What is the USPS EPacket service?

By: admin Published: June 9, 2021

In January 2013, USPS will dramatically increase its rates for first-class international mail for packages. In many cases, the rates for shipping a package internationally will double. Although this may seem like very bad news to many Amazon and eBay sellers, there is some good news. The USPS is officially launching a new international service called Commercial ePacket in the United States.

The commercial e-package is a USPS product offered through the services of a USPS approved Prequalified Wholesaler (PQW). This service appears to be of great benefit to many shippers shipping low-value, lightweight items abroad. Sellers on Amazon and eBay can now take comfort in the fact that they will no longer have to prepare the required documentation and labels to export from the US The USPS PQW you select will take care of all the necessary documentation. Additionally, all e-retailers can now track these packages on USPS.com to all 14 participating countries.

Some key features of the ePacket commercial service are as follows:

  • Affordable e-commerce postal product with tracking and delivery confirmation
  • Light merchandise of low value, <2 Kilos and <$ 400 of value
  • They are sent as commercial postal mail packages and use the foreign main mail network overseas.
  • Transit time is 4-7 days.
  • Postal customs clearance (duties and taxes paid by the recipient)
  • Free returns on undeliverable items
  • Tracking is done directly on USPS.com
  • 14 participating countries: Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, New Zealand, Sweden, Spain. Ireland, Finland, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
  • Delivery scan rates of 90% on average for all countries
  • Pricing provided by a USPS approved PQW
  • Induction sites are New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
  • USPS Acceptance Scan and Foreign Mail Delivery Scan
  • Barcode ID and Unique Label – LX Item Prefix
  • Electronic manifestation, labeling carried out by prequalified wholesaler and delivered in bags ONLY

How does ePacket work?

Customers will contact a USPS PQW in their region and speak to someone about how they can get started. Ideally, select a PQW that has mailing capabilities in all three acceptance cities. This becomes extremely important during inclement weather and natural disasters. Using a PQW with multiple facilities located at the 3 acceptance facilities ensures that your mail can be redirected to another acceptance center if one is closed or has no flights leaving as we saw during Hurricane Sandy.

The PQW will guide you through the process of setting up your tags and data capture functions. Once you have all the data capture functions up and running, you will either ship your shipments or the PQW will ship a vehicle to your location. Each day, you will need to provide the mail you are sending and submit a manifest electronically describing all the customs information for each package.

Once your packages arrive at the PQW, the PQW will confirm that they have received your electronic manifest for the shipment of the particular days. If the PQW does not receive your manifest, it cannot process your mail through the Commercial ePacket service. After receiving your manifest, the electronic information will be uploaded to the USPS system and all necessary customs documentation and labels will be generated. The packages will have the appropriate labeling and will be removed by country of destination and delivered to the International Service Center (ISC) designated by USPS.

Once accepted into the USPS ISC, the bags will be opened and each package will be scanned as posting evidence and placed on the next available outbound flight for that destination country. After the arrival of the flight, the packages will clear customs through the postal customs clearance mechanism. This ensures that your packages move quickly through the dispatch process and will not be affected by the typical delays caused by the normal air cargo dispatch system.

After authorization, the packages will enter the PRIME network and receive priority processing within the destination country. Customers waiting to receive their packages can be confident that they will see the tracking information directly on the USPS website. This feature should eliminate many of the customer service calls that many Amazon and eBay sellers receive daily from their customers.

Once the packages go through the postal system of the destination country, the package will be scanned as delivered by the postman once delivered. Progress of each shipment.

Based on my initial findings, this service appears to be an excellent deal for companies that ship 100 or more packages a day. However, some customers who ship less than 100 packages per day can also benefit from this service if they decide to consolidate orders for a day or two prior to shipment. Obviously, each customer has their own idiosyncrasies that can influence when a service like Commercial ePacket becomes beneficial. However, depending on how far you are from JFK Airport, O’hare International Airport, or Los Angeles International Airport, it may be feasible to use the service on a daily basis, even if you have fewer than 100 packages a day. For specific information on the service, I would contact a USPS approved PQW today.

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