Cheap International Shipping
a False Economy
We get many requests for USPS First Class International shipping. Some folks think that if the Post Office offers it, we should be required to use it, but it is just not that simple. We keep our prices low by using as much automation as possible. Filling out shipping lables one at a time is not an option when you ship as many packages as we do. We would need to pay for labor, which drives up the prices, so we use Pay Pal shipping services. Pay Pal shipping services automates most of our shipping tasks and does this automatically. The only international services Pay Pal shipping offers are Express and Priority. First Class is not offered because it is just too poor a service. For them, as with us, any acceptable shipping method must be documented and secure, and must deliver in a timely manner, not the case with First Class International.
We make the same two dollar handling fee for all domestic and international shipping, and charge no additional handling fees, so the high cost you see is simply what good shipping costs. It also allows both the buyer and seller to meet the requirements of the Pay Pal Seller and Buyer Protection Programs.
Before we used Pay Pal shipping services, we did ship first class international for about a year, so we learned about this shipping method the hard way. The reported loss rate was about 15 percent (non-delivery or fraud, no way to know). Packages took a very long time to arrive, in some cases four or five months! Virtually ALL of our shipping complaints were about this service. Since we believe that the customer has a reasonable expectation of receiving a package in a timely manner, we could hardly blame them for being upset when it was not there after weeks and weeks. And this was routine, not exceptional! We really have no way of knowing if First Class was really that bad so far as loss goes, or if we were simply the targets of fraud, since we could prove nothing without delivery confirmation. The low cost came at too high a sacrifice all around.
We understand your frustration, and are very sorry that good international shipping is not less expensive. Though Pay Pal Shipping Services is aware of these financial concerns and have promised to try to change the Seller Protection program requirements, to date they have not found a way to do so. When you use a flat rate option, it becomes very cost effective when you purchase multiple items. We hope this explains adequately why we cannot ship using this method. Thank you again, and God Bless!
Sister Luke
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