22-2017

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Your memory is better than mine in this case! I found the post that you were referring to and they said that they were returned after 2 weeks so they must have gotten past their local post office. I wish I had paid more attention to their post at the time, I'm curious about it now.

Well, you're a better searcher than me LOL. I tried to find it because I couldn't remember the details, but had no luck. Two weeks .... wow! I would have been frantic trying to contact and appease buyers and then re-shipping (or refunding).

momcqueen · ‎07-22-2017

It's not about whether the contents are made of paper.

It's about whether they're documents or like a birthday card for Aunt Betty in Florida.

Otherwise, according to law, we are obligated to declare the contents for Customs. Import, export of goods are subject to trade laws.

ypdc_dennis · ‎07-22-2017

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
... Perhaps if there wasn't such a gap in the pricing they wouldn't have the problem of people trying to bend the rules. It does seem a bit silly that there is such a price gap in two envelopes exactly the same size just because one item has a sold book in it and another has business documents in it. ...

Letter mail rates are still set by parliament -- everything else Canada Post adjusts to what they think buyers will still pay for. After the big jump in 2014 letter mail rates have not changed, so the spread keeps getting bigger.

The rules dividing stuff into documents and goods for cross-border shipments goes into effect with UPU in January of 2018, at this point it's just local rules for some countries (like Canada Post).

The fuzzy thing is that you can also have "documents and letters" that can also be classed as "goods" because someone paid for them.

...

My approach (until January) is that if it looks(*) like, and feels like lettermail, then it is lettermail. Particularly for low value items under 100g for International and under 200g for the USA. Everything else is Small Packet or higher.

(*) - paper, plastic, cardboard, and similar -- the stuff an X-ray machine is not going to flag as non-document

-..-

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-22-2017

lol

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/PayPal-Canada-Post-New-Version-No-more-Light-Packet/m-p/3... Post 15

I've had just one item sent back and it was an oversize lettermail within Canada. My measurements were off so it was 2 cm too long and they wanted me to pay for a parcel instead. But I was able to adjust the size of the envelope!

Actually I have had a couple of light packet sent back too but they shouldn't have been....they were sent to me the sender instead of the recipient. That was a long time ago and I think the labels have changed since then.

ypdc_dennis · ‎07-22-2017

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
... I have had a couple of light packet sent back too but they shouldn't have been....they were sent to me the sender instead of the recipient. ...

One of the reasons I use a yellow highlight marker on the destination address of my shipping labels -- some of the labels have the address a bit on the small side for those of us with older eyesight.

-..-

jt-libra · ‎07-22-2017

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
lol

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/PayPal-Canada-Post-New-Version-No-more-Light-Packet/m-p/3... Post 15

I've had just one item sent back and it was an oversize lettermail within Canada. My measurements were off so it was 2 cm too long and they wanted me to pay for a parcel instead. But I was able to adjust the size of the envelope!

Actually I have had a couple of light packet sent back too but they shouldn't have been....they were sent to me the sender instead of the recipient. That was a long time ago and I think the labels have changed since then.

Thanks for the thread. (I'm glad you recognized the other I.D. -- sometimes I forget what browser I'm on). Time goes so fast ... that was way back in May. It seemed like only two or three weeks ago.

I also used to get the odd light packet returned to me in the following day's mail. It was the mailman who finally told me to highlight the addressee block. To this day, I still use a red sharpie to draw a line on two sides of the address.

After I sent my last post, I started to chuckle. Another Saturday night spent on eBay, revising, relisting, posting, answering questions, sorting inventory, etc.. I remember when I used to go out and have some fun on the weekend! Although, if you have some sales on a Saturday night, it can be fun .....