what a sad day, the post office has forced me to trade no more. As you may know i am in Sydney Australia, so heres the deal.....
i used to be able to post to the US about 3 chips for $1.35, and upto say 12 for $3.30, occasionaly hitting $4.95 for slightly heavier ones or if there was more packaging etc.
All that was fine, then the prices went to $1.80 and $3.60 respectively. Still fine pretty much....
these were being sent letter post as i was getting them under 2cm thick (they would test it in a little card they had with different sized slots in them).
yesterday i sent a package of 7 or 8 chips out, about 117 grams, usually $3.60 right? WRONG!
now the "rules" had changed, and because it wasnt purely a letter in the package i got slammed $8!
thats EIGHT DOLLARS to send a few chips, even if there would of been 4 chips or less. So clearly trading has pretty much been removed as a feasible option for me. i will continue to buy (at a slower rate) since costs remain the same for you in the US to send chips to me. i will also write a letter to Australia post about what a joke it is.......A monopoly at its best folks.
i may still be able to send say up to 3 chips in a letter and just wack a $1.80 international stamp and airmail stamp on it and drop it in the mail box. this means i dont fill out a customs form. its worked before, hopefully they dont check too much once it passes the original, err, point of sale i guess. this pretty much also puts ebay out of the question for me, as i cant absorb that cost on most small sales, and no buyer would dare touch my auction (and rightfully so) if i pass it on. (even a 50-50 split is still a high cost). Oh well, E.coli happens i guess.
thanks for reading,
cheers,
Andre