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For some sellers shipping internationally means careful checking of import restrictions. Plant & animal products, food products, precious jewelry, leather and more are restricted or prohibited from being imported into in certain countries. Often when customs finds a prohibited item, it is confiscated without notice.

To help minimize your risk, use the USPS website’s list of countries on the following page, each has a link to their prohibited and restricted items:

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You can insure international First Class Mail!

Not all packages need shipping insurance–I find that the vast majority of our shipped goods make it to their destination just fine. If you ship fragile, expensive or irreplaceable goods though, buying insurance might be a good idea. When to insure is a decision you need to make for yourself–every business will have different points at which insurance is the way to go.

If you insure a lot of packages, the fees can add up. If you ship internationally, you can’t even insure some of your through packages USPS and that is a problem for many sellers.

It’s easy to add USPS insurance while you are paying for postage whether you are buying postage online or at the post office:

When shipping internationally, the prices for Priority Mail International shipping is often cost-prohibitive–add insurance and the high prices might turn buyers off.

First Class International and the small flat rate Priority Mail International boxes are a more affordable shipping method but USPS doesn’t offer insurance for these services, which can be risky if you are sending items that are pricy/fragile/irreplaceable.

That’s a tough hurdle for lots of folks who want to sell internationally, until they learn you can purchase insurance through third-party shipping insurance companies.

Not only is third-party insurance available for International First Class Mail, it less expensive than USPS’ insurance to boot–even for domestic shipping.

The two companies I’ve learned about and tried have different restrictions–one doesn’t cover jewelry, the other doesn’t cover stained glass. Since we sell both, I made a point of bookmarking each of them, including the pages where they list their rates and restrictions:

I haven’t needed to file a claim with either company, but purchasing the insurance through their websites was easy enough. I’ve only read about one seller who needed to file a claim with these companies–they insured using U-Pic (through Endicia’s postage/label service) and they said the claims process went well.

How was your experience with these companies?

Shipping Service Choices

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You need to choose what service works best for your business, I can only speak to what works for us. We use First Class whenever possible–it’s fast and inexpensive.

When a domestic package is over 13 oz (the First Class rate cut-off), we generally ship Priority Mail. International First Class goes up to 4 lbs, we rarely have an international package that goes over that, but when it does the package has to go Priority.

First Class is generally handled the same as Priority Mail, except during the busiest seasons when Priority Mail is put on the truck first, and if they run out of room for slower service packages, the non-Priority packages have to wait for the next truck. The only other time I hear that Priority is handled better than first class is when it is being shipped to APO/FPO addresses, Alaska and Hawaii.

If you don’t ask for First Class at the post office, the clerks are supposed to just give your Priority Mail, so be sure to ask about your options.

First Class Mail Domestic: Up to 13 oz
The rate is the same across the US no matter how far the destination. It is the least expensive you can ship, even less than Parcel post–and yet the service is much faster than Parcel Post.

First Class Mail International: Up to 4 pounds
The rates are variable but they don’t change much except for Canada and Mexico being much less expensive than anywhere else–we’re neighbors after all. See here for more: International Shipping

Priority Mail for domestic shipping is covered here: Priority Mail
You can get boxes free when using Priority Mail, but we can still ship most items cheaper in our recycled boxes or in bubble mailers using First Class Mail. They have great “flat rate” boxes–same price no matter what shipping US zone your package is going to but it’s only a good deal for heavier items, that’s covered in the link above. There are different prices for the Priority International Flat Rates, though you use the same boxes.

Parcel Post
We don’t often use Parcel Post because it is significantly slower, and usually not much less expensive than Priority Mail–especially if you pay for postage online.

Once you’ve got your items shipping figured out, you’ll probably want to use shipping labels you print from home–once you start you’ll wonder how you ever did without it! See the “Shipping” page for links to posts for help with printing labels and even more shipping help.

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We’ve just added a Shipping page to the Pages links on the right. There you’ll find all the main shipping help posts I’ve put on the blog. I’ll update the new Shipping page with future shipping help posts too, so you can find them all in one spot.

Occasional updates about shipping info–like postal rate changes–can be found using the “sort by topic” link just below the Pages links or get notified when messages are posted by subscribing to our blog–see the links on the left.

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To figure your shipping rates you need to find out what your items weigh in packaging and then you can use the USPS shipping calculator for shipping rates (if you are in the USA):

I recommend weighing several packages, writing down the weight and then taking the packages to the Post Office and having the clerk there weigh them too. Compare the weight your scale read to the post office’s scale so you know if your scale is off & how to adjust.

Using the Shipping Calculator

When you use the USPS Shipping Calculator it will ask for zip code. We use a zip code from the farthest zone so that we’ll know the highest rate the shipping can be if we are using a service other than First Class. To find out what zone is the farthest from you, see here:

Click the little question mark links on the USPS calculator pages if you need more info as you go.

Be sure to click the “First-Class Mail Package rates” link (it’s red) when you get to the results page if any of the following apply and you want to ship First Class:

(If you’ll be shipping using labels you print online, you need the package to be 3/4″ thick or rigid to qualify for Delivery Confirmation which is automatically added (and you cannot opt out.))

If the box dimensions are large there’s some variation in pricing:

Domestic: http://ircalc.usps.gov/PopUps/pop_up16.htm
International: http://ircalc.usps.gov/popups/FCMI_Parcel_help.htm

You can also use these rate charts if you prefer–the links on the left side of the page linked below take you to the different services available:

I like the charts, but it’s good to be familiar with shipping rules before just using them & not the shipping calculator. (You’ll be there in no time!)

