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Posted by nugget01 on 07-Mar-2012 10:31 Report
Australia Post new Satchels 500gms, 3kg and 5kg
Hi All,

Just went to the post office and found new satchels there.  The are called "Post Plus".
They are like the red satchels but have a tracking barcode on them like the express satchels.

This is what I found on the website.

Prepaid Parcel Post Plus satchels offer you a convenient way to send parcels anywhere within Australia. You can also use the Registered Post service in order to receive proof of posting^ and Australia Post will capture a signature on delivery for your item.

Buying Parcel Post Plus satchels

Parcel Post Plus satchels are offered in 3 different sizes, 500g, 3kg and 5kg. You can buy Parcel Post Plus satchels at any Australia Post retail outlet External Link. All prices are inclusive of GST and you can save up to 10% when buying in bulk.

Satchel weight Dimension Price per satchel  Price per pack of 10
1-9 packs 		Price per pack of 10
10 + packs 
 
500g 355mm x 220mm $7.20 $68.40 $64.80
3kg 405mm x 310mm $11.40 $108.30 $102.60
5kg 510mm x 435mm $14.50 $137.75 $130.50

Posting Parcel Post Plus satchels

Once correctly addressed, simply drop your Parcel Post Plus 500g and 3kg satchels into a Red street posting box or lodge them over the counter at your nearest retail outlet. Your Parcel Post Plus 5kg satchel is too large to fit through the opening of a Red street posting box and must be lodged over the counter at your nearest retail outlet.

When posting Parcel Post Plus satchels you will also need to sign the aviation security and dangerous goods declaration which appears on the front of the satchel.

^To receive proof of posting, register and lodge your satchel at a post office with a completed Registered Post lodgment form.
 
Replied by kyliefan on 07-Mar-2012 10:41 (Ref 2334979) Report

Thanks for that info - great that we now have the 5kg in Vic.

Does anyone know the new price of a parcel (not the satchel) up to 500grams - my PO said it will be cheaper than the new 500gram satchel but have they no idea of the cost as yet - they always seem to be the last to know.
Replied by richbartim on 07-Mar-2012 10:54 (Ref 2334986) Report
Thx Nug.
Replied by magnolia134 on 07-Mar-2012 11:00 (Ref 2334989) Report
>>my PO said it will be cheaper than the new 500gram satchel but have they no idea of the cost as yet<<

$6.60 to post a (non-satchel) parcel up to 500g in weight. And a 500g satchel will cost $7.20 if bought singly, $6.84 if bought in packs of 10. Think I will just change the cost of postage on all items 500g or under to $7.00.

So for items weighing under 250g and too thick for a letter and that used to cost $5 to post,  that's a $2 increase in postage. I wonder what effect this will have on the online sales of small items?
Replied by nugget01 on 07-Mar-2012 11:10 (Ref 2334990) Report
Australia Post Easy Guide

This is a very handy print out to have.
Like a cheat sheet for postage charges.

The link below ("easy guide") will take you to the Australia Post website easy guide.
Frm there just clik on your postcode area and you can print out a cheat sheet for oustage from your zone to everywhere in Australia.

easy guides

The prices in there at the moment are current prices.
I would suggest re printing your easy guide after the price increase April 2 2012.
Replied by kyliefan on 07-Mar-2012 11:10 (Ref 2334991) Report
Thanks everyone - can always get the info here before the post office knows !

A lot of work for those of us who have parcels currently in the up to 250 grams !

Ridiculous that a tiny smurf or like item is going to cost that much to send !

Take care - di
Replied by nugget01 on 07-Mar-2012 11:13 (Ref 2334993) Report

More info from the website.


What parcels prices will change on Monday 2 April 2012?

A On Monday 2 April 2012, a weighted average increase of 3.8% will apply to the following domestic Parcel products:

  • Regular Parcels, Express Post and Express Post Platinum (including prepaid products)
  • Individual price points may be greater or less than the weighted average of 3.8%.
  • A weighted average incease of 10% will apply to eBay flat rate satchels.
  • These changes will affect all franked and metered parcel services.
  • There are no changes to International prices.

 

Are there any other changes occurring at this time?

As well as changes to our domestic bulk mail and parcel prices the following changes will occur:

  1. For Regular Parcels the 0-250g price point is being merged into the 250-500g price point to create a 0-500g price point. This will apply to retail and contract rate customers.
  2. For contract and business customers, any changes to your prices will be as per the letter that was lodged on 29 February 2012. Please contact your Account Manager to discuss these changes.
  3. The Reply Paid Parcels product will be renamed Return Paid Parcels. The pricing structure will change including the introduction of an annual fee.

 

Why are these price changes occurring?

