RecoverToy was far from being the only voice complaining at the Post Office counter.

A mass of voices via Facebook and eBay forums, has seen Australia Post capitulate from small business protests.

The rule change was to the use of international letter post for small merchandise items. It was introduced on Monday 18th April 2016 and was previously unannounced. It was hidden among changes to the rates and forms for international parcels.

The fact that the back-track by Australia Post was so quick makes me wonder if it was an ambit claim, and if there had been no reaction from the people then it would be still in place.

Surely, Australia Post had figures on how many International small packet articles were being sent ? They must have known that there would be a significant impact on micro business / hobby operators.

On Tuesday 19th April in the late afternoon Australia Post advised that international letter post for merchandise had been reinstated. This means that we can post our small packet items as we have done for the 17 years that RecoverToy has been operating.

All that angst and grief for the micro business operators around the country, and it was avoidable.

Back to making reproduction antique toy boxes and toy car spares !

Updated: Australia Post capitulates from small business protests

IMPORTANT !! We are closed due to Australia Post changing the rules !!

Australia Post has changed the rules on International Letter Post and we are currently trying to understand what this means.

It appears that where we could previously send parts and tyres for $4 per package, the new rates will be, as examples, a minimum of $16.00 to the USA, $27 to the UK, and $30 to China.

This is of course not viable for the small items that we supply to thousands of hobbyists around the world.

As a result we have suspended our trading pending a resolution from Australia Post.

The initial feedback today was that there was little chance of a change, and that Australia Post were only interested in assisting businesses that used larger parcel post.

Please feel free to complain to Australia Post and blame them for the store closure.

We have posted the above on our 2 eBay stores in Australia and the USA.

There are many issues with the changes that they introduced at 0900 on Monday 18th April 2016, the biggest issue that the changes were made without any notice to the customer. This change to international letter post was made to the Post Office counter systems, but not advised as a part of the parcel post revisions.

There are some articles that we can still post via letters, and shipping within Australia is also unchanged. But the issue for us is the 1500 eBay listings that would require postage fee updates, along with our on-line store that needs to be re-coded to adjust for the changes, that are effectively a minimum 400% increase.

Our customers will not pay $15, $20, or $30 to post $4.00 worth of merchandise and I would not ask them to.

Please feel free to get in touch to discuss the above.

Thanks for your understanding.