Question about using Delivery Confirmation from USPS

[figment919]

Question - I have been getting more and more requests to use this service when trading on-line. It costs about $2.32 postage to mail a 1 pin trade, plus another $1.05 for DC (about another 4.5%). Paying $2.37 is a lot of money nowadays for a single trade. I am thinking that the USPS usually delivers the LBE's OK, and I am willing to take a chance not using DC.

I will use DC for any low edition LE pin, but is it worth it for OE'S?? What do you do or suggest??

Mike S.
Figment919

 

[froggerway]

I buy my labels online through Paypal and DC is added for free so it costs about 2.25 to mail two or three normal sized pins. Maybe look into buying your labels that way or through another online service? I know it seems silly to add DC for OE's but lose one through the mail and it can become a huge headache dealing with an irate trader.

 

[starry_solo]

Buy through PayPal.com/shipnow

You can get up to 3 ounces for $1.93 (versus $3.37 at the post office)

If you mail out enough packages, stamps.com is good too (they have a monthly fee, but they give you a free postal scale and $10 worth of postage (?) in the first month)

 

[Shelterkat]

I use paypal.com/shipnow

 

[docfish2u]

I use paypal for domestic packages and Stamps.com for overseas packages. Paypal doesn't let you use partial ounces for their overseas packages and Stamps.com does. Since I usually am mailing multiple pins when mailing overseas it pays to have the partial ounce option.

 

[Purplemandms]

I just used the paypal.com/shipnow for the first time and it worked great. It was less expensive to send it with tracking there than it was to just get regular (non-tracking) shipping over at the USPS store. I also feel a lot more assured being able to know where my package is, even if it just is an OE. The only downside to it is if you're shipping with multiple pins and you don't have a scale, you have to guess. But you can always fix that by just going to the USPS store (or even your local grocer) and having them weigh it. They usually should be able to for free.

 

[suzanneb]

I've been using PayPal multi order shipping for w few yrs now. I had to become a pay pal premium member, but that was no problem. I can now print FC postage + tracking labels for $1.93 for up to 3 oz, & &2.01 for up to 4 oz. Can do several at a time or singly.

 

[sweetalissum]

This is good to know! I need to start using PayPal from now on for my shipping.

 

[kitkatvintage]

I'll second (third? Forth? Tenth? lol) using Paypal for shipping.

While I'm not a big time pin trader, I ship regularly with eBay sales & my other collections. If you don't already own a postage scale it's a good investment. It saves a lot of time rather than going to the post office to weigh packages or just taking a guess. Once I started weighing packages & printing postage at home, I wished I would have started doing so years earlier.

Having a tracking number is important for both parties in a sale or trade. I would not feel comfortable sending something without tracking because if it happened to get lost there is proof that it was sent & hope that it reappears in the postal system.

 

[Rvaya]

Seriously this page just finally explained how to do this shipping here in the US. I tried just going through paypal for a couple days and couldn't figure it out. And USPS wasn't be helpful either. Now I now what to do and it's easy and so much cheaper than I'm used to doing for pin trading from and within Europe. This is amazing!

 

[Poohlady5]

for those of us that are dinosaurs and still take our LBEs to the post office, first class parcels now start at $2.54 and automatically include tracking. No more DC. This changed sometime earlier this year.