Under our Act and as a commercial business, Australia Post is required to, as far as practicable, perform its functions in a manner consistent with sound commercial practice. The price increases are required to help manage increasing external business costs.
Replied by marian-48 on 07-Mar-2012 12:18 (Ref 2334995) Report
A lot of work for those of us who have parcels currently in the up to 250 grams !

Sure will be  kyliefan , for a lot of sellers of small items. Marian
Replied by sheila-bloke47 on 07-Mar-2012 12:44 (Ref 2334998) Report

Please Explain.

How a parcel now costing $6.35 equates to $8.35.  When I went to school 3.8%  & 10 % doesn't equate to a flamin $2 increase.

And what cheeses me off more is what I sell doesn't fit into satchels all that well.  My items are generally long. 

Replied by mirribears-andcraftsupplies on 07-Mar-2012 13:26 (Ref 2335010) Report
It also doesn't comply with PayPals requirements for proof of postage , which I think these new parcels may distract buyers and sellers into thinking .
Replied by brerrabbit on 07-Mar-2012 13:35 (Ref 2335014) Report
sheila-bloke, it doesn't say a flat 3.8% increase.  It says a weighted average, which means some things will go up more than that amount and others will go up less than that.  The 3kg satchels are only going up by 20c so they're well under the 3.8%.
Replied by mygifts2 on 07-Mar-2012 13:58 (Ref 2335017) Report
 I think I will be phasing out items that can't go as a large letter, or maybe doing bulk lots.  I just can't see people paying $7 postage for a $5 item.
Replied by issabella10 on 07-Mar-2012 14:13 (Ref 2335019) Report
 Thanks for all the info 
Replied by rjm6572 on 07-Mar-2012 14:22 (Ref 2335020) Report
i might post mine in a ebay satchel.....you can still post a 500g satchel for $5.50  and a 3kg satchel for $9.35 and they are trackable.....maybe on the 2nd april they  may rise

i posted a 3kg satchel with AAE yesterday and the cost was $11.05.....bit dearer than ebay
Replied by suez_bitz on 07-Mar-2012 15:16 (Ref 2335026) Report
ebay have a max post for books of $8.30 in certain categories.  Satchels cost $11.60 (I think) for 3kg

I think Ill be giving  up selling if this continues to happen
Replied by tmbjewels on 07-Mar-2012 15:21 (Ref 2335027) Report
Seems Aus Post is making it damn hard to sell smaller items...As a buyer I will no longer but small items within Aust as the postage costs are way too dear....Goodbye online trading..!
Replied by magnolia134 on 07-Mar-2012 15:23 (Ref 2335028) Report
There's really two major concerns for me:

(1) changing the postage prices on all 500g and under items that are too thick for letter postage - I'm guessing that could be in the region of 1000 items for me, perhaps 1500. There is no way this can be done in bulk and as far as I can work out, I will have to edit each item individually for postage.

(2) are people really going to pay $7 for postage of a $5 item? or even a $10 item? It's hard enough as it is trying to sell online, but after factoring in the postage cost, almost makes it no longer viable.

t's all so depressing....
Replied by magnolia134 on 07-Mar-2012 15:25 (Ref 2335031) Report
suez-bitz

>>ebay have a max post for books of $8.30 in certain categories.<<

you know there is a way round this?

If you have a large book and are going to be sending it in a prepaid 3kg satchel, you can do this by using the "calculated postage" option.

1. Under domestic postage choose "Calculated Cost varies by buyer location".
2. Choose under services Prepaid Parcel Post Satchels 3kg"
3. From the weight drop down chose 2+ to 3 kg
4. From package type choose "Padded Bags/Satchels"

This will display the correct $11.20 postage charge in the postage details section. You can also tick the REGISTERED post box to add the extra $3.05 if applicable.
Replied by pashmina on 07-Mar-2012 16:35 (Ref 2335039) Report
Hi Magnolia - maybe you can make up some mystery packs?  They use to work well for me

I'm selling off a lot of bulk items now - the rest will be donated to my church.  I've been slowly taking in green bags full of stuff, as they use the items to make up gift hampers for raffle prizes etc...

As far as postage goes - it's never ending!  We change prices on Postage - then bam - they put them up again
Replied by magnolia134 on 07-Mar-2012 17:34 (Ref 2335043) Report
Mystery packs? No way - I would never buy one so wouldn't expect my buyers to be interested. I tried packs in January (not mystery ones) - that grouped several school items together (exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, erasers etc) - didn't sell a single one.
Replied by weinerpatrol on 07-Mar-2012 18:15 (Ref 2335046) Report
I'm confused. The Post Plus satchels have a tracking barcode on them, BUT if we want proof of postage we still need to register them.

