Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2011
This post is copyrighted–you do not have permission to repost this content elsewhere but you are welcome to link to it if you’d like to share the information.
Before we get to postage there’s two important things about packaging your international shipments:
1. Always use a customs form, and if it is something you sold you should check the box for ‘merchandise’ or ‘other’, whichever your form has on it. They are easy to fill out–name, address, package contents & value. More help for customs forms here: Do I need a customs form?
2. Always include an invoice that reflects the contents & their price (having the recipient info there is good too). I know a lot of folks don’t bother with receipt of any kind when mailing out their goods, but with international packages it is important to have it in the package–and required by law in some countries.
If customs decides to stop your package (they do random picks), they will try to confirm the package value, and if your package has supporting documents inside that match what the customs form declares, they will usually go with that. If you don’t have info about the price of the goods inside, or are missing a customs form all together, they can guess at the value, and it is usually a much higher guess than what was actually paid causing a hassle for your buyer.
We struggled with setting prices for international shipping, but after some research we came up with this plan:
• United States (on Etsy you’ll also need “United States Minor Outlying Islands” and US Territories each as its own entry, shipping USPS the rates are the same as zone 8 shipping)
• Canada
• Mexico
• Everywhere Else
A lot of that decision was based on this info, looking at shipping via International First Class:
Size:
• Packages up to 4 pounds
• No more than 24 inches long
• No more than 36 inches in combined length, height, and depth
• At least large enough to accommodate the postage, address, customs form, and other required elements on the address side.
Source: USPS International Mail Manual
From the “240 First-Class Mail International” page, from the “241 Description and Physical Characteristics, 241.242 Dimensions” section: http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/immc2_016.htm#ep2368227
(There’s more info there about other packaging too if you need it.)
I took a look at the country list here:
Country Listing:
http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immpg.htm
and saw that for First Class International, Canada and Mexico were the only countries in zones 1 & 2 (respectively). All other countries are in zones 3 through 9. Then I looked at this chart:
First-Class Mail International:
https://www.usps.com/ship/first-class-international.htm
and saw that for packages up to 1 oz, the rate was the same anywhere in the world (this is new as of April 2011).
For packages over 1 oz, zones 1 & 2 are significantly less expensive than other zones–that’s Canada and Mexico, our North American neighbors. We give them each their own rate in our listings.
Everywhere Else: For packages over 1 oz shipping out of N. America, there are only two price groups for First Class. All other countries fall in zones 3 to 5, and zones 6 to 9 but the rates for those two groups are pretty similar, with less than $1.00 difference between the two groups all the way up to 4 lbs.
Since there are so many countries with rates that are nearly the same for zones 3-5 and 6-9, I just lump them together as Everywhere Else and charge based on zone 3-5 rates (the higher of the two groups). That way we’re never shorting ourselves on shipping charges, and the over-charge is never more than $1.00.
If you look at the chart below, you can see how the zones compare (rates effective January 2012):
Now that you have a feel for the international shipping zones & package size restrictions, you don’t even need the USPS website’s shipping calculator to estimate your shipping costs, which often hides the First Class rates.
If you don’t have a scale to weigh your packages you can take them to the PO and get weights for items that you’ll typically ship, but a scale is really worth its weight in gold for the convenience of printing out shipping labels (through Paypal Shipping, USPS Shipping Assistant, or other services from home).
Need to insure your International First Class package?
USPS doesn’t offer insurance for this service but you can insure through third-party insurers for less than USPS charges for domestic packages. See the “Shipping Insurance” post on the main Shipping page of this blog–link on the right in gold under “Pages”, or click here:
Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2011
This post is copyrighted–you do not have permission to repost this content elsewhere but you are welcome to link to it if you’d like to share the information.
39 Comments | Add your own
Thanks for this great info. I am currently adding international shipping to my shop
Thanks so much for all of the information, it is a great help.
Thanks a lot for this information. Most of my packages are also less than 8 ounces. I’m glad you did the excel sorting for me…
Greetings!
Thank’ee’s for the info! That is going to help SO much!
-Bird
wow thanks for all the great info!!
Thanks again. A
Thanks so much!!! I’m trying to wade through the information on International Shipping and this was a big help!!!
This is EXACTLY how i do my postage!
Thanks VERY much for sharing your work. You’ve convinced me to ship internationally.
Hi thank you for info I am shipping a dress form to AUS any information? Thank You!
Denise–wow–that’s a big item! I’m betting the price would be high via USPS because of the size and weight of the box. Maybe look into local freight shipping companies? It will probably be a lot slower, but more affordable.
Thx you so much for your info..im very new to etsy and your info help me a lot!:)
Very helpful. Thanks for this! Jan at Eclectic Vintage who has a secondary site on Etsy: http://www.eclecticvintage2.etsy.com
This is SO helpful as I want to offer worldwide shipping. However, how do you handle customs? What about extra charges?
