CD Postage Costs (US-Australia)

[JC_AOR]

I recently purchased the two new Eonian Records CDs - Rings of Saturn and Mad Anthony and was informed that it would cost US$57 to post these to Australia.  Has anyone else experienced such enormous postage costs either as a buyer or seller?  I knew that international prices had increased in recent times but honestly this is insane!  I don't think I can afford to collect CDs anymore at this rate!

Edited September 14, 2021 by JC_AOR

[heavyharmonies]

Sounds like he quoted Priority Mail. Even 1st Class for a 10 ounce package will be over US$20 and that's the cheapest method and isn't insurable (unless you use a third-party insurance company). International shipping costs are insane. 

[JC_AOR]

I have a friend in the US (Illinois) who regularly sends me bulk lots of postage stamps in these Ready Post envelopes for about US$4 - I'm wondering if CDs could be sent in these also, with or without cases.  It would be a dramatic reduction in postage costs I would think.  They are a 6" x 9" envelope and fit one CD in a jewel case very nicely. 

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by JC_AOR

[auslander]

2 hours ago, JC_AOR said:

I have a friend in the US (Illinois) who regularly sends me bulk lots of postage stamps in these Ready Post envelopes for about US$4 - I'm wondering if CDs could be sent in these also, with or without cases.  It would be a dramatic reduction in postage costs I would think.  They are a 6" x 9" envelope and fit one CD in a jewel case very nicely. 

 

They are similar to what I use. But, at the moment you can't send things as documents in them, they have to go by weight as parcels. That is the cost killer. US sellers also set their prices to post to Australia and often those costs are even more than the price of the CD itself.

What it costs to post (after covid) is why I don't bother selling to overseas anymore. Which is a pity. Pre-covid you could post CDs as documents and this cut costs in half. 

Now I mostly have to buy from bigger sellers on ebay and most send via shipping (literally ships on the ocean) which take twice as long to arrive but at far cheaper rates (Europe is cheaper than US for some reason). So ebay still works for me, but not from small collectors buying and selling from overseas. That is domestic market only now.

Discogs are a bust now. Not worth it cause of overseas postage costs.

Edited September 14, 2021 by auslander

[Doggy]

Talking about Discogs , there is an Australian seller sells  with $ AUD 100 postage, he only sells to overseas members not Australians

[JC_AOR]

On 9/14/2021 at 4:03 PM, auslander said:

They are similar to what I use. But, at the moment you can't send things as documents in them, they have to go by weight as parcels. That is the cost killer. US sellers also set their prices to post to Australia and often those costs are even more than the price of the CD itself.

What it costs to post (after covid) is why I don't bother selling to overseas anymore. Which is a pity. Pre-covid you could post CDs as documents and this cut costs in half. 

Now I mostly have to buy from bigger sellers on ebay and most send via shipping (literally ships on the ocean) which take twice as long to arrive but at far cheaper rates (Europe is cheaper than US for some reason). So ebay still works for me, but not from small collectors buying and selling from overseas. That is domestic market only now.

Discogs are a bust now. Not worth it cause of overseas postage costs.

A real shame isn't it.  Music is becoming inaccessible to those here in Australia who still like to buy CDs.

[auslander]

48 minutes ago, JC_AOR said:

A real shame isn't it.  Music is becoming inaccessible to those here in Australia who still like to buy CDs.

Yeah, it has cut down the places to buy from here in Oz. I more buy from Europe these days as US postage costs are unreasonable.

JB Hifi is good for popular artists. Amazon get in quite a bit of lesser known new stuff. Soundmass for Christian cds. Ebay for used cds. Those are my main places.

[Stefan]

On 9/14/2021 at 9:39 AM, Doggy said:

Talking about Discogs , there is an Australian seller sells  with $ AUD 100 postage, he only sells to overseas members not Australians

Take a look at the shipping price from this Australian seller on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1149117902?ev=bp_det

   

[Metal T]

Hope you enjoy that 'Mad Anthony' disc...it's pretty solid.

[Doggy]

15 hours ago, auslander said:

Yeah, it has cut down the places to buy from here in Oz. I more buy from Europe these days as US postage costs are unreasonable.

JB Hifi is good for popular artists. Amazon get in quite a bit of lesser known new stuff. Soundmass for Christian cds. Ebay for used cds. Those are my main places.

JB Hi Fi " head office does all their orders, the popular bands like AC/DC Metallica they know they turn over they get alot, but when come obscure they get only 2 to 3 copies. If they do an order for an obscure one for you, it takes 2 to 6 weeks.

Lot of labels we enjoyed e.g Frontiers Mascot. Are got no distribution label to release them down here

As the public relation officer on Frontiers' Facebook page says " As there no market for our titles down there we stop sending down there "

Meaning now to get Frontiers' CDs we have go to import stores, buy from their web site or hoping someone auctioning or selling one on Evilbay.

[headbanger4life]

It’s the same way going from Australia to the US. I tried buying Dangerous Curves new cd and they wanted over $20 to ship it to the US. Luckily, Impulse Music got them in stock here and I was able to order from them.  The same with MR Records. I can’t order directly from them anymore because of their shipping costs. Even ordering from Canada can get expensive. There was a band I was going to buy a $10 cd from and they wanted $20 for shipping to the US.

[DaHun72]

If anyone needs help getting cds from Oz to the US I can help as I send stuff all the time. Just let me know and I'll double check shipping costs but always way cheaper sent without cases/flat in slightly bigger cardboard mailers.

[nyoilers]

If I sell anything it's USA only.Can't deal with the shipping prices.