Well, here’s a new shipping problem that hasn’t gotten much attention yet: Next month the Postal Service will eliminate its international version of “Media Mail,” which has traditionally been called “surface.” This mode of economy shipping is called “surface” because the packages are shipped literally on the “surface” of cargo ships going overseas.
“Surface” mail is certainly slow — it can take six weeks or more to arrive — but it’s far cheaper than airmail service, and so it’s the only option for sending large, heavy books overseas. But it won’t be an option anymore next month.
The timing on this really hurts, because:
- The Postal Service is jacking up rates across the board, including Global Priority airmail. On May 14, rates will rise from $9.50 to $11.00 (except for Canada or Mexico, which currently cost $7.50 and will rise to $9).
- Marketplaces such as Amazon apparently are expecting sellers to absorb the increased shipping rates. Amazon hasn’t announced any plans to increase shipping credits, which are $9.98 for international salees.
This issue got some attention in today’s New York Times:
Many thousands of smaller used- and rare-book merchants say they will suffer, since they rely on foreign demand.“If postage costs as much, if not more, than the book, it’ll be hard to sell books,” said Rob Stuart, owner of FrenchboroBooks.com, a seller of rare and antique books in Frenchboro, Maine. “And maybe 25 percent or more of my books sell internationally.”
“We’re already competing with the special deals the Postal Service does with Amazon, eBay and the big book purveyors that get cut rates on postage because of volume,” Mr. Stuart said. “So when they drop economy international shipping, they’re playing with a model that talks about economies of scale -— one that’s balanced by a few huge operations, and wipes out the little operations.”
Yvonne Yoerger, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said customers aren’t yet aware of other options. She said “customized agreements” for surface mail are being developed for higher-volume shippers that will be enhanced over the next several months to address the needs of small businesses. “The Postal Service has a longstanding commitment to small businesses and is working to accommodate customers’ needs as the international mail changes take effect,” Ms. Yoerger said.
Jordan Gordon, who oversees AbeBooks’s North American bookseller operations, said that from the roughly 8,000 American booksellers who list books on his site, 20 percent of the orders are from foreign customers. “These guys will definitely lose sales, because about half of the international orders they get are shipped at the surface rate,” he said.
Craig Berman, an Amazon spokesman, declined to comment about possible changes in shipping reimbursement policies or on how the new rates might affect Amazon’s business.
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13 Comments
This really does not effect me much, I don’t have many books I am willing to ship overseas. Unless an item is valued at $50 or more, I will not ship it internationally because it is not worth the hassle to me. I’ll go back and check the weight of the books that I do have listed and take off any extremely heavy ones from international shipping assuming Amazon won’t be raising the credit.
If Amazon does not raise their credit many out of print, uncommon books will be taken off the marketplace and they will lose potential commission revenue. If someone is willing to buy a book from overseas, then I think they will be willing to pay more for shipping. As well, most currencies are very strong against the dollar right now. Amazon can probably pass the cost onto the buyers without to much trouble. If they pass it onto the sellers (us), Amazon will lose revenue.
I have a feeling they will do the latter unfortunately.
Use the USPS M-Bag. It is a GREAT service for mailing economy speed printed matter to international addresses. Package the book(s) as you usually do. You can have the tag and of course the customs forms at your business desk and prefill them out. Then stand in line at the post office. They will put it in a single postal bag, put the tag around the neck of the bag and off it goes for $11.00 [may go up?] for the first 11 pounds then a per pound rate based on zone [this is going up some].
For those of us whom sell on other sites besides Amazon, not having the ability to use Surface Mail will hurt some more others.
Let me stress that I hate using surface–it seems to always take OVER 2 months despite using clearly printed labels from Endicia, BUT I do get overseas bookstores purchasing 5 – 10 books from me at a time, and if they could not use surface, they would not make these purchases as they would lower their profit line. The M-Bag may still be an option, but from what I read only the Air Mail version was still available–Plus my local Post Office does not carry the bags, and I have to go downtown. A Real Pain.
Amazon shipping credit is 8.78, so, there is no way that I will list any book under $20 -$25 for INTL sales, esp when someone in the states will buy it.
I was wrong..M-Bags are going up too..A LOT!
M-Bags
Rate Groups
Weight Not
Over 11 Lbs.
Additional
Per Lb.
RG 1 (Canada)
$ 18.70
$ 1.70
RG 2 (Mexico)
24.20
2.20
RG 3 (Europe IC/Israel)
31.35
2.85
RG 4 (Japan/Aus/NZ)
49.50
4.50
RG 5 (All Other Countries-retail)
43.45
3.95
Just made an international customer extremely happy by shipping him a rare catalogue of a Dutch exposition SURFACE MAIL.