Does that mean that they won't scan the barcode in unless it's registered, or does it mean that we can't prove we posted it even though it's showing on AP's tracking?????????
Replied by inamood2shop on 07-Mar-2012 18:51 (Ref 2335054) Report
The information in regards to how the parcel will work  in terms of the barcode - is that it will be scanned just like the express post parcel is.
It will be scanned at mail points.

However, if its still lost, which they can easily say now as they will have proof its made it from A to B, you can lodge a claim.

I wonder how much it will slow the mail down by with having to scan all the parcels.
Replied by limegreen on 07-Mar-2012 18:55 (Ref 2335055) Report
I didn't see anything on here regarding large letters.   I send most of my jewellery items as large letters.

If there is - please don't get aggro with me - I've just moved house and I'm still very tired.

Thanks
Ann
Replied by issabella10 on 07-Mar-2012 19:49 (Ref 2335058) Report
 Hi Ann , so far as I know - letter rates ( including large letters etc) have not been included in a price rise . I think they are done at a different time .

Hope your enjoying your new home 
Replied by beallieblue on 07-Mar-2012 19:58 (Ref 2335059) Report
Hello Ann,
no changes in letter rates, thank goodness, as most of mine go that way, will have to change the amounts I send, as it will be cheaper to send 2 letter rates than 1 parcel .
I mainly use tough bags and padded bags.
My turn to help daughter shift on Friday, so will know how you feel.
Replied by brerrabbit on 07-Mar-2012 20:23 (Ref 2335064) Report
If you have to change the postage on the majority of your items, and if most of them will be the same price, it's often easier to change your default and then go through and manually edit the items that aren't the same as the rest.  If you have one window (or more) open showing your items as a buyer sees them (showing postage) then you can scroll down and check which ones need changing after you've changed the default amount.  I changed everything last year to $1.20 because that's what most of my items are, but then I went through and manually changed the $1.80 items when I'd finished.  I looked at all the open pages to see which ones had previously been $1.65.  Sorry if this sounds jumbled - I know what I'm trying to say.

If you've got small items to sell, leave them listed and let the buyers decide whether they want to buy enough to make up a small parcel.  It's no good trying to second-guess which items they're likely to combine.  Maybe people will buy more things so they get the benefit of combined postage.

Ebay satchels have the highest rate of price increase so they're probably making them more in line with everything else.  My PO said the labels that people print off themselves were often a nightmare to scan (lousy printers) so perhaps that's why AP have brought out their own forms.  They would have wasted a lot of time trying to read the labels people printed themselves.
Replied by straybooksoz on 07-Mar-2012 23:27 (Ref 2335085) Report
i suspect the eBay satchel increase is due to the uptake rate (high) and the fact that they didn't go up the last twice the general prepaids did.

It will still be $5.99 plus satchel cost for 500g, vs $7.20; $10.37 for 3kg. Which includes Paypal acceptable tracking.

No matter where I sell, buyers are likely to get their books in eBay satchels. Which shouldn't be a problem as it enables me to sell cheaper.
Replied by magnolia134 on 08-Mar-2012 01:03 (Ref 2335091) Report
>>If you have to change the postage on the majority of your items, and if most of them will be the same price, it's often easier to change your default and then go through and manually edit the items that aren't the same as the rest. <<

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'default'  Isn't every item given its own postage price - i.e. there is no default as such.

I made a decision tonight - I am going to close my shop at the end of March and work through changing all the postage prices and reopen when I finish. If it takes a month, I really don't care. Sales are so slow at the moment I don't think I will noitice the difference between having the shop open and having it closed.
Replied by magnolia134 on 08-Mar-2012 01:05 (Ref 2335092) Report
Pete

>>It will still be $5.99 plus satchel cost for 500g, vs $7.20<<

So what is the satchel cost?

I have read and reread the ebay satchel PDF (all 14 pages) and still can't get my head around it. Doesn't the item have to have been sold on ebay to be able to use them?
Replied by weinerpatrol on 08-Mar-2012 09:58 (Ref 2335106) Report
Magnolia when you edit a listing, the postage area (where you change the price) has a tick box that says "Save current payment and postage details to my preferences".
Ticking the box used to make those details your default details on your selling preferences, and they would be applied to all your listings. That includes the postage cost. (unless it's been changed recently).
Replied by magnolia134 on 08-Mar-2012 10:37 (Ref 2335109) Report
As far as I can tell, you can only save one of 6 postage TYPES as a default  i.e. free postage, see item description, flat cost, calculated postage, Temando or pickup only. The actual amount of the postage is not part of the default.
Replied by annieoakley2000 on 08-Mar-2012 10:47 (Ref 2335110) Report
That only makes sense if postage costs for all your items is going to be the same, but if 1/3 of listings is now @ $ 5.00 postage and you are going to change it to $ 7.00 or whatever via "your preferences", that means the remaining 2/3 of listings is also going to be at that postage - so what gives ........
Replied by annieoakley2000 on 08-Mar-2012 11:00 (Ref 2335113) Report
Also from memory at the previous increase Australia Post stated their postage prices are going to be "reviewed" every 4 months.

