Royal Mail Price Increases

[blofieldbooks]

Just a 'heads up' that the Royal Mail will be increasing their prices on the 1st July for international shipments, with the US and Australia being hiked around 40% due to Covid as they are adding 'World Zone 3' (previously just 2) with the USA now being in the most expensive band. Whether or not this is a temporary thing, and prices go back to normal once the pandemic is over, is anybody's guess, but I thought I would mention it just in case people with items to send to the US on Tuesday thought they would leave it to Weds. There will be a lot of people out of pocket as a result. I was only made aware of this change this morning, so chances are not many sellers have been pre-warned

[**peaseblossom**]

Thank you.   They sprung that one on us!

Actually do you want to post this on some other boards.   This one is just quick Q&A.

How about:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/bd-p/27?nobounce

and

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/bd-p/21900001545

[blofieldbooks]

They sure did. I just hope I don't sell anything too heavy to the States now. If it's a cheap book, it may be more cost effective to cancel the transaction, but they you pick up negatives. I've seen a decline in the US market since they brought in the sales taxes anyway (they used to be 25% of my sales), though I may switch to using one of the cheaper carriers or middlemen such as Interparcel, who use Landmark, who are the cheapest, but very slow. That being said, I had an item sent to the US with the RM that took 6 weeks to get there......

[**peaseblossom**]

You can exclude US for specific listings:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ship/prf/excludeRegions

And if you need to cancel use "Something wrong with buyer's address". That doesn't give a defect.

[blofieldbooks]

I think the most helpful thing for eBay to do would be to offer the option to remove and/or replace the USA as a separate postage option. I'm guessing this is one of Donald's great ideas, so it will most likely be rescinded should he fail to get re-elected, which is looking likely. Other couriers may have separate agreements, so I will most likely be looking to use the ones who don't use the USPS as a final delivery agent.

[**peaseblossom**]

Here's hoping Trump doesn't get in again, for all our sakes.