Clarify UK postage - help?

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Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by lunarkt » Thu Jan 29, 2015 8:32 pm

lunarkt wrote:
kimmylee wrote:I think it would be a good idea to include one on your SASE :)
Oops, you answered as I was editing :oops:
Should I include "cardboard" as one of the items on the form since the SASE will probably have a piece in it (I would probably assume yes)? (Silly/stupid question, I know)
Ah well, I'll figure that part out (like I said, I probably assume I should). Anyway, that should hopefully be it and now that everything's been a bit more cleared up for me, there should hopefully be no problem when putting everything together when I get stamps.

Thanks for all your help and your patience. {up}

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by lunarkt » Wed Jan 28, 2015 5:11 pm

kimmylee wrote:I think it would be a good idea to include one on your SASE :)
Oops, you answered as I was editing :oops:
Should I include "cardboard" as one of the items on the form since the SASE will probably have a piece in it (I would probably assume yes)? (Silly/stupid question, I know)

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by kimmylee » Wed Jan 28, 2015 5:03 pm

I think it would be a good idea to include one on your SASE :)

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by lunarkt » Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:48 pm

kimmylee wrote:That sounds perfect to me {up}
Great! Oh, one last thing. Customs form. I've been seeing mixed responses for this. Do I need to print it off the RM site and fill it out for the SASE (or write something on it) since it's a "small parcel", not a "letter"?
If so, if the SASE has cardboard in it, should I add that to the customs form too (or just... don't mention it) I'm obviously going to write "do not bend" on it. Want to make sure it will go by customs okay.

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by kimmylee » Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:18 pm

That sounds perfect to me {up}

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by lunarkt » Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:31 am

kimmylee wrote:If you look at the previous page I linked to, International Standard is the name of the service you will be using. It was formally called Airmail. International Economy would also be known as Surface Mail, do you recognise these terms from the US postal system?

Don't know where you saw anything about VAT honestly. Only businesses have to pay it on RM postage, not normal customers. As the person doing the SASE, you are not a business, and don't have to pay VAT.

Are you clearer on things now?
Duh! Of course, stupid me. I'm sorry, it went over my head that that was the service I would want to use. I don't usually pay much attention to the US postal system, so the terms are a little foreign to me. But now I'm understanding it a lot more. I kept wondering about VAT because I kept seeing "VAT" everywhere, but now that I looked back it said the IS and IE prices are exempt from VAT. (But also thanks for clearing that up as well)

Yes, things are a lot clearer for me now. I'm sorry for asking so many questions. I have anxiety so I can get a bit worked up and freak out, especially when confused (also I'm not that intelligent and have a few learning disabilities so sometimes things need to be explained a bit more for me to understand).

So run down (to make sure I got everything):
Can use any 1st/2nd class stamp, whether it be normal or large
Use International Standard price
Find stamp prices on RM site or google (or take price from shop and divide it by how many stamps there are for value of one stamp)
RA not required on SASE ("Airmail" is written in this spot)

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by kimmylee » Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:32 am

If you look at the previous page I linked to, International Standard is the name of the service you will be using. It was formally called Airmail. International Economy would also be known as Surface Mail, do you recognise these terms from the US postal system?

Don't know where you saw anything about VAT honestly. Only businesses have to pay it on RM postage, not normal customers. As the person doing the SASE, you are not a business, and don't have to pay VAT.

Are you clearer on things now?

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by lunarkt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:41 pm

kimmylee wrote:Yes, use the price to know how many stamps you need.

The correct price would be for the service you want to use (International Standard) so look at the names and you will find your price.
Are you saying International Standard as just an example or that I should use that? (just checking, since there's International Economy, however I don't know how they would know if I chose that over Standard)
Also, that doesn't include VAT, so what should I do about that? (Or is VAT something else that shouldn't be worried about? I know what VAT is, just don't understand it well enough)

Agh, I should just move over there.

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by kimmylee » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:04 pm

Yes, use the price to know how many stamps you need.

The correct price would be for the service you want to use (International Standard) so look at the names and you will find your price.

Re: Clarify UK postage - help?

by lunarkt » Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:18 pm

kimmylee wrote:You are looking at the UK domestic price/size bands I am afraid. These are for mail going within the UK only, not abroad via Airmail.

Your item will go International standard (Airmail) either as a letter or Parcel which has different prices and size limits.

This page has more information

(ignore the parts about printing postage online, this expires after 2 days so no good for SASE's :) )

You will need to know whether your SASE is under or over 5mm.

For Airmail postage you can use 1st/2nd normal or large stamps as long as the value meets or exceeds the Airmail price.

I know it probably seems really complicated now, if it's any consolation USPS had me absolutely stumped for ages while I tried to get used to a whole new system, now I do US SASE's without thinking twice!
Wow, that is complicated. (And yeah, I know about the postage online; that was gonna be my first option for a long time until I found out it didn't work for SASEs. Good thing I found out before trying it, or even purchasing it. That's when I finally decided to look amongst here and join.)
Just measured my envelope. I'm going to put cardboard in it, so with it in there, it's about .5mm (I'm looking around to see if I can find a piece of cardboard a little thinner and still stiff, but it's at least under 5mm). According to the site, the LxW dimensions of the envelope (30.5cm x 22.8cm) go slightly over a letter (24cm x 16.5cm), so it's a small parcel.

So, the price I get from the calculator (which I would assume is the "How much will it cost?" on that page, since that's the only calculator I could find on RM) on there - should that give me an idea on how many stamps I should put on? If so, which should I go by, since I see multiple prices and some do not count VAT.

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