Of course I don't expect them to completely withdraw another Postal service as they are going to implement this time by removing the 250 gr parcel post , but there will always be the 20 to 40 cent increases on each service every couple of months...........
Replied by weinerpatrol on 08-Mar-2012 11:03 (Ref 2335115) Report
The postage amount has never showed as one of the defaults on the selling preferences page.
I'm not brave enough to test it theses days, (I've got too many different postage prices) but if you ticked the box to save the current details to your preferences on a listing, it would also use the postage cost on that listing as a default and apply it to all your items.

I just did a test on a dummy new listing, and when I clicked flat postage it automatically filled in the postage amount as $1.70, so there is still a default amount setting in my preferences somewhere even if I can't find it.

It's this box. It's the very last one on the Postage & Handling section when you edit a listing.
Ticking it used to update ALL your listings to the same postage details (including postage cost) as the ones on the listing you were editing when you ticked it.
Replied by weinerpatrol on 08-Mar-2012 11:05 (Ref 2335116) Report
as brer said, it's an easy way out IF most of your items are the same postage price.
Replied by annieoakley2000 on 08-Mar-2012 11:22 (Ref 2335117) Report
Yes, I understood what you (wiener) and brerrabbit were saying and it is a fantastic idea if nearly all our postage costs were the same, but if postage costs are varied over a lot of listings, it is a bit of a nightmare having to deal with removal of the 250 gr parcel post cost as it basically has to be altered manually and you can't afford to miss a listing this time as that is going to cost you dearly.................
Replied by weinerpatrol on 08-Mar-2012 11:29 (Ref 2335119) Report
agreed annieoakley. I'll be changing mine one at a time............. (sigh)
but for anyone lucky enough to have stuff that's all the same postage cost it's a good idea!
Replied by magnolia134 on 08-Mar-2012 11:32 (Ref 2335120) Report
I understad what you are saying now but unfortunately my postage costs vary from $1 to $11 with just about every cost inbetween.

Can someone remind me how to see your own items postage cost?
Replied by blacknwhite on 08-Mar-2012 11:33 (Ref 2335121) Report

Why are these price changes occurring?

Under our Act and as a commercial business, Australia Post is required to, as far as practicable, perform its functions in a manner consistent with sound commercial practice. The price increases are required to help manage increasing external business costs.



WRONG!

Australia Post is a monopoly so they can charge whatever they want.


500gm satchels have gone from $5.70 to $7.20 in approx 18 months. Thats disgraceful.

I won't be using satchels again unless I absolutely have to.
Replied by annieoakley2000 on 08-Mar-2012 11:37 (Ref 2335122) Report
I am going to leave my 250 gr listings up until the last week of March and then do some bulk packs of all those single items per category and be done with it.

I may even rethink my whole selling strategy as to what items to list in future...............
Replied by weinerpatrol on 08-Mar-2012 11:46 (Ref 2335123) Report
Magnolia just click on your ID to get to your profile, and then click items for sale. They come up in the list that the buyer sees and the postage can be seen.
Oh boy, I just clicked on you.................
Replied by annieoakley2000 on 08-Mar-2012 12:09 (Ref 2335124) Report
Magnolia and Wiener,

You can also go to "my quicksales" - selling.

That won't give you the postage cost, but it shows all your items with a picture, so you can see for yourself which ones are the light ones up to 250 gr.

You can then remove them a page (30, 50 or 100 per page) at the time to go into "unsold".

From unsold you can alter the postage (or rethink your selling) in your own good time without having to close your store.

Hope the above is helpful as that is what I am going to do - LOL !
Replied by magnolia134 on 08-Mar-2012 13:01 (Ref 2335127) Report
weiner - perhaps you can now see why this is freaking me out. Nearly 2000 items. There's no way I can update my postage in a couple of days which is why I think I'll just close the shop for a while. It took me ages to update all the postage prices from last round of changes, and I had nowhere near as many as last time. Probably a good opportunity to do a bit of pruning too.
Replied by straybooksoz on 08-Mar-2012 16:45 (Ref 2335130) Report
Magnolia - Satchel price is 25c each for a 5-pack, 15c each if you buy 20 or more. From the AP store over there.

I have used one for a sale here and it went through fine. The only difference is that you can import the address details into the label from eBay.
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