They charge around $21 for international shipping. The price of the mint set was $21.95. So I didn’t order. Doesn’t make any sense. Why so expensive?
I don't know why shipping from the US overseas is so expensive, when it is often much cheaper going in the other direction. I sure wish it weren't so, but our Postal Service has many difficulties these days. I was going to make a political comment here, but caught myself just in time...
Yes, there are several other international eBay sites elsewhere besides the UK. Canada is the only one I can think of offhand, but I'm quite sure there are more.
International shipping with a tracking number. As far as I'm aware once a shipment leaves the u.s. the postal service has no way of tracking it anymore since it's out of their system. So they use other methods like FedEx or ups and that is more expensive. I sent a bunch of stuff to Greece with the us postal service because it was so cheap about a decade ago paid for tracking and it disappeared once it left the country. US postal service told me they can't track packages in other countries... maybe it will turn up and get delivered sometime. Never again. The cheap becomes the expensive. Maybe it has something to do with this and the extra cost of FedEx or UPS tracking to ensure delivery is what's going on. I'd never use the USPS for an international shipment again. There's also additional customs costs, even if it's customs free, there's still processing charges involved on either side, the u.s. for the export and Germany for the import.
It's because of the international postal agreement. The US did a horrible agreement many years ago so we pay more than most places for it. That said international shipping will always be expensive unless it's highly subsidized by someone like China gets There are many USPS services that track door to door to basically every country on earth and have done so for many many years. They do not have to use UPS or Fedex etc to do so.
"However, USPS Priority Mail International® offers tracking on most (but not all) products. ... When you ship your package with USPSPriority Mail International to countries outside the U.S., it enters other postal networks around the world for delivery. Each post has different scanning capabilities and agreements." Meaning, they can't always track it and if they lose it after it leaves the u.s., you are on your own, they did their part the best they could and it's not their problem anymore, call that country and good luck. Nobody reads the fine print until you need to. I did this myself, package just gone and nobody would lift a finger at usps. So yeah shippers don't HAVE TO use UPS or Fedex, but if they want to ensure door to door delivery with a high chance of success, a shipper isn't going to use USPS because they honestly will tell you they did their part and have it tracked until it left their system.
Given that USPS once refused to honor my insurance claim on a stolen domestic shipment, I can see that definitely being the stance they take with an international one.
I recently won a listing from an Australian auction house. Hammer price was $24.00 (nobody else bid on it) and shipping was $24.00. Yeah, you're gonna have to PAY for your item's plane ticket. It isn't free or even "cheap," that's for sure.