Customs fees/taxes are charged by the receiver’s country, and only once the package is in their country’s customs office (packages are picked at random–not every package gets hit with fees/taxes). The receiver is responsible for the fees and there’s no way for the sender to know what they will be before the package is sent.
thanks GoTo!
you always have such great information in your blog! thanks so much. I am struggling with international shipping right now, and this really helps me!
Thanks for this information! I’m setting up my new Etsy shop, and I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to handle shipping!
Thank you so much, your insite is wonderful and I’m sure so very helpful to all of us!!
Thank you! Just had my first order from Europe and really appreciate this information.
Thanks so much. I’m just starting out of Etsy and most of my research suggests shipping international and worldwide. You have really helped me to make this decision.
I’ve been reading lots of information on International shipping and still struggling to choose the best option. Lately, I have had requests from Greece and the UK for orders ranging from $75-$150 in costume jewelry weighing more than 1 pound and less than 2 lbs. What do you suggest for shipping? Can I still ship First Class International and add insurance through sites like U-pic? Or should I go via Priority Mail Flat Rate box or envelope? I know flat rate is not tracked so is that not a good idea? I have lots of questions as you can see. Thanks for your help.
I just found information on your site about 3rd party shipping insurance for USPS First Class International and I see that U-pic doesn’t cover jewelry but shipinsurance does. This looks like it might be a good option for me. Would you agree?
Thank you so much! I’m also just starting out on Etsy and found this information to be of vital importance!!
I’ve been trying to figure out the international first class rates and the customs fees too. Thanks so much for ALL the important information needed now as I’ve just begun to sell online. I appreciate your sharing. Jan
You are just wonderful for sharing your research. As you know, most people on the internet try to “charge” for knowledge. Thanks a million for just wanting to ‘help’ others!!! Kudos!
Pam
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed.
what about insurance? apparently First Class doesn’t have it, and Priority is a lot more than a couple dollars. This post is really helpful except for that issue.
If you see the Shipping Basics page of the blog it includes info on how to insure your International First Class: http://www.gotogreatpanes.com/blog/shipping.
Wonderful way to break it all down for me! I can’t wait to see my sales skyrocket when I begin to offer intn’l shipping!!!
I have done all the research you have mentioned, however I am blown away by how much it costs for me to ship internationally. Is someone really going to pay $34 ( for example) to have one of my purses shipped to them? I wonder if it makes any sense to offer international shipping at all.
It would only cost $34 if you are shipping it Priority Mail or a faster service. You can ship up to 4 lbs First Class International anywhere in the world for $31.40 or less, and I’m assuming the purses don’t weigh 4 lbs.
First Class usually takes less than 3 weeks to arrive, most international buyers know they will have to wait a little longer for an international purchase to show up.
That said, lots of other countries have much higher shipping than we have in the US and what seems pricey to us is often close to what they normally pay for having items shipped from within their own country. I say list it and let the buyer decide!
Hi, thought I would ask here because you have been so helpful to me in the past. I’ve been printing and shipping priority mail intl using PP for over a year now. Now, all of a sudden I only get the *black* screen. I could have accidentally uninstalled Java. But, if that was the case I’ve unistalled/reinstalled several times, cleared cache and cookies, rebooted (a period of 2 weeks trying several things) and still nothing. I even tried calling PP. They had no answer other than it must be a JAVA issue. I’m using W7 with Firefox, although I’ve tried it using IE also. Any thoughts? I’ve had to void several labels, the last one was $41.85. Yes, I get reimbursed but not for 15=21 days! And even worse, it costs more plus no free tracking! Help!
Hugs,
Gina
Hi Gina!
I haven’t seen the problem myself but I saw these posts in the Paypal forums (who know they had them right?)
Paypal forums
Looks like the most recent update from Java is a conflict. You can either go back to an earlier version or you can go to USPS.com & use Click n Ship and print them there.
Oh, I didn’t know there was a paypal forum. I will try an older version. Thanks! I’ll let you know if it works!
Gina
Thank you so much for sharing this! I feared it would take me days to figure all this out.
So I read in another post that you ship jewelry. When I went to the USPS manual you linked to and then to Great Britan, jewelry is a prohibited item. Do you ship jewelry to GB and if so, what do you do special to make it happen? Thanks.
Were you reading it here:
Can I ship jewelry through International First Class Mail?
See the “Valuable Articles” part about what constitutes jewelry–many sellers are shipping what is considered costume jewelry/fashion accessories and not fine jewelry which is where restrictions usually come in. Some of the info on USPS about what is restricted/prohibited is arguable–sometimes you go to the country’s website and find that there really isn’t a restriction on items USPS says are, or it gives you more specific details.
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