I've been out of the collecting game for a while,but thought I'd start up again, I'm trying to put a run of Bossk card backs together, but looking at eBay in the US they seem to want what to me is silly money to ship a small bit of card, one seller was wanting $28 just for shipping, have prices gone up that much?
How much does a card back really cost to ship?

Unless your dealing with the good sellers, the shipping prices are awful, even to Canada.  I've all but stopped buying from eBay.  The currency exchange from CDN to USD doesn't help at the moment either.

It all depends on if a seller uses Priority Mail or 1st Class .

I think many (if not most sellers) use Priority Mail because they think it is the only way that is trackable , which in part is true because if you buy a 1st Class label at the actual Post Office they don't have tracking . Ebay added tracking to the 1st Class labels that you print through them (6 mths to a year ago ?) and it is just included with the postage price . There are a few countries that still aren't trackable though (France , Ireland , Sweden to name a few I can remember) .

I believe the minimum charge for priority is $28 (no matter the weight) but a 1st class package can be up to 4 pounds and the price depends on the weight . Even a well packed cardback should be able to be sent for $10 or less via 1st Class USPS (Trackable if the label is printed through ebay )

Glad to hear from one of the "great" eBay sellers.

when it comes to buying on ebay from my understanding was before Ebay would take a percentage of the sale price but not the shipping so people would have a really low sale price and large shipping that all changed I believe.

But one thing I do know is shipping from Canada to the UK is really expensive and not just on ebay I sent one loose figure to Chris with tracking it would have cost $80+. I find if you can get the item in or near where you live the better off you are unless your dealing with James of course .

Gornessh, you need a US shipping buddy. There are a couple of guys on here who I use (you know who you are, and thanks once again). Redirect your purchases to them, and once you have a package load have them all shipped over together saving you $$

James hit it pretty much on the head. Priority Mail has an insanely high starting price ($24 for a loose figure in a flat rate box). 1st class mail is the way to go for the 16 or so countries it'll track to.

Here's the 1st class mail costs to the UK

1-2 ounces $6.16
3-4 ounces $8.88
4oz to 1lb $11.48

for Priority Mail

1 ounce to 1lb - $40.33

The have a VHS tape sized box you can ship in for $23.50 but that's too small for anything carded

Side note...

You can ship using USPS worldwide with tracking to most major countries from the USPS website. Costs nothing to sign up or use it and actually is discounted online versus in person.

The USPS website costs are discounted and just like eBays costs. So its not just eBay that offers tracking on First class and discounted rates.

You can ship up to 4 pounds in First Class USPS as well, so you can really get a lot in a box for a decent rate.
And shipping straight from USPS.com, you can declare whatever amount you want. Not saying you should break any laws... just saying you could accidentally ship a package with 100$ worth of stuff for 25$ to the UK and they won't pay VAT.
If you need to insure it, well, I think declaring the same amount is important, but if not insured, mistakes can happen on the declared value.

cheers!

That's good to know Jay

They must have just changed that fairly recently . The last time I checked (at least a few months ago) it always said you had to purchase 1st Class labels at the actual post office .

I just checked again and sure enough I too can purchase 1st Class labels at USPS.com

Thanks I was outbid on what I was after anyway, but I think unless it's something I really want I will stick to buying of the forums, seems a bit safer and cheaper.