Yes you are right Dave (Shultz) prices to seem to be lower here than on ebay Also buyers here seem to want to have overseas orders shipped using standard postage while ebay buyers seem happy to pay for expensive tracked shipping?(I suppose they want ebay's buyer protection?).
I'll tell you Tania...some of the shipping prices I've seen on Ebay are outrageous along with some of the listing prices. I've seen some of the newer FOREVERS listed quite high. That's why I generally just go to the USPS on Ebay. You can get them at regular price and pay 1 shipping charge (1.25) for any amount you buy. Anyway...you're right about the tracked shipping which is 3.50 right now but will go up in a couple weeks when the postal rates go up (inside info from my postmaster). Regular rates going from .50 to .55. Better get your forever stamps right now.
I can tell you as a newly retired postal worker, ebay does not know the first thing about shipping costs. They need to make money and why not recoup some profits from the shipping they charge. I saw it when people dropped their prepaid shipments.
I've learned one thing for sure about the USPS. Never again will I use them to ship a boxed item. My wife sent a small box that at the most weighed 2 ponds to Scotland. Cost me about $30 to send. From now on anything that won't fit through a mail slot is going UPS or Fed Ex. And USPS wonders why people complain???
Just for kicks and giggles I just checked FEDEX to send a 2 lb package to France. USPS for the counter price is $35.25 for FEDEX they show the counter price for the exact same package at $118.65.
Michael, I wasn't giggling on the $35 I spent to mail. I'd surely been cussing at FedEx. I could walk to the PO to mail but drive 50 miles round trip to get screwed at FedEx. I'll relate this though. I sent a small box to Ontario from Ohio via USPS a year or so ago and that cost me about $30 then a while later sent the same size box to the same address via FedEx for about 10. Now....if it doesn't fit inside a small envelope then I don't send! And Ron...that makes more sense than you realize!
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Just for kicks and giggles I just checked FEDEX to send a 2 lb package to France. USPS for the counter price is $35.25 for FEDEX they show the counter price for the exact same package at $118.65.
I wasn't giggling on the $35 I spent to mail. I'd surely been cussing at FedEx. I could walk to the PO to mail but drive 50 miles round trip to get screwed at FedEx. I'll relate this though. I sent a small box to Ontario from Ohio via USPS a year or so ago and that cost me about $30 then a while later sent the same size box to the same address via FedEx for about 10. Now....if it doesn't fit inside a small envelope then I don't send! And Ron...that makes more sense than you realize!
UPS isn't any better. (And out of all of them I have had more problems with UPS then Fedex and the USPS combined)