Shipping to USA

OT Sports

OT Sports

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Anybody else get US packages returned to them after being sent out as "oversize" lettermail?

Just got 3 returned to me today. And a customer had a bunch returned this week as well. He told me that Canada Post is cracking down on "lettermail" that isn't paper. Next cheapest option to send to the US is small packet at almost $7per!

This will definitely hurt sales having to charge $7 per package. And that's without tracking...
 
How much postage was on it? I better go check my mailbox :(
 
I had 1 this past week too. Lost money on that sale when you have to pay $7 for shipping! Oh well, most are still making it through. Hoping the crackdown is short lived but it is what it is.
 
Canada Post following USPS. USPS cracked down a couple years ago. That's why it now costs $9.50 to cross the border from this side.
 
OT Sports said:
$2.95 standard oversize lettermail.

Granted, 2 of the packages that were returned had a slabbed card. Hopefully the smaller ones make it through.
Click to expand...

Never had an issue on my end with slabs or not.
But.. it is what it is..
 
OT Sports said:
Anybody else get US packages returned to them after being sent out as "oversize" lettermail?

Just got 3 returned to me today. And a customer had a bunch returned this week as well. He told me that Canada Post is cracking down on "lettermail" that isn't paper. Next cheapest option to send to the US is small packet at almost $7per!

This will definitely hurt sales having to charge $7 per package. And that's without tracking...
Click to expand...

How did they know? Did they open the envelopes to see what is inside or did you have a customs form on it? The postal clerk I always go and see (who is the manager as well) says sports cards are ok to be shipped as paper.
 
I had one returned yesterday that was mailed out June 12th. Only thing on the package was a tiny red stamp that says return to sender. Took it back today, and the post office lady told me it was not from insufficient postage, as they always put another white sticker on it saying so, and she showed me the sticker. I hope this isn't the case, as I had to pay another $2.95 + tax to send it back to California at my expense. The only thing I could see with this is I forgot to put the apartment number on the package, so I'm hoping that this was all it was. She also told me if it was returned for insufficient postage, it almost always is sent back at the border, this one made it to the US, and was in limbo for almost 6 weeks. With them putting up listings to .34 cents each, US sellers asking for anywhere between $10, and $25 for a single card shipping to here, and now this, I'm about done with Ebay. I really hope they lose so much business over this greed, they go under, lol.
 
Are you guys putting your own stamp on it and dropping it in the box? Or taking it into a Canada Post office and having them do it?

I do the latter and have never had an issue. Perhaps some of your packages are too thick for oversized? Sometimes a slabbed card or patch card, along with a decoy piece and a bubbled envelope, is too thick.
 
I mailed out two packages today: one to Finland for $5.90 and the other to the U.S for $2.95, as per usual. But the clerk warned me Canada Post is clamping down on oversized letters to U.S. and international destinations.
She said they want it to be mailed as a light packet or small packet unless it's specifically "print documents."
She said a regular customer who mails CDs (thin) in bubble envelopes is now getting dinged with the extra charges, much to his chagrin.
I mailed them as oversized letters, but she told me don't be surprised if they're sent back to me. I'll keep everyone posted...
 
dalecasey said:
I mailed out two packages today: one to Finland for $5.90 and the other to the U.S for $2.95, as per usual. But the clerk warned me Canada Post is clamping down on oversized letters to U.S. and international destinations.
She said they want it to be mailed as a light packet or small packet unless it's specifically "print documents."
She said a regular customer who mails CDs (thin) in bubble envelopes is now getting dinged with the extra charges, much to his chagrin.
I mailed them as oversized letters, but she told me don't be surprised if they're sent back to me. I'll keep everyone posted...
Click to expand...

if that's the case, it pretty funny that CP is "clamping down" even though it's their own thickness requirement that their having a problem with. :clap:
 
junyab said:
Are you guys putting your own stamp on it and dropping it in the box? Or taking it into a Canada Post office and having them do it?

