What Is The Cheapest Way To Mail Stamps Overseas?

With the new USPS rules, we no longer can use the 1st Class Mail.
What are the alternatives?

I just send them in the usual sized envelope you would use for sending a letter with a global forever stamp. Costs $1.15.

Which new rules?

I use regular Forever "First Class" stamps to mail Internationally. So long as I have the proper amount of postage, the USPS could care less if I use First Class or Global stamps. My letters always arrive to the recipient.

I recently had a big problem trying to send to Holland with tracking. My cost was to be over $70- to mail approximately 50 postage stamps. Needless to say, I did not do it. So it went without tracking.

Jack Kelley

Well, if you are going to insist on full tracking, then yes, it will be costly. But for inexpensive items, it would be cheaper to send at your risk and except some chance of loss or buyer fraud.

No he is not mistaken about a new policy. There is a discussion in the ebay etc. folder that has a title something about ebay and paypal and it eventually gets into the new international merchandise mailing rule.

Hi

The way postal rates are climbing, it won't be long before the cheapest way would be to get on a plane and deliver the package in person.

BTW: That also is in doubt!!


Jerry B

I'm not sure why prior answers have been so indirect and incomplete, as the issue is important to anyone who is commercially selling stamps to buyers in another country. In 2016 the UPU (and thus its member nations) voted to change international postal rules pertaining to merchandise shipments, and after further debate and rule drafting the new rules became effective (at least in the United States) on January 21, 2018. Effective now, US sellers cannot ship "merchandise" via First Class Mail International (that is, a letter). A "parcel" service must be used for "merchandise," and rates for that service start at $8 to $10 regardless of weight or merchandise value. The only material that can be lawfully sent in a first class international letter is "non-dutiable documents". Eventually all UPU member states will have to adopt conforming rules and similar rate increases will be experienced by international sellers who choose to obey the rules. The purpose of the UPU change is to capture revenue for merchandise shipments that otherwise were moving via lower first class letter rates. It is, explicitly, a rule seeking to obtain what member states believe to be fair compensation for a vast new stream of merchandise shipments arising from internet commerce.

It appears to have caught the philatelic community flat-footed, as so few sellers seem to know about it. Unfortunately, casual sellers of low-value "merchandise," such as cheaper stamps, who choose to follow the rules, will be the hardest hit and their buyer community may evaporate. Or, as suggested earlier in this thread, many sellers will choose to ignore the rule and continue to send stamps overseas in a first class letter. They do so at the risk of seizure or imposition of customs duties and penalties. One can reasonably speculate about the level of this risk and the probability of being "caught."

It is important to note that this is not a "policy" of Canada, the US or any other state, although they and other states voted to impose the rule on themselves.

Furthermore, as addressed in another thread on ebay, the USPS's separate agreements with China place US sellers in a non-competitive position, in comparison with Chinese sellers, in international shipments of small packets or small merchandise.

The USPS announcement on this can be found Postal Bulletin 22482, from December 7, 2017
https://about.usps.com/postal-bulle...updt_006.htm

Personally, for inexpensive philatelic items, I would just ignore their rules and send items using the cheaper first-class mail.