There was no way he would have paid the $28.70 for Air Mail to ship this 5 pound baby, but he was more than happy to wait for surface to arrive, because he knew at least he would get his book in the end.
Book arrived in 4 weeks and 1 day. As I said, he’s absolutely thrilled.
I am pretty thrilled, too. Who would have bought this book here in the States?
So those days are gone now, I guess. Why?!
Anyone who is with
Amazon
ABE Books
Alibris etc
and ships via surface is not following the rules of these sites.
You are being paid $9.XX to ship Air Foreign or Economy i.e Flat Rate Global.
These are the Self-Seal Envelopes. $4 for Small $9 for Large. IF a book doesn’t fit in either of these. I don’t offer what is knwo as Expedited [2-3 Day "FLAT RATE" Priority] or 2-3 Day “FLAT RATE” Foreign.
If you ship by any other method you are ‘willingly’ absorbing the cost. Global Priority doesn’t go to Italy, Spain and only 2 cities in Mexico [Mexico City and Guadalahara]. You can bil lvia all teh above sites extra to willing customers to cover the extra coasts of of large heavy books if the customers are willing to pay the costs and wait the extra time.
I have found AZ appears to care little about lost commissions until shareholders become aware. My business is down 60% since zShops closing – I believe buyers used well organized shops to browse a sellers inventory
I’m not pleased about the steep rate hike in other areas, and Amazon’s cheapness doesn’t impress me either, but I’m not too sad about the loss of surface.
While there are some discerning customers out there who are willing to buy a book and wait for it, there are many others who will chargeback, out of fear that the boat will never arrive. (We once donated several M-bags full of books to a charity overseas, and even they had the temerity to complain about how the long the “freebies” were taking!) Of course, the book selling sites wash their hands of the problem, so with surface, you run the risk of sending the book, getting a chargeback, and then the customer receiving it months after they’ve gotten their money back.
The record for surface, for us anyway, was three months for a package sent to Japan, mailed from LA (which is a lot closer to Tokyo than say, Peoria).
Harry’s post is also correct. People are expecting to get a lot more for the cost they pay with Amazon. It’s one of those areas where you want to be choosy about what you list and for how much.
Harry
Abebooks clearly states a Surface Rate and a Priority rate, the sruface rate clearly stated that the package will take 21 – 25 days or whichever the bookseller sets it to.
Alibris only ships to Canada, so that
is not going to damage Alibris sellers.
oops,a bove should say 21 – 35 days
Abebooks, Biblio, and choosebooks also have an option that allows the seller to submit and Xtra Charge to the buyer if the shipping runs more than what they have paid for the type of shipping they requested.
Example–A customer recently paid for PRiority SHipping $14.00 to Belgium, but hte book weighed 3pounds, so I was able to ask him to pay the extra $2.XX to cover it.
Also note that on the above sites the sellers can set their own rates. If one is selling expensive books, one prefers to use boxes instead of Global Priority envelopes.
I hate to be the bearer of even MORE bad postal news, but everyone is seeing only the tip of the iceberg. Upon reading the pages and pages of USPS justification for rate hikes, here is another tidbit: they are doing away with those small Global Priority Mail flat rate envelopes. In there words:
“Regarding the small flat-rate envelope for Global Priority Mail, as part of our product simplification and to more closely align domestic and international products, we will offer only one flat-rate envelope for Priority Mail International, using the same packaging as domestic Priority Mail. All items previously mailable in the Global Priority flat-rate envelope can be mailed in the new Priority Mail International flat-rate envelope. The maximum weight limit will remain 4 pounds.”
In other words, no more small envelopes. The price to mail small books, DVDs, and CDs via Global Priority will go up from $4 Canada / $5.20 International to $9 Canada / $12 International (4 lb limit). The boxes will still be around with a 20 lb limit, but their shipping rate goes up to $23 Canada / $37 International. Ouch!!
Needless to say, I am revisiting my decision to sell international at all.
You can still mail your CD’s and lighter books via air letter or air parcel, depending on the weight. It might have been cheaper than the small flat rate envelope anyway.
It’s a little late, but I have to correct this: ” This mode of economy shipping is called “surface” because the packages are shipped literally on the “surface” of cargo ships going overseas.” The method is called “surface” because it goes on the surface of the earth, as opposed to the air above it, not because it is on the surface of a ship.