Postal Prices

Hi all,I'm fairly new at buying records online,so please bear with me if my ignorance shows.Since discovering the SH forums,my interest in vinyl has been re-ignited after many years of going all digital.I've still got a decent vinyl collection,all I can say is thank god I didn't get rid of them all!My question is on prices for shipping to Australia.I would just like some"ball park" prices for one or two albums sent to me from some of you guys located in America,the UK and different locations throughout Europe.I realise that shipping rates vary widely,but as I said,would just like some approximate sort of amounts which I can refer to when purchasing vinyl.All help will be greatly appreciated,cheers

 

Very sorry to report that an album shipped from the US can be about $19.00. A double album $23 to &25, and it skyrockets from there. Plan on dropping $20 per lp just on shipping.

It did not used to be this bad. Japan & Aust were always higher cost to ship but it's gotten really bad unless you are simply wealthy and love international packages.

 

The same from Canada.

 

Thanks guys,I'm not rich,but you know,the thrill of the chase and all that.It's just handy to know what sort of price to factor in when I'm browsing stuff that I really,really want.

 

USPS retail prices
Notice 123 | Postal Explorer
scroll down to:
First-Class Package International Service
Australia is Price Group 3

 

A major problem is that the U.S. did away with surface mail at least 10 years ago. What a stupid and evil decision. It must surely have killed off a lot of sales of LPs to people outside the country.

 

There is a bright side at least for US lp packages. Media rate now includes tracking. I used to have to pay to add it to every package with over $10. Having in included has saved me hundreds per year.

I used to ship LPs Priority rate before that got too high. Then Media plus plus tracking. Then they added insurance to Priority packages. So that saves sometimes.

Basically the free tracking is a huge break in costs if you do a lot of Media rate shipping of LPs.

I'm paying less than I used to pay to the USPS. But doing much less sakes outside the US now.

 

I'm actually more fascinated by the way Customs wets their dillies whenever they try and import a record of their own choosing from another country. God forbid we share the foreigners culture....

Hard to justify the way postage has jumped these days...unless you remind yourself that the U.S. Postal Service is the only business in our country that fully-funds the pensions of its' employees, and is required to do so by those in charge who actually want the public to resent their Postal Service, and blame it on them...presumably so private couriers can see a return on their investment in the so-called "statesmen" they lobby relentlessly.

It's a cyclical issue that usually comes up around the time suddenly we "cannot afford" to fund public broadcasting, food stamps, the money we've put aside to fund a fairer future as we get old and crippled...and things that don't rhyme with "war".

 

Germany is the most cost effective place I've found for postage to Australia. Most discogs sellers are around 5-6 Euros for the first LP and it doesn't jump alarmingly on additional items. Bizarrely it often works out cheaper to ship from Germany if you are just getting 1 or 2 units than shipping from Australian sellers who are around A$10 for the first LP and then jump to $15-$20 if its 2.