The USPS website’s shipping calculator has a drop-down menu to select the country you are shipping to–please note that when you change it to a country other than the US it auto-fills the information selecting “package” and giving it a weight of 1 pound. I don’t know why it does this, but it does and it can throw your quotes shipping off. Be sure to click the radio button that describes your item (a bubble mailer is a “large envelope”, a box is a package), and change the weight to match your package weight.

Figuring Out Your Secondary Shipping

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One of the trickiest things for new sellers–now made super easy:

It’s not a perfect science, but it should get you close.

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The highest shipping charge is always the base shipping.

It doesn’t matter what order the items are added to the shopping cart, the item with the highest primary shipping rate will set the base shipping for the order.

The secondary shipping cost is if you add that item to a package.

“With another item” should generally be less than the first shipping price. (In some cases items can’t be shipped with other items, or the cost of shipping won’t go down when it is shipped with another item, so the shipping will stay the same for primary and secondary shipping.)

Every item after the one that sets the base shipping will add its secondary rate to the package.

An example:

If someone buys all three, Item A’s shipping is primary–because it is highest, and Item B & Item C will have the secondary rate added:

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Did you know you can use Paypal labels to ship things even when your buyer didn’t pay through Paypal? Or even if you’re just shipping something to a friend?

There’s two ways to do it–using the Multi-order Shipping feature or using the ship-now link.

Multi-order Shipping

On the right side of the main account page there is a link under “My account tools” to “Multi-order Shipping”.

Personally I don’t like that feature–I find it cumbersome for printing one label so I use the “ship-now” page:

Ship-Now

1. Log in to your Paypal account.

2. Click this link (and bookmark the web page in your browser for future use):
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

3. There you can manually enter all the details for a label for a package even if you did not receive funds through Paypal. I copy and paste everything in to be sure I’ve got it right.

Click the bookmark in your browser whenever you want to do it again.

Teach a Man to Fish…

You can get to this web page address any time you need to, even without the bookmark. Knowing how to get there will keep you from ever having to worry about losing the magic link, so here goes…

You can create that link address yourself from a transaction label you haven’t yet printed:

a. Click the “Print shipping label” link next to any transaction and when the label page loads
b. go to the address bar in your browser and delete all the text after “ship-now” in the address and
c. hit enter. That will give you a blank label form to fill in with your shipment details.

For example, when you click the “Print Shipping Label” link the address of the label page will look something like this:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now&info=qnOjYY-GGnRwerueX9I9N1ts1Kzw…

change it so it looks like this:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

then hit enter on your keyboard. It will bring up a page with a blank label.

If you don’t have a transaction with a “Print shipping label” link:

i. Find a transaction that you already printed a label for, and click the “Details” link in the Details column next to it,
ii. Page down to the blue link that says “Ship Another”, click it and when the label page loads
iii. go to the address bar in your browser and delete all the text after “ship-now” in the address (as described above) and
iiii. hit enter. That will give you a blank label form.

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Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2009

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While we use First Class Mail whenever possible, sometimes you need to ship Priority. Boxes are free from USPS and they’ll even ship them right to your door for free if you order them online: Priority Mail Boxes

Domestic Priority Mail rates change based on shipping zones, unless you are using their Flat Rate Boxes (good for up to 70 pounds). Sometimes the flat rate boxes are a good deal–sometimes it’s better to ship Priority Mail by weight.

Small Flat Rate Box & Flat Rate Envelope (same price):
$4.95
These cost the same as the “up to 1 pound rate” for Priority packages regardless of the zone they are being shipped to. If your items are going Priority and fit in this package, you’ll get the best Priority rate possible.
Envelope: 12-1/2″ x 9-1/2″
Small Box: 8-5/8″ x 5-3/8″ x 1-5/8″

Medium sized flat rate boxes (formerly the “regular” size):
$10.35
Comes in two shapes:
Medium Box 1: 11″ x 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″
Medium Box 2: 13-5/8″ x 11-7/8″ x 3-3/8″

Shipping by weight cost is better than using the medium box for these packages:
$8.70: Up to 2 lb, shipping to all zones.
$9.90: Up to 3 lb, shipping to zone 6 or closer.
$9.45: Up to 5 lb, shipping to zone 4 or closer.
$10.30: Up to 7 lb, shipping to zone 3 or closer.
$9.90: Up to 10 lb, shipping to zone 2 or closer.

Large sized flat rate box:
There are two different boxes, both the same size–one is especially for shipping to APO/FPO Destinations ($11.95), it has a lower price than the one for all other addresses.
Large Box: 12-1/4″ x 12-1/4″ x 6″

$13.95
For non-APO/FPO destinations:

Shipping by weight is better than or equal to using the large box for these packages:
$11.95: Up to 3 lb, shipping to all zones.
$12.95: Up to 4 lbs, shipping to zone 7 or closer.
$13.75: Up to 5 lbs, shipping to zone 6 or closer.
$13.95: Up to 9 lbs, shipping to zone 4 or closer.
$13.30: Up to 11 lbs, shipping to zone 3 or closer.
$13.95: Up to 19 lbs, shipping to zone 2 or closer.

The flat rate box is always less expensive for these packages:
$14.30: 19 lbs and up

You can see USPS Priority Mail shipping chart and the rates and compare for yourself here:

You get a discount for paying for your postage online, and for Priority packages you get free delivery confirmation!

USPS.com: You can buy postage for all the flat rate boxes through USPS.com’s Click ‘n Ship.

Paypal only offers postage for the flat rate envelope (not the small box, though they are the same price and I use that label for the small box, which might be risky since the label says it’s for an envelope…) and the medium (formerly the regular) sized flat rate box. More on Paypal shipping here: Shipping Through Paypal

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