Every year around this time the United States Postal Service (USPS) raises their postage rates. This year their rates are increasing on Monday, January 27th. Typically, their increases are marginal and we make little or no changes to our shipping rates and move right along. This year that is again the case for our domestic customers. Sadly, our international customers aren’t so lucky (to the point we felt the need to address it here).
This year the U.S. postal service is raising rates on international shipments 40-50% in many cases. Priority mail flat rate envelopes to Canada are increasing to $19.95 from $12.95 and for all other countries are increasing to $23.95 from $16.95 – yikes!! I know our international customers hate to read that and certainly so do we. Unfortunately, our international USPS shipping rates will be increasing to those levels tomorrow afternoon (for orders that would be shipped Monday).
However, we do have some good news that will hopefully ease some of your pain. We will now be offering USPS first class mail international service for smaller international orders. For orders under $20 to Canada the rate will be $7 and for other countries $11. I know it’s not a big help but we want to offer various shipping options and it seems due time we offer a cheaper alternative.
Please know that we certainly make no money on our shipping rates. We try to charge as close as we can to what we pay, add nothing for any handling or packaging and try to get all orders shipped as fast as possible. We put a lot of pride in our fast shipping and quality packaging and none of that will be changing.
We will be updating our rates shortly after 3 pm CST tomorrow for orders that will ship Monday.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
The FQS Team
19 comments
Re: the first class mail option to Canada, two charm packs are exactly $20 – does that qualify for the $7 option? (Sorry to nitpick, just trying to figure out how this catastrophic postal increase is going to affect my shopping habits).)
I have to say I felt sick when I first read about this,(that's why I placed an order with you last week!). I know it's not your fault, and you have to pass the cost on to us, but it makes me sad to think I can't order as much fabric as I would like. International customers will source goods elsewhere. I guess it will also cut us out of more giveaways too… sigh. Hugs Linda (in France) x
@lesley
$20 would qualify for the $7 option. It will be up to $20 and $20.01 will be the new rate.
@Sunnybec
We understand your concern. We will not be excluding international customers from any giveaways, so please continue to enter!
FQS
That`s horrible!!
Unfortunately businesses are not immune from decisions third parties make. Yes, it is a big hike in overseas shipping but it is still cheaper to buy OS than in my own country so I can live with it.
Its unfortunate that USPS has increased rates so much for international shipping- I thought last year's increase was bad enough. This year's is outrageous.
IMO, this will mean that American retailers (selling anything) will lose much of their overseas trade, for example -this now puts approx $4 per yard onto the cost of fabric and makes buying overseas not so attractive. Two years ago, a flat rate envelope was only $12-95.
I now have to weigh up the convenience of buying locally at a higher price against the not so much cheaper option of buying overseas and waiting for it to arrive.
However, the option of sending goodies via 1st class postage is a great alternative to offer- thank you for thinking about us!!
There sure are a lot of sad pandas around due to this news! Although it just means larger orders, less frequently 😉 But thank you so much for adding the cheaper postage option!
In the grand scheme of things it is a $6.00 increase – I can live with that! What is now really important is how much fabric we can get into that flat rate envelope?
Well, as somebody else said before, it is for us in Switzerland still cheaper to buy at FQS with this great service and choice than here in the country… and our postal charges inland are also very expensive, so I will live with it and still order. My customers are going to pay a little bit more on the products I sew, so at least the costs are not only my burden.
Just did some calculations and it will still be cheaper to buy from FQS even with this price increase. The postage in Australia is expensive as well. I can't believe how much you can squeeze into an envelope and I always find your service to be excellent. I do have a question as I am doing the Mystery BOM and will the postage increase for this?
The price inscrease OK
Im in Paris and I wait my order
since december 4th
I think UPS wil work better
for the overseas customers
as other have said, it's still cheaper to by fron the FQS than here in the Netherlands and, more important, the choice of fabric you have is great. I can't get 98% of the fabric here, so I don't like it but I will live with it 🙂 and I like the option of $20 – $7!
@Kim
The postage rates for the Designer Mystery BOM will not change. They will be the rate originally listed on our site.
Let us know if you have any additional questions!
Fat Quarter Shop's Jolly Jabber: Shipping Rates Update
It sucks big time and I know it will curtail my US spending to a large degree. It is sad that the USPS is so unable to manage their fiscal house that they have to do something like this. That said, I just want to tell you that I really appreciate your shop and the shipping charges you have always charged. They are never padded. I'm appalled at some online retailers that have charged anywhere from $16.95 to $20.95 for a flat rate envelope that I know for a fact costs much less than that. I can tell you where I spend my money (well you already know that -LOL).
Thanks for all you do. I know this is not your fault and is out of your control. It is what it is, but it will mean that shopping in Canada just became a little more economical even at $17.00/meter. I'm sad for that because I truly love your shop. When I'm able though I'll still stop by, especially on Wednesdays.
It's a big increase, yes, but still buying from you is alot cheaper than buying where I live, so you won't lose my custom yet..
Also, most of what I buy from you I cannot get locally anyway, at least not until it's much older.
It's nice you gave us the cheaper option for small orders..
Hi
I agree with the majority that whilst its a huge hike, the choice and prices you offer still make shopping with you a great option. Prices and choice here in NZ are not tempting at all, so I will still be a loyal customer.
I am loving this years BOM and have signed up for the next one, so am wondering if the rate holds for this too ? pretty please !!
The rate increase for international customers sucks. The rates are starting to be so similar to my country that it might not be worth to buy full rate fabrics, but your sale section is always amazing and love your twitter offers. And your service is the best! Will continue ordering from you if my economy permits.
For those of us in Canada the increase went from 35.00 to 70.00 for a parcel over $200.00. For the most part it is not worth it for us to shop at FQS. This is very unfortunate for us as the service was always awesome!