have international postage prices skyrocketed? 4 December 2022 at 5:44PM in Ebay, auctions, car boot sales, post & parcels 11 replies 316 views

triade

Just wanted to send my Japanese friend some things this week and come to do the postage and I'm absolutely floored. 2.2 kg package, it doesn't feel that heavy to me, yet I'm getting quoted £50 and upwards for ANY shipping. what's more crazy is the 'value' options are more expensive upwards of £70-80!!

The value of the goods I'm sending him don't come to more than £30 so this is crazy to me. I get that there's stuff going on with fuel prices, but I'm just in shock, I am sure the last time I sent something a couple years back, it only cost something like £15 to send something that probably weighed more than this.

Have the prices really shot up suddenly or is my memory failing me?

Langerhan

It's nuts that 200g should make such a big difference but unfortunately 2kg seems to be the cutoff point for international shipping with Royal Mail. I do think prices are ridiculous these days, but I don't ship internationally often enough to be able to say whether it's sudden or not.

Spoonie_Turtle

Might be cheaper to send as two separate parcels, although you could still be looking at £15 per parcel.

km1500

I regularly send things to USA but log onto amazon.com using my amazon.co.uk credentials and buy from there.  No.international.shipping.

Not sure if the stuff you send is available on amazon Japan but might be worth trying.

triade

km1500 said:

I regularly send things to USA but log onto amazon.com using my amazon.co.uk credentials and buy from there.  No.international.shipping.

Not sure if the stuff you send is available on amazon Japan but might be worth trying.

No, we purposely send each other things that we can't get in our country, so he sends me Oden and Curry roux and other things, I send him British style wine, cookies and tea.

We do it every couple years.

Thanks for your replies everyone. The bizarre thing is, I took this to my local post office and they said I can send via royal mail even though it's over 2kg. So it only ended up costing £30. Although that seems a lot more than I remember, it's a lot cheaper than the online quotes. I think they need to fix their websites.

soolin

triade said:

km1500 said:

I regularly send things to USA but log onto amazon.com using my amazon.co.uk credentials and buy from there.  No.international.shipping.

Not sure if the stuff you send is available on amazon Japan but might be worth trying.

No, we purposely send each other things that we can't get in our country, so he sends me Oden and Curry roux and other things, I send him British style wine, cookies and tea.

We do it every couple years.

Thanks for your replies everyone. The bizarre thing is, I took this to my local post office and they said I can send via royal mail even though it's over 2kg. So it only ended up costing £30. Although that seems a lot more than I remember, it's a lot cheaper than the online quotes. I think they need to fix their websites.

Oh dear, I hope they know what they are doing as there isn't a RM option for parcels to Japan over 2kg, price finder states clearly

"There were no pricing results matching your search criteria"

Get a price | Royal Mail Group Ltd

What does your postage receipt actually say about service and weight? Is it possible they used Parcelforce?

EDIT: I can't get a parcelforce quote anywhere near £30. This is a mystery.

triade

soolin said:

triade said:

km1500 said:

I regularly send things to USA but log onto amazon.com using my amazon.co.uk credentials and buy from there.  No.international.shipping.

Not sure if the stuff you send is available on amazon Japan but might be worth trying.

No, we purposely send each other things that we can't get in our country, so he sends me Oden and Curry roux and other things, I send him British style wine, cookies and tea.

We do it every couple years.

Thanks for your replies everyone. The bizarre thing is, I took this to my local post office and they said I can send via royal mail even though it's over 2kg. So it only ended up costing £30. Although that seems a lot more than I remember, it's a lot cheaper than the online quotes. I think they need to fix their websites.

Oh dear, I hope they know what they are doing as there isn't a RM option for parcels to Japan over 2kg, price finder states clearly

"There were no pricing results matching your search criteria"

Get a price | Royal Mail Group Ltd

What does your postage receipt actually say about service and weight? Is it possible they used Parcelforce?

EDIT: I can't get a parcelforce quote anywhere near £30. This is a mystery.

yes, this is all very strange. I did double check with him when he quoted me. He is one of the regular staff, been there for years so I have 100% faith in him. Looking at the tracking info online, it's "International Tracked" which does fit with my memory. he gave me the option of international standard, intnl tracked and another slightly more expensive one that I don't remember the name, maybe intnl priority? Royal mail.

I guess the online is just really poor. they said they've 'upgraded' it to a new tool so we all know what 'upgraded' means in this case. XD

edit: oh yes, my weight estimate was a bit out, it was 2.615kg.

soolin

The RM price leaflets online are correct, you can check yourself 

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-04/royal-mail-our-prices-april-2022-v2.pdf

the only option for parcels over 2kg are for printed papers, which doesn’t appear to be what you were sending, so if that was used accidentally means your parcel will be stopped somewhere at customs.

Perhaps I’ve missed something obvious , Can anyone else find a service that would fit a parcel to Japan containing mixed goods that weighs over 2kg.i still think this is a real mystery. 

superbigal

triade said:

soolin said:

triade said:

km1500 said:

I regularly send things to USA but log onto amazon.com using my amazon.co.uk credentials and buy from there.  No.international.shipping.

Not sure if the stuff you send is available on amazon Japan but might be worth trying.

No, we purposely send each other things that we can't get in our country, so he sends me Oden and Curry roux and other things, I send him British style wine, cookies and tea.

We do it every couple years.

Thanks for your replies everyone. The bizarre thing is, I took this to my local post office and they said I can send via royal mail even though it's over 2kg. So it only ended up costing £30. Although that seems a lot more than I remember, it's a lot cheaper than the online quotes. I think they need to fix their websites.

Oh dear, I hope they know what they are doing as there isn't a RM option for parcels to Japan over 2kg, price finder states clearly

"There were no pricing results matching your search criteria"

Get a price | Royal Mail Group Ltd

What does your postage receipt actually say about service and weight? Is it possible they used Parcelforce?

EDIT: I can't get a parcelforce quote anywhere near £30. This is a mystery.

yes, this is all very strange. I did double check with him when he quoted me. He is one of the regular staff, been there for years so I have 100% faith in him. Looking at the tracking info online, it's "International Tracked" which does fit with my memory. he gave me the option of international standard, intnl tracked and another slightly more expensive one that I don't remember the name, maybe intnl priority? Royal mail.

I guess the online is just really poor. they said they've 'upgraded' it to a new tool so we all know what 'upgraded' means in this case. XD

edit: oh yes, my weight estimate was a bit out, it was 2.615kg.

Must have been put through as under 2Kg if it showing tracked on that service. Good luck.

triade

soolin said:

The RM price leaflets online are correct, you can check yourself 

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-04/royal-mail-our-prices-april-2022-v2.pdf

the only option for parcels over 2kg are for printed papers, which doesn’t appear to be what you were sending, so if that was used accidentally means your parcel will be stopped somewhere at customs.

Perhaps I’ve missed something obvious , Can anyone else find a service that would fit a parcel to Japan containing mixed goods that weighs over 2kg.i still think this is a real mystery. 

hmm, you could be right about that, on the receipt it says Int Tracked P Papr.

I clearly told him what I was sending so I never expected that he could have chosen a service that wouldn't carry them.

I may well end up with this coming back to me.

I'll keep my receipt safe and if it comes back to me I will be going right back to that post office and should expect refund. this would be a very costly error indeed.

triade

An update for this:

I followed the tracking and it appeared there were no issues along the way.

My friend sent me a message with photos showing that he safely received the package.

All good, no problems!