First off, USPS has limits on the size/ weight it will ship. I recently sold an M&K sub on US AudioMart, and the buyer lives in British Columbia. He had already researched the UPS rate for me to ship this 80 lb sub there in a 24" cubed box and it came out to $277. He did not want to pay that much and requested I send USPS International Economy which does not exist. When I researched USPS prices, every time I put in 80 lbs or the size of the box, USPS said it was too large. I finally figured out that the only way I could get USPS to accept my package was if I fudged the numbers to where the package was 70 lbs and 108" length + girth. Then it ONLY offered me Global Express, at a rate of over $300. The only way I could get a cheaper rate was by fudging the numbers even more--so I did, putting in 66 lbs and 108" L + G offered me International Priority option, but again, that was well over $200.
Then I went to FedEx's website and got a quote of $190 with the original (correct) numbers. I copied a screen shot of the rate quote, and emailed the buyer back with it and we agreed to those terms. Now, I understand right off the bat that quote is highly questionable (another reason I printed a screen shot) and I might end up losing more cash-- but the point is, how can everyone say USPS is always the cheapest International shipping option when a) they won't even take items over a certain size/ weight, and b) even when I falsified the numbers to force USPS to accept the package, the minimum cost was still about $40 more than the FedEx quote I got?
Oh BTW, to the other poster in the other thread that mentioned about using PayPal shipnow, I tried entering the info into the UPS option on that, to see what kind of a discount it offered, and when I checked the box to agree by PayPal and UPS's policies blah blah blah, it just kept saying "we're unable to process your request. Please try again later." Nope sorry.
Then I went to FedEx's website and got a quote of $190 with the original (correct) numbers. I copied a screen shot of the rate quote, and emailed the buyer back with it and we agreed to those terms. Now, I understand right off the bat that quote is highly questionable (another reason I printed a screen shot) and I might end up losing more cash-- but the point is, how can everyone say USPS is always the cheapest International shipping option when a) they won't even take items over a certain size/ weight, and b) even when I falsified the numbers to force USPS to accept the package, the minimum cost was still about $40 more than the FedEx quote I got?
Oh BTW, to the other poster in the other thread that mentioned about using PayPal shipnow, I tried entering the info into the UPS option on that, to see what kind of a discount it offered, and when I checked the box to agree by PayPal and UPS's policies blah blah blah, it just kept saying "we're unable to process your request. Please try again later." Nope sorry.