I do the latter and have never had an issue. Perhaps some of your packages are too thick for oversized? Sometimes a slabbed card or patch card, along with a decoy piece and a bubbled envelope, is too thick.
Click to expand...

No, I take them to the same Canada Post location inside my local Shoppers Drug Mart. The lady weighs them, and makes sure the bubble mailer fits through their plastic mail slot, and she prints out the stamp from the machine. No stamps. Even when I took it back to see what the issue was, she said it wasn't insufficient postage, as when the postage is not right, it gets sent back with a big sticker on the front of the package saying so. My returned package had nothing but a tiny red ink stamped return to sender on it, and nothing else, but it did have a couple scribbles in pen with a # sign, and a couple other letters, or scribbles that didn't decipher into anything I'd ever seen in the english language? So far this one card has cost me $3.35 X2, plus one bubble mailer at about .40 cents, plus I put it in a new water proof mailer at $1.oo ish, not to mention my gas, and time times two. I also added a game used card, an insert, and a rookie of the same player so hopefully the buyer won't ding me for me first ever neg. I'm not making anything on this sale, obviously, and if it is gonna be $7 to send a card to the US in a bubble mailer, the manager of this location has not been informed. If it comes back again, I'm gonna be a tad miserable, that is for sure.
 
I got hit today for $10.30 mailing to the UK. We'll see what happens.

(This was a Canada Post outlet inside Pharmasave)
 
I mailed out a package recently (Sent it Internationally), and I'll need to check to see what happens. I always go to the Post office to mail my stuff out, and have never had a problem.

It depends who's behind the counter sometimes. Usually the lady sends it as a regular lettermail (Sending within Canada, $1.80 unless it's packed with a little more cards. But still cheap.) which is good. They sometimes check the little plastic mail slot to see if it fits (and it always does) so I don't see the issue. Even when I send to the US it's still relatively cheap depending on what I send out in my bubble mailer.

But the other lady always seems to crackdown on me and charges me with a 'light package' or whatever she calls it. I don't like paying it, but I suck it up and pay it.

Hopefully CP isn't cracking down and charging it as a package now, I would hate that. If it fits in their plastic slot and barely weighs anything, then I don't see the problem with sending as a regular letter.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to hear about everyone's recent experiences, and I'll follow up my case if anything happens.
 
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For me it depends on which post office I go to. The one near my work is always 2.95 and i've so far never had an issue. The location close to my house has an employee that won't let them go through as the 2.95 and tried to charge me the 7+ dollars. I told him to cancel it and went elsewhere. I was in a hurry the next week to send stuff out and went there again hoping to avoid him but he tried the same thing again. I'll have to keep an eye out for returned packages though as maybe the one by my work is doing it incorrectly.

I really hope they don't crack down as it's already becoming harder to sell/trade due to rising shipping costs.
 
I had a postal clerk argue with me last week that it was only $1.80 to ship a bubble mailer to the US. I wouldn't leave until she put $3.00 postage on it.

I hope to god it doesn't come back.
 
junyab said:
if that's the case, it pretty funny that CP is "clamping down" even though it's their own thickness requirement that their having a problem with. :clap:
Click to expand...

it is not a thickness issue based on what I have been told in the past. I was told that it can only be paper products to go as an over-sized envelope for $2.95 CAD. So if you put a card in a plastic top loader it should be mailed as a light packet for $5.90 ( I think)
 
pwag31 said:
it is not a thickness issue based on what I have been told in the past. I was told that it can only be paper products to go as an over-sized envelope for $2.95 CAD. So if you put a card in a plastic top loader it should be mailed as a light packet for $5.90 ( I think)
Click to expand...

Ah ok. Maybe I'll put the toploader inside a couple folded pieces of paper from now on. Thanks!
 
I have had this problem for awhile , so i ship light packet . and it was the post office clerk at a canada post office ( not an outlet ) allowing me to send as oversize letter mail , than about 2 weeks later they came back . so it's was obviously someone in a sort facility that kicked them back .
 

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