Should Dealers Use Postage On Stamp Shipments Sent Outside The US?

I am a part time dealer who sells British Colony stamps.

Many of my customers are outside the U.S. and don't want to pay for registered mail which is the only way to track shipments outside the U.S. They also do not collect U.S. stamps.

I know it is customary to put stamps on a stamp shipment, but in my mind that is like putting a "steal me" sign on the shipment when it is going to non-U.S. destinations. My preference is to make the shipment look like a business mailer and use postage meters that are created at the Post Office kiosks.

So with that in mind, I would like to hear your opinion about using stamps on these types of shipments. What do you think of my strategy?

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I believe that you're correct, all those colorfully stamped envelopes seem like an advertisement that "I contain valuable items, Steal me!" I ask the sellers I buy from to use a meter stamp instead of discount postage when shipping.

I don't sell that much stuff abroad, but, If it goes in the postbox, I'll use stamps from my stock of decimal material. If I pay at the Post Office counter, I let the staff use metered material, as I don't want to become even less popular with the queue. I suspect people may be a little neurotic about the dishonesty of postal staff in Europe - my experience is that packets get through unscathed.

I ship to about 15 countries, and the only shipment I have ever lost was a registered mail shipment to Zimbabwe. I put high value U.S. stamps on the letter and it disappeared.

U.S. registered shipments offer on-line tracking but it only goes until it is handed off to the other country. The tracking showed that it got to Zimbabwe, but it was never delivered.

My customer went to the Post Office and asked them to track it and they said it was never handed off to them. So their answer was that the U.S. Post Office stole the letter and then fabricated the exchange.

Based on this, no one was able to claim any insurance. Since then I started using postage meters for all non-U.S. shipments unless they requested stamps.

I would think your lost mail to Zimbabwe was due to it being Zimbabwe and not because you used stamps. Zimbabwe has some of the highest govt. corruption in the world and some of the worst economic conditions. It could have been stolen no matter what or how mailed it.

I use stamps 100% to any country in the world since 1999. I doubt any loss has been due to the use of stamps on cover. I've sent mail to Brazil, India, Russia, Italy, China, Vietnam, all of Eastern Europe, and many other countries without issue. Even Ethiopia and Haiti without problems. All shipments had stamps and even people in other countries request stamps and have made feedback comments on the nice commemoratives used on cover. Half of my shipments or more are sent overseas. The use of stamps is not a problem.

You do have have to use some common sense. Don't slather the shipment envelope with a multitude of older or "discount" postage. Don't have a return address with the business name or use ebay labels. Then you're just asking for it. I just use modern commemorative stamps from the post office.

p.s. Did you check the tracking on the Zimbabwe postal website? They do have one.

It's more important that the shipment be received by the buyer than having a few colorful stamps on the envelope. I believe that when shipping outside the country, it's best to keep a low profile and not give any clues about the contents.

I can only speak to my location, but things with older postage stamps always take significantly longer in transit. I do not know if this is because it gets flagged by the automated equipment or if it is something else; but it occurs with both incoming or outgoing.
Don

1. USPS Registered Mail is not tracked after crossing an international border, to my knowledge. If anyone has proof this is wrong for specific countries, I'd be interested in knowing.

2. Private couriers like FedEx International can be used for higher-value shipments that justify the much higher cost and are directed to certain destinations. Couriers are commonly used by British and European auction houses when shipping into the US because it is the only reliable way to attain trans-border tracking.

I don't live in the states, but I do ship in and around Europe.
One time, when I bought stamps (I believe from Romania), and I recieved an empty torn envelope. It were cheap stamps, but nontheless it's still extremely annoying. Note that this only happened once out of countless shipments from abroad, but still dont take the risks.

I think a typical thief would look at a lot of colorful commems on an envelope and think "that's something sent by some kid. Must be worthless."

If the postie is a collector. he might look at the stamps and want them, but I doubt very much he'd steal them.

I try to use full sets of GB on my shipments, whether to UK or abroad, and use non-registered mail. Things hardly ever go missing.

I have shipped envelopes to Canada, Norway, Australia, U.K., USA for 2 years, using my 2010-2011 own stamps - no problems up to now but it is o.k. to read your advice. I never ship with tracking.......useful in other parts of the World ?????????????? Will use it in my Country but not to send "dups".... ($$$$) !!

René

1. USPS Registered Mail is not tracked after crossing an international border, to my knowledge. If anyone has proof this is wrong for specific countries, I'd be interested in knowing.


This is a correct statement in that you as the sender cannot track the shipment outside the U.S. However, I have had to trace a couple of registered shipments that went to Germany and to the UK. You submit a tracking request and the U.S. Post Office starts a tracking procedure with the destination country. Ultimately both of the packages were located. In these two cases the customer got the shipment about a week after I started the trace.

You can track U.S. registered mail in some other countries by using the postal website for that country. I've been able to track mail within Italy.

I've also been able to track a U.S. registered shipment within India using India Post.

I long ago stopped using decorative franking on my overseas sales, it invites attention; the unwelcome kind.

There seem to still be simple souls out there with little idea of what the world has become these days and I have had a couple of these complain at my using common definitives or meter strips for postage on their purchase. One guy tried to ding me on feedback, it was withdrawn after I filed complaint.

From my experience I would guess that it is not required to be tracked after crossing the border, but some countries do do so.
For example I have been able to track registered mail sent from Canada to South Africa on the South African Post office website.
However I have not been able to track incoming registered mail to Canada after it has been handed over to Canada Post.

Not having received a few registered items during the past year or so, and in all cases the items could be tracked until arrival in Canada, I was advised by Canada Post that is was not their problem and that I would have to have the sender initiate a trace with the sending post office.
Unfortunately some of the senders have had no interest in taking the time to initiate a trace from their end. There is nothing that I could do other than to avoid doing business with them in the future.

So I have concluded, that as a buyer it is a complete waste of money paying for registered mail, there is no guarantee of delivery (in Canada at any rate), all it does is provides some sort of protection to the sender - proof of postage, in which case if the sender wants the protection then they should pay for it.
That being said, I must admit to being a bit of a hypocrite, because in my ebay listings I will only send to certain countries if the buyer is prepared to pay for registered post.
Clive

I give my customers the option of sending their stamps by uninsured mail - at their risk of loss, or registered mail.

I have APS insurance, so the order is insured as long as it can be tracked which is why I have to use registered mail.
Most of my customers are paying less than $50 for the order, so the cost of registered mail is not worth it to them.
They pay by PayPal, but I make it a condition of the sale that they agree not to ask for a charge back if the shipment is lost.

I realize they could still file a complaint, but that would be the end of our relationship, so hopefully that counts for something.
I am a part-time dealer who sells from a website - not ebay, so I can be a little less rigid about things.